Holiday lights!

Happy holidays!!

Swirl

It has been way too long since I posted anything! I just wanted to get back on here and get back in the swing of it.  Here is a new image (Swirl) that I really like.  Hope you enjoy it, and more posts soon!

Colorful Character

There was no real reason for this other than it amused me.

white

Here are a couple of photos from the flowers in the yard. Enjoy.

and an Honorable Mention!

In the last post I indicated that two photos had been accepted to the New York State Fair.  What I did not know until I went to the fair yesterday was that one of them (Waiting) was awarded an Honorable Mention by the judge(s).  Very excited to have that make it in and have it be recognized. Here they are.

Accepted

Just a quick note... I found out yesterday that two of my photos have been accepted for showing in the New York State Fair later this month.  The photos have been posted on this blog previously: "Waiting" from the NYC post on July 30, 2012 , and "grass tree cloud sky" from the Green post on June 17, 2012.  I am happy that these are being shown!

And now...

Just in case you have been breathlessly awaiting the opportunity to order some custom Kinked Tree Photography photo greeting cards or photography prints,  now you can! Lucky day!

I have set up an account with Fine Art America that will allow you to order greeting cards, prints, canvas prints, etc., of the photos that I upload to the site. If there is something that you like, you purchase it and they print it and ship it directly to you.

This account is also linked to the new Kinked Tree page on Facebook, so if you spend time there you can automatically see the recent activity and what photos have been recently uploaded... or make purchases through the link right on Facebook.  Even  if you are not interested in making a purchase, please check out the page and give it a "Like," or "Follow" it, or become a "Fan," or whatever it is the kids are doing on Facebook these days.

Stages

"Stages" is the title of this photo.


I am not sure what stage I am in...

As for the image, this isn't the typical flower shot in that the flower is secondary to the buds in front of it. I also really like the color tones in this image.

NYC

Here are a few photos from a trip to New York City last month. The super-clever titles are, in random order:
"Great Balloon Escape"               "Waiting"                    "City street"

Can you figure out which title goes with which photo?????

Water here. Water where?

The theme for today's post is water. In two of the photos it is clear how water is an important element, and it the other two photos it is less obvious.  The first photo is entitled "Ondatra zibethicus comes to town." OK, yes, I got a little bio-geeky and used the taxonomic name for a muskrat. I liked how the muskrat continued the lines of the lamp post's reflection.

The second photo is entitled, "Toadlet."  It is a tiny baby toad that is inches away from the unseen stream... hence the water tie-in.

"cracked sky" is the third photo.  This is a dead tree standing in the middle of a marsh area in open water. Again, you can't see any water (except in the clouds), but that is why it is in this themed grouping.  I like how the shape and dark tones of the tree make it look like the sky is breaking and cracking apart. Interpret the photo (or psycho-analyze me) as you will.

And the seen water returns in "Fisherman."  This older gentleman went right out there into the rushing stream to do some fly fishing. The water really was moving quite fast and the current was strong.  I hope he caught something.

And now... out of the zone.

I have had a few good days of shooting in the last couple weeks as I have previously mentioned, and for the those days I am grateful.  I was able to take a number of photos that I think turned out well - 'in the zone' so to speak.  The last 48 hours have been a mixed bag, photographically speaking.  I took a number of nice shots yesterday, but also a few clunkers.  Then, I found out that one of my photos was used to help advertise a photo contest (great news!) that I am not really eligible to enter it (what?? are you kidding me??)!!! So that was a half-full / half-empty kind of deal. Now, today I get notification that none of the three pieces I entered into a regional art exhibit were accepted for the show. I didn't exactly play it 'safe' with the pieces I entered and so knew that it was a risk. As it turns out, it was apparently a colossal waste of my time and money. Next week I will have to do the 'walk of shame' when I pick up the rejected pieces. In order to be even more unpleasant than I am right now, I will ask what the acceptance rate for the show was so that I can get really mad. While the salt is out and the wounds open, I also submitted a number of photos to some microstock agencies over the last couple days and they have been overwhelmingly rejected.

