Category: Art

Day 63 – Crystals

Crystals

I took another camera walk in Medford today, still working with the Velvet 56 mounted on the EOS R, but the light was flat and nothing really inspired me so as I was walking past the antique mall I thought, “Oh, why not.” I got a few strange looks but no one threw me out. Did I mention that I paid $50 extra to get the silver version of the Velvet 56? It is quite the attention getter…  I have gotten more comments on that lens! I’m starting to think black might have been a better choice. But, getting back to the antique mall, I was especially taken with some Pollyanna style lamps with hanging crystals. I added a high pass filter and brightened things up a bit. And, since yesterday was new texture day at the texture club I chose a subtle grunge texture that added just what this image needed.

Day 61 – Red Teddy Bear

RedTeddy2

Well, I’m sure there’s a story here somewhere. I decided to take the Velvet 56 over to my favorite sunflower patch. They aren’t doing too well, by the way. Along the way I encountered this Teddy Bear leaning up against a garbage can looking oh so forlorn. I desaturated all but the bear but the grey seemed a little too stark so I added a filter with a reddish tone.

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 44 – Airport Abstract

Abstract

Every day I think I really need to get out there and take some new images. But I haven’t been able to think of much that I haven’t already done. And every day jet lag kicks in a little later but it still knocks me out by 4pm. So, then I start rooting around in the archives for something interesting. Any guesses as to what this is? Well, the answer is it is a stainless steel wall texture at the entrance to the ladies room. I blew out the saturation and vibrance to emphasize the colors reflected in the otherwise silver wall. I’m not sure at this point if I was using the Sweet50 or the Trio28, probably the latter.

Day 41 – Bicycle

Bicycle

Well, I think I’ve about milked the camera walk in Arles for all it’s worth. Jet lag is still with me and I could not find the energy to go out and shoot today. But tomorrow I have something in mind so I hope it won’t be raining in the morning when I’m most awake. this one I processed in Topaz Studio to give it a grungy look. I just liked the blue which came out of nowhere.

Day 39 – Farm – Willamette Valley

Farm

The clouds broke as I was traveling south so I decided to pull off the freeway for awhile and see what I could find to photograph. Plenty to photograph, not many places to pull off the road. I ended up with only two images for my effort. I decided to give this one a grunge effect in Topaz Studio 2. I was so tired when I got home I didn’t get this uploaded until today so I’m still playing catch up and hope I will get back on track soon.

Day 32 – Fountain at Night, Bordeaux

Fountain

I was returning to the hotel after dinner last night and stopped to try a shot of the fountain with the Trio 28 mounted on the M100. I especially liked the effect on the street lamp. I was also pleased to see the man looking at the fountain blurred out to add an element of intrigue instead of an annoying distraction. In post processing I just bumped up the exposure, clarity, and vibrance and added a little sharpening.

Day 31 – Mosaic

Mosaic

I made a real effort to get some new lensbaby images starting with a walk to the train station in the morning. I found these lovely travel posters done in tile. This particular one happened to be of a chateau we were to visit that day. Shot with the sweet 50. I don’t know that the blurring of the title really works and though I worked on the right side, I can see I may not have done enough. But, unfortunately I don’t have time to do more right now as I am way behind on my travel blog (http://jeannehoadley.com/Travel in case you haven’t checked it out.

Day 28 – D Day Crosses

Crosses

We had a full day of learning about D Day. Way more information than I wanted or needed. It was sobering and moving to see the nearly 10,000 crosses (and a few stars of David) marking the graves of those who died in what would ultimately be one of the decisive campaigns of World War II. 

This was captured using the Sweet 50 on the M3. I did ultimately bring the Edge 35 just to use on this day but in the end I found it too wide to tell the story I wanted to tell. Post processing was just a little added contrast and a high pass filter to sharpen the edges of the crosses.

Day 10 – Another Sunflower

Sunflower_081019

Different day, different camera, different lens. I had some business at the Talent Library this morning so I slung the M100 with Trio28 over my shoulder for the wolk over there. Just for fun I threw the new extension tubes I just bought for the M cameras into the bag. This was shot on the velvet setting at my favorite sunflower patch. I wasn’t too happy with the grey area in the lower right corner so I started throwing on textures. I got through about half my texture files before I found a combination I liked. But I am happy with what I can do with the Trio 28 and a small extension tube.