My neighbor’s Irises are a little further along than mine. Mine are just starting to bud but have no color showing yet. I played with this one for quite awhile. I had envisioned it with some French script in the background but ran out of time before I found the look I was going for. Maybe next time.
Today from Julia Cameron:
All human beings are creative. The more we can accept and welcome that fact, the more normal our own creativity can become.
After a long hard day of genealogy, imagine my dismay when I realized I had to postpone binge watching Downton Abbey to do a post. Fortunately I had some Ranunculus images on had to work with. I added a high pass filter to sharpen up the texture and a texture to fuzz up the edges.
It’s Sunday so it’s time to turn to a different source for my quotes. This week I will be drawing from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way Every Day so most of the quotes will be from Julia herself:
Humans are complex, creative beings, and when we create something that expresses our own complexity, we arrive at an inner distillate of clarity through our own creative inner process.
My neighbor’s pink dogwood is just starting to bloom. I always love the flowing lines of dogwood blossoms. The light was a bit harsh this morning so I’m looking forward to trying again when we have some clouds this weekend.
Today’s quote is from photographer Aaron Siskind:
We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect… But, as photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs.
Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. I woke up at 2:00 this morning and realized I had not posted anything yesterday. Not because I never thought of it, I did, about 20 times but it kept getting shoved to the back burner and never got done. Oh, well, I will just post two images today in order to stay on track. This one was shot in a neighbor’s front porch pot the other day. I’m not sure where the yellow came from but I liked the contrast with the purple.
Today’s quote is attributed to Taoist philosopher Chuang-Tzu:
In all things, the Way does not want to be obstructed, for if there is obstruction there is choking; if the choking does not cease, there is disorder; and disorder harms the life of all creatures.
Well, I threatened to go back and take another crack at the Dandelion seeds with a macro lens. I’m not sure if this is better or just different. I think the depth of field is still a little off from perfection. When I went out earlier with Cody it was dead calm. I should have grabbed the camera right then and there. In stead I piddled around for an hour and the wind had come up significantly. So, this may just have to be the beginning of a series.
And for our last day with Matthew Fox, from the man himself:
Creativity takes courage — courage to explore one’s deepest self and to let in the depths of the world’s struggles and joys, torments and agony.
I’m feeling kind of lazy today. Let’s just blame in on the COVID vaccine. Anyway, here’s another one from my adventures with the Dandelion’s yesterday.
And from Matthew Fox:
‘Creativity’ may be the nearest one-word definition we possess for the essence of our humanity, for the true meaning of ‘soul.’
Something many photography teachers talk about is capturing the essence of your subject. I have been noticing that the dandelions are taking over the little green space we have in our neighborhood and went out this morning with the artistic vision of capturing a gone to seed dandelion with the yellow of a fresh flower behind it. I had to crop in quite a bit to get to this image but it comes close to my vision though it is not quite there yet. I think I will have to go back with a different lens when it is less windy and try again.
From Matthew Fox:
The intimacy of creativity corresponds to the mystical experience itself.
So, yes, I was getting pretty bored with the neighborhood. I took a drive out through the orchards and into the Applegate Valley where I found a few interesting things to photograph, including this farm equipment. I started out with the standard shot of the whole thing but then started zooming in further and further looking for interesting shapes and lines. I rendered this as a black and white but then lowered the opacity on that layer to bring back just enough color to keep it interesting.
Robert Louis Stevenson is the author of today’s quote:
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
There is a patch of poppies in the ‘hood that appear to have come up voluntarily. The trouble with poppies is that they don’t open up until after the wind starts blowing so it is very hard to get a good picture of them. I had to adjust the crop on this one as it moved after I had framed it in camera. I also opened the shadows to put emphasis on the center of the flower. I liked how the texture I chose not only darkened the corners but also added so genuine texture to the flower as well as giving it more depth.
Today’s quote is attributed to Pete Turner. No idea who he is:
Ultimately, simplicity is the goal in every art, and achieving simplicity is one of the hardest things to do.
It was another one of those days when I was going “Oh crap, I have to go out and find something to photograph.” So, I took the M3 for a quick walk around the neighborhood. The light was harsh, the wind was blowing and I wasn’t having much success. I had it in mind to do a close up of these blossoms when the bee just happened along. I had to futz with the exposure quite a bit due to the white blossoms and backlighting but I think I finally got there. Added a vignette to darken the corners and help the bee stand out.
Our quote today is from Henri Matisse:
Merely copying an object is not art. What counts is to express the emotion called forth in you, the feeling awakened…