Green

In today's post, green is the theme. Green is the commonality in the compositions of the photos though its role varies in each. In the first photo (Clear to land on daisy #3), green provides a dark out of focus background that contrasts the brightness of the flowers and the detail of the fly. Green is a vital characteristic of the simple elements in the second photo (grass tree cloud sky) against the brilliance of the blue sky. The third photo (Long Road Home) is overwhelmingly awash in green tones.

In The Zone?

To say "the planets were aligned just right" was true both literally and figuratively last Tuesday.  As you may have seen from the previous post, I was able to take a photo of the Venus transit that pleases me. Obviously, the planets really do have to be aligned just right for that!  But in addition to that photo, I was able to take a fairly large number of other photos that came out quite well.  It was one of those days that, at least for a couple of hours, where ever I looked there was something that would make a great photo and I could practically do no wrong. (This is in contrast to most times I try shooting and end up with one good one if I am lucky.)  So here are a couple more photos from my own personal Super Tuesday. The first is entitled "Still" and the second is as yet untitled.

Once in a Lifetime - Venus Transit

Hello everyone.  It has been too long since I posted anything, and I have a fair number of photos taken over the last month or two that I will post soon. But I had to put this one up!  Yesterday (June 5, 2012) was the Venus Transit -  an event during which the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun so that the silhouette of Venus is visible against the disk of the Sun.  There has been a bunch of information in the news about this over the last couple of days so I won't get into that. So... given the rainy weather the last few days I did not expect to be able to see the event, but the skies cleared in the afternoon.  Just as it was about to start (literally, about to the minute), a rain cloud blocked out the skies again. Luckily the skies cleared and I was able to take this shot not too long before sunset.  Venus is the small dot in the upper right of the Sun. Enjoy.

View(s)

A little experimentation with alternative world views...

View

 Dark View

Altered View

Simplistic View

So... huh...

Here are a few recent shots that have really nothing to do with each other aside from being completely different. I have been striving to produce better images and I guess I am having mixed results.  I am gaining a better understanding of what needs to be fixed to make an image technically sound, but my ability to actually do it seems to be slower to develop. That is frustrating.

And then there is the question of what is art? What makes something aesthetically interesting and artistic? Why do I like some images and no one else seems to care for them? (And artistically, is 'indifference' by the viewer worse than a strong dislike of an image?) Why does "everybody" seem to like an image, while I am indifferent about it?

Anyway, here are some recent 'experiments':

No

Bumblebee

Deliberation

In a previous posting I showed the unedited version of a photo of a light post with the full moon just below the light itself.  After some number of hours of fiddling around with it, I removed the trees and a second light post that were present in the shot. I wanted this to have a very simple composition without the other elements distracting from the moon and light (though I did think about leaving the tree branches in the upper right corner). I also 'replaced' the over-exposed moon with a full moon from another photo (the perigee full moon, actually) and played with the sky a bit. I am not sure whether I am done with it, but here is the result: Moonlighting.

An improvement

Last time I said that I really wanted to get a good shot of a snowflake.  So here is my latest attempt. While it is not perfect in the photographic, technical sense, it is certainly an improvement over the previous shots I posted. I don't know how much better I can make it without drastically changing the "set-up" and way I take the shot.  Nevertheless, I will continue to play around with the equipment that I have and aspire to take "the photo."  If the snow comes back, that is.

Here are a few different versions that I have played around with on the computer.  Which do you like?

Snowflake (#3) [version a1, version a3, and version a4, respectively]

Winter

This has certainly been an odd winter so far. Not too much snow to speak of and it is late January, but here are a few shots of the white stuff. I really want to get a good shot of a snowflake. Here are a pair of my better attempts (I won't show you the other gazillion failed attempts), and a shot of a "lake effect" squall that moved through recently.

Snowflake (#1)

 Snowflake (#2)

 Squall

Troublesome questions…

Consistent fits and starts? Foci or follies? Expectation or execution? Vision or vapulation?

I am having some general angst about my photography lately, as you may have guessed from my questions above.  I want to keep this one short, so I think that each of these questions may be topics for future posts. Basically, these questions boil down to this: what the heck am I doing?  At this point, I just don’t know.  I feel as if I am simultaneously trying too hard and not doing enough. I guess I will just leave it at that for now.

Today's image is Solitary.