Slush Pile: A Recent Walk

From a recent walk on a lonely beach at low tide.

Fall Flirt

A new fall photo on this fine Friday.

I adore the color in this piece, I really do.  I worked ou it for quite a while to get the background to the correct shades and texture.  This could almost seem like a holiday piece - it flirts with that line between fall and winter.  Look for this piece in my etsy shop soon!  Have a good weekend.

Fall Desktop Wallpaper

I've made a new fall desktop wallpaper for download.  There are multiple sizes available here for download.

You can also still download my Summer Lovin wallpaper from the same folder. 

It already feels like fall is coming to a close here - all too soon!  Hopefully I will be able to capture those last colors of warmth and hearth before it starts to ice over and we go towards winters icy charms.  I do like winter, but the colors of fall are always so much more enticing to the photographer in me.  The leaves that are left on the trees are still pretty and colorful, so I'll drink my coco and enjoy it while I can.

Phase One

One of my favorite blogs to read, Young House Love, had a post up about doing Phase One changes on their new house.  Someone wondered wasn't it a waste of time and money to do little remodeling changes when they could just be saving up for the big redo.

I think about things like this a lot - not just in reference to my house, but also my work.  When I post Works In Progress, it might take a long while before you get to see the end product.  They're like my Phase One projects.  I like them, I can live with them and sometimes they don't need a lot of changes after that.  But I don't know that when I set out to create it.   For some photos it takes me a bit of just living with it and seeing what changes I'd like to make to bump it up.

Think of Works in Progress as a Phase One for my photos.  The changes I make at the outset in Lightroom help build a foundation on which I can make more interesting texture, light, saturation or hue changes.  I use Lightroom to open my photos, so nearly all of my beginning changes take place in there.  Sometimes I do make other adjustments in Photoshop, but it's usually all Lightroom.

Times is a great way to see if the changes you make hold up.  I don't like to open my photos right away after taking them, but give them a day or two.  When I open them, I have some distance from taking them, and can enjoy them again.  I edit as many as I can in a day with Phase One edits,  and take a few into Photoshop for further adjustments.  But some I just wait on and see what inspiration time can being to the next step.

Here's a new finished fall photo that I took about two weeks ago. The colors are brilliant - just what I love about fall.

Slush Pile: Friday Evenings

Still life with books.  If I were to reshoot this, I'd change the angle of the handle on the cup.

Visiting Inspiration

I had visitors for the long weekend, which made it both lovely and a little stressful.  But I did get a lot of work done - and quite a few more fall photos will be going up for sale soon.  After they left, I got spectacularly sick, so it's been mostly rest and coughing for me this week.

You know, like so many people I mean to get out more and go for walks.  I want to make my every day into something special and beautiful and memorable.  I mean to get out more, but then it rains or I start working on a different project and before you know it, it's been three days or a week.  Sometimes I just walk in the rain and do things anyway, because I know that if I don't, I'll likely get busy and let it slip to the back of my mind.

Last week I went out to the park to take photos, and I didn't get very many that I liked.  It was work - I was out there to do my job in the fall, but I was lacking in inspiration.  It wasn't as much fun as I usually have, and there wasn't a lot of hiking or anything involved.  Hiking is one of the things I like the most about nature photography.  I even had my hiking boots on, but I didn't do much walking off the path.

This past weekend reminded me of how much I like my work, especially when it comes to just being able to do everyday things and make them beautiful.  We went for long walks on the beach, ate ice cream and I drew some new fabric designs.  I think I've been more productive and inspired this weekend than I have been in some time.  Sometimes it's a good thing to have visitors, even as infrequently as I do.  It's given me a refreshed perspective on getting things done.

Here's a new WIP to add to the collection:

A Work in Progress

Such a lovely photo isn't it?  I haven't quite thought up a name for this one yet, but here is a work in progress.  It's from a sunny fall day at the beach, but it could be any sunny, gorgeous day, with gently lapping waves making soft treads upon the beach.

I like the colors, but I think it could do with a little more umph.  So I'll take my time, add some texture and try to do some new adjustments until the photo itself really sparkles and stands out.

In other news, there's free shipping until Oct 13 in my Society6 store by clicking this link.  Not only does Society6 offer my space art prints, but also accessories like phone cases and laptop skins all featuring my art.  The offer excludes throw pillows with inserts, framed prints and stretched canvases.

Flashback

This tiny picture is one of the few I have from a disposable camera I had a few years back.  I say a few years, but I think it was around the 2006-2007 era of time, when camera phones were a new thing and I still had a hot pink razr.  Ah, the not so long ago olden days!

The scene is New Hampshire, whereabouts, I can't remember.  What I do remember is getting this roll of film back and being very pleased with the results - I think this was my first serious foray into photography.  Not that I knew it at the time, I still had years to go in Human Resources and Payroll before a combination of factors would drive me towards another path.  This roll came out with quite a few good shots, most from the same day trip to New Hampshire.

When the film was processed, I got back prints and digital files.  I don't know where the prints are these days, but they might be around for scanning.  I've been remiss in organizing anything to do with film photography - especially old negatives and the like.  The photo above, I wound up editing the digital file when I got photoshop in 2009, and now I can't find the original.  I suspect it was on a laptop that died.

Still, it's wonderful to look back.  I haven't seen a disposable camera for a very long time now, but once they were all the rage.  I think I still have an old one around my office someplace, and I have no idea what would even be on it.

Ode to Autumn

Autumnal inspiration from the Keats poem To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Full text

I just love this time of year.

Slush Pile: A Cyanotype

I've wanted to make a cyanotype inspired photo for a while, so I figured I'd start with this night time picture of Boston.  It's from the same roll as my last slush pile picture, but a little later in the night.  The various blues in this piece came out really nicely, and it looks a little eerie as well as interesting.

I made this starting with the cyanotype present effect in Lightroom and then moved it to Photoshop to add texture, blurring and the vignette.

Anyway, hopefully by the end of next week I will have more items up in both of my shops, since I'm doing a big work push right now.  I want to get a good inventory going on before the holiday sales start.  Sign up for my newsletter so you can get coupons and the like for the holiday season.