Erin McGuire Photography

Gum Bichromate Prints

2011-11-01T09:32:00.001-07:00

I have tried out a few different alternative photographic processes but gum bichromate is my favorite. It gives me the most control and the most flexibility. I can use 1 negative or 3 or 4. I can make them color if I want to. I can even make a single negative gum look like a color image. I can bleach them, sand them, scrub them, crumple them and pretty much anything else I feel like doing to them. I love Fabriano and Arches papers the most. I get my chemicals from Bostick and Sullivan and prefer their gum and 10% potassium bichromate. I use a 1 to 1 formula and very little pigment. I expose the prints with the sun because I simply cannot pay the prices for the exposure units. Sometimes I register the negatives and sometimes I don’t. When I register the negatives, all I do is lay the negative over the blank paper and make the marks on the paper with pencil and then trace over them onto the negative. Not an exact science but it works. I really love this process and believe that I have found THE process for my work.

Some of these prints are for sale at my Etsy store. I still haven’t figured out how to get a link posted yet but here is the addy – http://www.etsy.com/shop/MojavePhotography?ref=si_shop

Life Support for Japan

2011-03-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I created a post and what better way to break the silence than to let you all know about a few different opportunities available right now to help Japan in its great hour of need.

If you are a photographic artist and would like to donate your work with all sales proceeds going to different charitable organizations that will help Japan, here is what you will need to do.

Submit your single, best image 72 dpi and 1000 pixels max on the longest side to the emails listed on the sites. You need to include your name, title of image, year it was taken, the size of the print and how the image will be printed, should it sell. The images will be displayed in online auctions and you will be responsible for printing the image if it sells and will only be required to print the image if it sells.

Please visit the blogs and websites for further information.

Suzi Livingstones blog auction

http://froupster.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/we-love-japan-donation-info/

Crista Dix and Aline Smithsons auction site

http://wall-spacegallery.com/displayShow.php?showID=122&collection=3

or find them on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_152307174828432

Ok, so I dont know how to post links in blobspot. Who knew? Just cut and paste the line into the address line in your browser to get to the site you want to go to.

Desert Series

2010-12-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

More images from the Impossible film desert series, which is really just a part of what will most likely become the largest series of images I will ever create, spanning many years and many different types of cameras and film.

I love the desert. I connected to it spiritually at a very young age and even though age and responsibility took me away from it for quite some time, I knew I'd return eventually.

PX600 v06 by The Impossible Project

2010-10-15T05:45:00.001-07:00

This film behaves very much like the PZ600 for the Spectra cameras but seems a bit more stable to me.

PX70 Color Shade by The Impossible Project

2010-10-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

All these images were shot using a 600 camera. This film is optimized for use in the SX-70 camera but I really like the results from the 600. Very unpredictable and that's what I like the most about it. They go from looking very saturated, like a Van Gogh colors, to very pastel, like Monet colors.

Polaroid Peel Apart Film

2010-09-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with instant film. I know, I know. It's on its way out. But, that doesnt mean that I can't have fun while it lasts.

The following images were all shot using Polaroid 100 peel apart instant film in my Holgaroid camera. Its just one version of the special editions put out by the Impossible Project. This is the Paul Giambarba Sepia film. The ISO is 1500, which is the only Paul Giambarba peel apart film TIP sells that has this high ISO. At least from what I could find.

Really diggin' the Silver Shade

2010-08-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

I think the biggest problem that I have with this film is myself. What I mean is, whenever I dont like a picture, its not because of the film but because of how I took the picture. But, when I get the composition, lighting and subject matter right all at once, I just can't anything else right now that can compete for my attention like the PZ 600 film from the Impossible Project can.

Here are my favs out of 20 exposures.

Blue and Chocolate Polaroid 100

2010-08-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

Im really diggin' this film. Im not as big a fan of the blue as I am of the chocolate though. Anyway, here are more shots. Thanks for looking!

Impossible Project film scans

2010-08-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

I love this film more than I can say. I hope these folks stay in business because I think I might literally die if this film gets discontinued.

There are actually two types of films in this post and only one image was actually shot on the Impossible Projects PZ 600 film. I cant see where it is because my blog image uploader no longer shows me images until I post the blog.

So, the two pix that are the most alike are Polaroid 100 film that I got from the Impossible folks. This particular film is the Chocolate Paul Giambarba Edition film. I have Blue and Sepia too.

The picture of the window, bench and vase is the PZ 600 film. At about 4.25 an image, I am planning my shots very carefully, which is really hard because I really want to go shoot the roll up!!!

