Random desert scenery

Just a few more pix from yesterdays shooting trip. I didnt quite manage to show in digi the interesting layering affect I saw between the butte and the snow covered mountains as I was driving past them. Because of their great distance from me and from each other, they moved at different speeds to one another as I drove past and it was a really strange opitical illusion. It was like those cardboard waves on a stage moving back and forth in front of a cardboard boat. I had to get a snappy of it and in some ways you can see the layers but its a pitty they arent moving.




A sign. For some reason I had to get a pic of this. Saw it a week ago and had to come back and get a pic of it. It was the only pic I decided to NOT convert to b&w to post here, though I did convert it. I just think I like the color version much more.



Another bee home this. I dont even know what this place was. It was a tin shack with a huge piece of machinery inside. It was too dark inside to get the images I wanted so I just took this pic of a window. Those bullet holes on the side look pretty much like eyes I think.

New abandoned homes

Had to get away from my school work for a bit yesterday and went out to take some pix, even though it was raining. My niece found this group of abandoned homes stuck between farm land. It was such a strange place and I got bad feelings here. Well, at least at two of the homes I did. The smallest of the three houses had a happy feeling and I wanted to rescue it. Instead I took a pic of it.

The place was odd though. It was really strange to see three homes all abandoned in this way, and they are fairly recently abandoned, like in the last 5 years, and many of them still had furniture inside them. The ground around all of the homes was very strange. It was spongy, like foam. I couldnt tell if it was insulation or hay or both that we were walking on. At one point it was almost a mostly eaten dog that I was stepping on but instinct reminded me to look down right at that moment and I was able to avoid it.

All three homes had their own properties too. This wasnt one lot with three homes on it. It was 3 separate lots. How do three separate homes in one area get abandoned like that? Did everybody living there all have the same job? How could they all have been affected the same way? And are those same people still alive someplace? Do they care about these homes they left behind? How do homes get abandoned? I would think that at least the banks would care about them.

This was a group of three trees growing out in front of the small house that I liked.




This was the creepiest house of the three and the largest by far. It had furniture everywhere and tons of bees. At least these abandoned homes are providing a sancturary for bees because I havent seen bees for a few years at least.



The littlest house. And my favorite. This place had happy vibes. I really did want to rescue it.

Fear

A couple of images inspired by something my kung fu instructor said on Saturday. He was talking about what happens to our vision when we get really frightened and how it narrows and can disappear almost entirely so we have to learn how to defend ourselves even when we cant see. That immediately made me think of why photographs that have a blurry outline can be so emotional for people. I think it triggers a fear response. So I grabbed the Lensbaby and took a few shots that for me were kinda scary.

They are shots of dark rooms beyond the light. So dark that you cant see your hand reaching for the light switch and anything can grab it at any time and you would never see it coming.

Melting Snow

These images were taken Saturday afternoon, the day after the snow. By the time I got home from kung fu, there was very little snow left and what was left was reduced to slushy puddles that had, in places, refrozen into wavy sheets. I grabbed some shots with my macro lenses for my Lensbaby and these are the result.
The first image is a false color image. I took the deep blues and made them more turquoise, upped the contrast and clarity, darkened the shadows and brightened the light areas.
On the second two images, I desaturated the colors and upped the contrast and clarity.

After the snow

Have lots of images to post.
These images were taken after the snow last Friday. As soon as the clouds began to clear I ran out and started shooting. In the last two images of the Joshua trees, you can see the heavy cloud cover. The clouds were gone by the time I shot the first Joshua tree image. I think I was out there for maybe ten minutes by then.
The rock shot was taken first actually. I couldnt resist the Q look of it.
The landscape shots were taken last actually and as you can see, most of the cloud cover had blown away by then. I love how the clouds are just barely hanging on to the rock in the second landscape image. They do that out here.

Hmm, not sure about this one

To be honest, I am really in love with this shot. It started its life as a very, over exposed shot of the moon through the drapes in my bathroom but as soon as I saw it I knew I loved it. All the other properly exposed shots got nothing of the curtains and nothing of the reflected moon. The only thing that I am not sure about is how closely this resembles a womans privates. Then I started thinking about what could be bad about that. I could consider this some serious symbolism here. You know, I offer you the moon and the stars blah, blah, blah. Well, the problem I have with that is that all I wanted was the moon and the curtains. LOL! So, I am really in love with this shot but I dont really know how it will be seen by others. So, here it is, let me know what you think.

New Moon Shots

New moon shots, all taken with the Lensbaby. I use the Lensbaby so often because it lets in so much light. Im going to have to get a standard lens one of these days.

The first shot is what greeted me in the morning as I let the dogs out.
The second shot is of the full moon seen from my pillow, on my bed, looking the rolls of the curtains. What is on the left is one of the wrought iron bars of my headboard.
The third shot, and my fav of the three, is the full moon just peeking over the window sill. I just pointed the lens up through the rolls in the curtains as I lie in bed and snapped the shutter as soon as I saw the moon. To me it looks like a black and white of the setting sun on the ocean.

New shoot results

Took some shots of a friend that I train kung fu with. Getting the lighting worked out was really hard. I achieved my goals with the first two photos in the list. I was really going for some Greg Gorman type shots with his wonderful, contrasty light and I am happy with the first two shots. The other shots were quite a surprise to me. They were a surprise because even though they arent contrasty like the first two, I find that I like them equally as well. There is something about the soft, gray tones that I really enjoy. They are quite calming for me.

I have so much to learn. I edited these photos last night right after the shoot and thought I was finished with them. I wasnt and Im still not. I fixed a few issues later but still have more stuff to fix.

I tend to get a little discouraged when I see these problems so late in the photographic process but then I get over it quickly enough because I see what I just learned.

What I have learned the most through this shoot is that I need to pay a lot more attention to the entire body and not just the places where the light looks the best. I also learned that poses in low light produce many blurred pictures, which is very upsetting. I also learned that while I like black hair on a black background, I really need to make sure I shoot black hair against a lighter background, preferrably gray.

New Lensbaby Shots

Got some new shots of Spencer, the new doggie around here, and some shape and light shots under the table.