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Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 10

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More flowers for this week’s ZIZO, Helene’s wonderful meme, but this time it’s tulips from the grocery store. We did a lot of entertaining over the weeken; we hosted both our book group and our duplicate bridge group. Tracy did a last minute grocery shopping for me, and I asked him to pick up some spring flowers. He brought home this beautiful red and yellow tulips. Today was sunny, and nearly 40°, but over the weekend it was near zero. The tulips were a breath of fresh air, and of course, we’ve continued to enjoy them all week.

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I used the red shade in the middle window in the kitchen as a backdrop. The shades in the side windows were pulled up all the way so there was enough light. I’m hoping to soon find some outside venues for Zoom In, Zoom Out!

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 9

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George Eastman loved flowers and filled his mansion with them every winter. He kept wonderful records of the bulbs he ordered, and each winter the George Eastman House and Museum fills the conservatory with flowering bulbs. There are actually about 10 times as many flowers in the conservatory now as there were at any one time during George Eastman’s day. He had fewer flowers at a time, but over a much longer time period. No wonder, since winter seems to last forever here! 

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These flowers are actually in a hallway that overlooks the gardens and connects the current museum with the George Eastman House.

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The conservatory (Eastman also enjoyed hunting and brought this elephant head back from a safari.)

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The organ has recently been refurbished, and there are Sunday organ concerts on a regular basis; free with your museum ticket.

But the flowers that attracted me the most were the clivias. I was unfamiliar with them, but there bright orange color is simply gorgeous.

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I’m linking this to Helena’s Zoom In, Zoom Out meme which I have enjoyed each and every week this year. 

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Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 8

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Friday night Tracy and I attended a member’s only party at the George Eastman House. Each time they install a new exhibit in the museum, they invite the members to see the show the night before. There’s always music, some food, and this time a lecture prior to seeing the exhibits. The new exhibits are photographs of two relatively closed religious groups–the Amish and the Hasidic Jews. The photographs of the Amish were nearly all in black and white, while the ones from Israel were in color. Both presented compelling photographs that demonstrate the unique characteristics and habits of these groups of people. You can read a bit more about the exhibits here and here.

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For this week’s Zoom In, Zoom Out, I decided the zoom in was better shown first. 

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I love the use of the tiny photographs to create a mosaic of George Eastman. This is a permanent installation in the lobby as you enter the museum. I’ll be going back again to capture some of the beautiful flowers in the George Eastman House during their annual Dutch Connection. We walked through Friday night, but you need daylight to take the photos.

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 7

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We made an unexpected trip to Florida this week—just three days. We got word that Tracy’s stepmother who we visited last January in Florida has been diagnosed with rapid-onset dementia. She was a vibrant, energetic woman who just a few months ago was still teaching piano and voice lessons, directing musicals, and singing in choirs. We had no idea what to expect, but she did recognize Tracy right away. I’m not sure she knew who I was the first visit, but she might have remembered me by the time we left. That’s about all she remembers, though. She has no idea where she is, what’s happening, and no coherent recall of past events. It’s a pretty frightening disease. I’m glad we got there while she still knew Tracy.

The weather in Florida was truly a pleasure–generally 60° higher than the corresponding temperature in Rochester at any given time! We mananged to get some nice walks in on the beach, and Tracy’s mom drove over from the west coast to visit for two days. The first pair of photos was taken on the beach. These are pilot gulls, and they always stand together in a group facing the wind.

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Tracy’s mom has always wanted to go to the Morikami Japanese Gardens, so one afternoon we drove down there. I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, but I just love them.

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I’ll have more photos to share from the gardens in a day or two. I’m linking these to Helena’s Zoom In, Zoom Out meme. The minute I got on the beach and in the gardens I started looking for good subjects for this meme. Such fun!

Happy Valentine’s Day: Frugal Still Life #6

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Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s cold, but sunny so no complaints here. This week Cheryl McCain challenged us to do some food photography for our Frugal Still Life assignment. Registration for this self-paced class opens tomorrow (check her side-bar). I can highly recommend it. It’s been lots of fun, and encouraged me to try some new things.

I made some dark chocolate salted almond clusters to take to some friends, and thought I’d try using them for the still life. Here they are ready to be delivered with the tag I created using some Papertrey Ink patterned paper (“Simple Valentine”), two Papertrey Ink tag dies, and my favorite double-ended banner die. The sentiment is from a new Reverse Confetti set:  Crushin’.

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 As always, I played around with some different perspectives.

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I scattered some unchopped almonds and some coarse sea salt, two of the only three ingredients in the candy.