Degi Joshua Trees

2010-08-01T08:52:00.001-07:00

These are burnt and dead Joshua trees. They stink, like rotting garbage. Like a trash dump. I wasnt expecting that and it made me feel very sorry for them, but they sure do make for some interesting photographic subjects. In some of the shots you can see smoke from the Lancaster fires.

Degi Landscapes

2010-08-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

A mix of landscape shots taken at different times in different places. None of the colors have been manipulated in PS, except for the green landscape image. I actually had to add purple to tone down the green.

Julia Margaret Cameron Award Finalist

2010-07-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

The winners, honorable mentions and finalists have been announced and my Tire 3 images made it to the finalist list. YAY!!! I am very excited about this. If you want to check out the images from the first, second and third place winners, please follow this link - http://www.thegalaawards.net/announcements/the-julia-margaret-cameron-awardees. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is a link for the honorable mentions and finalists but there are no images there. All images will be in a book though and I am very excited to see that. Here is my image:

Best explanation...

2010-07-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

of the difference between film and digital I have found so far.

I use both and love both but I prefer the look of film for most images I shoot these days. I think film is best for most portraiture and I use it almost exclusively now for my fine art work. But, I think that digital is far superior for color landscapes, wildlife and most especially fashion photography. This is just my own opinion that's based on my own taste in photography. So for me, I dont think I could easily say one was better than the other, but, I seem to have a spiritual connection to film that I dont have with digital photography. I couldn't ever explain how really, or why I felt this way, but I do believe that I just found a little piece of an article that has done it for me. You can find the article on www.salon.com

"There are downsides to digital, but unfortunately for film chauvinists, most of them are loftily aesthetic -- less technical arguments than philosophical ones. To wit: Even the best prints of digitally produced stills lack the warmth, the aliveness, of snapshots produced with a film camera, because film is literally organic. It's celluloid, a compound made from cellulose, camphor and dyes, and the images it produces are direct physical records of things that happened within sight distance of the camera's lens -- records of light hitting unexposed negative and messing with its molecules. Pre-industrial people who feared that photographs took a piece of their soul weren't totally wrong. A portrait created with film is a souvenir of a person's existence at a certain point in time -- a more complex, photochemical version of a footprint in sand. Digital images are created when a sensor records the camera's field of view and puts a facsimile of the image on a computer chip. The result is still an image, but the process is different -- more detached, more theoretical." - Excerpt from Requiem for print photography As Kodak's final roll of Kodachrome film goes to the lab, a look back at what that means -- and what we've lost By Matt Zoller Seitz

Degi Hari after dark

2010-07-28T14:57:00.001-07:00

Shots taken behind A&I Photo after Astor Morgans lighting workshop. I believe all shots were taken at 800 ISO.

Wild Grass macros

2010-07-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Macro images of wild grass. Used my Pentax and a macro lens but I cant remember the film used. I really need to start making note of that sort of thing but most likely it was Neopan 1600 or Tri-x developed at home in either Rodinal or HC 110.

Image selected for the Center for Fine Art Photography Black and White show

2010-07-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

One of my Hungtington Library images was selected by Andrea Modica to be in the Center for Fine Art Photography's Black and White show. Im very excited!!! Here is the first paragraph from the email:

Congratulations! Juror Andrea Modica selected your work out of 2,558 images submitted for the Black and White exhibition at The Center for Fine Art Photography.

And the image selected is:

The image will hang in the Center in September.

Digital Harinezumi 2

2010-07-21T15:07:00.001-07:00

Got a new toy camera yesterday. A toy digital camera! I love it! The Digital Harinezumi 2 is so much fun to use and the colors are just amazing. I am finding myself retaking images that never worked with my dSLR or film SLR cameras and Im liking the images now.

None of these images were processed in PS to look like this. All I did to any of them was boost the blacks and contrast just a little because these images didnt need much more contrast than how they came out of the camera. But other than that, what you see here is what the camera made. And this little guy has video mode that shoots in both black and white and color, and when shooting in color, the colors are just as bright in video mode as they are in these shots. There is no live view mode when taking still shots but there is when you're in video mode. So when you are taking still shots you are pretty much guessing on what you're going to get and that did that on purpose.

A few things that I did notice though about this camera is that with my camera, the video mode has sound and read in more than one place that it shouldnt have sound. Also, the brighter the light you shoot in, the more saturated the colors get. When shooting in shadow or low light situations, the color the camera captures is pretty close to how you saw it originally.

But this is a really great camera and a lot of fun to shoot with. I've been shooting pix every day with it and Im hooked!

