Be Still #19: Organic

The prompt for Week 19 (yes, I'm doing some catching up) in the Be Still still life photography class I'm taking was "organic." Since we get a box of organic produce from a local farm every week, it was an easy choice to grab some of the contents for this week's photo shoot. I added my little blue honey pot and a rubber stamp shaped like a rooster to complete the scene. I shot with the light behind me and my camera balanced on a chair to get a nice sharp focus, even thought it was a gloomy day and this counter is in the middle of my kitchen. I was very happy with the results!

I also decided to shoot this bucket off lemons picked from our tree - our yard is very organic! I loved the color combination and the side-lighting, but it seemed a little plain.

So I added some garden gloves and some lemon-related kitchen implements. I like the story it tells about someone working in the yard, getting ready to make a lemon meringue pie or something. The bucket was right up against the sliding glass door for this one, which created some nice shadows I think. Got a favorite today?

Setting an Intention for June: 3D Mixed Media

This year, I am exploring the various types of art and craft that I have practiced over the last ten years, trying to decide where each fits in my creative life (or even if it does anymore). So far, I have focused on still life photography, sketching, scrapbooking, card making and art journaling. This month, I am setting the intention to focus on 3D mixed media work (such as canvases, assemblage and plaster).  I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty and digging through my stash!

I think this will also be a terrifically fun way to participate in this year's Summer of Color event. If you've never played along before, you should definitely consider it. Details can be found at this link.  Last year, I made little houses but only completed five out of the six color schemes. I had actually selected paint, house parts and embellishment or the color scheme of tangerine, raspberry with a touch of lemon but never put it all together. So, yesterday I did, and here's the result (front and back).

And here are all six of my houses together.

 

Who else is doing summer of color this year? What are you planning to work with?

Be Still #20/Photo Pairs: Catching Your Breath

In the still life photography class I'm taking, this week's assignment was no assignment. It was the second breathing break built into the class, in order to give students a chance to reflect on the lessons and catch up. For this week's assignment, I'm sharing two "found" still lifes, both taken at the Filoli Gardens.

These are very different, but I think they both capture the idea of being still and catching your breath. I'm linking them up with Helena's Photo Pairs this week. And asking, do you have a preference between these two?

Still Life vs. Nature Photography

In the still life photography class I'm taking, Kim Klassen posted a couple prompts on "found" still lifes or real life still lifes. Basically, scenes from your life which look like or qualify as still lifes. She included a photograph from her yard. It made me think about the difference between still life photography and nature photography. Kim's approach to still life photography is that it's about the process - about breathing and finding quiet, stillness and peace. And she suggested that you can find that without posing or choreographing a photograph. While I was in Oregon, I tried to find an appropriate nature still life.  I took the photograph above. What do you think? Is that a still life? I think it's a beautiful photograph, and it captures stillness and peace. I'm glad I took it and it's one of the types of photographs I love to take. But, to me, the thing I have liked about the still life photography class has been the creating, posing and choreographing of shots. It's kind of like creating a painting or drawing but using props and my camera instead. I didn't think nature photography could be still life photography.

And then this happened. I was walking to work, and I "found" this scene. The lighting, the colors, and the composition all screamed "still life" to me. So I got out my iphone and captured the image. And now I think I get what Kim was getting at. There are some still lifes, some vignettes, out there to be found in nature. They have been posed by an unseen hand, but posed nonetheless. Created to draw the viewer in and experience peace and quiet. And stillness.
Thoughts?

Be Still #16: Sharper Focus

This week's lesson in Kim Klassen's Be Still 52 still life photography class was about finding a nice sharp focus.

She suggested using flowers and tea cups. So I did.

In addition, I continued to play with cropping. And light.  And perspective.

And I came up with four photographs which I really liked. Although I think the first and third shots are my favorites. What about you? Do you have a favorite among this week's shots (remember,you can click on them to enlarge them and see them more clearly)?

Happy Birthday Henry

I can't believe that my boy turns 20 years old today. No longer a teenager; not quite a man. 
At 20, Henry is:
*finishing up his sophomore year at the University of Oregon and switching his major to Applied Business and Economics within General Social Science;
*planning to do a summer internship with an independent league professional baseball team called the Vallejo Admirals. He'll be spending 70% of his time in marketing; 20% in media relations; and 10% floating around to see all the various aspects of running a (small) professional sports team;
*hoping to get a job as a student manager for the University of Oregon mens baseball team;
*enjoying the brotherhood he has found in the Sigma Chi fraternity;
*looking forward to moving out of the frat house and into a regular house next school year with six other friends;
*remaining close with many of his high school friends;
*cheering on Manchester United, the San Francisco Giants, the Golden State Warriors, and the University of Oregon Ducks;
*hoping to go see J.Cole this summer and planning to go to Outside Lands and a few country concerts as well;
*playing intramural softball and soccer, as well as excelling at club soccer.

