Friday, December 26, 2014

New Creative Toy!!

 
 
Santa Jeff was wonderful this year - I got PhotoShop Elements 13.  This morning, Nature really cooperated as well, providing a snowstorm for a bit this morning.  I took advantage of this natural photo op, and went for a drive stopping to take photos whenever an image presented itself!  Since, for quite a bit of time, there weren't many other cars on the road, I didn't even have to risk getting stuck in the snow!  Take a look......
 







 
Enjoy!

Friday, December 19, 2014

A Cabin in Snowfall



For the past several days, I had been thinking about my favorite little deserted cabin out on the country road from our home.  I have photographed it many times, but generally when there's a great sunrise as the backdrop.  I wished I would be able to photograph it in the snow at least once before it totally collapses.  Mother Nature must have heard my wishes and a few days ago, Jeff interrupted my treadmill time (I was within 2 minutes of finishing) to tell me there was a blizzard going on outside.  Still in my workout sweats, I grabbed a vest and my camera and took off in my car.  I was not disappointed with the results - take a look......

 
One of the things I love the best about this image is how you can see the snow falling against both the tree and the cabin.  The texture of it really makes you feel the chill of the snow as it falls.

 
I think this quote says it all.....
 
 
You can see how close to collapsing the cabin is in this image.  And, yet, it still remains standing.  It reminds me of the strength of spirit that we all can have if we try.
 

 
Ah, yes, true freedom.....
 
Enjoy!




Random Winter Thoughts

 
In addition to my favorite deserted cabin, there were other interesting things to photograph as I drove along the country road while the snow softly fell.  No further words from me - the quotes say it all......

 


 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Wintry Morning

 
This morning, when I woke up, the day was fairly grey.  There had been a bit of snow overnight, enough to just dust the ground.  But then, the sun began to rise.....
 
 
Here's what it looked like when I got up.  I liked how closely the clouds hugged the mountains and were fairly close to the ground.  Our fire pit in the foreground will not be used again until the spring, and it looks a bit lonely out there.
 
 
As I sat curled up in the recliner journaling, I looked up and noticed the sunrise peeking out from between the pines we have on the side of the patio.  I love the contrast of the warmth of the sky and the cool snow on the pine trees.
 
 
Altho it was really chilly outside, I had to step outside to capture the pink and blue sky.  These are the same clouds that looked so gloomy just a few minutes ago!
 
 
I absolutely love how the sunlight danced on the top of "our" mountain, South Mountain.  What a great sunrise!!
 
Enjoy!
 
 
 


A Black & White Morning

The other morning, Miki and I went out for an early morning walk.  It was almost directly opposite from the day before, when the sunrise was incredibly vivid.  This morning, there was a softer light, and the sunrise was already over when we got out there.  A totally different feel to the day, as you can see...
 
 
As we passed the FBO (Fixed Base Operator), I noticed this plane.  It seems its flying days are over, and to capture the feeling of days gone by, I converted this image to black and white and then cropped it with a bit of a tattered look.

 
I noticed some patchy dried grass in another area, and liked the way the dirt was visible in places.  I added a sepia filter to this to capture the feel that I wanted, and again did a tattered crop.

 
Since the light was so soft and  there wasn't much color otherwise in the image, I again converted this to a black and white image to accentuate the contrast and applied the tattered crop again.
 
Enjoy!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Expand


Yesterday morning, my inspiration rock said “expand”.  As I began my morning walk with Miki, I kept that in mind, and decided to take a bit of a different route on our walk; in essence, walking the opposite direction from the way we typically walk.  In a way, it was the road less traveled by, at least for us……and that made all the difference in terms of my perspective on the morning.  An expanded perspective…… 
 
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the sun and clouds in this type of pattern before.  It’s as if the clouds are ribbons in the sky, reflecting some of the colors from the sun.  The mountain in the distance is in the opposite direction from the mountains that I typically photograph from home.  I honestly don’t know if I ever truly noticed that mountain before this morning.
 
This view is a view between some houses on what is typically the back side (return trip) of our walk.  Since my back is usually turned toward this view, I’ve not seen it before this morning.  You can see the sunrise ribbons in the sky, but they are softer here, with the trees as an anchor.  The bare tree’s silhouette is really visible against that sky.  Overall, this image has a soft feel to me……kind of how the morning was.
 
You can tell I was really “taken” with the sky this morning, and my newly “discovered” mountain.  This image gives you an idea of how much land is between the trees in the foreground and the mountain in the distance.  If you look closely, you can see a bit of a house in the lower right corner of the image.  It helps to add a bit of dreaminess to this image, as if the people inside are slowly awakening from a wonderfully restful sleep.
 
The sun has risen and the glow of sunrise is gone.  I liked the way the camera picked up the rays from the sun as they played off the frost on the fence.  You have to look close to see it on the tops of the rails that run horizontally.  Yes, I have to say that walking our route backward did expand my view of a sunrise here at home.

Enjoy!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Studio Walkway


Studio Walkway

A couple of days ago, as I was walking to and from my studio, a mighty hike of a few hundred feet (!), I noticed a couple of really cool signs of both the current and past season…..
 
This is a seed pod from one of the yucca type plants growing in our front yard garden.  I never really noticed the very cool texture and color of this pod in particular until it sort of waved at me in the breeze.  Photographically, it’s not the best image with the branch cutting thru it, but I like the feel of this image anyway.
 
Here’s another set of seed pods from a similar plant.  The colors aren’t quite as vivid, but the texture is there, and I like the way the  pods are bunched together, all with the similar tone and the reddish branch adding a pop of color to the autumn palette of the pods.  I finished it off with a bit of a funky framing technique.
 
At the base of the water feature we have just outside my studio, I noticed this collection of leaves from a bush in the garden.  I really loved the way the red, green and rusty brown colors blended.  I washed out the colors of the rocks in this image, just to highlight the leaves’ colors.
 
In this image, I left a bit of color in the rocks, so that the difference between the rocks and leaves isn’t quite so drastic.  Still love that pop of red!

Enjoy!