Nephew Bonding

Hullo friends. My sister left for home today [ :( ] so I am back in the blogging routine. We will start one day at a time. I have tons of fun photos from the past week, and I know you want to see them all. You see, though, that will take a while, since I have tons. At least, they would be tons if I printed them all out. Files don't weigh anything. The first day back (today) I will show you pictures I took when I took my adorable nephew for a walk. His mamma had a dentist appointment, so I got to be the babysitter. Spring is in full swing up here, and lots of flowers are blooming. Can you guess what my main subject was for these photographs? If you said "flowers," you're right. If you said "batman," get out. I will not violate his trust and post photos of him online. Batman is my friend.

Scooter Expedition

Today was simply lovely outside, so when my husband got off work, we decided to take a ride on our piaggio. It took us around parts of Long Lake, and I got to take pictures. Yay! The flowers are blooming on the ground and in the trees, so it's mighty fun taking photographs these days. Now I must warn you. My sister Kimi is coming to visit me tomorrow night (double YAY!), and she will be here for 5 full days. I probably will not post much during those days, but be assured I will have some fabulous pictures to share afterwards. Kimi is also an amateur photographer, so we will be lugging our cameras along on adventures. You'll be excited about the results, and the wait will be well worth it. Until then, enjoy my springtime pictures.

Fellow Photographers

The mark of a great photographer is the ability to recognize and appreciate talent in others. Though we all compete in a way, especially those who are professionals and are paid to take pretty pictures, we all learn from each other and have our own personal favorites in the field. My all-time favorite photographer is Ansel Adams. He is probably the most recognized photographer as well, for his works have been famous for a very long time. Many photographers seem to pursue portraiture, but I never grow tired of landscapes. Adams captured American landscapes in his time that can really speak to people. Even in their black-and-white state, the photographs are as beautiful as the original views, and we all know that is hard to come by. Henri Cartier-Bresson is another photographer I admire. He pioneered street photography, the capturing of the actions of people in everyday life. I love these types of photos. My husband would call them "creeper photos," but I like the candidness and the split second chance of achieving the best composition possible. You know, there are two types of photographers in the world. Some photographers capture art. This is my specialty. I see something beautiful, frame it in a happy composition, and take the picture. Ansel Adams is this type of photographer also. He saw a beautiful view and captured the moment. The other type of photographer is the one who creates art. I took photography in high school, and one of my classmates is a perfect example of this. Her name is Nico Nordstrom, and I swear she will be famous one day. She's already well on her way. Yahoo! has recognized her talent. She dreams up a concept and executes it perfectly, and her skill in Photoshop far exceeds mine. I could never achieve what she does. Here is a link to her website if you want to delve further into her work. I suggest you do.

Ansel Adams

 Henri Cartier-Bresson

 Nico Nordstrom

Photoshop Experiment #2

Here is another self-designed Photoshop experiment. In this one I combined the use of high pass and a softlight overlay. The high pass I referred to a few posts ago, but the softlight overlay is new for y'all. Basically it's applied as a normal overlay, but the photo doing the overlaying is lightened so it will not overwhelm the original photograph. In this case I turned the original photograph into a high pass one and placed a softlight overlay of the original over the newly high passed one. It's a little sharp with a little glow. I think it looks alright.