I can't believe how much he's grown while still remaining my boy.  Love you son.

Real Life Still Life: Bedroom Views (Be Still 52/Photo Pairs)

 Last week's prompt in the Still Life Photography class I'm taking was to shoot a "real life" still life. Rather than posing, choreographing or creating a scene, the prompt challenged us to look around and find a still life in our real life. I found these two in my bedroom, and I'm linking them to Helena's Photography Pairs weekly meme as well. The top one is my craft desk and the bottom one is my bedside table. I like the composition and moodiness of both. The biggest problem with found still lifes is that you're also dealing with found light. But I drew on the various lighting exercises we've been doing in the class to create these two shots. And I really like both of them. What do you think?

Pretty Pastels (Be Still #12): Americaunus Eggs

The Week 12 assignment in the Be Still 52 class was to photograph something pastel for Easter. Yes, Easter. I'm catching up a bit. But that's okay. So, I decided to gather some pastel eggs from our Americaunus hens and pose them on a lace jacket.

Played with some backlighting and also pulled out that spoon from an earlier lesson that I feel like I never quite mastered. This spoon is from a silver set I inherited from my paternal Grandmother. I have always loved the floral detail.

Played around with another accent spoon - one that had a nice tarnish on it. More backlighting. I like how these turned out. 
And now it's time to make an omelette!

Be Still 52 #13: Baby Things

Week #13 in the Be Still 52 Still Life Photography class was about going back to basics. For me, I decided to use this prompt to try to create some still lifes with my son's baby rattle that I found a few weeks ago when looking for a spoon. I added a few other baby things, including a plaster mold we made when Henry was four months old.

Experimented with different lighting and depths of field

I don't think I can choose a favorite.

Can you?

Setting an Intention for April: Card Making

This month, I am continuing my exploration of the various parts of my creative life by setting an intention to focus on card making. For many years, I taught card making classes and bought tons of stamps for cards. Now, the supplies sit lonely and unused. I purged a lot of them two years ago.  Am I ready to give the rest of them up? I don't know.  I really am not sure where card making fits in my creative life (or if it does at all), but I am looking forward to the journey.  

Photo Pairs: Diagonal Lighting (Be Still 52)

Circle of Life

 

Waiting for a Light

This week's assignment in Kim Klassen's Be Still 52 still life photography class was to experiment with diagonal lighting. I'm not sure I ever understood the lesson exactly because as I moved around, the light was no longer coming in on a diagonal (and the lesson encouraged us to move around). The lesson also involved photographing a spoon, but I got reflections in the spoon which I found distracting. So I moved on to other objects.
But, at the end of the shoot and my post-editing session, I ended up with these two photographs which I like a lot. Plus, I'm really excited to take more shots with Henry's baby rattle (which I discovered in the silver drawer when I was looking for a spoon). So, it's all good!
I'm sharing these as part of Helena's photo pairs meme. I'll let you title the connection.

1 photo, 20 words: Language of Flowers

A surprise gift and lovely book tie-in at book group.
In the Victorian language of flowers, freesias symbolize everlasting friendship. 
*************************************************************************
Linking up with Abi at Creating Paper Dreams who challenges bloggers to tell the story of one photograph in just 20 words.

Backlit Freesia: Photo Pair for Be Still #8

The topic for this week's lesson the Be Still 52 still life class is back lighting. It's not something I have played around with much at all before. At least not on purpose! I'm a full frontal light kind of gal usually. But I do like how this class is stretching me to try new things. One of my biggest take-aways is that the back lighting needs to be filtered or muted in some way - here I simply closed the curtain.

The back lighting definitely gives a moodier, dreamier feel to the photographs. For both of these, I only cropped and sharpened them. Otherwise, left them SOOC ("straight out of the camera"), not adjusting the brightness or contrast or color saturation the way I usually might. For comparison, here's another shot (in a different window) where I did adjust these things:

It's pretty in a more conventional, less dark and dreamy way. I think I like the first one best. What about you? Do you have a favorite? Hint: they're easier to see if you click on them to enlarge them.
Good lesson this week, and I'm linking them up with Helena's photo pairs.

