Author: jeannehoadley

House Finch

House_Finchw

One of my goals this year is to do more bird photography. I like to assign myself projects because it gets me out the door and shooting. So I’m calling this one Birds, Birds, Birds and the goal is to intentionally photograph birds at least once a month, preferably once a week but knowing how my schedule and the weather interfere with my photography I think once a month is more realistic for now. Anyway, I decided to get it kicked off this week with a trip to North Mountain Park. The bird feeders are always a good place to start. This handsome house finch was the most colorful visitor while I was there. I was happy to catch him in the tree and away from the feeders.

As I was preparing to post this I got another bright idea (my bright ideas always get me in trouble). But I thought it might be fun to create an art piece from each image of the week and then at the end of the year I would have a nice album of my best photos. So, here is this week’s art piece. I just don’t know if I will be able to keep it up. But I think it is worth a try.

Week1_HouseFinchw

Image of the Year – Bicycle Arles

Bicycle

So, I have nearly 15,000 images in my file for 2019. Is it time to do some culling?  Yes. Is this the best image I made this year? Probably not. But when I tried to think of stand out images this one came to mind. I like the subject, I like the pop of color, I like that it represents dabbling in experimental and artistic photography, I like that it was made on my birthday in Arles, France on a magical, wonderful morning camera walk. For me, photography is about creating art and enjoying the process, not about competition or perfection. This image makes me feel good on many levels because I so enjoyed the process of creating it and everything that went into getting me to a point where I could create it.

Harbor Sunset

HarborSunset

I’ve been working on getting caught up with my Coast project book and this one from the November trip came up as a keeper. I was tired from driving all day and decided not to make the trek to Harris Beach for a classic coastal sunset picture but just strolled around the Harbor area as the sun was setting. Most of my pictures were a little too jumbled with boats to be effective but I like this one and the starburst effect just makes it that much better. Had to open the shadows and add some saturation to get the look I was after.

Floats

Floats

I decided to take a little break after finishing the 100 days project. But the Oregon Coast Project is still in play so I made the trip to Brookings last week. I have to say the weather was fantastic. I found these floats piled up at the Harbor and loved the colors and random assortment. I just put together a calendar for next year and this was my choice for November. Now I just have to finish the book highlighting the pictures, and of course go back one more time in December. I’ve already decided next years project will be Redwoods National Park. But I’m thinking every six weeks or so instead of every month…we’ll see.

Day 100 – Old Rose

Rose

For my last hurrah I took the Velvet 56 and the EOS R to the Harry and David Rose Garden. There is such a poignant beauty to faded roses and some of them look like they had been freeze dried with the colors still warm and vibrant. I added a high pass filter to bring out the details and gave it a little pop of vibrance and saturation. Then I added a texture that seemed to compliment the texture of the rose.  And that, my friends, is a wrap. It’s been fun playing with my lensbaby lenses and getting to know them a little better. As always some of the images were better than others but I learned a lot and while I’m glad it’s over, I’m not sorry I started. I’ll be reverting to image of the week again now that the 100 days project is done.

Day 99 – Rooster

Rooster

I worked a full day shift at the Genealogy Library then had to run to an OLLI leadership training. Needless to say, photography wasn’t at the top of my priority list today. I would hate to have dropped the ball on day 99 though. I found this metal rooster at grower’s market the other day. Just sharpened it up a little with a high pass filter and added a texture to rough up the background. Oh yeah, shot with the Velvet 56.

Day 98 – Hydrangea

3_Hydrangea

I noticed my tiny Japanese Maple was putting on quite a show of color so I grabbed the closest camera to hand which turned out to be the M3 with the Burnside mounted on it. But when I got up close the leaves were pretty far gone and not nearly as pretty as I thought. So, I turned to my Hydrangea which just never stops giving interesting and colorful compositions. I love the mix of purple and green in the background. I though about adding a texture but decided that would just be gilding the lily. As I approach the end of the project I’m torn between “Thank God it’s almost over” and “I don’t want to stop.”  But trust me I will, I have plenty of other projects to work on.

Day 97 – Apples

1_Apples

I stopped by the Grower’s Market today with the Velvet 56 on the EOS R. You can see that nice velvety background but the main apple and front of the basket are nice and sharp. I did add a high pass filter to tighten it up just a little more. I also cropped out a distracting red and white tablecloth. And I added some vibrance and touch of saturation to bring out the rich colors.

Day 96 – Teasel

1_Teasel

I took the Velvet56 for a walk on the Greenway this afternoon. I found a little bit of lingering fall color but I’m always intrigued by the Teasel. The Velvets have a feature of offering a little bit of a glow at large apertures. This was shot at f1.6 so shows off that feature well. I added a high pass filter and two textures to add interest to the background and just a wee hint of color.

Day 95 – White Rose

1_WhiteRose

So my nephew got married and I got to take home some of the table decorations from the receptions. The roses have held up pretty well so I decided to take them up to the studio. This was shot with the Velvet 56 mounted on the M3. I added a high pass filter and one texture and adjusted the color balance a little because it was showing a little on the yellow side. Wow, only five more days to go!