Vignettes

2010-02-10T22:04:00.001-08:00

This is a collection of images taken in and around my home. I've been trying to capture the little places around my home where the light reaches in and wakes things up in a special way, but I just havent been able to do it, until now.

I got my Pentax working and when I combine it with some other lenses, well, I got what I was looking for.

Starting off this set with Spencer the rat dog. His image was taken with just the Pentax but all the others were combos of lenses.

Reverie Options

2010-02-05T10:52:00.001-08:00

These are the first group of selections I've made for the show. I have to narrow this list down to one image. I really want to go with film but I like the abstract ice images as well. Im stuck and need some help. If anybody looking at these images wants to offer a suggestion of their 3 favorites, I would be much obliged.

My top 3 are second from the top, third from the top and the last image in the list.

B&W Klick color film conversion

2010-02-03T14:23:00.001-08:00

This was also shot with the Klick film but I converted it to B&W because it was mostly all green and I felt that B&W would better serve the mood I was going for when I took the shot and it really did.

Getting a little more accurate

2010-02-03T10:27:00.001-08:00

These shots were done on the 135BC with expired Klick film, ASA 200. Again, like the other color films, it seems to have better color results depending on how much light there is. Of course, some of these shots are just of monochromatic, or near monochromatic, scenes.

I have also used the Holga telephone lens on at least one of the shots. I really must keep a journal so I will remember what lens was used on what shot. I never want to deal with the hassle of it and so keep telling myself I'll just remember this time. I never do! LOL! Time to bite the bullet and keep a damned journal.

Oh yeah, and I probably should talk a little bit about the meaning behind the title of the post. Most of these shots are framed really close to what I was hoping for. I discovered that very little correction is needed to line the lens up with what I saw in the viewfinder with these 135 cameras. Before I was way overcompensating for the difference and shooting way too high, if shooting landscape, or too far right if shooting portrait. I think I have a handle on that now.

And another oh yeah, post script. The second image down is the only image that I used the tele lens on. At least I think so. I know for a fact I used it on that shot but cant recall if I used it on any of the other shots. And my favorite shot of the bunch is the one just below.

Cheers!

Kodak Portra 160VC

2010-01-25T21:11:00.000-08:00

Got some really interesting effects with this film. I thought I'd take a chance and see what it did with all kinds of different situations. All shots were taken at the Huntington Library in Pasedena. I used my Holga 135 and have cropped some of the images due to some defects that I am finding with the camera, which is mainly a huge black edge to the frame. It was only a problem on some of the low light shots.

This first shot was full sunlight and the color is spectacular! This shot hasnt been cropped and there wasnt much problem with the black edge on the frame. It is darker on the left edge but that could just be shade. I dont remember.

The sun was very low at this point and I had the huge black edge on the left. Took up at least a 3rd of the frame. The color is still pretty saturated in this shot and I really like it. It almost looks like a 120 shot.

Now this I find very interesting. The light almost looks like strobe lighting but its the sun. I stood in the shade and took this shot. That huge black edge was on this one too.

Odd how this low light shot doesnt do the strange thing with the sunlight, making it look like strobes. Not really sure why. I did have the black edge problem with this shot too.

This shot is interesting because the only saturated color I see is the tiny bit of blue sky you can see. Other than that, the greens look pretty flat. Full sunlight shot and I had no issues with the underexposed edge.

As I was leaving I took this shot. I wanted to see how the film with do with all those shadows in a landscape. Seemed to handle it well and I like the effect the Holga gave to the trees. I did crop out part of the sky but there was no issue with the black edge in this shot.

Heres another one of those weird shots that looks like a flash or some other manmade light source, but thats the sun. Oh yeah, and this image isnt cropped.

Holga 135BC

2010-01-17T21:53:00.001-08:00

Got a new Holga. Two actually. The shots in this post were taken at different locations around Southern California with the Holga 135BC using various types of film. I'm not sure I can remember them all but I'll do my best.

This is a shot of a factory I found on my way to Death Valley. I used Kodak Portra 400 B&W film that I had processed at Target. They really scratch the hell out of the film so I had to do a ton of repairs on this. Other than that, and a little contrast adjustments, what you see is what the camera did.

This shot was taken at Calico ghost town in California using the same roll of Kodak Portra. I had to do the same repairs to this image as well.

This shot was also taken at Calico with the same roll of Kodak Portra.

Again, Calico ghost town, same roll of Kodak Portra. And as an embarrassing side note, as I was walking in to Calico, a running race was just finishing up right at the entrance to the town. Much of where I needed to walk was blocked by people standing around so I just sort of wound my way around them to the street. As I was walking, a runner came right at me. I dodged out of her way and said sorry because I realized I had walked right through their finish line. Duh! It was all marked off with orange cones and everything. I just never saw them! HAHAHAHA!

