The 365 Day Challenge - Week Six

Road to Raton -- Day 36

It has been an interesting journey this week in photography. In fact like last week most of the reasons I picked up the camera was to record work on the rental unit. But I tried to point the camera at something other than tile from time to time.

Husk of its former self -- Day 37

When desperate for a photo the studio/greenhouse always provides lots of great subjects. The drying husk of the Butterfly Amaryllis blossom posed beautifully. And when I posted this on Wednesday, February 6th a debate broke out among the fans of Binford-Bell Studio as to whether the post processing worked or didn't so on Thursday I posted a photo of the same subject with no fancy processing.

Fading Away - Day 38

Did you catch that it is a different flower husk? Amaryllis come in twins and this is the twin of the other. And what makes this photo is not the lack of elaborating effects but the simplicity of the composition and husk itself - open and bowing - turning its face away from the sun. So perhaps not a fair comparison between the two. They are different photos. And frankly I did not like Day 36 as well without the post processing effect. Part of the whole digital manipulation world is knowing when to stop. Rather like painting. And like with painting that point is sometimes missed.

Winter Reflections -- Day 39

And then winter returned. The sunlight coming through the studio windows had vanished but the subject is still the butterfly amaryllis seen here in the central window panel mixed with other images from the inside of the studio and reflections on the outside of the studio. I think I will always see this winter in black and white. It has given us more freezing cold and more gray days than I can remember.

My own personal sun -- Day 40

So on another gray day I was in the studio looking for other things to photograph and took several pictures of my "night light" which is an Art Deco reproduction. I took several with the light off and was not that fond of them. Then took several more with the light on. When I played with it in my post processing program the light behind the glass fan looked like a sun.

Self Portrait -- Day 41

I must be missing the ponds of summer because I keep getting lured back to reflections. But the beautiful snow has melted and turned all sorts of bad colors, and the flowers are only inside though some stupid iris have been lured into thinking it is spring and put up shoots. I think what makes this reflection picture are the binds on the other side of the window and the addition of texture in the post processing.

I have several photographer friends on Facebook and we do have an effect on each other even if we have very different styles. Terry Atkins Rowe has been using textures. But our friend David Hailey is true master of them with his abstract photographs. And it was Jessica Duke that this week posted a picture of nature's texture with an ice picture. I love ice pictures so I began searching the gutters of my country road for some. Too busy for a trip to Coyote Creek, home of the best ice.

Blooming Ice -- Day 42

And I found some great ice abstracts. Texture above was provided by nature. Must remember to get out of the house more even if it is a gray and cold day.