Lake Winnipesaukee Life

 It's summer, it's hot and it's Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire!  We sold the house, took the dog and moved to Gilford, NH.  I'm a lake person - there's no sand or the possibility of being eaten by a shark - so quiet here and the forest is green and cool.  Here are a few photographs to set the scene:

Early summer and the frequent rain produced so many mushrooms of all sizes and colors:

An abundance of flowers at the farm stand and inside was a cornucopia of vegetables!

Nature Colors - My show in Newburyport, MA at the Firehouse Theater

These are my favorite photographs of rocky New England coastlines shrouded in mist, wildlife and waterfowl in the quiet, pristine landscapes of the Eastern United States from Maine to the Delmarva Peninsula.

Let's begin in Baxter State Park, Maine where Mt. Katahdin (5,267 ft) can be hiked and viewed from many trails.

As we move south and east to Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine the sights are stunning in Acadia National Park, from the top of Cadillac Mt. to the quiet of the Acadia Wild Garden and the dramatic ocean views.  

 Cadillac Mt. is the first place to see the sunrise in North America during some months of the year.

  A lovely walk in the Wild Garden:

  Eagle Lake

  The view from Thurston's Lobster Pound in Bernard, ME.

 

  Jordan Pond 

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are a popular autumn destination for leaf peepers.  The colors are fantastic!

 Eaton, NH

Mount Chocorua Sunrise and Silver Cascade Falls below:

Now we are seeing some of the beauty of Massachusetts:

Plum Island is a world renowned birding destination and a National Wildlife Refuge.  It is also a great place to experiment with "ocean motion"!

A horse farm in Haverhill, MA along the famous Merrimack River.

 Joppa Flats near Newburyport, MA.

 Treasure seekers near Gloucester and below are two scenes from Cape Cod with it's miles of beach!

Heading south again to the National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island.  I'm sure you've heard of the ponies living there.  This 37 mile long barrier island is located off the eastern coast o the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean.  The northern 2/3 is in Maryland and the southern 1/3 is in Virginia.  Perfect for birding and catching a glimpse of the ponies!

Me and my Lensbaby Velvet 85

I am a conventional landscape photographer.  I also like to take it a step further and experiment with smaller and closer landscapes.  My Lensbaby lens goes further into the realm of abstract with creative use of depth of field.  With my camera and a bag full of lenses I am outdoors in gardens and the woods, on mountains or fields in all kinds of weather.  Seeing, smelling, touching the moment and making art!   I switch between my Canon Macro 100mm and my Lensbaby 85mm.  The Lensbaby is trickier to use as it is completely manual and the effort is worth it.

  

Macro Flowers

It's spring!  Dust off your macro lenses and get your knees dirty!  

What you will need: A camera or phone with a macro lens and a tripod. I have several macro lenses: 

  

From left to right: Canon Macro 100mm, Lensbaby Velvet 85mm, Canon 24-70 Macro.

I do not use my tripod all the time.  A Lensbaby is manually focused so you can just move the camera  closer and farther away to get your focus.  If you are handholding with a Canon etc. lens then use a faster shutter speed and/or burst mode. There are lots of great articles on macro photography at digital-photography-school.com 

Here is an example from my Lensbaby Velvet 85 collection.  Love this lens!!

One Woman Show!

A One Woman Show!  How exciting my first solo show was!
The biggest question was which pieces to choose.  I needed to select 10 photographs that together would create a visual theme, showcase my best work and tell the story of who I am as a photographer.
What did those 10 photographs teach me about my style?  First of all, I love color!  I also love nature.    Nature calms me and allows me to feel my place in the world.  I always say that my happy place is hiking to the top of a mountain.  I hope my work inspires people to experience the nature around them.
Since that first solo show, "Nature Colors", I realized that it is important to ask myself several questions: What is my style?  Do I want to give myself a project and do something new?  How do I want to grow as a photographer?  How can my work reflect that growth?
Since that first show I have had a solo show at the Newburyport Art Association and The Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, MA as well as showing in several smaller venues in Newburyport.

I appreciate a gallery that puts the effort into having wonderful lighting for hanging art on their walls.  Receptions are a fun way to kick off a show! Invite your friends and the public to view your work!  Restaurants often invite artists to show art and offer it for sale such as The Purple Onion in Newburyport. 

Now that I have shown this body of work I call "Nature Colors" in several venues I am experimenting with new styles and fun ways to edit my photographs.  The next blogs are all about that!

Create Stunning with Textures

Textures are so much fun!  You can make your own or buy them.  I've done both and now I have a library of textures to last a very long time.  I have to stop myself from buying more!  There are many tutorials on the web to show you how to use them.  I started with Hazel Meredith who did a webinar for Topaz.  Find her at Meredith Images Blog.  She creates fantastic images of grungy old cars!
I looked through my landscape images and found some potential!

I started with this:

Added two textures to get this:

The textures gave the image movement and cohesiveness as well as color!  I got rave reviews from friends and the public so I decided to continue.  

I looked for an image with a lot of negative space.  This one is a perfect subject but it needed more:

Textures added depth and interest:

I have this image printed on canvas in a show now at the Newburyport Art Association in Massachusetts.  I won an award for it!

Textures, like composites, are cutting edge for photography.  I'm not going to abandon my love of capturing gorgeous landscapes, I can assure you.  But I am also going to expand my abilities to play and be creative in my digital darkroom.  Try it!