Ok, all the shots below are of the same abandoned house. I believe that I shot all of these using plain old Kodak Professional BW400CN. Ok, just found the box so I know it was that film. : )

There is a very interesting thing going on with the trees here, especially with this shot. Maybe its just a coincidence, but the upper branches are in a kind of halo of clouds and light. Some of that is due to the clouds behind the tree, but not all of it. Its almost as if the little insert the mfr put in the camera to add the black corners is behaving strangely, or something like that. Not quite sure but I really like the effect. Looks like a painting.

Toy Camera Fun

2010-01-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry its been so long since my last post.

Here are some new shots taken with plastic cameras. A few are from my Holga and a few from disposable Kodak and Fuji cameras.

This image was taken with a Fuji disposable outdoor camera on color 35mm film. I just converted it. One of the nice things about these cameras is that they have no vignetting so I can crop the image, which is often necessary because of the minimum distance required for clear focus and the wide angle lens they use.

This is a shot of a new abandoned house I found last weekend.

The image below was taken at Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley, CA with the same Fuji camera. There were all these areas between the dunes where creosote grew and all that white stuff was hard packed, dried mud.

I believe the image below was taken with a Kodak Funsaver camera. It has a built in flash that you cant turn off so I just tape the flash. This shot was taken at Devils Punchbowl, CA.

I dont normally take shots of power lines but this one was so cluttered up with wire that I couldnt resist. Taken with my Holga using Ilford color film but I can remember if it was 160c or s.

Another shot taken with one of my Holgas. It too was taken with color film but I converted it to black and white for a class project and just prefer it this way.

New website nearly completed

2009-11-18T17:36:00.001-08:00

Please check it out at www.erinmcguirephotography.com. There is also a blog there that will eventually completely replace this one.

Thanks all!

Macro shots of decaying vegetation

2009-11-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

I had to show a state of being for my color photography class. Its interesting that the state of being that I chose, decay, is shown through the absence of color vs being deeply saturated by it. Its something I had never thought of before and the exercise really opened my eyes to the power of color in showing a state of being.

Over a year now

2009-10-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

For some odd reason I feel I should mention that all of the images I just posted for the B&W contest are part of a, I dunno, not really a project but an obsession that began some time ago. Some of these shots are more than a year old, others just a few days. When I started shooting abandoned homes I never would have imagined myself still shooting them a year later. I still find myself getting excited when I spy a new abandoned home and immediately start to plan when I can next get out there with my equipment. But I am feeling that Im nearing the end of my need to photograph them. Maybe it was the pack of dogs that chased Ryan and I into my car that one day or maybe its because I've shot all the images I care to shoot. I dont know, but I do think Im nearly done with the abandoned homes. Makes me feel kind of sad, like they'll somehow miss me. In reality, Im sure its the other way around. : )

Last 5 images

2009-10-27T12:58:00.001-07:00

While these 5 images look very different from all the other images and dont seem to belong in any specific category, I really like them all for different reasons. If I were to create a grouping of images to submit to the contest that included images from each group, then I could include my favorites from this group, but, I dont have to do this. I just want to put together a series of images that help to tell the story of abandoned homes in the best possible way.

3rd and 4rth sets

2009-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

These next two groups of photos are of objects in the houses and abstract forms found inside the homes. These images are quite different from the first two sets yet are as much a part of the allure of abandoned homes as the homes themselves. So, do I include them or not? I cant decide.

2nd set of images

2009-10-27T12:46:00.001-07:00

These are all frame in frame taken from inside the homes. I think I could put these images with the first images and consider them the same style of photograph, only these are darker. But there is a deep DoF and strong contrast and the subject matter is the same so I think they could easily be put together. Except for maybe the 3rd image. Perhaps the shallow Dof on that one sets it apart.

1st set of images

2009-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, I need some help here folks. I want to submit 8 to 12 images to the B&W magazine contest and I want to submit my abandoned house shots, but I have so many different types that Im not at all sure what to post. I can post images that are the most alike and make a series that way. Or I can mix just a few different types together for a more general grouping. Or, I can mix all the types of images together for a grander view of how I see abandoned homes. So what I am going to do is post these images in separate groups here and maybe whoever wants to can help me decide on how to submit my images.

Thanks in advance to all those who helped out!

First group. This is the largest of the groups. This group is mostly frame in frame shots taken from outside the home.

More Film

2009-10-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

These top two were taken with my Holga. Too bad I cant remember the speed! I think it might be 3200 though. If not, it would be the standard Ilford 400 that I like to use.

