Category: Southern Oregon

Day 64 – Paisans

Paisons

This one is from my first round of Street photography in Medford. Sometimes an image just keeps calling to you. I saw this one as grunged up and desaturated. So I took it into Topaz Studio to find a look that almost got me there then let some of the color bleed back through. Then I took it to Topaz black and white effects and did the same until it came close to what I had been envisioning. I should also say that there was a lot of pre work in photoshop getting rid of air conditioning equipment on the roof. 

Day 57 – Chess Player

ChessPlayer

I had an OLLI class in downtown Medford yesterday so I decided to take a camera walk around the area and found this bronze chess player in a plaza which, if memory serves, was a parking lot back in the day. I realized I haven’t spent much time in downtown Medford since returning to the valley. Though I have fond memories of shopping at J.C. Penney with my Mom and cruising on a Friday night in Connie Cook’s Mom’s Cadillac (’68ish I think… the Cadillac, I mean, more like ’72 or ’73 for the cruising) I can’t say I ever really spent much time in downtown Medford. Well, there may be a poem there… but in any event I found the area worthy of further exploration so I look forward to the next five Wednesdays to check it out…not to mention the multitude of food trucks converged on the area.

So, this image was challenging because of the position of the sun putting the chess player in shadow. I opened up the shadows, and desaturated the reds and blues to remove distractions from the background. I then decided that it might benefit from a texture. I chose one with a bronzish tone to it. I was blown away with how well it not only highlighted the bronze tones of the statue but also helped to downplay the shadows on his face.

 

Day 53 – Civil War Graves

graves

It was a busy rainy day and I am starting to feel a little frustrated that I am not getting a lot of new work done. But, I hope this too shall pass. I was sitting down working out my schedule for this week when I realized I hadn’t posted anything yet for the 100 days project. I have some new stuff from the coast but I won’t be able to upload it until tomorrow. So, I went back to the archives for this picture from the Jacksonville cemetery taken last month of some civil war graves with flags. I took it into Topaz Studio for a more vintage look. I wanted to keep some color, especially in the flags but I didn’t want them too bright either. This look is called desaturated grunge and fills the bill perfectly. This was taken with the Sweet 50 intentionally keeping most of the headstones and flags out of focus.

Day 21 – Levi’s

Levis

So my guidelines for this project are that I have to post an image that was captured within the 100 days, not necessarily on the day it is posted. Ideally it should be processed on the day posted. Today was a busy day and I decided to go back to the Jacksonville images to see what came up. I photograph this sign almost every time I go to Jacksonville, sometimes more successfully than others. Sometimes with cars or trucks parked in front of it. Sometimes with the lamp post included, sometimes not.  I buzzed by this image the first time through but then I decided to work on it and see what I could come up with. I added saturation and clarity, pumped up the saturation in the blues and greens to help the image int the circle come out more, cropped and adjusted the perspective. Then I took it into Topaz studio looking for a little more vintage look. This was captured, by the way with the Edge 35. The focus has a slight diagonal going from Copper Riveted to the CO’s. But, as you can see it goes off into blur at the top and bottom which is just what the Edge is supposed to do.

 

Day 18 – The Oak Tree

The-Oak-Tree

It took me all of two weeks to decide I needed to add another Lensbaby to my arsenal. I did not have an edge optic so I decided on the Edge 35 which works much like the Sweet 50 but instead of having a spot of sharp focus it has a line of sharp focus. At 12 oz it is a little more hefty than I had hoped and I’m still on the fence about taking it to France but I do think I could have some fun with it photographing old buildings.

In this case I was going for sharpness on the tree trunk. To add to the ephemeral look I processed it in Topaz studio adding a grungy but colorful textured look. This tree is a few blocks from my house along the Bear Creek Greenway but on private property. I never get tired of photographing it. I’ve been confronted  by the owners of the property once or twice when doing macro of puffballs and acorns but they seem to decide I’m harmless when I tell them how much I love their tree.

Day 17 – Stairs

Stairs

So if this looks a lot like yesterday’s image I count that as a success. My online art group had an assignment this month to create three related images processed in the same way. Since I didn’t get around to shooting something new today I thought I would go back to the Lithia Park images and give it a try. Same black and white conversion in Silver Efex Pro, same Dark Sepia toning, same texture from 2 Lil Owls. And also shot with the Burnside 35. Something about rustic stairs I can never resist. I think the third in the series may also be of stairs.

Day 16 – Bridge

Bridge

Today I decided to take a camera walk in Ashland. I circled across the plaza and in to Lithia Park. I had the Burnside 35 mounted on the Canon EOS R, aka the big girl mirrorless camera. One reason I like this image is that it lets the Burnside strut it’s stuff. You can see how it fades off into blur with just a hint of twist in the bokah. I also like the dappling of sun through the boards on the bridge. For processing I made it a monotone with a sepia finish. Then I added a texture which brings back just a hint of color.

Sunset Coos Bay

Sunset2

Another beautiful sunset at the coast this week. In fact this one was right up there with the best I’ve ever seen. From the time this was shot as the sun was dipping below the horizon until about an hour later the sky just kept getting more and more colorful. I debated whether to post this one or one of the more colorful ones but I thought this one was more interesting with the sillouettes of the old piers.

Harris Beach Sunset

HarrisBeachSunset

Between the weather, my schedule, and an arthritic hip I was afraid my Oregon Coast Project was going to fall apart in May. But, the stars aligned for a quick overnight trip to Brookings on the 30th and 31st and I was rewarded with a gorgeous sunset at Harris Beach.

I was experimenting with long exposures using a strong neutral density filter and got some great results.