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!

Portrait Photography Outdoors

Outdoor portrait photography is a lot of fun and gives you great results when you keep a few things in mind as you shoot.
-When you know your what your location will be plan what your subject is wearing to coordinate and/or stand out from the natural surroundings.  A couple of changes of clothing or props like hats, scarves, umbrella, book, flowers etc. will get your creative spirit flowing.  In this shoot with my niece, I used her hat and a scarf as props.  Her clothes blended with the winter woods and the scarf was a dramatic color addition.

-Don't forget to set your white balance appropriately.  You will still want to play with it in Photoshop especially if the light changes as you are shooting.  In this shoot the sun began to come out and changed the light dramatically.  We stopped when it got too strong.

-I use manual mode and check my histogram frequently.  Aperture preferred mode is also good for portraiture as you can set the f stop and get the depth of field you want without worrying about the shutter speed.  Remember: make sure your shutter speed stays fast enough for a moving person!
-Be playful and have fun.  Be clear with your subject what you want them to do and where you want them to look.  They don't know!