I abandoned the 365 day project last week because it was not bringing me joy and it was not making me a better photographer. But in the breathing space that followed I neglected to take any pictures last week so I decided to go back into the early weeks of the project to find something worthy of sharing. This image of star anise and cinnamon sticks was shot on January 5.
A busy week and more wind had me grabbing whatever was at hand to check off the box that I did my image of the day. I did like the way these bottles came out though hindsight says I should have arranged them a little differently with respect to the background.
It wasn’t a great week for photography. Though we did get some breaks in the weather it was still cold and the winter landscape mostly uninspiring. I found myself grabbing whatever was close at hand and taking a few shots just to check off the box. Yesterday, after a full day working at the Genealogy Library, I just picked up the camera, pointed it out the window and took a shot and called it done. In fairness, I had intended to go to the rose garden after my shift but it had started to rain, which was not in the forecast, so I was not only tired but a bit exasperated. In any case the blueberries turned out pretty well in spite of my bad attitude. Hoping for better things this week with a change of scenery coming the next few days.
The upside of being forced to shoot in the studio every day is that I am remembering all the things I have gathered for just such an occasion. the birdcage was inspired by a class I am working on called “Inspired” by Denise Love, my texture guru. It took awhile to get all the pieces together for the shoot as I had to create my own background using paint and water color paper. I do like the way it came together and I am reminded I have a lot more videos in that class to inspire me.
Another one of those days when twelve more days can’t come soon enough. My monthly bouquet from Farm Girl Flowers arrived yesterday and I snapped a few shots as I went out the door for my volunteer day at the Genealogy Library. I wasn’t very happy with any of them. Took this one through Topaz and got something I could live with.
Today’s quote is from William Blake:
Some see nature all ridicule and deformity – and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
Here’s something a little different. It was way too windy for flower photography today so I decided to play with some wooden blocks I have been collecting from Antique shows. Then ran it through several software programs until I got a look I liked.
Today’s quote is from Henry David Thoreau:
The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
Here’s another one from yesterday’s studio session. I snagged my Mom’s old typewriter a couple of years ago for no other reason than to use as a photography prop. The Lensbaby Spark added some cool effects to the keys and I added a couple of textures for some much needed punch of color.
Today’s quote is from Erich Fromm:
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
So, I’m taking a water color class through OLLI and I spent all morning working on my homework for that and Wednesday’s I spend the afternoon at the Genealogy Library working on volunteer projects. So, I decided to just dip into the archives and see what I could find to process in a unique way. This lemon was a little too “real” in it’s natural out of the camera format so I gave it a treatment in Topaz Impressions and like the painterly look.
Today from Julia Cameron:
The act of making art is a direct path to God.
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.
Here’s another Ranunculus for you. I have been trying to get my head around the class I’m teaching for the Genealogy Library next month so photography wasn’t at the top of my list for today. So, I was glad I had this image from yesterday to fall back on.
Today’s quote is from photographer Carlos Jurado:
Art allows us to expand the dimensions of our everyday life.