Filed under: Phoenix, Photography | Tags: Arizona State University, Parks, Phoenix, Photography
I found this cool site today, by way of someone on the Photojojo forum, where you can transform your photos (very quickly) so that they appear to be from very old, faded newspaper clippings. I’m sure one could do some interesting projects using this technique, maybe for someone’s birthday or anniversary, or just for your own amusement.
The old saquaro from my last post:
Old Main at ASU:
Memorial Hall at Steele Indian School Park:
An old gazebo at ASU:
A friend’s door at her older home:
A new building made to look old (except for the security bars):
Pretty entertaining, huh?
Filed under: Phoenix, Photography | Tags: Flora, Parks, Phoenix, Photography
What~besides the Grand Canyon~screams “Arizona”? The mighty saguaro, of course! And I realized that I’ve never posted a photo of a saguaro here yet. In fact, I didn’t have any photos of saguaros. So yesterday I went in search of the not-so-elusive cactus.
These photos were taken in Papago Park, the “jewel” of the Phoenix Park system, sort of our version of Central Park. It’s the home of The Phoenix Zoo, the Desert Botanical Garden, Hole-in-the-Rock, Hunt’s Tomb, many lagoons and trails, and covers 1,200 acres.
There’s quite a few on this small mountain and that’s just one little area.
And the classic saguaro in silhouette shot…with a little lens flare as a bonus.
Check out this saguaro; I’ve never seen one with so many arms. A five-armed saguaro is considered to be about 200 years old so I don’t know how old this one might be.
Filed under: Arizona, Music, Photography | Tags: Arizona, Music, Photography
If you live in Cave Creek, Arizona, you really do ride your horse over to the local watering hole. A couple of weeks ago, Tony’s blues band (Cat’s Eye) played at the Buffalo Chip Saloon and toward the end of the gig, 2 women rode in on their horses. I was reluctant to post these photos because they basically suck but here they are anyway. When one doesn’t go out shooting for several days, one’s options are limited.
The white horse is Ellie Mae, she’s the biter, and I didn’t catch the name of the bigger horse, who is the kicker.
Who’d have thought Rubbermaid makes horse troughs?
Someone else took some shots of the band inside (while I was engrossed in the horses) and a few of those are on their MySpace page. None of their music is posted there yet, though. His now defunct bluegrass band, The Roof Rats, do have music on their Myspace page.
Filed under: Photography | Tags: Flora, Photoblogging, Photography, Photoshop
Bane or blessing? Accidental or intentional? Photographic gaffe or creative expression?
My favorite time of day to shoot is the late afternoon because of the deep shadows and contrasts. In all of these photos, which I’ve posted before, the lens flare was unintentional. I, of course, know that shooting into the sun may cause a flare but that wasn’t my main objective. The first couple I saw I considered a “mistake,” but I posted them anyway and the more I saw them and those of other photobloggers, the more I began to like them. And now I love them! They add a certain drama and mystery.
I really do like the ones that show the aperture shape best but the glaring ones can be pretty dramatic, too.
Check out this totally awesome lens flare on Georgia’s blog! I’d sure like to get a capture like that. And look at her 2 header images; the bottom one is classic lens flare. And Red or Gray’s pine cone flare (I couldn’t link directly to her photo but it’s in this post) is really nice.
On a related note, did you see the 2009 Star Trek movie? Notice the lens flares? Director J.J. Abrams admits lens flares are ridiculous. Among other things, he says of them,”There is something incredibly unpredictable and gorgeous about them.”
I’d like to see your lens flares, too. Do you use a lens hood to prevent them? Have you ever added one with Photoshop or some other program? If you’d like to link some in the comments section, I’d enjoy seeing them.
Primary colors in the ‘hood.
Red. The pomegranates will be ripe in the fall. Unfortunately, the ones in our yard don’t taste all that good. But the birds seem to enjoy them.
Yellow. The yellow house down the street has been for sale for months. It doesn’t quite fit in the neighborhood as the person who renovated it has questionable skills in that area.
Lemon meringue windows.
Blue. The sheets dry fast outside when it’s around 110.
It’s definitely the dog days of summer here. My shooting is not too inspired. Must be time for a change of scenery, a little vaycay, maybe.
