A Watery Challenge

Have you ever really thought about how remarkable water is? Being a farmers wife, I’ve always known how important it is - without water there is no life. So, it’s utterly essential. But, I have to confess, it wasn't until I started this Photo A Day Challenge with ABC Open that I’ve ever explored just what water is really capable of. Never really spent much time contemplating the many possible faces, facets and characters of water.

It can be peaceful, serene and soothing; as it appears here at sunset over Bell Lagoon Dam. This dam has featured here before - it is frequently the home to a pair of black swans, a pod of pelicans, or a raft of ducks - do yourself a favour and do a google search for the names of groups of things - fascinating stuff! Did you know that a group of Owls is called a Parliament? 

Water can also be dynamic and exciting - filling a balloon with water and bursting it, trying to catch the explosion of water, requires a very willing, waterproof helper; at least 6 water filled balloons ready to go; a camera set on continuous shooting and a good dash of persistence. The result, though, when you finally nail it, is thrilling. Or is that just because it started to thunder and pour rain right as we stuck the pin in the last full balloon, thus adding to the sense of urgency?

Water can also gush, as it does here, out of the hose off the water tanker that my baby (OK..so he's 23, but still, he's my baby!) uses when he’s spraying crops. He’s not into wasting water though, and this is just the bit of water held in the hose after the taps are turned off. I had to be really quick to catch this one - though he did kindly help me out by pressing down quickly on the hose to push the last bit out in a gush.

All this attention to water has reminded me of the importance of attention, of noticing, of really seeing. It’s also given my creativity a much needed kick in the butt. Spending a little time each day contemplating how to make something as mundane as water coming out of a hose look interesting and visually appealing, while at the same time considering the technical requirements of actually getting the photo, has been surprisingly challenging and stimulating. 

The biggest challenge so far though, was “A fish swimming in water”. I have no fish. I live a long way from anyone with fish. Short of dumping a frozen fillet of flounder into a bucket of water, I was stumped. I was discussing my dilemma with my girls (they’re my sons wives, technically, but they’re still ‘my’ girls) and Leah quickly had a solution. Little Payton has a pair of floaties with an inflatable fish on top - terrible floaties for a small person, but you can cut the fish off, and send him swimming! Crisis averted. Not sure it will win any prizes for creative photography…but it kind of makes me smile.

There’s still a few days to go - and a quick look at the topics for each day reveal some more challenges ahead. Do you suppose cleaning the shower counts as “water sports”?

Why Online Classes Rock My World

 

My Mum recently took me to task about the lack of interesting activity here on the blog. OK, the lack of any activity at all. She had a point. (You've got to love Mums for keeping it real and calling you on your shortcomings.) There hasn't however, been a lack of activity in my world - as my middle prince would say- lots of cool stuff (OK, so he wouldn't say stuff, he'd say another word that starts with s...but I'm sure you get the idea) has been going on.

 

In amongst a bunch of other 'stuff', I've been working away in an online class with the irrepressible Jane Davenport. It's not the first of her classes I have enjoyed: Supplies Me is a wonderful journey through a vast assortment of media while she teaches the nuances of drawing faces and figures -things I long ago swore off as being 'not my thing' and something I believed for a long time I just couldn't do. The lovely lady above was the result of my explorations in "Ink Week", where Jane's students discover the joy of Sumi ink in an Aquawash pen. I have to tell you; that's the most delicious, free feeling media to work with and I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover it! It was quite difficult to stop drawing, which goes some of the way to explaining how she comes to have a couple of mouths and a nose on her chest and shoulder.

 

 

Most recently though, the "Print and Scan" class has held me spellbound. For a very long time, I've been keenly aware of a limited understanding of digital file sizes, types and manipulation. I lost track of the countless times I told myself I needed to learn this 'techie' stuff. Then, *cue violins and blinding bright light* I read that Jane has created this class - the very one I need, with all the skills I need to learn! It's Jane's first Professional Development class; and the investment paid for itself in the first class. The image above is a scan of a 2 page journal spread. We learned how to manipulate the image to get rid of the 'gutter' in the middle of the pages, and lots of other techniques to show the artwork at it's glowing best.

 

 

 

After a small mind explosion (don't worry, it didn't make much mess) - and a bit of practice - the lovely lady made her way onto the journal page; and changed the colour of her face - all in the innards of my computer, with information streamed to my computer desk via the wonder of technology and the Internet.

 

What's great about Jane is that she delivers this in artist speak, not techie talk; though she has extensive technical knowledge. What's great about the Internet delivery is not having to drive for hours (and hours...and hours..); You can stop and start that video and toggle back and forth between your image manipulation and the instruction, so you practice it as soon as you see/hear it; you can work on it at whatever time suits you; and - possibly my personal favourite - you can hang out in your paint stained shirt and yoga pants. (Have I ever told you just HOW much I love my yoga pants?)