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I loved Cheryl’s photo with the texture. I usually don’t think to even play around with these, but I think I like this shot the best. It’s a Kim Klassen texture called “Scrapit.”

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Here’s the recipe. Easy as pie.

1 bag dark chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli’s)
1 1/2 c. coarsely chopped unsalted roasted almonds
a pinch of coarse sea salt

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler (you could use the microwave), stir in the almonds and a pinch of salt. Drop by small teaspoonsful onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets and sprinkle with a bit more salt. Refrigerate until firm. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with my Zoom In, Zoom Out shots. It’s been a crazy week, but I had some good photo opportunities.

 

Frugal Still Life: Week 5

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Cheryl McCain comes up with a new and interesting challenge every week for Frugal Still Life. I’m really enjoying this class. Still life is something that has always interested me, but I haven’t taken the necessary time to explore it. I’ve had a book on my Kindle Still Life Photography by Kevin Best for over a year now, but haven’t even started it. I’m quite sure I’ll get to it once this class ends. This week’s challenge was to explore complementary colors. As soon as I read the lesson, I knew I’d get out this beautiful blue bowl Sarah brought me from Mexico and fill it with tangerines. I picked up a dish towel at Target the other day which made a nice background. As usual, I played around with different perspectives, and I’m always interested in which ones appeal to you.

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Here’s what the set-up looked like this week. I was back in the kitchen for good light, and used a little black board I purchased as a backdrop for photographing cards to drap the kitchen towel.

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Watching the snow . . .

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I was just sitting at the computer and looked over to see the snow falling and blowing once again. A winter storm watch has been in effect since last night at 10:00. It wasn’t too bad early this morning when I ventured out to an ENT appointment, but by noon when I met a friend for lunch the driving had gotten pretty dicey. I’m glad to say I’m home with no intentions of going out again until at least noon tomorrow. Depending on how long this lasts, it may be longer!

I wasn’t able to catch the blowing snow (so much more dramatic) from my studio window, but I did decide that the scene made an appropriate Zoom In, Zoom Out subject for Helena’s meme.

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Ali Edwards Photo template

I’ve spent quite a bit of time this week working on my December Project Life layouts. Given our schedule this year, it’s turning out to be quite a few pages! I thought I ought to get the November ones posted (they’ve been done except for the journaling for ever so long), before I start sharing the December ones. I must say it’s a joy to work in a cleaned-out, well-organized studio. All that hard work really paid off.

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I used the same Ali Edwards photo template on this layout as the Zoom In, Zoom Out to show the extremes in weather we had in November. The circles at the top of the title were stamped with a Pink Paislee “Sentiment Series.” I inked the wood veneer leaves directly on the stamp pad.

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Page two documents Thanksgiving. The two top pockets on the right-hand side were originally one large photo collage that I cut apart. I’m not sure who created the collage. A long time ago I separated a lot of my digital photo templates into folders by the number of photos they hold. It works well except not all of them have the designer information still attached to them.

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The digital stamp on the bottom left photo is from Paislee Press, and the photo template with the pictures of Skylar is on of Cathy Zielske’s “Labeled Photo” sets.

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Hope to be back tomorrow with this week’s Frugal Still Life.

Frugal Still Life: Week 4

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Cheryl bumped up the challenge this week at Frugual Still Life with a post about metering modes, and asked us to capture some images changing the metering mode. I had to look up where to find the metering mode in the metadata in Lightroom, so right off the bat I learned something important. I forgot to take a shot of the set up this week. I used the cutting board and black board I use for taking shots of my cards in the studio window. It gets the same northern light as the windows in the kitchen, but there’s just one window instead of three, so there’s not as much light.

For the subject I chose three old volumes that sit stacked on the bookcase in our bedroom, and a watch that belonged to my maternal grandmother. She died before my parents were married, and I don’t have much that belonged to her. For many years, I was able to keep the watch in working order, and wore it on special occasions. In some of the photos, you can see the beautiful opal clasp that slides up and down the chain. The watch no longer works, but it’s one of my treasures.

My Canon Rebel 4Ti has four metering modes:

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-1 EV, Pattern metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens

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-1 EV, Partial metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens

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 -1 EV, Spot metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens

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-1 EV, Center-weight metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens

I also wanted to play around with perspective a bit.

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And finally, Cheryl gave us some textures to play around with. I haven’t played with textures in ages, and it’s not something I find very intuitive. Here’s one with her Volume 3 texture.

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I think I used the Overlay blending mode, but I forgot to write it down.

Then I tried a Kim Klassesn texture that was quite a bit lighter. Again, I’m not sure what blending mode I used, even though I had a notebook right next to me!