The tall, thin color pic of Ryan was taken using a cheap little throw away Kodak Powerflash camera. Love those little cameras now. They come in 800 and 400 ASA and have a great wide angle distortion. They are super cheap, at around 5 bucks per camera so I do believe I will be using them for my color 35 MM images from now on.

New Favorite Pic of Ryan

2009-10-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Have lots more film to post but for now I will post only this shot. I love it so much I just feel it needs a post of its own. : )

Taken with my Holga on color film and converted to b&w for my midterm but I like it more in black and white so I think I'll just leave it this way. I think this was 160s color 120 film. I believe so. Its either that or 160c but it wasnt very contrasty so I think it was the S version.

Object with a narrative

2009-10-13T14:26:00.001-07:00

For module 5, we were charged with taking an ordinary object and giving it a story. We were told to choose one of three different objects and to give our images a clear narrative. I had so many ideas starting out. So many. So few turned out the way I wanted them to, but then thats almost always the way things turn out. I like the shots myself but worried that nobody would understand the narrative but I used them anyway. I havent heard from the teacher yet. Who knows what he'll say.

Here they are. Well, the two I chose anyway, and a third image I created just in case. The first image is my favorite.

Flight

2009-10-02T14:15:00.001-07:00

Latest assignment pix. We were told to do 3 treatments of the same theme. I chose mans desire to fly and how he might try to achieve flight through childish or fanciful means.

I love these images. I feel so much emotion when viewing them. Im not sure I can say the same for any other image I have created to date.

White Balance tests

2009-09-25T08:57:00.001-07:00

This project started off as something completely different from how it ended up but I like these images anyway.
We had to purposefully choose different color casts by selecting the wrong WB for the lighting we were using. I chose to shoot fruit because I thought that the WB color casts could enhance the color of the fruit chosen for each color cast. The color casts are yellow, red, blue, white, cyan, green and magenta.
You know, fruit can look pretty vulgar up close sometimes. I really had to choose my angles carefully. : )

Holga film scans 2

2009-09-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

These are the black and white and C41 Holga scans. The C41 is very interesting. I like the cyan and magenta colors and find that they could work very well for specific scenarios. Believe it or not, all of these shots were taken at the same abandoned house. As far as light goes, the last shot is my favorite. I have never seen anything I have shot before capture the beauty of the late afternoon light like the Holga did in that shot. Im talking about the fireplace shot. I honestly didnt know I could capture light like that.

And with this first shot, I am not at all sure why it came out so posterized. I love the shot and am going to keep it but if I were to ever print it, I'd have to do something about that posterization. I dont even know if thats a legitimate word but its a word that my PS teacher used a lot.

Ok, these are the color Holga shots. The first shot was taken at night on a full moon. Its a really long exposure and I bet there is reciprocity failure but I have no idea what it looks like so if anybody can tell me if they see, please do.

The second shot is Ryan midday looking out to the back of the house and the third shot is a double exposure taken out front.

Fear Images trial run

2009-09-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here you go Kelly. Curious what you think about these. Im not really happy with any of them. I mean, they are ok but there is something missing in each I think but I cant put my finger on what.

With this one, I forgot that we arent allowed to use guns or knives so I would have to retake it but there is still something about it I dont like. Maybe its too dark or the door frame is lit on the wrong side. Maybe I need to put the light right behind him. I do like the motion on the right side and do like that there is some light on his face, but still, the image as whole doesnt work for me.

For this one, I think the doorway is too light and I dont like that its just his head but I do like how scary the face looks. Perhaps I need to turn the light down a bit, use one of the cool lights instead of the hallogen. And maybe I need to get more of his torso in the shot.

And this one, this one I love the idea and I like the movement I got with the doll and how there is even movement of the shadow. I did all that with the Lensbaby. But still, something is lacking. I want to use this image but I really cannot figure out what it is that is wrong with this image. I think its something to do with the light but I really cant figure out what it is. Maybe all it is, is the position of the shadow. If the beast were really coming at her from the direction of the light source, the shadow would look different. Maybe thats all thats wrong with this. Not sure.

Station Fire

2009-09-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

For me, the smoke from the Station fires as it rose high into the sky and covered the Palmdale/Lancaster area in ashy darkness, was the most dramatic aspect of this fire. I have never before seen smoke so clearly defined as what I saw on Sunday, nor could I have ever guessed smoke could contain such color. It glowed red and purple and blue. For me, the smoke was alive, a giant monster that spread up and out until it consumed everything around me.