Setting an Intention for March: Art Journaling

This year, as part of my "one little word" (selfhood), I am exploring the various areas of my art work to see what I wish to do more of, less of, or abandon all together. In January, I focused on sketching. In February, I focused on scrapbooking. This month, I am setting an intention to focus on art journaling to see where that fits in my creative life.

Playing with Distance: Still Life 52 #7

Tres Flores

This week's lesson in Be Still 52 focuses upon placing objects at various differences and adjusting the focus. I found the lesson fairly difficult to master, but I eventually created Tres Flores, above. I like the soft colors and curves/rounded shapes throughout the photograph. I shot this downstairs in my studio in the afternoon. I get a lot of direct sunlight from the southwest facing window in the afternoon, but a cloud passed over right before I took this shot. 

Beneath my heart

After the sun came back out, I had to switch the direction I was shooting  because the light was too bright. Although there's not that much distance between the three objects in the photograph, I played a lot with where to place the focus. Eventually, I really like the way the eye is drawn into the words and the heart.
Both of these were shot with my 50 mm lens. I may try this lesson again with my 80mm lens tomorrow.

More Thoughts on Scrapbooking and Product Reviews

Feathering My Nest

It's three-fourths of the way through February, a month in which I have been focusing on scrapbooking. So far, I have organized my already-printed photographs and layouts; completed Henry's birthday album; completed Clara's middle school album; scrapped 6 pages to complete my 2010 chronological album; scrapped 18 pages to complete my 2011 chronological album; updated my Christmas card photo albums and made Clara two photo books with her cross country and track photos from sophomore year.  

These last few days have been spent "feathering my nest" by going through all the photographs on my computer and iphone and trying to get them organized (at least in my head). I ordered all the photographs from my computer that I plan to scrap with paper, as well as photos to complete Clara's birthday album. 

I continue to find the 2,500 photos on my camera roll on my iphone a challenge to organize and order. But I did make some headway by following everyone's advice about getting Dropbox as an easy way to get the photos off my phone and on to my computer. I have been finding the dropbox-shutterfly interface to work pretty easily, so I will keep using that to order photos off my phone for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Then I resolve to reclaim the storage space on my phone by deleting the old photos from my camera roll! And to use my big camera more. 

One of the biggest epiphanies I had while looking through all these photos was that the best way to deal with a big bunch of them is to create a photo book for Clara's work at the Humane Society and Guide Dogs for the Blind. I have never taken my big camera along to these places, but I have hundreds of photos on my iphone from our time volunteering. 

So, at the end of week 3 of February, here are my remaining projects:

1. Photo book with Clara's volunteer work at Humane Society and Guide Dogs (probably 8x8 from shutterfly).

2. Photo book with Barcelona pictures (probably 12x12 mixbook).

3. Order photos from iphone (through Dropbox and Shuttefly).

4. Organize 2012, 2013 and 2014/2015 to paper scrap.

5. Scrap 2012, 2013 and 2014/2015.

6. Update Henry's sports album
7. My heritage/genealogy album - a project I haven't mentioned before because it's always on the very bottom of my to-do list. But it is something I would like to do . . . someday!
8. And, finally, I do occasionally think about taking our wedding photos out of the album we received 30 years ago and scrapping them (mainly so I can add journaling). Not sure I will ever do this. Thoughts appreciated on this one!

I know I won't get through these all before the end of February, but I will probably go ahead and move on to my March intention, while continuing to work on these projects for the rest of the year (or the rest of my life - LOL!).

And now for some quick product reviews:

Shutterfly 12x12 Hardcover Photo Books

Love these! I made one for Clara's sophomore XC season and one for Clara's sophomore track season. More importantly, she loved them and asked immediately if I would make her one for this year! Since all my photos were already up on the shutterfly site, the photo book part went together really quickly. It took a bit longer to go back and add the journaling. The quality is good, and they came really quickly in the mail. They can be a bit pricey, but they are very affordable if you wait until there's an appropriate sale (because there's always a sale at shutterfly, and retailmenot often has discount codes as well). I got mine during a 50% off hard cover book sale, plus found a free shipping code and another code for some additional percentage off my entire order. I'll definitely use shutterfly to make her photo books for the rest of her running seasons and will use them for a book on her volunteer work.

Shutterfly Prints

Eh, all of okay. Quality is basically fine, especially if I'm printing iphone photos. Price is very reasonable. Order takes a loooong time to arrive in the mail. I'll use them to order the rest of the photos I want from my iphone, since their interface with drop box works pretty well.