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I’m pretty fond of the one with Cheryl’s texture, but overall I’m happy with most of the images. I don’t see a huge difference in the different metering modes, but maybe I’m just not looking carefully enough. 

OLW: Simplify and Zoom In, Zoom Out

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It’s the end of the month, and time to evaluate my progress with my OLW:  Simplify. I’m not taking Ali’s course, but I am planning to assess my progress at the end of each month. We were away for the first 13 days of January, so I didn’t have the whole month to work on my projects. Nonetheless, I am really pleased with my progress. This is a wordy post, so you might want to grab a cup of tea before you get started.

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My number one intention for the year of Simplifying is to purge and organize. In addition to taking the class “A Simple Year,” I enrolled in the BPC “Organizing Fundamentals,” after consulting with Cheri who had taken a similar course several years ago. We’re only mid-way through the course, but I am nearly done purging and organizing my studio. The first directive was to totally empty your craft space. I must admit I was taken aback by that, but over the course of the last two weeks I have removed nearly everything from my studio and closet. I did not, however, leave it all in our guest room. After sorting it into boxes “Donate,” “Store,” and “Keep” I brought what I wanted to keep back into the studio. I was already pretty well organized. I just needed to purge. I’ve been paper crafting for nearly 20 years, and being on a design team for two years also increased my stash a lot. My goal was to eliminate 50% of my stash, and although I have no scientific proof, I believe I’ve done better than that.  So here is my Zoom In, Zoom Out for Week 5:

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Zoom Out:

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After I decided what to donate, I organized it all by type (something I also do in my studio and is recommended by the class). One of my friends came by this afternoon, and took all the ribbon and some sheets of patterned paper she needed for a project. Another friend took all the 6X6 paper pads I was eliminating, and a third friend comes tomorrow to go through the stash. Whatever is left, I will take to a lovely shop that resells craft supplies. The profits are then given to a variety of charities. 

Another intention this year was to read four books each month. I finished five this month. 

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Several years ago, I read a memoir and a novel by Dani Shapiro, both of which I enjoyed. Although I am not a writer, this book was filled with wisdom that applies to any creative endeavor. The most important thing I took away from it was a determination to work on a project for 60-90 minutes each morning BEFORE I check email or read blogs. It’s been a very effective change in my routine. 

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I read this in Florida, and it was the perfect light reading for a vacation. It’s the tale of a man with obsessive compulsive traits attempts to find  the perfect wife.

Round house

This was our book group’s choice for January and the first book I’ve ever finished (but not the first I’ve started) by Louise Erdrich. I loved it. It’s a compelling tale interspersed with Native American lore and law (some of it shocking). I’m now reading her “The Plague of Doves” which features some of the same characters, but I’m finding it more difficult. “The Round House” is told by a single narrator, and “The Plague of Doves” goes back and forth between narrators as well as back and forth in time. Much more difficult.

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I’ve enjoyed several other novels by Gail Godwin, and I enjoyed this one. It’s a well-written story of a young girl and the woman who has been hired to take care of her for a summer during World War II–a story of love, regret, and lack of understanding. It will stay with me for awhile.

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And finally, “The Joy of Less.” This was recommended by Alexa a long time ago. I started it, but didn’t finish it. This time I read it cover to cover, and it helped me tremendously in purging my studio without guilt. I’ll never be a minimalist, but I will definitely be using the principles outlined here as I work my way through the house this year. The focus for the class “A Simple Year” in January was decluttering. In addition to the studio, I’ve decluttered my car, the bookcase in our bedroom, my earring collection and my nightstand.

For photography, I’m working on the first challenge in The Visual Toolbox, and keeping up with Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Frugal Still Life. 

I walked just 22 miles this month, and finally got back to my routine in the gym only to be sidelined by tendonitus in my elbow. I’m on a anti-inflammatory for two weeks, using a brace, and not allowed to do any weight-lifting. It’s beginning to feel better, but I only have one more week to go. If the issue’s not resolved, the next step is a cortisone shot and two more weeks away from the weights. I’m being good, but it’s frustrating.

I only managed one card making challenge this month, but have completed nine cards, most of which will show up here on the blog in the next week or so. I’m hoping to catch up with the Online Card Class, “Stenciled” this weekend. I’ve also finished my November Project Life pages and have two December ones done. All in all, I feel like I’ve done more in the last 17 days to honor this year’s intentions than I did all of last year. Let’s hope I can keep it up!

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 4

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I’m back with this week’s pairing for Helena’s Zoom In, Zoom Out. A few mornings ago, I looked over at our bedroom window at the beautiful patterns the frost made, and decided it might make a great pair of photos. Today I walked in with my camera just as the sun made it’s appearance. Perfect timing.

