Moving On.

Time for me to get back to photography and blogging.  I would love it, if you came to visit.

She Shoots Again

Northern Lights

Last night the activity on my Facebook picked up with posts from an online group that the Northern Lights should be out.  At the same time a message from a friend came asking me if I was going out shooting and five minutes later, we were out of the house.  At first there was a little cloud cover and not wanting to waste a perfect evening we had a little fun with the pump jacks.

As the clouds moved on, the lights finally began to show themselves.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday Still - Pink Tulips

The challenge is to shoot flowers from overhead.  I had this shot in my mind all week and had to make a trip to two stores just to find pink tulips.

And just for fun, here's a shot of my set up.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day.

Finding Studio Space aka Cleaning the Basement

Up until now, most of my still life photography has been done in the kitchen with a board over the sink.  It's been working fine, but we have a large unused basement, being wasted.  Being a hoader collector of too much fine junk and too many "I might use that someday"s, it is time to clean the basement.  New storage has been added and the new philosphy is that if it doesn't fit in the cupboards, it goes.  After many hours and trips to Goodwill, I now have a space in front of the windows to set up for still life photography.

This baking centre belonged to my husband's grandmother.  His father gave it to us a while ago and even though he had stored it outside for many years, it's still in great shape.

I've placed it in front of the south facing windows.  A strong light in the winter, but I think I can get around that.  Yes, the concrete floor really was painted teal at one time, but that's another story.

During the clean up. I can across a few lenghts of white plastic pipe.  I think they may have been used in the past for the plumbing for a fish tank. I knew I needed a way to filter or block the light from the south so I thought a rack made from the white pipe would work.  Off to Home Depot and $14.00 later (including tax), a few fittings.  The white pipe was then cut for the uprights, cross piece and feet.

Here's the rack assembled.  Nothing is glued, just stuck together. Lightweight, easy to move to either side of the bake centre and comes apart easily for storage. The curtains can also be closed to filter the light.  I also found a piece of white painted plywood that can be placed on top of the bake centre for a different table surface.

A trip to Micheal's to visit the half price bins and I am ready.

Here's my first photo using the new table.  This was shot into the south facing windows with the light being filtered with the above set up. The texture kk_cherish was added in Photoshop then the preset kk_litely added in Lightroom.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

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Still Sunday - Fruits and Vegetables

The Be Still theme for the week was fruits and vegetables, and following Xanthe's colour of the week - yellow.

You know when you go to the grocery store to pick out fruits and vegetables you are supposed to pick a rainbow of colours and you always admire the person in front of you for eating so healthy, well it was quite interesting to watch my parade of yellow move along the checkout belt to the cashier.  All shades of yellow with a splash of green.

The set up was done in my basement in front of south facing windows with a late afternoon light. Light was also reflected on the opposite side to prevent dark spots.  Processing was done in Lightroom, using the Auto button, adjusting the exposure and reducing noise.

This was my favorite, with the LensBaby Composer and f4 aperture ring.

A couple of close ups

And two others I liked

Thanks for visiting.

“If your photos aren’t good enough, then you’re not close enough”

Robert Cappa once said "If your photos aren't good enough, then you're not close enough".  As a macro photography enthusiast this saying and "fill the frame" were the two things that always came to mind when I had my camera in hand.  I always did know the "rule" about negative space and room to breathe, but it was something I didn't think about often.  A few years ago when I had a photo chosen for a magazine cover, it was then I realized how important negative space was.  No negative space leaves no room for words to be printed.  I've also come to realize that if your photos aren't good enough then they're probably just not good enough.

This weeks lesson on leaving room to breathe was one I struggled with, always wanting to get a little closer and closer.  All photos have a layer of kk_felicity and were taken back into Lightroom and the preset kk_darklight was applied.

Thanks for visiting.  Sharing with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

A Cuppa Chocolate Cake

The challenge word was "Cuppa".  So many pictures taken I had a hard time paring it down to these six.

Friday finds

It's now two weeks into the two courses I signed up for, Kim Klassen's Be Still and The Studio.  Only two weeks in and I'm behind.  If I worked 40 - 50 hours a week with 10 hours of commuting, I could really understand, but I work part-time from home.  Oh well, there's always next week to catch up.

