With this blog I have begun a journey to improve my photography skills. My goal is to take photos everyday, and post my favorite photo from that day on this blog. So far, I have learned a lot, and try to share my experiences. Many of you have made comments on the blog, via email, or when you see me in person. I really appreciate all of them. I learn a lot from each of you.
I hope that you will join me in my journey, and help me along the way. I have so much to learn.
What a week it has been. One Birthday Party, two Anniversaries, one child Graduating, and three Graduations parties. It's been so much fun, and I haven't had much time to look through the photos and blog.
We hosted a Graduation Party for my son at my Aunt and Uncle's pond. Graduations Parties at the pond are a must. They are highly attended, and people stay around for a long time. There was lots of laughter and playing. We had a great time, and are very proud of our son.
In this photo my young cousin is holding a future prince. I do think she ended up kissing the frog at one point, and freaking a lot of the women guests by asking if they wanted to hold the frog.
Lessons Learned:
At family gathers it's more fun not being the photographer. I just took a few photos, but spent most of the time talking with friends and family. (and helping with the food.)
Photo details: Exposure time 1/200 sec, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 40 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.
It was a great day. All of my children and their significant others are home for the weekend for my youngest son's Graduation. It also happens to be Judy and my 27th Anniversary. Wow, time really does fly.
After a trip to the Chapter House we stopped at the local Wegmans grocery store to pick up some dinner to take to Stewart Park to watch the Sun set.
As we stood on the edge of Cayuga Lake I noticed Judy's toes on the rock, and thought of Becky Jo's bowl with the toes. I thought it would make a cool photo.
Photo details: Exposure time 1/25 sec, Aperture f/16.0 ISO 100, Focal Length 90 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.
Happy Father's Day!
My Aunt and Uncle have an incredible place near their home. It's a pond with a lean-to. You might say, "What's so special about a pond and a lean-to?" What makes it so special is the hospitality that they each have. Each of my children have requested that this be the place that they celebrate their graduations. My Uncle just smiles, and says of course. Next weekend we will celebrate my youngest son's graduation from High School at "The Pond."
When one of my Grandfathers was still alive, this was his favorite place to be on Fathers day. He'd be there surrounded by his children, and his grandchildren with the biggest smile on his face. For several years we have carried on the tradition, and today was no exception. Somehow I felt like my Grandfather was still their enjoying his children, his grand children, and now his great grand children.
I took a little time out to try and take a few photographs. The first photo I noticed a lot of wild flowers growing in the hay field. I crawled along and put my tripod at a very low angle.
The second photo is another attempt at photographing Barn Swallows. These birds are so fast, and they swoop quickly. In this photo the swallow is returning to flight after hitting the top of the pond.
Photo details: Exposure time 1/2500 sec, Aperture f/3.5, ISO 100, Focal Length 78 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.
This is a work in progress. I had lunch today at "The Plum Tree",a local Japanese Restaurant. I noticed the reflection of the building in one of the
bowls.
I liked the clarity of the building, and the blurred image of the bowls. I tried a varity of f-stops for different amounts of blurr on the bowl. I haven't quite balanced it yet, but I think this technique has potential for interesting photos.
Which image do you like the best of the three?
These images where submitted to James' Weekend Reflections. Check out the great work of James and others.
I had to head to Ithaca for a new hard drive. My 1 terabyte drive, and my 750 gigabyte drive are both full of photos. It's time to move up to a 2 terabyte drive.
I've mentioned in the past that I sometimes have a place in mind where I want to come back and take photographs. This particular area is one that I have looked at since I was a child. Near this area there is a group of Willow Trees around a pond in the middle of a field. As a child I used to tell my parents that the pond was the puddle that the Weeping Willows made.
Today as I passed this area the fog was just right. I stopped and took some photographs. The Willows were to far away to get the type of photo that I wanted, but I thought this one worked well.
Photo details: Exposure time 1/320 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.
It's Alumni Weekend at Cornell University. Every year thousands of alumni return to Cornell to meet up with old friends, see the University, and enjoy the Ithaca Summer Weather.
Several groups on campus set up boths in Barton Hall on the indoor track. This year the Cornell Outdoor Education program set up wires far above the track where alumni could check out their mountain climbing skills.
This photo is a silhouette of an Alumni as he traverses the wire. There is frosted glass in the background with the Cornell name, and a map of the world.
This past weekend Judy and I went to the Ithaca Festival. What a great place to listen to some great music. The weather was horrible on Sunday, so the crowds were not very large. The musicians still played, and I think everybody who was there had a great time. The photos below are from the Go Cats, and Hank's Garage. This was the debut for Hank's Garage, and they were incredible.
Lessons Learned:
The musicians were playing under a pavilion without lights. In the past when I have tried to take photos with these conditions, it has been horrible. The light outside the pavilion was very bright, and the people would come out very dark. This time I didn't worry about the light outside the pavilion. I just concentrated on getting the exposure on the people correct. It turned out very well. The people look like they are in a studio. I like the effect.
You know I am a member of the BAMF ART BLOG BUNCH, and aside from being a group of friends and artists supporting each other's creative growth (and spreading trashy gossip about YOU), we have organized our first ever group show. We have each submitted a carefully chosen piece, and we are each posting this on our blogs and facebook and anywhere else we can.
