Sailing through Blue Skies

Hello all. I've been so busy getting ready for a trip out to Montana that I've been neglecting the blog here. And since we're heading out today I'll be away for another week! However, I think this trip will be just what I need to recharge my batteries and get inspired.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming week. Have a fantastic 4th of July weekend! I'll leave you with some new photos from yesterday... mushrooms!

Gills


Right at Home (Among the Nuts)


Have a great week - see you soon!

Simplicity

Forsythia III

Home

Forsythia II

Events and Such

So - it's been quite the end of the week! I'm going to keep this post short (it's too nice out to be here at the computer), but I wanted to fill you in on what's been happening!

On Thursday night, I headed to the South County Art Association's Annual Photography Open. "Curiosities" won 3rd prize! Hooray! See how goofy I look? That means I'm having fun.



Today, I spent some time playing around with my new TtV (through the viewfinder) setup. I'm currently using my trusty old Kodak Duaflex with my Canon SX110 IS - the latter on manual exposure control & manual focus. I love the control you can get, even though it's a point & shoot. Plus it makes a smaller and less awkward setup than when I use the D70 for TtV photos.

As you can see - the seeds we planted a week or so ago are just starting to sprout!

Swiss Chard


And, as promised earlier this week, here's a shot of the forsythia - the buds are all pretty huge - not all the blossoms have fully opened yet, though.

Forsythia I


Enjoy! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far. Anything exciting going on?

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Here are some more vacation pics for you! There are a ton to go through, and I've got the Pawtucket Art Festival this weekend (come visit me!), so they'll be trickling onto the blog slowly over the next couple of weeks. First up, an infrared photograph of the Adirondacks, as seen from Mount Philo near Burlington, VT.

IR Adirondacks


Next, another photo from L'Isle Verte

L'Isle Verte Shoreline Through the Viewfinder

Seaside

More from today

2 more shots from today... I like how cropping out the actual viewfinder border allows the pale colors to dominate the images.

Pinecone


Yellow Lotus

More Fun with Glass

Enjoy these new TtV images, taken through the viewfinder of a Duaflex III. Comment and vote on your favorite!

Lavender


The Butterfly Case


Coral


1908 Eggs


Thanks to the RISD Nature Lab staff for their help!

Fun and Games with the Duaflex

I'm officially addicted to TtV. I think a field trip to a park is in order later this week - if the rain holds off!

New Toy

I have a new photo toy. One I've been wanting for a while now....



A Kodak Duaflex! I'm so excited. I brought it home, grabbed a photo mailing tube, and taped it right on there. Why? So I can take actual Through the Viewfinder (TtV) photographs! Here are the preliminary results. I'm sure there will be more coming soon! I've got to practice more with setting up the composition instinctively. Because of how the lens works on the Duaflex, everything looks backwards in the viewfinder...

My week in review...

Life has calmed down significantly now that my first outdoor show is finished! I finally have time to do a nice big blog post, so here's what I've been up to lately...

While grand hopes for camping over Memorial Day weekend didn't pan out, we did do some hiking with friends. My camera definitely needed some exercise, so it came along too and captured these pretty violets.

Most of my week was spent doing less recreational activities and more prep-work for stART in the Park. Between getting prints made up, having rush orders mounted on wood by the amazing iolabs, and matting my prints, I was putting in a lot of 10 hour days (and completely taking over the dining room). I was also doing some bogslogging at my day job (I discovered that aquatic macroinvertebrate I.D. is kinda fun).

All that work paid off when Saturday afternoon rolled around and I only had a few errands left to run in order to get ready. Sunday was the big day, and it started early. We had absolutely stunning weather, and I had a lot of fun. My booth was inbetween two friends - painter Julie Beck and Linda of à la mode. I met some great people, traded Flickr account addresses, and made a few sales. A big thank you to the buyers - I'm thrilled that my work found such good homes.

I don't think I've ever been more mentally exhausted than when I got home last night, but it was worth it. Today I've got plans to actually spend time taking new photos, and next weekend is the Rhode Island Artists for Save the Bay event! Hope to see you there, or later this month at the Narragansett Art Festival!

May Flowers

I stole some time away from busy art show preparations to take some photographs. I like the soft, dreamy feeling of this shot:

Lilies of the Valley

Whimsy

I may have some big news tomorrow... more to follow.

In the meantime, I've been playing around with "stamping" techniques again. Technically this bird is a crow, and not a raven, but "King Raven" sounds so much more majestic, don't you think? This is one of the few living animals I photographed while at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center.

King Raven

Creative Juices Flowing

I've been pretty darn productive for the last two days! Well, not productive in getting ready for my show on Saturday, but hey, I won't complain about generating so many photos in 48 hours. So yeah, the show is the SWAN Day festival at the Artists' Exchange in Cranston, RI. It's going to be a great mix of art and music and all sorts of goodies. Click the poster for details:



Back to photography... I worked on more Ocean series images today, here they are, Enjoy!

Skinny Sea Star I


Skinny Sea Star II

Natural History

I've been on a natural history kick lately. Maybe it's my educational background, but I told my husband the other day that I'd love to decorate the house with some natural history displays (vintage, of course - no need to deplete our biological resources any further). He seemed a bit squeamish at the thought of decorating with dead insects pinned to a card....

There is something beautiful about the animals and plants collected and arranged by enthusiasts in the past. I especially enjoy the displays that attempt to be lifelike. Nature is beautful, and who can blame people for wanting to bring it into their lives. There is a touch of creepiness to natural history, too, providing that hint of discomfort which makes for good art :-)

Today, I was lucky enough (and thrilled) to go down to the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, CT and photograph some of their collection. I spent hours there, and I'm going to have to go back again... Here's a small sampling - feel free to comment and vote for your favorite:

Specimen 652 (available on Etsy)


Rail


The Birds (available on Etsy)


Swamp Sparrow

By the Sea

A "new" one :-)

Sun Bathing

Happy Spring

One perk of being a photographer is that it gives me a great excuse to buy fresh flowers. I picked up this bouquet of lovely orange Ranunculus today. It looks great on my sideboard! A nice way to welcome spring on this chilly, rainy day.

Ranunculus


Ranunculus Blossom

Revisiting the Archives

Some days, I really, really want to take some photos, and don't have a chance to. Today was one of those days. There were just too many other things going on. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed. But, thumbing through my archives and playing with some of my older photos helped a bit. Here's one from the day I went to Barden Family Orchard during a thunderstorm in January. It was beautiful.

An Apple a Day

Sea Series

Here's the latest in my sea life series - hope you enjoy!

As usual, this and several other photographs are available for purchase in my Etsy shop. I'm always happy to do custom sizes or other requests!

Seashells by the Seashore

Still working on the sea creature series... here's another sea star in (nicer) natural light, and a shell with some lovely texture.

Sea Star III


Mollusk


And here's a mockup of a grouping of sea life photos (click on the image itself to view it larger).