Caught at last ....

This sight was a gift I almost literally stumbled across one morning on the way to our library. I've been trying to catch the various spiderwebs I come across from almost my first pix. This one and another, a closer shot of the same web, are so far the only decent ones. The light and place the web was in were just "right." And so was my timing. Had I come along even minutes later the web would have already been cleaned away by maintenance. Not to mention the light would have probably been wrong. So, here's yet one more example of why it's a good idea to carry one's camera everywhere one goes. At least if one sees everything in terms of what sort of photo it might make! LOL.

Here's the other shot of that web:


The first one will be in my exhibit (only 8 days away, I can't believe it!). Although I'm tickled to have that second one, there's nothing particularly engaging about it. At least there's some interesting contrasts in the first between fragile web and firm walls, and black and white areas.

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

WATER COLOR CLASS

This is an old photo, taken in Decmeber of 2009, when I was still extremely new to photography and using an old Gateway camera. However, it's really a new pic as I totally re-cropped it and manipulated the color when I came across it going through my pix for the July 24th exhibit. I've titled it "Water Color Class."

I should mention that what look like really close-up shots in my photos are rarely so. With my knee arthritis I can neither walk over rough terrain to get up close, nor bend over that far and retain decent balance while holding a cane and camera. So almost all close-ups are greatly cropped from more distant pix. Did I hear somewhere that photographers work from their knees? Or did I just make that up? :-D

I'm going to risk embarrassing myself and post the original photo below. I clearly recall being drawn to the rain drops, the dilapidated look, and to the center sort of "cap" in that rose. I was aware it would need a lot of cropping, and especially brightening given it was a very cloudy day. However, no matter how I cropped this (even though it brightened nicely), it never "worked." So, here it is, the original:


Now that I have stumbled across "Water Color Class" within this larger photo I'm glad I did not scrap it. Of course, it's just this sort of thing that makes it hard for me to scrap any pic. As I've been going through thousands for the exhibit, many of those problem children that I just can't bring myself to delete I've been flagging "needs editing." I should have a lot of fun later on, after the exhibit!

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

Believe it or not ....

This particular group of calla lilies that bloom every year in front of our community's front gate, grows nearly 6 feet tall. (I have photos taken with a six foot tall man standing next to them, taken at his request.) So this bloom is actually huge and not just a close-up of one of the smaller ones that grow elsewhere on the grounds. I thought my gushing over these the first time I saw them was due to this life-long New York City resident's lack of exposure to some of the wonders of southern flora. But even native Californians are agog at these particular callas.

I'd have left in background objects for scale on the two calla pix I share here. Only it's a crowded front yard and I've never gotten a good shot that includes background for size comparison. Things like a red pump of some sort, or a window reflecting right behind, or dead leaves from a palm complicate the shots.

Here's another one of these mega-blooms:


It's titled "Sting Ray." :-)

Not sure which of these will make the cut for my photo exhibit, but I'm learning toward "Sting Ray."

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

WISH BONES

Here's a sky shot titled "Wish Bones," from those I'm planning to exhibit on July 24th. Sky and landscape pix are especially chancy with my camera. But somehow the storm rolling in that day created decent lighting, or maybe I just had good luck for a change. (Although my camera does have a landscape setting, it's not always all that effective. For instance, I frequently take the same shot in both landscape and portrait setting. Yeah, strange that portrait would work at such a distance but it sometimes is better. By better I usually mean in better focus.)

This was one of many pictures I took that day sitting at an outdoor table by IN-and-OUT burgers. The sky changed constantly and there were two directions in which I had a relatively clear view. I kept quickly putting down my burger or fries or coke to snap a few more pix. The friend with me even kept an eye out for something interesting happening in the sky and drew my attention to not a few of the shots I got that day.

Has any other, um, compulsive "artiste" (LOL) out there noticed this? That your passion can sometimes intrude upon a social situation? Over the decades I've occasionally had to apologize as I scrambled for my pen and notepad in my bag in order to scribble notes for a poem. But photography interrupts rather more often. That is, I do the interrupting as I scramble in my purse for my camera. Then sometimes find it hard to stop taking pix! Fortunately, although the friend mentioned above found this sort of intrusion very annoying when I first started taking pix about 2-1/2 years ago, he's long since become very supportive.

