Well, I don’t have much to show for yesterday. I ate something that disagreed with me and was down for the count with only 4 images and none of them very good. Had I been up to par I would have switched to a longer lens and zoomed in on some parts of these falls. Our instructor has been cursing the sun as that does not make for the best light to shoot waterfalls.
Today’s quote is from Erich Fromm:
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
I arrived safely in Hood River and had time to go try my hand at photographing Wind Surfers. I was trying to capture the motion by letting it intentionally blur but I may have gone too far. I also wish I had not cut off the top of the sail. But it was the best I could do on short notice. The ones going slow or that I stopped the motion on were pretty boring. Actually, after looking at some of the art on the hotel walls, I think it is pretty good.
Today’s quote is from Rachel Carson:
What if I had never seen this before? What if I would never see it again?
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.
On the coast road from Sutherlin to Reedsport is this barn which I have photographed a number of times. Sometimes the sheep are present, sometimes not. But the fall color made it particularly scenic this time. I had the Velvet 85 on the camera so I just went with it. It was pretty soft out of the camera so I thought to give it an impressionistic look but in scrolling through Topaz Studio, I came across a filter called clear day which actually sharpened things up a bit for a look I really love.
Finally finding some time to process images from the April trip to the coast. I was playing with this one as a possible black and white and after cloning out some trees I like the simple effect but I missed the color. Tried some blend modes to bring it back a little and found that luminosity did just what I wanted.
This particular lighthouse is hard to photograph because it is so accessible. There is no photographing it from a distance as a landscape element. But up close there are lots of fences and signs to contend with. Not to mention the trees I photoshopped out. So I’m pretty happy with this intimate portrait feel of just the top of the lighthouse with some sky showing in the background.
I’m breaking with tradition this year and not posting the image of the year from 2018 as the first image of the week for 2019. For one thing I am still going through the images from last year and at last count there were about 10,000 before editing out the clunkers. For another, the one I would probably choose appeared here just a month ago. It was so overwhelming I decided not to use it as the sidebar image this year either but chose something simpler. But, perhaps most importantly I wanted to feature a new project I am starting this year which requires me to visit the Oregon Coast for at least two days every month in 2019. I wanted to start it off right so scheduled a trip from Jan 2-5 with fingers crossed on the weather. I lucked out and had three beautiful days with rain starting just as I was ready to go home. I arrived in Gold Beach a little late due to circumstances beyond my control but had time to hustle on down to the Rogue River Bridge in time for sunset. Not sure why they need those tall metal poles in the river but otherwise not a bad shot. Handheld with then new EOS R mirrorless. Starting to really love that camera.
Well, I missed the image of the week altogether last week and I’m running late this week. I guess that means my life is full. Took my Mom to the coast to celebrate her 84th birthday last week. We enjoyed pretty good weather but there was a storm lurking offshore so we also got some pretty good wave action. It took a few tries but I caught this one just at the critical point. Just added some saturation and sharpening in post. I also tried this one in black and white but I liked the color version better.
I was working on culling the files this week and came across this one from my June trip to the coast that I had processed in Topaz Impression. It just made me go Oh, Wow, I really like that so I thought I would make it the image of the week since I have mostly been working on learning new tricks in Photoshop but do not yet have a lot to show for it.
Here’s something a little different. I have been doing an online course in Photoshop Artistry and came up with this impression of Portland from my recent visit. I started with a skyline image taken from the Pittock mansion then added an image from my files of a rain streaked window. Then I did a selection of the umbrella man at Pioneer Courthouse square. I added a rose from the International Rose Test Garden for the city of Roses using a gradient mask to blend it in without obscuring the skyline. Finally, just in case you didn’t recognize it I put in a selection from the Portland theater sign. Not bad for a beginner.