Have a look. This is AWESOME work and you don't even have to go anywhere to see it.
Becky Jo, AKA: The Beckster
(toe plate by Becky Jo)
Why toes? It started with the BNA project between me, Gary, and Kasey. My idea was to use a plate like a canvas to carve on and then color in the lines (just like coloring books). I realized that bunny/noodle/argyle concept is fun, but I thought most people wouldn't understand those three things together, so I started to put different things on my plates... random lines, spacey flying things, and now hands and feet. These are smaller plates, mostly decorative, but they are food safe. You can find this toe plate, plus more of my work on my blog and my Etsy Shop. :)
Kasey, AKA: Reverend Awesome
My thoughts: This symbolizes man's struggle to get to the moon and dealing with the sorrow one feels after their favorite team loses the Super Bowl. Okay. It doesn't. At least not intentionally. Since this show is Spring themed I thought I could do a little painting for every season. Nothing deep. Just fun. Something that I would want to have on my walls. I'll do the rest of the seasons as they arrive.
I don't have an etsy gallery or anything. So I guess if you want to buy things from me you'll have to contact me by email or facebook. I have a blog! My blog is about nothing of any importance really. It's about whatever I want it to be about. (You could be reading this on my blog. If so, my blog is VERY important. You guys know that.)
Here's some other things I've done in a facebook photo album.
India's Submission for the BABB show (India is Lizzie's daughter, and we absolutely HAD to invite her and her artwork, just so cool)
When given the topic Spring India struggled a bit with how her punk rock/abstract style would translate to all the typical images of spring. Her aesthetic is not all roses and sunshine. After tossing around ideas involving actual springs, and thinking she may do a pretty spring picture. The idea for this painting came to her while eating Nachos at the Pumphouse Brewery in Moncton New Brunswick. The booths at Pumphouse are amazing works of graffiti art left by decades of customers. India took this idea for a walk, and came up with this 12x16 mixed media painting on canvas. Materials used include oil and acrylic paint, sharpie, silver paint marker, chalk pastel, charcoal, gel pens and nail polish.
This painting and other examples of India's work Can be found at her Mom's Blog and at her Zibbet store.
Stevo's entry for the BABB show
In this area of the country Spring is often a large contrast to Winter. There is a shift from the cold weather to warm, and with it the plants once again begin to open up. As a photographer these contrasts help me to see things new again. Contrasts can also be interesting to photograph. I walk by this tree stump often, and this spring I noticed new life in the decay of an old tree stump. I like the difference in the flatness of the old stump, and the three dimensions of the new life. Somehow the death of the tree makes the new life even more interesting, as does Winter making Spring much more appreciated. I hope you enjoy the photos that I have selected for the BABB Spring Show. The are available from my Smugmug web site. I'd love to hear your thoughts about them. Also check out the incredible works of the others artists of BABB here on this blog.
Lizzies Pot For BABB show
As a textile artist I have long been inspired by the beautiful and intricate designs of block printed fabrics from Japan, and the intricate patterns of the woven art of Saganishiki. In recent years I have returned to working in clay, the influences of my previous life as a textile artist are becoming more and more prevalent in my current work. This yunomi was made using traditional japanese woodblock patterns depicting wind and grass. The designs were transferred onto bone dry porcelain, painted with shellac, and then the surrounding negative space clay was removed by a water erosion technique.
Each of the yunomi in this series is one of a kind, the shape of the thrown bowl dictating the subject matter for the images applied. I see this particular peice as a statement of Spring, The cloudy skies, the wind swirling around through the grass. This peice, and more from this series can be seen at my blog , and are available for purchase at my Zibbet store
Christi's etching for the spring show
Alright, so it really has nothing to do with spring, but it's one of my favorite etchings and I just printed a few more this week. I love my little etching press. I'm also thinking a lot about tattoos these days after last week's adventures in that realm.
This piece is called "Perch," which is a little pun between the fishbone and the bird perching on his arm. I could think of it as spring-like with the feathers and feeling of strength and mystery...spring is a mysterious season of crazy new life and wings.
(pitcher by Gary Rith)
Artist thoughts: I have been working on a series of experiments lately, and for this spring group show imagined a pitcher like this with a deep groove in the side, glazed JADE and blue, springy colors, with a turtle on it. But for the first time in 13 years, I did not think it needed something like a turtle..or frog...etc. The groove reminds me of a river going through a landscape, not to sound like there is anything profound here.
But anyway, I like to push the piece nearly to collapse when I make the groove, and then add the accented blue bits, and a handle that looks a little more fun than the usual.
My blog details my everyday nonsense and pots, and this item and others like available at my etsy gallery.
The corn in the local fields is just starting to sprout out of the ground.
On my way to the photo club, I looked out the window of my car and this is what I saw. Luckily I left early for the meeting, and had time to snap a few photos.
Corn fields attract me for some reason. Perhaps it was playing hide and seek in them as a child, or building forts for snow ball fights out of the stalks in the winter that bring back pleasant memories.
Lessons Learned:
Once again, it was just keeping my eyes open.
Photo details: Exposure time 1/13 sec, Aperture f/18.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 34 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod, post processing to better balance the colors between the sky, and the field..
