february love

i've been gone a month.

wow. 

i went on vacation for 10 days to florida.

when i was there, i took over 2000 pictures. 

i waited until i came home to edit them.  

but when i got home, i also wanted to shoot each day. 

this winter has been cold and snowy but one of the most beautiful i can ever remember...

so as a result, i was buried under thousands more images. 

it's been a wonderful time, but i am overwhelmed with it all.  in a good way...

here is a few of the moments i love from my lovely month of February...

snowy owl on cape cod

snow storm, west yarmouth

a touch of spring while it snows outside...

a young bald eagle at the connecticut river

i can see her soul there in her eyes...do you see it too??

Mallory Square sunset...

the sign says no diving...it doesn't say anything about a running jump :)

worn and weathered...

island colors ...

walking the streets of key west...

more key west streets

mellow yellow...

on the beach!  EGRET.   ON. THE. BEACH.  i love this place...

making hats, seaside...

blue eyed pelican

street entertainer...i kept giving him money.  he juggled fire.  on his face.  and took his shirt off.  this guy was amazing  :)

pink beauty!

heart to heart...

i love photography. 

not only was i there, seeing a snowy owl,

a eagle child, an egret on the beach, a pair of flamingos,

i am reliving it as i go through my pictures. 

my ability to appreciate a moment increases dramatically when i snap a photo,

and then again when i edit an image and see it come to life.

and when i share it, or just look at it by myself,

i feel that thrill again and again....

i am living a good life, a very good life indeed :)

more images from the wonderful month of february...

still life, week 3

this week's assignment in Cheryl McCain's class Frugal Still Life Photography

was to use 3 items, modeled after the guest blogger's example. 

thank you to Barb from Keeping With The Times 

who shared her tips and techniques as the guest blogger :)

here is my final image...

 i took quite a few shots before landing on this set up.

i knew i wanted to use the old silver container with some bittersweet vines, 

but wasn't sure what to put with it that would keep it simple but add some interest.  

after some failed attempts, i ended up using some old books i had painted white 

and some antique keys.  

i added a texture from Kim Klassen.  

the texture is called To Be and it is one of my all-time favorites. 

i considered adding a quote, but since the books had words on them, 

i left the quote off the final image.

this is the pull-back image of the set up.

i tried burlap for the table cover but it added too much texture and color. 

i liked it better when i switched to an old white tea towel.

as a background, 

i used a white foam core board, folded (i scored the board so it would fold)...

i used a 40mm lens, on 2.8 fstop, 1/160 sec.  

i did not use a tripod but had some good light in the patio area.

mister, the cat, observed but did not participate :)

LINKS:

sharing with cheryl's group, and also Texture Tuesday
cheryl mccain link - http://cherylmccainphotography.com/category/workshops/frugal-still-life-photography/
barb's link -http://www.keepingwiththetimes.com/

silverlight...

week 2 assignment for Frugal Still Life Photography with Cheryl McCain 

(found http://cherylmccainphotography.com/)

i had a busy week so it took til friday to work on this one.

this week, the objective was to play with cropping, filling the frame versus leaving negative space.

this is only the second week but i am going to bet that this one ends up being my favorite.

i wasn't sure what to use for a prop. 

i wanted something really simple so i could stay focused on the cropping. 

so i went with 5 pieces of antique child-size silverware that i bought at garage sales over the years.

here is my set-up...

the best light was coming in the back sliding doors, shining on our beat-up dining room table. 

i took my mother's antique silverware box to use as a background and stuck it on the table. 

the light was too harsh so i filtered it with a reflector/filter, making the set up really easy.

 

then i took a bunch of pictures, trying different cropping as i went. 

i did not stay methodical, like i had hoped to, so i can't put these in any order that makes sense.

Equipment/settings...

i started with a 50mm lens but switched to a 40mm macro lens within a few images...

i had the camera in automatic, on sports mode, so i could determine the focus point for each image individually.

the settings were ranging from

- F-stop of 4 to 5,

- ISO of 450,

- exposure times of 1/1000sec to 1/1250 sec

these are straight out of the camera, and they include lots of dents/scratches and some cat hair...

these next three images seemed to go together well so i played with them in photoshop elements, 

adding a texture layer (texvol2 #3) of from Cheryl's textures.  

 

i am so in love with them, 

i am going to print them and put them up on my dining room wall. 

i am loving this class, thank you Cheryl!!