My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
I want to thank everyone for visiting the new blog site and for all your comments. I’m one of those people who acts slowly in making changes. I enjoy learning and increasing my knowledge but dislike reading the manuals. 🙂 I had trouble getting my gravatar up on my comments but it seems to be there now. Sheesh!
Yesterday morning Willow, my sisters cat, and I enjoyed the sunshine coming in the living room window. The day was a day for relaxing. I’m surprised at how tired I am and do need this time off. There are so many friends I want to connect with but know I can’t meet with all of them. I meet with several friends throughout today then crawl in bed late. Plus there is a 2 hour time change. Hope everyone has a great week!
On one of our overnights all four crew members walked to a nearby restaurant for something to eat and unwind from a day of flying. Of course I carried the camera and as we walked under the underpass the light caught my attention. I stopped and took a couple of images. When I stopped, they all stopped and waited. They tolerate me, too.
Here’s my story. So, I leave the coffee shop after a small mocha latte and a half cup of coffee. I knew I should use the restroom before I leave but because I was in a hurry I decided against it. (Did you notice all the “I’s” in that sentence? Sometimes it’s not such a good idea to listen to a caffeinated person.) Anyway, traffic back to the apartment was no problem but the beautiful sunshine was. I walk into the apartment and discovered the room filled with bright sunlight. Now we’ve just had gray skies and rain for the last 2 days so I am a bit excited. All I can see is the sunlight coming in on the lamp and casting its shadow on the wall. I tell myself I can wait! I imagine it was comical to watch me dance in the middle of the living room, grabbing my camera out of my bag and firing off a dozen shots and chimping to make sure there are not blown highlights. Got it! I put the camera down and off the to restroom I go. Oh, the decisions a photographer makes when good light appears. Anyone else have to make tough decisions like that?
This was taken in the hotel lobby in Dallas. The back of the lobby is a wide open room with a wonderful sky light in the center. As I walked by I noticed the light shining on these flowers sitting in the center of the room. It’s all about the light!
Practice will help me become a better photographer. However, some people think I’m a bit nuts when I take images of the simple things that don’t seem that important. Case in point is this small metal vase my parents received as a gift from friends who visited China. I saw the light coming in the window, was quickly attracted to the scene and felt it was an excellent opportunity to practice. So, while mom and dad watch in confusion, their son is firing away and chimping at the familiar.
Catch light or catchlight is a photography term used to describe either the specular highlight in a subject’s eye from a light source, or the light source itself. A catch light may be an artifact of the lighting method, or have been purposely engineered to add a glint or “spark” to a subject’s eye during photography. It is one of the first things I look for in photo, whether it’s a portrait or a small inquisitive squirrel. It adds life to the image and helps us to focus on the eyes. It can be subtle as in the image above or it can be brilliant where there’s even an image inside of the catch light itself. I will admit there are times when I’m disappointed in my shoot for the day because I do not have those catch light and, to me, something is missing.
Natures paint brush is light. In this image the light is painting the small leaf between the tree trunks. It seems to shout, “Look at me!” Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
I’m intrigued by lamps. No I’m not strange. I think it’s because of this photographer’s eye that’s drawn to shapes, colors and patterns. I take quite few photos of them and trash most of them as I struggle to present the feeling I have when I first encounter them. And, of course, they’re everywhere. This one was in my hotel room in Atlanta and I do like how this one turned out.
While walking through the hotel lobby I noticed these small vases with flowers on each table. The morning sun was coming through the eastern windows and casting these wonderful shadows across the table. There were many colors and types of flowers but the subject of my eye was the shadows. I focused and pressed the shutter. Now I have a visual image of that shadow knowing it could be used on photoblog. Shadows are a subject my eye is drawn to, why?
Checking out Wikipedia I found that from a mythological view an unattended shadow or shade was thought by some cultures to be similar to that of a ghost, a flicker of a life unable to end for some reason. It is also believed as an alternative construct that shadows are in fact a representation of God’s presence around an object; like a halo. Early eastern beliefs also play to this theory. For example, Vishnu (a prominent Hindu god) would appear to help followers by assisting with tasks by lending some of his extra arms to assist the burden of the person. Well, maybe but I’m not going to go there.
I believe nature to be the greatest artist we will ever know. It creates and recreates continuously. Shadows are one of it’s greatest forms of art. It is created when some object blocks the rays of a light source and creates a two-dimensional silhouette. When the subject blocking the light source moves the shadow changes and , likewise, when the light source moves the shadow also changes. Nature at its finest. A shadow can create the feel of mystery to an image.