Take a moment to really look at these photos. In some you can see how tiny the mountains are compared to how enormous the pilars of smoke are. I've said it before in other posts but I cant help saying it again now, but it is just mind boggling to me to see this dramatic difference in size and then think about the tiny humans out there battling the blaze.

Holga film scans

2009-08-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

First Holga film scans. These images are freaking tiny! Really, really tiny and they look all pixelated in PS. Not sure how to make them bigger though so any suggestions will be very greatly taken and appreciated.

Posting the first shot even though I dont care for it much. Its too grainy for a day time image and I dont know why. I shot into the sun with 400 film on the normal shutter speed. Im guessing that wasnt fast enough.

The rest I like quite a bit. Just need to figure out how to make them larger when I scan them.

Bubbles

2009-08-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Lots and lots of bubbles

Im going to live to be 100

2009-08-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

and I will be taking pictures until I die. I love photography. What could be cooler than writing with light?

I just dont know.

still waiting for chips, wine and Chocolate

2009-08-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

So here are some sudsy abstracts for you.

Sorta drunk

2009-08-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

and a little bored. Going to post some abstracts. Still waiting for Tuesday.

New abandoned home shots

2009-08-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

These shots are from three different sites and about four different homes. Im starting the set off with my favorite of all of them.

I have to wonder about how much I like my own pictures. Am I learning anything? Am I being too lenient with myself with my images or are they actually good? I cant be objective enough to say. Does it even matter? Im not sure. I am having fun though.

More Found Objects

2009-07-23T08:10:00.001-07:00

A few recently found objects. It feels strange to me to discover that leaving the color in the shot can put the point across better than removing it. And yet, sometimes color is a total distraction from the point of the image. I guess what is strange about this discovery is that I made in regards to abandoned homes and found objects. By removing the distraction of color, all that is left is the object itself and what condition it's in. But I have recently discovered that color adds to that condition in some cases. Not all. Not even in most, but definitely in some. As in the case of the green chair and the doll in this new post. The faded green of the chair speaks volumes to me when compared to green vegetation behind it. Usually desert greenery is faded in comparison to man materials. And the flesh tones in the face and arm of the doll add a realism to that image that makes it seem all the more gruesome. But in the rest of the shots, the color distracted my thought away from the lines and textures and depth.

Interesting.

New Series 2nd set

2009-07-07T09:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, there are more but I think I'll leave it at this for now.

New Series 1st set

2009-07-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Im focusing my energy on abstracts for now, though I havent stopped shooting abandoned homes or landscapes. I just want to really investigate how far I can go with these abstracts. I tend to go for the slightly, or completely blurry, macro shots or close up shots of decaying walls, but I really enjoy some of the abstract images Im seeing on other photog websites. Not sure I'll try that path or not. For now, Im sticking with the macros and close ups.

Here are a few of my macros. And I think I'll post them here untitled and let you all figure out what they are to you.

Kyanite Macros

2009-06-09T11:05:00.001-07:00

I am really digging macros. I love to just shoot and then see what there is to see after I download the images. I really like these images. They remind me a lot of Chinese watercolors. Two of these images are only edited in PS using traditional darkroom techniques of boosting contrast and dodging and burning but one was altered with an adjustment layer to make part of it a bit more purple.

All shots were taken with the Lensbaby with macro lens attachments. I just sat the kyanite sliver on a box and set it front of a window and snapped away. I FREAKING LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY!!! : )

Storm Over Mountain Lake

Sunrise Over Mountains

Purple Mountains Majesty

Light and Ice

2009-05-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Shots that just happened.

What you are seeing are greyscale conversions of a large piece of ice sitting in front of my monitor at night. With all the colors shining through, it was so beautiful that I had to grab a few shots.

All shots were taken with the Lensbaby.

Im planning on entering 3 to 5 of these images into a contest so if anybody would like to tell me which ones they like the most, I would be very grateful.

Aurora

Sun Spot

Comet

Tail End

Surface

Dunes

Wave

Sun Spot 2

Been a while

2009-04-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

since I posted. Not sure why. These two images are by far my favorite images taken to date. I could stare at them for hours.
These are knuckle sections of a dead cholla cactus. I took the shots with my lensbaby using a macro lens attachment.
In processing, I messed up with the blue slider in gray scale and that is what produced the strange, paint like affect. I really love it.

Shadows

2009-03-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

of a tree on the side of a building. Not sure what that little shed thing is but I really liked tree shadow was covering it up.

New Passion

2009-03-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

Night time shots of trees. Good golly these things just came alive before my eyes. I cant wait to go out and get more pix! They all have their own personalities too. I see it now in processing but I didnt really see it when I was taking the pix but now that I know what to look for, I cant wait to go out and find new friends. I think this is really, really exciting.

