I'm pretty sure that everyone has been to or has heard of "starving artist" sales.  They usually happen on the weekends, are located in the ballrooms of local hotel chains, and offer those huge paintings that take up wall space and can hang behind the couch.  You can actually find some very nice art at these sales at incredibly low prices.

The problem I find, is that the artwork is somewhat impersonal.  Oh sure, a big tree with interwoven branches thrown against a bright sky can be lovely in your family room, but if you ask me, I'd rather have a tie to the artwork that appears on my walls.

With today's technology, photo labs have perfected the art of canvas, and photographs are lending themselves well to being exhibited on this medium.  I actually have taken a number of my photographs and put them on canvas, to be displayed not only in my studio, but also in and around my home.

Sometimes, like in the above photograph, I will embellish a photo with some digital art as part of the editing process.  This pops the image and makes it fun.  In the image below, which was rather a dull photo that I almost deleted from the camera, a little digital art makes it an interesting photo with some colorful patterns on water.

The other day I followed our free-range chickens around with my camera.  It took them a while to get used to me and my camera again, since I didn't follow them around all winter (they hang out in a plush coop and do limited free ranging in the snow--they just don't like it).  Until they were accustomed to the sounds of my camera, some of the initial shots weren't of the quality I normally like to see.  Apparently chickens can hear camera lens motors clicking into focus.  

While they were either moving toward me or moving away from me due to the sounds of that clicking, a few of the photos came out slightly blurry.  I kept the original of the photo below and used some artistic filters on it in Photoshop Elements.  I'm going to have it printed out on canvas and place it in our guest room when I redo the room this spring.  The new wall color will really set it off, and we do, after all, live on a farm--so why not share some of the inhabitants with our guests?  This will personalize the space.

Good photos, on their own, are definitely works of art.  They can stand alone and really don't require anything but some minor touch ups in the edit room.  However, being creative with some of the photos you hang on your wall will definitely make a happy difference in your decorating scheme!

As a member of HeARTs Speak, I have been participating in a weekly challenge/share of photographs.  The themes chosen are great for practicing different skills and it's fun seeing everyone else's interpretation through their images.  

So far weeks 1 - 4 have included the themes of:  Symmetry, Shadow, Humor, and Texture.  To see my submissions for previous weeks, please travel to my Facebook page.  I've moved the remainder of the weekly submissions to this blog, starting with Week 5 - Movement.

After considering all the daily movement around me--dogs running, playing, jumping; cats chasing each other; horses enjoying themselves in the field--I decided to interpret this week's challenge a little differently.  I was out shooting some photographs this weekend, when I came upon a beautiful barn.  I pulled my car alongside the road and walked up to the fence line to snap a photo. Suddenly, I saw a spotted head pop up several fields away.  It was a paint horse.

Horses are notoriously curious AFTER they get over their flight mode.  True to form, the paint decided I was very interesting and began to move toward me across the fields.  Within minutes, alternately trotting and walking, he was there at the fence, wondering if I had anything to give him besides a "hello."

Once I returned home and uploaded my images from the day, I realized I had one of the best moving creatures we could ask for in photographs, and a progression of moves coming toward me.  So I created a collage of the movement.  From Place 1 to Place 2, here is the spotted horse, satisfying his curiosity.

And just for fun, here is my dog, Burton, grabbing his ball for a run in the snow.  I decided to use his photo to share a message about life in general.  Enjoy!

Yesterday I grabbed my camera as I was headed out to my Mom's house to visit.  My Mom lives about 45 minutes away and there are many back roads I can drive to get there.  My objective was to find old things and spend some time photographing them.

Along the way are many old structures that are left to the weather to bring down rather than human hands.  Some of them exist for as long as I can remember, a testament to their structure, materials, and the knowledge of craftsmen so long ago.  The piece of ornate metal above was found in the structure below.

The building is associated with what is possibly an old Conrail rail crossing bridge and is located on Route 92 in the Exeter area.  Once inside there are all kinds of treasures, and good photo opportunities, as well as evidence that maybe some partying has gone on, as well as some dumping.

It's been left to stand, in all it's crumbling glory, since I was a small child.

For more photos from my day of "old things" head over to "i got the shot" on Facebook.

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