I loved photographing and editing this old window display in Bodie. I was in the mood for blues!
Choo Choo
Last week’s road trip back home managed to yield a few photos despite our disappointment about not getting to Monterey.. We spent the night in Tehachapi and went over to the train station so I could have the opportunity to find something (ANYTHING!) to photograph. We had been there a couple times before and knew there were some old railroad items on display. Below is a view of the wheels on an old box car.
Edited with some grunge textures and filters.
Two Flags
Looking back at photos from my Vulture Mine excursion in November, I found quite a few that never made the blog- like the one below:
As I understand it, the company that now own the mine is Canadian- hence the maple leaf along with the stars and stripes.
Bottled Up
Lonnie and I went with my photo group to Yuma for a couple days last week. On the way we stopped at Castle Dome, an area filled with old mining cabins and buildings-a photographer’s delight!
Here’s a “found still life”- old bottles on display. I don’t think there was a right angle to be found in this old ghost town- so I gave up trying to straighten anything but the door in this image!
Vintage
Just a book and a rose. . .
Gated
Happy Fence Friday!
Debbie’s Find
My Friday Find is borrowed from my friend, Debbie, who graciously allowed me to photograph it this week. You may see it again, because I have some other ideas before I return it. And my goodness, there’s that straw hat again!
This is a Lensbaby shot with added textures. I like the look that some of my textures give my walls- wish they really looked like that!
And here is the same photo (in the original proportions- I “stretched the canvas” of the top one in Photoshop) with a black and white preset I adapted from one I had gotten from somewhere. I wanted a light-ish black and white conversion, which I sometimes do by adjusting tones etc. This time I decided to save it as a preset, hoping it will work on other photos as well.
A Chair and a Straw Hat
Hats on Chairs- catching up on still life challenges for The Studio Online!
If you have been following my blog for awhile, you have seen this chair many times- and if you’ve been following it for a LOOOOONG while, you seen the hat. Oh well- you’ve seen them, because they’re great props for still life photography! And, no doubt, you will see them again!
These were all taken with the Lensbaby Edge 80.
Country roads, take me home
Yesterday, my father-in-law, like earlier generations in his family, was laid to rest at the old cemetery at the end of this dirt road, overlooking the tiny Kansas farm community where he grew up.
Family members and friends gathered to say a last good-bye to Corky, who always called this peaceful corner of the world HOME.
Golden Spotlight
The other evening, I glanced over at my entry hall as beautiful light from the setting sun cast a golden glow over my forgotten ranunculus arrangement on the cabinet. I am always complaining about the lack of good light in our house, so I felt compelled to run and get my camera and snap photo after photo until the light faded. My lensbaby Sweet 35 was on the camera- and of course I don’t remember what the aperture was set at- maybe f/4, which produced a lot of blur on the sides (more than I usually like). The second shot shows my adjustment- pushing the bottles together to put more of the flowers in focus. Closing down the aperture would have forced me to raise the ISO more than I wanted to in the excitement of the moment, so that was my speedy solution.
Unique Vessel
When my friend, Debbie, texted me a photo of the old boots she had just bought, I knew I had to photograph them before they became part of one of her art pieces. I had so much fun playing around with them for some still life and macro shots. As I mentioned last week, one of our challenges for BeStill 52 was to use a unique vessel in a still life; I think the boots were up to the challenge!
The first and third photos were edited using Kim Klassen’s darklight preset; the middle is almost straight out of camera.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
More Tea for Me
Here are a couple more tea time still life images from my shoot earlier in the week.
The Chair
It was almost a week ago when I got a text from my friend, Debbie with a picture of a cute, cute chair and the question “Do you want it?” She had found it in a shop that re-paints and finishes furniture and other items, giving them a new shabby chic look. Debbie knew I was looking for a cheap, vintage looking chair for my still life photography- and I fell in love with it immediately. Although my husband was just out of the hospital, he drove me down to the little shop, and I made my purchase. I was originally planning to put it on the front porch, but I’m enjoying having it in my living room. I’m thinking now it will winter indoors and summer on the porch.
The Chair
You might have noticed my new chair earlier in the week as a backdrop for daisies and roses. Today I’ve gotten on the Valentine bandwagon and have added hearts to my chair still life.
Linking up with Friday Finds.
melinda anderson photography 