While trying to do my assignments, which of course nothing is quite right, I found this week that I have rediscovered my love for my camera.  I love to take photos and I'm working on getting to like the processing.  I have also found my lost love for taking photos of food. This of course means I must cook more, which I am sure is why I'm behind on my classes.

I've taken to making a lot of soups this winter (and the bread to go with it) and I've never had Italian Wedding Soup.  I've always assumed that this was a special soup served at weddings, but apparently not so, it's a reference of the marriage of green vegetables and meat.  Who knew.

Wednesday's soup was so good we decided on soup again on Thursday. While chopping the vegetables for a cabbage soup and putting them into little piles, this photo came to be.

Not ready to put down the camera quite yet

I'm luck to live with a patient man, as he has come to learn that dinner isn't served until the photos are finished.

Thank you for visiting.  Sharing with Friday Finds.

Learning to Relax and Breathe

I've always thought of myself as a fairly relaxed person until I tried to sit still and breathe.  The first time I tried it, I got in three deep breathes and then panic set in. My body was telling me "enough", get up and get moving.  A couple of days of practise and I can now get in five.  A ways to go, but practise does make perfect, right?

On to my Friday Find of the week.  I was cleaning out the fridge and found a few lemons, some in great shape and a couple not so.  I drink a lot of water and when I have the time, love to have a few lemon slices with it.

I thought after looking at the lemons through the lens, I needed a little bit more color and added a bit of chopped basil.  The basil added a bit of a twist to the flavor and it might be my new go to drink.

 Thanks for visiting. Hope your week has been good and have a great weekend.

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Looking for spring

It's so very cold here, -23C (-9F) and while grocery shopping, I found a little bunch on pink Gerbera daisies, brought them home, hoping to bring spring along with them.

Not quite spring here yet, but they are very cheerful

  A layer of Kim's new texture, kk_epic was added to all of the photos to give the background a little texture.  Sharing with:

The little board nobody wanted

While working on clearing out my Dad's house, a certain board would always catch my eye.  My Dad was a woodworker and a great hoarder collector of boards.  This one particular board was spalted, possibly maple and about four feet long.  The reason it wasn't wanted is that it was so bowed that when it was laying flat, the middle was almost 3/4" higher than the ends.  I must admit I picked it up many times, admiring the discoloration of the wood, then put it back down.  On our last trip to the house I picked it up knowing it might just be something special.

The board has sat in the garage for the past six months, still bowed.  A couple of days ago I thought if I cut off a piece, the bow wouldn't be so bad and perhaps it could make something useful for photograpy.  If nothing else, it would make a good practise piece for me to work on.

I cut it into a shape of an old fashioned bread board, shaped the edges and sanded and sanded.  When it was smooth enough I gave it a coat of hemp oil and oh my, the grains and the spalting gobsmacked me.  I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful piece of wood.

Instead of "just" using it for photography, I had to bake bread to shoot with it.  I used the no-knead artisan bread recipe, quite easy to google, with 1 cup multigrain flour and 2 cups white flour.

And the bread turned out quite tasty as well.

The moral of the story? Well, with most of you being photographers and creative people, appreciating the beauty in old objects and crooked wood, I'm sure you know the moral of the story.

Kim's texture kk_ugglove was used in all three photos to add a little texture to the background.

Sharing with Texture Tuesday

Friday in Paradise

The first Friday of the new year and it would have been so easy not to do this post.  We are getting a bit of a blizzard here and the weather is frightful but I did decide to take the lensbaby for a little walk in the yard.  It's the lens I usually bring out to have a bit of fun.  The walk was very short as it didn't take long for the fingers to get cold and the boots to fill with snow.

This is one of my favorite yard decorations handing in the yard.  A bit of a breeze usually starts it twirling.  After the photos were downloaded I noticed a bit of colour with the leaves still hanging on.

A little more colour in the yard provided by the birdhouse.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I found this Friday and I do hope your weather is a little warmer.  Sharing with Friday Finds.