Random desert scenery

2009-02-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-23T06:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-16T08:12:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

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

Sick again

2009-01-18T19:20:00.001-08:00

and feeling down. Mourning my Sammy cat and feeling anxious about young love on the rocks. Sick or not, I have to get out of the house, even if its only for an hour. Taking pictures always makes me feel better. So I grab the new bag and drive out in the setting sun to an abandoned house I visited only once before with my niece.

The place is deserted, like before, but my visit doesn't go unnoticed by passersby on 240 and somebody honks. Prudence urges me inside, away from curious eyes. The place feels different from the last time because today I am alone and the wind is making the doors creak open and slam closed on their own. There are two of them on both sides of me and I feel surrounded by ghosts.

Outside, a strip of metal dances in the wind near the roof and I think maybe somebody is up there. To my left, a wall of glassless window frames remain closed, save the last two that stand open for no reason.

Not far in the distance a child screams and sounds eerily like a coyote that has corned its prey and I begin to wonder why I came here. My head is telling my feet to beat it outta here double quick time but my feet know better.

I clear my head and remind myself that I love these old places. That they don't scare me. That I am here to record the beauty they have to offer as best I can. I grab my camera, attach the Lensbaby, and begin to shoot.

These distorted color and black and white photographs mimic my mood.

Lake LA

2009-01-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

in hearts and stars.

Images shot using the Lensbaby lens heart and star app ring accessories.

Favorite Place

2009-01-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

In the house to sit and watch the wild goings on of the desert that surrounds me.

Image taken with Lensbaby lens, no app ring in very low light with no tripod.

Tinkerbell Was Here!

2009-01-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

And she left a trail of stars to dance across my window pane.

Image taken at night on a Nikon D80 using a Lensbaby with specular light star shaped accessory.

Try, try, try again

2009-01-16T08:26:00.001-08:00

Until you get it right.

Let's see if I got this right.

Still getting used to how this works

2009-01-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I can see from my posts that uploading a small image only means the image on he main page is small but the image loaded is still large. So, rather than erase what I have already, I am going to see about resizing each image to about 200kb or so and loading them up as medium for the main page. Here we go!

Setting Sun

2009-01-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken using the wide angle accessory for the Lensbaby. When I took this shot, I had no idea there was an aperture ring in the Lensbaby and shot it with an app of 4. Later, when I went to toss the Lensbaby box in the trash, it felt kinda heavy to me so I looked inside and found a little closeable pouch for the lens as well as odd looking device that resembled a tiny bellows with a piece of metal in the end. I looked it up in the instructions and found out that there were other aperture rings inside the round part and that the metal piece on the end was an actual magnet used for removing the metal app rings from the Lensbaby face.

So, I plan to try the sunset shot again using the f8 app ring to see what I get, though I do really like this shot as it is. To me, it reminds me a lot of a picture I would have taken as a kid, had I had a camera then that is, as my family and I traveled to the desert to spend the weekend with family, friends, motorcycles, chilled carrot and celery sticks out of the cooler, melting plastic utensils in the camp fire and a night sky filled with more stars than empty space.

Setting Sun through Joshua Trees

2009-01-16T07:48:00.001-08:00

This shot is was taken using the zone plate accessory for the Lensbaby. I was recently told that some people hate this kind of shot. Seems a strong emotion for a picture but ok. Myself, even though I took the shot, Im not really happy with how large the sunburst is but I wanted to post it to show the effect. I plan to try this zone plate with different app rings in for night time city shots to see what happens to the lights. Should be interesting.

Joshua Tree

2009-01-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken with the normal Lensbaby lens without any accessories attached. I converted it to gray scale, cropped it a bit and added some grain in CS3.

Got my Lensbaby

2009-01-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, January 15th, 09, I received a new lens. Its called a Lensbaby and its purpose is to cheaply mimic a tilt shift lens. While the Lensbaby cant quite match the subtle blurs that you get with a tilt shift lens, it can still create some interesting effects. So far I like what I see. There are lots of accessories made for this lens and I have most of them and used quite a few of them the same day I got the lens.

Here are just a few images shot with the Lensbaby.

Training In Paradise

2008-08-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

As I step on to the cement pad that has become my training place in this warm weather, a sharp-shinned hawk glides slowly overhead, looking for prey. He disappears behind me and the ravens take his place, drifting and playing on the air currents as only they can do, all the while carrying on a serious conversation. Ever the watchful couple, they are my constant companions and I am grateful for their presence.

My legs are tired from yesterdays work and reluctant to get started. They plant themselves firmly on the cement, declaring mutiny, and I am forced to meditate on my surroundings for a short time. The wind blows and I look skyward for my black friends.