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

From A Favorite Corner of My World

Can't tell you how many folk around here say "I know, I see you taking pictures here all the time..." when I mention this stand of leaves is just about my favorite spot on these grounds. I probably have more photos of these leaves than of anything else. Even roses, which I adore. And I have about 3,000 pix now.

These leaves (which produce delightful orange blossoms that start as intriguing almost pink-lavenderish spears) never look the same -- even viewing them only minutes apart. The wind, the sunlight or fog or rain, the season, the clouds, the time of day, the angle, my mood ... all effect what can be discovered here. Their physical abudance offers an abundance of surprises once on my computer screen. I frequently crop a photo of them way down to some fascinating little corner of shapes, shadows, and colors that can wind up almost abstract.

I have to admit that both cameras I've worked with do something odd with the variegated colors of these leaves. Rarely resulting in "life-like" colors. (The one above comes closest to "true" color.) But I greatly enjoy the surprising changes. Both cameras also do something strange with the shapes, often making them look sort of abstract even before I do any cropping. This, too, I have fun with. I suppose if I were taking pix for a plant field guide I might be concerned and read my camera manual, yet again. But for my purposes, my camera brings what is, at least to me, an artistic interpretation to the photo taking. Yes, sometimes it distorts these leaves in a way that does not work. But I have always scrapped far more pix (of anything), than I save. In fact, I've begun to think of the actual picture taking process itself as the "first draft" stage. (An advantage of digital over film. I can imagine I'd be much more into the technical aspects of a camera were I working with film! However, I have been told by a photographer here that you are more likely to "get what you see" in the viewer with film, than digital. Ah well, moot point. I'm not about to switch now, especially given the extra expenses involved. I've read, too, that with advances in digital cameras the differences between them and film cameras are narrowing rapidly. Though how I would ever afford a new and better camera, I don't know. But that's not something that concerns me at all right now. I'm having too much fun working with what I have.)

This pic (and others of these leaves) will be in my exhibit on July 24th.

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

"What's in a name?..."

Before I go on about a title for this one, I feel a need to defend it. I don't think many folk will think a shot like this is beautiful or attractive in any way. But I find it very moving and even beautiful. I hasten to add, this is not to say I think it's a great photo. I make no such asssessments of anything (photo, poem, collage, etc.) I create. What I address is simply how the "art" moves me personally. Not that I don't have "artistic" criteria I work to meet in my work. Nor that I don't keep trying to learn more. Just that I'm sharing what about a photo I may like or how it may affect me on viewing it.

Now to a title. Having a hard time with this one and it does require one, I think. I had briefly considered "Br-r-r-r!" taking off on those wilted petals resembling icicles. But think that may trivialize the deep feeling the picture can evoke (at least for me). I've now been considering something like "Gothic Wedding Gown." [NB: now titled "Goth Wedding" (folder 7-17-10)] I was struck once by a comment made by a person who lives a Goth lifestyle that she sees the beauty in everything, even what is usually seen as quite unlovely. The best, though, may be to leave the pic untitled. Especially as I think my urge to title it is a reflection of my desire to defend it.

By the way, this pic is of the same sort of bloom shown in my earlier post here titled "Headlights." Also, this photo was color manipulated from the pinkish to bluish; it just seems to me to be more impactful this way. It will be in my up-coming exhibit.

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****

A JANUARY FALL

This is a sight that in my naivete I did not believe I'd see again once I'd moved to California. (I was a life-long resident of New York City until 3-1/2 years ago.) So I was particularly delighted the day I came across a tree on our grounds whose leaves had turned bright red. In January not fall, but still, red! Of course, I now know this is not an uncommon sight here. However, I still enjoy trying to capture "fall" leaves. One of my fondest childhood memories is of family car rides upstate just to view the gorgeous colors of the changing leaves in autumn.

This pic, too, will be in my up-coming July photo exhibit.

Click here to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog. And for posts previous to those below, please see listing in the right-hand sidebar. (Clicking on the bottom post listed will list even older posts, and so on.)

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****