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.
Well, the poppies are going to town all around the neighborhood. I went out with the Lensbaby Sweet50 lens, which is designed to have a sweet spot of focus with everything around it in blur. I came back with over 50 images most of which were throwaways due to the difficultly of getting the right spot in focus and the added complication of wind. This one, however, came pretty close to my vision.
Today’s quote is from photographer Minor White:
The photographer projects himself into everything he sees, identifying himself with everything in order to know it and to feel it better.
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.
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.
One of my favorite photography and texture gurus is a big fan of Ranunculus which is a flower I had never encountered before. So, I ordered some for my once a month flower gift to myself. They arrived today so I took them right up to the studio and started shooting with the Lensbaby Velvet 56. This was my favorite result. I love the variety of colors and the texture of the petals.
Today’s quote is from Edward Weston, a photographer of bygone days who was famous for his seductive black and white photos of green peppers:
Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.
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.
My Tulips are in full bloom and looking very elegant if I do say so myself.
Again from Matthew Fox:
Among the Celts, “imagination” means soul. Celtic scholar John O’Donohue points out that in the Celtic way of seeing the world, the “soul” “is the place where the imagination lives.”
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.’