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You can see from the Zoom Out why the ice has an orange cast.

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Between this meme and the Frugal Still Life class, I’m always thinking about what subjects might make for an interesting photograph. I’m slowly working on my photography project for 2014 as well, but my work on my One Little Word “Simplify” is occupying most of my free time!

Frugal Still Life: Week 3

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This week Cheryl had a guest photographer at Frugal Still Life who shared her set-up as well as a beautiful still life composition. Cheryl challenged us to work on a similar composition with three items. At this time of year, I regularly buy flowers at the grocery store to brighten the long winter days. I had these lovely white astromeria on the dining room table, and decided on a still life around three white items. I found (and ironed!) a beautiful hand-embroidered tablecloth that belonged to my mother as the backdrop. If you look closely you can see a bit of the beautiful stitching. Here are a variety of shots. As always, I’m interested to know which shot you prefer.

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Here’s what the set-up looked like. I draped the tablecloth over a piece of folded white board on our kitchen table. This is the only room in the house that gets good light even though it’s a northern exposure. 

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Frugal Still Life: Week 2

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It’s getting toward the end of Week 2 at Cheryl McCain’s Frugal Still Life class. I’ve know all week what I wanted to use for my subject, but time is just slipping through my fingers here. Finally, today I got it all set up. 

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I’ve become a big fan of organic brown eggs. I looked around for the right size container to hold a dozen eggs, and decided on my berry bowl. It’s navy blue on the outside, so I pulled out my handloomed table runner as a background. One of the considerations for this week was to leave some “white” or negative space in your photo. That’s a technique I like quite a bit. 

I used my 18-270 Tamron lens for all the shots, and ended up with four I liked. Which one most appeals to you?

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Usually when I shoot a half shot, I have the subject on the left-hand side rather than the right-hand side. This wasn’t thought through completely, and I think I’d prefer it if it were reversed.

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This top down shot might be my favorite.

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I decided on a square crop for this one.

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And here’s one on the left-hand side, but with a different point of view. I have to admit I like taking the time to try a lot of different shots. These are the four I liked best, but I took quite a few more.

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 3

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I finally got time last night to edit the last of the Florida photos. Before we left Florida, Tracy, his mom, and I drove to the Everglades and took a guided boat tour. Our guide was fantastic, and I’ll be back later with more photos from our trip. This will be the last colorful ZIZO for awhile as it’s pretty much brown and gray here, although today was sunny with a wonderful blue sky. Winters in Rochester certainly make you appreciate the blue skies and warm weather when you get them.

Last year, we saw a squadron of white pelicans at a wildlife preserve. I got a nice group shot, but I was too far away to get a close up. Being on the boat changed that. This group was much larger, and although it’s hard to tell from the photos, the white pelican is one of the larger aquatic birds. They can stand as much as 70″ tall and weight up to 30 pounds. They are very impressive to see.

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Although Helena’s meme is Zoom In, Zoom Out I always seem to put the Zoom Out first. 

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 2

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I managed to find several shots along the beach to Zoom In, Zoom Out, but this threesome won out for the week. Tracy and I met two fishermen on the beach. Last year, the same (I think) tri-colored heron was hanging out with some fishermen, and this year there was a pelican as well. One of the fishermen was showing Tracy a blowfish they had caught. If you look between Tracy and the fishermen, you’ll see the tri-colored heron and to the left is the pelican. Then I zoomed in for two photos, one of the heron and one of the pelican.

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I suspect the next couple of weeks will be a lot less fun than I had today walking on the beach! Thanks, Helena, for a great meme. I know I’m going to love this!

 

Frugal Still Life: Week 1

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This is the first week of class at Frugal Still Life with Cheryl McCain. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up on the road, but it wasn’t at all difficult.

The weather in Florida is certainly a big improvement over the weather at home, but it’s been overcast and cool. Nonetheless, we’ve been able to get in a good walk on the beach both mornings we’ve been here. Today as we walked back, I stopped and picked up a piece of driftwood, some seaweed, and some shells to create a still life. I had a picture in my mind, and for once, it turned out pretty much as I imagined it.

Here’s the set up. I used a piece of particle board my mother-in-law had in the condo and set it on the screened porch. There was nice indirect light so I didn’t need to do anything special. (Good thing, since all my “tools” are at home.)

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This was shot with my Tamron 18-270 lens at 54mm. I wanted the focus to be sharp throught the whole image so I shot it at f/18 and needed to bump up the ISO to 800. The shutter speed was 1/40.