Persnickety Prints

I really liked the quality of these! The photographs arrived super fast. More costly than Shutterfly, but the couple of cents difference is such a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of all my other scrapbooking supplies. Since I truly believe that the photos should be the star of the layout, I don't mind paying more. I'll continue to use this service to print photographs taken with my DSLR. Thanks to Melissa and Karen for suggesting this service in response to this post. Blog friends really do offer the best advice!

Drop Box

Thanks to Missus Wookie and Helena for suggesting this service in response to this recent post.  I had to upgrade to accommodate all the photos on my iphone and camera, but I'm happy to have a safe backup for my photos. And I'm very happy to find a low-frustration way to get photos off my iphone and into print! I'm also hoping I can use it as an easy way to upload photos from my iphone onto my blog. Still experimenting with it, since I thought I had cropped my toes out of the photobook photo, but they showed up in the drop box photo! LOL! I'm thinking that it preserves the original photo, not the unedited one, which is a bit of a bummer. Any advice from you drop box gurus?

Props! Be Still #6

my cup runneth over

This week's topic in the Still Life class I'm taking is props. I have LOTS of props. I collect all kinds of things. I especially like glass ware and linens. And old thing. Vintage things. I love the things I inherited from my mom, from my Grandma, from my Aunt Vera. And I love the things I have bought at antique stores and junque shops.

Slightly unbalanced

I have always been partial to these egg shell tea cups, even though they don't match anything else I own and don't really serve any purpose other than looking cool. So I pulled them out to play with this week.

cup of pearls

I took lots and lots of photographs using the cups, my pearls and a vintage apron. I was proud of myself for being able to pare them down to these three, all of which I really love.
Do you have a favorite among them?

Thoughts on Sketching, Scrapbooking and Balancing Creative Endeavors

As part of my one little word for this year ("selfhood"), I'm exploring my various creative endeavors by setting a different creative intention each month and exploring where that bit of creativity fits in my life. In January, I focused on sketching and began to develop a style I liked. Here are my last two January sketches:

In February,I've been keeping up with the sketching, but in a faster and more relaxed style that fits me. Here are two recent examples of what I mean:

I did these two sketches in about 15 minutes while waiting for my daughter to be ready to leave for an appointment. They fulfilled my need for a quick art fix and are the types of things that I can incorporate into my art journals. I think this is where I need to go with my drawing/find arts. I don't think I have the patience or desire to learn how to draw better, paint, etc. As a result, I think I'm going to officially give up on the Studying Under the Masters class which I bought in 2014 and worked about half-way through. It was a good class, but not something which feeds my creative passions at the moment. 
In February, I've started to focus on scrapbooking. I made two huge photobooks at shutterfly for Clara, using her cross country and track photos from last year. I got these done during the 50% off sale on hard cover books. I need to make one more book but want to wait for the next sale. I also updated my Christmas card photo albums and ordered a bunch of current photos to scrap. I'm trying pernsnickety prints for ones taken with my big camera and ordered some iphone prints from shutterfly. I have found that neither the shutterfly nor the persnickety iphone apps work very well - they tend to crash half way through the ordering process. Very, extremely frustrating!  Look for some actual scrapbook pages coming soon. I also need to do some organizing to figure out what other photos I have to be scrapped (either printed already or on my computer hard drive).

I'm also very much enjoying the still life photo class I've been taking. 

Which brings me to the question of balance. I'm trying to figure out to make time for all my various creative pursuits. How do I fit in scrap booking and sketching and photography? Let alone art journaling, card making and the other intentions I have lined up to examine this year? Are you able to balance a variety of creative endeavors? If so, how? Do you do a "fly by the seat of your pants approach?" Or something more structured?

Country Morning Still Life, Round 2 (Be Still 52 #5)

Yesterday, I posted the top still life, which is cropped, but otherwise straight out of the camera. I shot it with side lighting on the right a white reflector on the left. I did no post processing because it was part of a lesson on capturing light in various ways. 

This second image is the same one processed on my computer to make it more to my liking. I brightened the image, increased the color saturation a bit, decreased the contrast and sharpened it a little.
Just for fun, I took the image with basic side-lighting (no reflector) and processed it to my liking. this is what I ended up with:

I had to use add more brightness and decrease the contrast even more to get this result. And I don't like it as much as the one taken with the reflector. What that tells me is that, even though post-processing can help, it is still better to get the lighting right during the shoot.
Again, the differences become a little clearer if you click on the photographs to enlarge them.