lens-artists

lens-artist: keep walking

Urban Hiking

I am old and I am bored. I was never very wise and my mind has never walked much further than my feet. Oh my forest, my forest … I go back and back to wander there.

There blue fingers of the moon still play on my old lute. There wind scatters clouds and comes down to flutter my robe.

You ask me what is the best happiness of all? In the forest it is sweet to hear a girl singing on the path, after she has stoped to ask her way, and thanked you with a smile. ~Wang-Wei*

Thank you Amy (The World is a Book) for this week’s lens-artists challenge: Keep Walking.

*cited: The Jade Flute: Chinese Poems in Prose: The Project Gutenberg

lens-artists challenge: it’s all about the light

Travels and Trifles wrote, “This week the Lens-Artists team invites you to join us in exploring the magic of light. Sometimes we plan ahead and rise in the early morning hours to capture the sunrise, only to find it obscured by clouds. Other times we await the sunset only to find it less than spectacular. And sometimes, every now and then, we just get lucky and a boring scene becomes magical.”

What could be more boring than a global industrial grid bike rack or

Sony RX1003 …f /3.5 . 1/250s . 25.7mm . 80 ISO

the concrete foundation of an underpass.

Leica d-Lux7 … f/2.8 . 1/1300 . 34mm . 100 ISO

Then there is the magical moment of a playground in the early morning hours.

Leica D-Lux 7 … f/2.8 . 1/1600s . 34mm . 100 ISO

lens-artists: your inspiration

P.A. Moed invites photographers to share images of what it is that inspires them.

I find myself wondering what is…inspiration?

Scott Barry Kaufman (Why Inspiration Matters?) writes that inspiration awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility, and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities. Inspiration may sometimes be overlooked because of its elusive nature.

a simple egg?



a child?

a weed?

or an invitation by Mother Nature to be … still.

lens-artists: postcards

Postcards from my favorite places:

Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado

Walden, Colorado – Jackson County

Walden, Colorado – Jackson County

Cameron Peak, Colorado

Anvica’s Gallery is this week’s lens-artists host who has invited photographers to share images of favorite places. The images above were edited within Nik’s Analog Efex Pro 2 to create aged postcards of Colorado landscapes.

lens-artist: black and white

Hum…it is a challenge to outline my editing process as it is more often than not a spontaneous flow of visual experimentation.

For this week’s challenge I chose the image below … the repeating patterns found within the dandelion family are inviting to my photographer’s eye.

Sony RX100 M3 …f/3.5 .. 1/400s .. 25.7 mm .. 80 ISO

First the raw image was cropped and edited in Capture One. A healing mask was used to remove some of the stems in the background.

Silver Efex: The editing process within Silver Efex began with a custom preset and some global adjustments. The blue filter was used as it was seen to lessen some of the background distraction. The IIford FP4 Plus 4 film type was chosen with a bit of yellow and green color filter sensitivity adjustments. Control points – contrast and brightness – were located in the parachutes. The vignette was set at -21%.

Photoshop: Contrast between lights and darks were explored with 3 curve layers.

Capture One: A custom split tone preset was the finishing edit.

One editing rule that I broke today is to walk away from an image for a period of time as a way to see my work through fresh eyes. Please let me know if you see any distractions or composition concerns.

Anne @ Slow Shutter Speed invited photographers to post their black and white photos as well as share their photo editing process.

lens-artists photo: it is a wonderful world

My friend is lodging high in the Eastern Range,

Dearly loving the beauty of valleys and hills.

At Green Spring he lies in the empty woods;

And is still asleep when the sun shines on high.

A pine-tree wind dusts his sleeves and coat;

A pebbly stream cleans his heart and ears.

I envy you, who far from strife and talk

Are high-propped on a pillow of blue cloud. ~ Li Po*

A summer’s sprinkle

A spring snowstorm

It is a wonderful world…Amy (The World is a Book)

*(cited: Arthur Waley, The Poet Li Pl Gutenberg Project

lens-artists challenge: shades and shadows

the man’s whiteness
walking in the house’s shadow…
summer moon ~Issa*

stilllife
isolation
isolation

sharing tree shade  
with a butterfly…
friends in a previous life ~Issa*

solitude

Isn’t the shade under a tree the tree’s shadow?

joining in Leya’s photo challenge: shades and shadows.

*cited: haikuguy.com

lens-artist photo challenge; from large to small

This week Patti’s (P.A. Moed) Lens-Artists photo challenge is to pick a color and select several photos that feature that color and then beginning with a “large” color subject go down to an image that contains a small subject color — going from large to small.

smoke rising (Cameron Peak fire)

light reflections seen through the windows of a coffee shop

rust on a section of a pedestrian over-pass

the stem and veins within a leaf