lookers
Gentleman and I headed up to Lookout Mountain for some fresh air and a quick get away from the house this afternoon. I really like the way these turned out; the lighting was absolutely perfect and yet again I didn’t have to do any post processing.
Here’s a little Colorado peaking through the trees. Not bad for only having 60mm worth of zoom on me at the time.
footprints
Last week I went on a short drive up Guanella Pass with my aunt Deb and grandma Oriole. We couldn’t drive all the way to the top due to road closure but it didn’t seem to matter because all three of us are photography nuts and were stopping every hundred feet or so to take pictures.
My aunt is a nature junkie much like my good friend B. The two of them share this amazing ability to attract or be aware of things most people just walk by without noticing. My aunt is unswayed by the fact that she doesn’t have the latest and greatest photography equipment and manages to get phenomenal and close up images of wildlife with only a 300mm lens and the most exquisite amount of patience and love in her heart.
It wasn’t until my trip to California that I started to appreciate really good landscape and nature photography. And I never thought much about foot prints in the snow making a good photo either. But when we were out walking around and my aunt squeaked at some tiny little mouse prints, I decided to give it a go. Even though I feel as though my images could have been much better, I realized that it was because I’m largely emotionally cut off from nature and that is what shows in the photography.
There’s a much deeper connection here that would require far more space to explain than its probably worth. Suffice to say that I believe strongly that there is a key here to my journey in making me whole again.
hanging out
Since the artification of my orchid image, I’ve been playing with different textures and photos. I’ve found that when an image is made paying special attention to detail, lighting, framing and the like that it isn’t a very good candidate for artification. However, when an image looks only so-so but has a few redeemable qualities to it, its perfect to play with.
I’ve found that I’m in love with this process. I still greatly value a technically perfect image out of camera but I’m realizing more and more that I’d be the kind of person who would be in the photo lab experimenting with messed up quantities of chemicals and any other way I could find to add texture. Originally I felt I was degrading a good image the more post processing I did; now I’m seeing my photography as art rather than just photography. It feels like something has clicked. I felt I’d lost the idea of making art. Now I only wish I had the finances to be able to do this with analogue processes.
But oh, how hilarious it was to realize that a lot of the names of the techniques came from exactly what was done in the lab. When put into a real life scenario, these techniques came to life. They became tangible enough that I could almost imagine myself making these images with my hands! And the styles that mean so much to me, warmth and texture, can be used abundantly.
art
Gentleman and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion again today. It might seem a little strange, but anytime we’re feeling under the weather we head over there. We find the extra moisture an oxygen to be revitalizing and way cheaper than going to an O2 bar. Plus, I get a little camera therapy as well.
Its a fairly small pavilion and in the middle of winter there really isn’t much to see. So, I took some time to look at some of the foliage in the place. When I got home I didn’t find anything really exciting to look at in my stash of images other than I seem to have figured out the trick to crisp saturation. This is good! I’m working with some other modes other than manual these days and I think I’ve figured out when to use what and where/when.
Not too long ago I was ogling Kevin’s photoshop work and begged him to tell me how he did a few things. Being the absolute sweetheart he is, Kevin gave me a few pointers and sent me on my way. It wasn’t until tonight that I decided to sit down and really apply what he taught me. I’m pretty pleased with the results. Now that I can do this I can easily hack it and try other really cool things as they come along.
The best part about this is that I did it all for free. I use Gimp which is completely open source software and I snatched the effects from people who uploaded and gave their permission to use their stuff on the internet.
Thanks again Kevin!
big fish
Gentleman and I went to City Park for a walk this evening.
Soleiana
In the past few months I’ve said “damn, I wish I had my camera” more times than I can count. So I’ve started to carry Oly with me everywhere I go. I’m hoping to capture more of what I see every day while I improve my technique, both manual camera operation as well as post processing.
There’s a group of students that play hack in front of the school almost every day. I was invited to join once, but I kicked the sac on the roof. It took a pyramid of boys to get it back since the school doesn’t carry a good ladder for some reason and since then I’ve been self-banned from playing.
my favourite things
Yeah, I’m a sucker for a cute dog.
Octoburrr
The first snow fall of 2009 and boy what a doozy! Its been snowing for 2 days and it still hasn’t stopped and even the dog is having a tough time getting around in it.
Lately I’ve been feeling a uninspired by my own photography. To get the creative juices flowing I plug into the internet and look at what others have been doing. There are a few local photographers (other than my close photog friends of course) that inspire me regularly and David Schmidt of 211 Photography (.com) is one of them.
David’s work is always light and playful. When you look through his lens you always find a sort of warm joy and I absolutely love that about him… and his photography. One of the things I noticed about his style right away is his use of a camera tilt in many of his photos. I’m a pretty linear person, most or all of my images are framed equally left to right, top to bottom and lines are purposefully parallel or perpendicular to my cropping. So in an effort to channel a little of David’s fire, I decided to try his tilt.
And man, oh man, am I having a time with it. It feels off and awkward to me and its most certainly pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Another thing I’ve noticed about other people’s photography is their saturation of colours. Of course, I tend to be the person that likes desaturation even though I can very much appreciate the punch that deep saturation can bring. I like those images that came out of those old plastic lenses, distorted and grainy; but I feel as though I should learn how to make an image correctly, so that I have skills to master before I learn to make them “wrong.” Hopefully this will make my process one that I can reproduce rather than being pleasantly surprised every once and a while and disappointed the other 98% of the time.
At any rate, check out David’s stuff if you get the chance. He’s a very talented photographer…just in case you’re looking for one!
www.211photography.com
sir nibbles-a-lot
This little guy must have always been around humans seeing as he was so interested in my camera even though my dog was right beside me. Eventually, he grabbed some munchies and watched me watch him…
some flowers for your hair
I went on a hike with some fabulous folks today and took Oly with. As much as the hike nearly killed me, Oly , however, did not disappoint. I’m not much of a wild flower person, but I gave it a go and was quite pleased with the result. And I think a better handle on my new software would yield some better results as well.
Sculpture
So, I tried something new. Its a little artistic, but it kind of reminds me of the film West Side Story with Natalie Wood. Particularly, that scene when the kids are singing about having a social disease to Officer Krupke.
Or the cover of that Queen album, News of the World.