This week's theme is "Rusty." I kind of wish I had a dog named Rusty. But will a rooster named Eugene do? He is a beautiful Rusty color. If that doesn't work, I do have a series I did on rusting, old pieces of farm equipment left out in a field. I just shot these shots in April. I think mother nature is reclaiming them. She probably has a farm she could use them on.
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I don't know about you, but when I see a dog or cat particularly comfy and hunkering down on a couch, I often want to join them. Could they look more comfortable?
Calm? You bet. Could you get any calmer than this? (Or content?) The two shots featured here in Week 13's 52 Hearts assignment "Calm" are of Raay (yes it's spelled with two "a"s...no I don't know why). Raay belongs to my son. He is a very calm and kind fellow, who loves nothing more than to bring you a toy, give you a tiny kiss, or lay calmly in his favorite spot on the couch. Good boy, Raay! You really helped me out this week and inspired me to go home and take a nap! With this week's theme, I seriously thought about taking a photo of myself and just putting that up. I am vintage, or fast approaching...(sigh). But I need a haircut, and maybe some summer color before I subject anyone to that. Instead I selected our dog Moe as my subject. Moe has a favorite spot in the yard. Anyone who knows me and knows Moe is already raising their hand and screaming out "THE WOODEN GLIDER!!!" Moe had many allergies as a puppy and into young adulthood and has since overcome them, but still does not like spending any time laying in or on the grass. So he always chooses "his" glider to spend time on in the yard. The glider is the perfect background to capture a photo and turn it vintage. The wood is old and weathered from many years of sitting under the trees near the tree island in our yard. Vintage is mostly about the tone of the photo. There are some striking visual images you can look through if you google "vintage photography." On the other hand, there are some really bad ones as well. I personally am not a fan of hazes that overwhelm the photo. In vintage especially, that reminds me of a bad film experience--you know, you take the film to the photo shop to be processed and the guy behind the counter says "a few of them were hazy, but I processed them anyway." Well, that's what I think of when photos are overdone with haze. Everyone has their own eye, however, and some folks like haze and mist and fog and so on. My eye wants to see some color and detail. So in this first photo, I applied a texture called "worn paper" to the background and a vintage treatment which I tweaked myself to let some of the color elements show through. I would have liked to have a bit more detail around Moe's muzzle, but that's the shortcomings of my photo and not the process. In the second photo, I did not use a texture, and I used a different vintage process which allowed me to once again tweak and keep some color elements. In this photo, Moe's muzzle is more pronounced and the tone is a little brighter. I particularly like Moe's eyes in this photo. He has such an expressive face! Those of you who are fans of my Facebook page "I got the shot photography" will see the difference in these processed images, versus the original ones I posted on the page. Let me know what you think, and have a great week. Grab some images for your vintage collection and feel free to post them on my Facebook wall.
Week 11's challenge is simply labeled "framed." I would be remiss if I didn't include this image as part of my blog post. This is Maya, a shelter dog that has since been adopted. This shot was taken at my very first shelter shoot. I had the idea to buy a frame, attach a festive Fall-type bow and have a handler take the dog to stand at the back side of the frame. Sounds easy, doesn't it?
What I didn't realize was that probably the last thing a shelter dog wants to do once taken out of its kennel to go for a walk or exercise, is stand. Twenty-seven shots later I got this shot of Maya, who stared at me for one brief instance through the frame when I called her name. The other 26 shots show her looking over her shoulder, leaping to the top of the fence where the frame was attached, sniffing that pile of rocks behind her, etc. Thankfully, I have become much more shelter savvy. Below is another look at "framed." It's a small boy taking a pony ride this past weekend. He is framed by the lovely trees, his parents, and the pony handler as he enjoys the trip around on a beautiful day. Well, although I thought I might never say this again.....IT'S SPRING!!!!!!! It's been a long winter folks, and even though we weren't snowed in as often as winters in the past, the storms that did visit were blustery, icey and for the first time, knocked out our power for four days. So I think you can imagine how happy I am that we are actually having somewhat of a Spring and 70 degree weather has been visiting us this past week. My assignment this week is to seek out the colors of the Spring (present season). GREEN. Our official Spring sign around here is GREEN. As in grass, trees, hay, etc. I didn't want to photograph grass, so I went in search of other subjects. I found my color inspiration along the Susquehanna River as things were getting readied for the Cherry Blossom Festival. There are a few dozen trees which line the banks of both the West Pittston and Pittston side of the river. They stand like soldiers and are so pink you go about the rest of your day thinking everything else you see is DULL. The Festival started today and ends tomorrow and proves to be a good time for all. When you seriously think that these trees are made up of one perfect blossom after another, you understand the palette and presence mother nature has in this world. Happy Spring! I hope you are enjoying whatever colors are making your world bright and friendly!
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