It’s raining today in Southern Oregon so I just popped out the back door to see how my Camelia bush was doing. Everything from new buds like this one to full flowers laying on the ground.
from Confucious:
Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.
The willows along the Greenway are a in varying stages of development.
From John O’Donahue:
“The Human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion and in ourselves. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming.”
Here are some blossoms to remind us that spring is here and there is beauty everywhere in spite of it all. Get out there and take it in. The air is fresh and clean. It’s people you need to avoid not being outdoors as I have heard some express.
After keeping and eagle eye on the weather for a month I finally got a break on the same day I didn’t have to be anywhere so that I could escape to Jedediah Smith State Park to kick off the Redwoods National and State Parks project. It was a good start but I wish I had been able to stay a little longer. Maybe next time. I did get a few ideas on how to approach the project and look forward to the months ahead and many trips to the redwoods. And here is the art piece I made to highlight some of my favorite things from my hikes that day.
Well, this past week was not very conducive to nature photography, unless you like snow, which I don’t. So, I had to reach back to a walk in Lithia Park the week before when I captured this nice image of some catkins hanging over the creek. I’m hoping to get out and find some more birds tomorrow so wish me luck.
And here is the art piece that goes with this one. In all honesty I’m not sure this was such a good idea but maybe if I get some images to work with a little earlier in the week I won’t feel so pressured to get an art piece done AND post the image of the week.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Well, thank goodness there are only 8 more days in this project. I had my second day of training at the genealogy library today and totally spaced out doing an image for today. That is until I was just getting snuggled into bed. So, I randomly dipped into the archives and ran across some images captured with the Trio 28 back in September at an antiques show. I thought this sax might look good in black and white and, oh yes, I think it does. Besides the conversion I just added a high pass filter to bring out more of the detail on the bell of the sax. Now, I can go back to bed.