Since I’m experimenting with Aperture 3.0, I decided to see what it could do for this photo. By dodging and burning, I feel that I was able to bring out the theme “layers” more explicitly.
Jan 312010
Jan 302010
I was at the model airplane airfield in Quartzsite late afternoon. After taking lots of pics of the guys flying helicopters and planes, I started aiming the camera at other things – like the landscape. The sun was starting to set… you know how beautiful that light is! This is probably one of the weirdest pics I’ve taken but it was in the name of capturing the theme texture.
It is actually a carpet remnant that is used as an entrance to the paved runway.
Jan 282010
I have been reading Zane Grey novels lately and the idea of a cowboy on a horse seems very masculine to me. This is not the statute that I wanted to post… the owner would not let me take a picture of it. But in going through my old photos, I realized that I had forgotten about this one. This Quarter Horse monument was taken in Sonoita, Arizona (south of Tucson, north of Nogales), and was found on one of our meandering drives to nowhere in particular.
The photo itself was not well taken, thus I played with levels until I was more satisfied with the statute. Then I had this idea of making a “ghost cowboy,” to signify the loss of way of life and to highlight some of the features of this statute. With the hints of the modern background, I hope this shows the incongruity of then and now.
If you think this is overworked, and you’d like to see the original photo, please let me know.
Jan 272010
When I travel, I am always taking pictures of the food that I’m about to eat. I have a LOT of food pics. I’ve changed my mind several dozen times this month on which to use for the theme “edible. ” I settled on this one because at first it looks like an art piece, and then you realize that is all edible.
I used Photoshop Elements to delete the background to focus on the dish alone.
Jan 262010
This was taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona in the fall of 2008. As you can see, I was looking straight down on this patch of succulents. Wish I could tell you the name of this plant but I’m still learning my desert plants.
This is cropped from the original photo. I tried to make it have more depth and narrowed the pattern a bit since I felt that the original had too many of this same plant in it. By cropping it, you can see more space between the plants and thus (hopefully) more depth.
This was taken October 26, 2008 at the Rhyolite Ghost Town outside Death Valley. This is the Cook Bank. I hope you can see the doors and windows in this picture (or is just me knowing what it is?)
This is also one that can be used for the mini-assignment: Viewpoint. I had taken several different pictures before I decided to stop trying to capture the whole bank structure, but instead to just trying standing in front and looking up.
Jan 172010
Last summer I took a lot of photo bike rides. We stayed in Tucson, AZ for two months. As it was the two hottest months, July and August, it was most feasible to get up and out early. Some days I just rode my bike and never stopped; other days, it was amazing I got any exercise at all because I would be so distracted by the photo opportunities.
In this photo, I was experimenting with the camera’s macro feature. I was pleased that I managed to make my little camera behave like an SLR in that the flower buds are in focus and the background is out of focus. And I was happy with the original shot. I was thinking of using this for my “pink” shot, but just as I was getting ready to post, I decided to crop the image — just to see. To my surprise, I like the cropped image better.
Below is the original photo:
Jan 152010
How bold of nature to make a rock with these two colors side-by-side! This rock is called “Sonoran Sunset Chrysocholla” – and I took a picture in its raw form. I fell in love with this rock at first site! The owner of the jewelry shop was nice enough to pull it out of the case and set it out for me to take a photo.
I thought she had said it was found in Arizona… but on the web the only location I see is Northern Mexico. Of course, Northern Mexico borders AZ, so maybe it was found in AZ, near the Mexican border. Rocks probably don’t understand borders.
You should see these in its original 4000 x 3000 pixel size on my 23″ screen. Now that is BOLD!
The store that let me take this images (and many others) was All in Vein; they will be in Quartzsite for Jan and Feb.
Processing: I adjusted levels and contrast a bit.
Jan 132010
I went on my first photo walk today. I walked over to the Quartzsite Gem & Mineral show going on in Tyson Wells. So, this is the first time that I’ve taken a photo for this blog specifically, rather than pulling from past images. Actually, I took quite a few photos, but this is the first that I thought I’d try out.
Jan 092010
Still going through pics I’ve taken in the past, cropping and such to meet a theme. Hope no one minds that I am doing this, but I’m so excited about finally being able to put these pics to good use, meaning that I can finally SHARE them. I promise to go for a walk next week when I’m off work. I live in a unique place, so we’ll see what I come up with then.
I took this on February 26, 2003 about 1:30 afternoon (for those that like to know what kind of light was available to me) south of Daytona Beach, Florida. I believe it was found at an outdoor restaurant. I can’t say that I was thinking the theme “arc” when I took the picture, but I did like the simplicity of the artwork. Nice use of arcs, wouldn’t you say?
This picture would have been taken with one of our early Cannon Camera, a G2.
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