Friday, July 18, 2008

That Can't Be Real


Earlier this week while taking 4 to the doctor, we saw some giant pink flowers. I was sure they must be a sculpture or similar, because I'd never seen anything that big before. Being in a bit of a hurry for the appointment, we decided to investigate on our way home.

On our way home we stopped in the parking lot where we had seen the flowers and indeed, they were real. 4's immediate announcement was that we should take one home. But I wanted to know what the flower was (and maybe get permission) before I hijacked a bloom. We ventured into the two nearest stores and found our answer -- a Giant Hibiscus. We were also given permission to pick a pink bloom and found two to our liking.

The Giant Hibiscus bloom was bigger than my head. Bigger than a dinner plate. They were also extremely fragile and bruised easily. But they were a joy to photograph and enjoy for the few hours they lasted.

These images really don't do justice the SIZE of this flower, but I think I did capture the beauty and intense color.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Blue


So what do you think?
I love to photograph flowers. I love to examine the shapes and forms and textures. I enjoy caputuring the colors.
I do minimal fixing - mostly cropping for better composition and color correcting.
But this is not a natural blue. The lily was lemon yellow, but a quirk of the software turned it blue when I tried using "auto levels" - not my usual procedure.
But somehow - I love it.
If you love it too, look for it soon in my Etsy shop.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Sharing the Passion


A few months ago I rearranged my house a bit to allow me to take over some of the basement so that I could set up my studio permanently. I hoped that having my equipment out would encourage and allow me to photograph whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without being deterred by the set-up process.

So far it's worked.

The permanent studio has had the added advantage of getting a couple of my kids bitten by the photography bug. Today has I was working on an idea I've had for a few weeks, Two (age 8)asked if she could help and then asked if she could take a few pics too. Before long Five (age 3.5) was in on the act too.

I love seeing my kids explore new things and it's even more fun when they take an interest in something I enjoy.