High, thin clouds swirl across the great expanse of blue and draw my attention northwest, to the Tehachapi mountain range. It is very close today. I can see the tall, white windmills that cover the western edge of the range. They look like crosses to me. And there are a lot of them; a giant's graveyard.

I remember I only have an hour and tell my legs to get on with it already. I attempt Chang Jin.

My legs laugh and say I told you so.

I tell them to be quiet and do it again.

And again.

The cries of small birds shift my focus from my mutinous legs to the vegetation around me. The rain has brought the green. There are mourning doves hiding in the tall grass, but I see them. As I work the form, I get closer to them. They should burst from their hiding places in a furry of high-pitched squeaks and fluttering wings, but they remain, unmoved.

They never fly from me when I train.

I turn to face the butte in preparation for my next form, Chul Ki Sam Dan. The sun is high and the rocks shine with endless tiny mirrors beneath it. Everything is green. A white moth with papery wings says a quick hello and disappears into the bright light of the noonday sun.

I close my eyes. The wind rushes past me, taking my scent with it. There are no planes, cars or people. Just the wind, the birds and my breath. I put my trust in what I know and the form is done.

Again and again.

My black friends shriek, reminding me to open my eyes and check my watch. My time is up and another afternoon of training in paradise has ended.

I cant wait for tomorrow.

The Earthquake Zone

2008-08-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

Growing up in southern California has its ups and its downs. Sometimes those ups and downs come at the same time, in a big wave that rolls across the land much like any wave in the ocean. In my forty-three years in this state I have experienced many earthquakes, from the Sylmar quake in 71 to the 5.8 Chino Hills quake we had just a few days ago. No matter how strong a rolling quake becomes, they all start small. Very deceptive, these wave quakes. You never quite know if what you're feeling will grow into "The Big One"; the one quake that will turn Surf City into an island town, or if it will simply fizzle out more quickly than it started, leaving nothing more than a few rattled nerves in its wake.

One such earthquake rolled into Anaheim early one morning, beating my alarm clock to the punch.

I woke to a shaking bed. I was tired and really didnt feel like giving this quake any sort of respect so I stayed where I was, which just happened to be directly underneath a large, sliding glass window. Putting me in my place, or rather convincing me to move out of it, the quake grew stronger shaking the window above my head. I had just convinced myself that it was time to at least sit up when my roommate ran out of his room and started pounding on my door.

"Erin! Erin! Get up!" he screamed, terrified. I had never heard him sound so frightened.
"I'm up, I'm up." I answered as calmly as could, hoping to convince him that our rocking apartment was nothing to fear. That it was perfectly normal to be tossed around in your own hallway, bouncing off the walls like one of those little metal balls in a pinball machine.

When I got to my door, I threw it open and found him just reaching the end of the hallway. The sun had not risen yet, but there was enough light behind the curtains in the living room to outline my friend who stumbled sideways as the apartment pitched this way and that. His arms flew out to his sides for balance as he teetered dangerously on one foot.

Just then I heard a loud POP! that was closely followed by an electric sizzle and a blinding, phosphorescent blue light that filled the entire apartment.

Transformer I thought as the image of my friends fun house trip down the hallway was etched forever in my brain by the beautiful, deadly glow.

I began to feel real fear then. I hadnt seen an earthquake take out a transformer before. I had just a moment to wonder how much longer I was going to live when a scream from my intelligent, even keeled, rational friend of more than fifteen years cut through the panic.

"OH MY GOD! We're getting nuked!" and then he was gone, having bounced single footed around the corner into the kitchen and out of sight.

I discovered then that its nearly impossible to feel fear when you're laughing so hard you cry.

Alpha

2008-08-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

First entry, just to get the ball rolling. Short and sweet.

When I was little, my family and I went camping all the time. Sometimes we'd go to the mountains and sometimes we'd go to a beach in Mexico, but usually we camped in the desert. For an adventurous girl of about five, the desert held many treasures. But none as special as the treasure I could make myself by throwing a plastic fork into the hot coals of a dying fire.

They would slither and twist, dance and spin. They drooped over my stick when I pulled them out of the coals. I watched them grow cold and hard in the cool, dry, desert air, a million stars looking over my shoulder. They became much harder than they were before I helped them become what they were really supposed to be and I imagined they were real. Some sort of plastic fairy with minds of their own and the ability to fly.

I kept all those forks for many years, my little treasure friends. I dont know where they are now but I imagine they are still together, dancing and laughing beneath the stars and telling tales of the toe headed girl who created them.