An Exciting Honor...

Today, I was surprised to learn that I had been selected as the iPhoneArt.com Artist of the Day.  One of my pieces is being displayed on the forum home page.  There are artists there doing some really wonderful and original work do I am beyond flattered to have been picked.  Here's the piece that's being featured...

Photo Potpouri

I've been doing all kinds of things photographically this week.  I haven't been able to take a large enough chunk of time to go anywhere special, so I've been wandering around the yard for the most part, which is fine.  There's plenty out there this time of year.

I've also been playing around with some iPhone art. I'm just taking a few photos here and there and then experimenting with the apps.  Some are fairly sophisticated an allow you to work with layers, textures and blending modes to get interesting effects.  I had just been learning how to do this in photoshop so I'm kind of blown away that my phone apps have comparable capability.

Here's another photo from the garden...



And I saw this dressed mannequin in the corner of an antique/consignment store...

iPhonography

 This entry is crossposted to Walk With Me....

I have a confession to make...I drank the iPhoneography kool-aid.

I really like my iPhone.  I don't know anyone who has one who doesn't.  The people at Apple are geniuses.  It's not a phone...it's a fabulous toy for grownups.   It just so happens you can make a call with it.

I rarely took photos with my old phone.  I didn't start taking photos with this phone right away.  But then, I discovered the creative apps....I discovered iPhoneography...and I quickly learned that it's an art form that is being widely accepted by BIG names in traditional photography.  Photographers from National Geographic, Outdoor Photography and other major publications are ladling out the kool-aid to the rest of us.

It's being embraced for what it is.  What it is NOT...is a replacement for high quality dslr photography.  It's really a new creative medium that you carry in your pocket.  For people truly passionate about photography, it's not a way to turn a bad photo into a gimicky  "good" photo.  At present, we're limited in the amount of control available in making the image.  You can't set your shutter speed or control your depth of field.  So it becomes very much about composition and applying a new medium to a well composed picture.  

It's fun and it appears that the creative possibilities are almost limitless.   Google it...you'll be amazed.

Cranesbill

Spring arrives and...I shoot flowers. I've got SO many flower photos and they're starting to all look the same. Inspired by my results in a recent fern photo (see previous post), I decided to photograph my hedge of cranesbill thrown own of focus. I'm liking this ethereal abstract thing!



Visit other participants for My World Tuesday here...

A Study of Ferns

Hours in the garden and a ridiculous number of images to review. I started doing the fern photos concentrating on sharpness and detail. But as I continued, I really started to be drawn to the abstract.

5/17/11

My life has been unsettled for the last 15 months and continues to be so. I haven't talked about it much other than a mention in my other blog just as things started to unravel. The short version is that my husband lost his job 15 months ago and is still looking for work. Recently, we put our house on the market. Not because we have a plan....we don't. We chose to take this step now in an attempt to escape what could become a devastating financial drain... before 30 years of savings is lost.

The stress of the situation has taken a toll on me creatively....hence the long dry spell in this blog. But spring has brought with it a nudge of inspiration and it helps me feel a bit more like my old self. I've spent hours in the garden and in the studio looking through a macro lens and it's good because during that time I don't worry. It's a relief and I need to do it more.

I have a few white tulips in my yard and I thought it would be fun to pick one and shoot it against a black background just to play with the light. These are a couple of the first few shots taken when it was still wet from the rain. I'm not completely sure how I feel about them. I like them but to me something about them doesn't look quite real. Is that so or have I just been looking at them for too long? This is the problem with so much uncertainty my life...it creeps into everything I do and my confidence wavers.



I was pleased by this bit of magic I was able to create with backlight. It wasn't planned, but I looked through the lens and spotted that sparkle in the water drop. The starburst effect was not added in an editor...that's straight out of the camera.

Daffodil