 

In honour of Carmel (my awesome Mum) there will be effort made to post stories of more of the cool 'stuff' going on around here. Right now though, it's time to go and log into the Print and Scan classroom for some more mind exploding fun.

Purely for recreation - or, this isn't going to change the world, but it's fun!

A while ago, I succumbed to technology, and acquired an iPhone. Shorty thereafter, I was introduced to iPhone apps. I remain unconvinced that the world is an infinitely better place for such things, BUT...they can be a lot of fun!

My favourite is the 100 Cameras in 1 app. with 100 different filters that you can apply to your images - on top of one another, if you see fit.

This first one was a not too exciting pic of our baby at the local show. I love the feel of this image now. I'm pretty dang fond of the guy in the hat, too, for that matter.

The original of this photo was shot out the car window while stuck in traffic in Brisbane. Again, a very ordinary original photo, yet the effect after a play with it is pretty cool.

Another  out-the-car window shot...this one between Barkley Homestead and Cape Crawford, Northern Territory. I have a bit of a thing for snapping random images out of a moving car - my photo files have loads of them - most not very good, but great reminders of a trip or place.

This is kind of surreal...but then this whole episode was quite weird.

The cow you see here has just been chased from my back door - under the verandah - quite literally bashing her head into the double glass doors; bowing the frame with her weight. How she came to choose my back door for a unscheduled visit on a Thursday afternoon remains a mystery. But I am so very thankful that she didn't break through the door and into the house! Keelan wondered what we would write on the insurance claim form if she had in fact broken the doors and run riot inside (which was looking very likely for a minute there!). There's been a lot of laughter around here about this - not to mention a fair bit of head shaking, wondering just what she had in mind! Definitely surreal. And this filter gives the photo a suitable strange feel to share with you just how bizarre with whole experience was! 

 

Avoiding Drudgery with Photoshop Elements

Because I should be doing a hundred things I'd rather not do today...I've been playing in Photoshop Elements (does anyone else out there practice work avoidance like this? Or am I truly an undisciplined, unmotivated sloth? - On second thoughts, don't answer that, I think I already know!)

I discovered some free Photoshop elements actions from Ree Drummond over on The Pioneer Woman Blog - I've been a reader of PW's for some time now...Ree is married to a cattle rancher in Oklahoma, and our lives share some parallels...endless laundry, mud and manure stained men and children and lots of food - difference is, she's a great cook, and seems to enjoy it! Plus, she cracks me up...

I used her Lovely and Soft action, followed by her Vintage action to pretty up the scenery from around our workshop shed...

I'm not sure how much 'serious' use I will have for these tricks...but it's been fun to spend a little while playing... and I love to share my fun - and my earth shatteringly wonderful discoveries - with you!



Collage Sheets with Your Own Artwork Using Photoshop

 It's possible you won't recognize the painted background I showed you a few weeks ago as being the background to this collage - I almost feel sad that I covered it up. But, that was the next step towards making my tower pendant, so cover it up I did! Now, I have to share with you that I'm really not happy with the face...But, faces are something I have gone out of my way to avoid for years, and I've decided that I can do it...I just need to get instruction and practice.

And practice...and practice...

And one day I'll paint a face I'm really happy with...maybe not this week, but some day!

However, I posted this image not to share with you my insecurities about my face rendering abilities, but to give you a quick 'how to' on creating a collage sheet...Now this was fun!

Firstly, scan your original artwork and save the file in your desired folder. Then crop some 'sweet spots' as Sharon Tomlinson calls them, being super careful to save the crop as a different file name and reverting the image to the original after each crop (I had to scan my image twice...because I didn't quite follow that step!)

I cropped lots



and lots



of very sweet spots...

I wanted plenty of options

to work with

and these...

aren't all my sweet spots!

But, I'm thinking by now...

You get the idea!

The fun really starts when you crank up Photoshop (I used Photoshop Elements 7).

Open all your cropped images, and your original if you like, in your project bin at the bottom of the screen. Click on File in the top left hand corner, click New, then Blank File. Activate the Move Tool in the tool bar on the left of the screen at the top. Now, click on a cropped image, drag and drop it onto the screen, resize it to your hearts content, click on the green tick when you're happy with the size and shape and move on to the next one. you can fill your whole page with different sized crops. Save your collage sheet as a JPEG file, and you're good to go nuts and print it up! I found the print quality was better if I closed out of photoshop and printed from Windows Photo Gallery - but experiment and see what gives you the best results.

This might be old news to some of you more technically literate among us, but it was a revelation to me! I hope it's a revelation to someone else out there too!

Time to head back to the studio and play with some resin! Stay tuned for a completed tower pendant in the very near future.

Puppies, Photos and Pretty things, or a not-so-typical day in the life of yours truly.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to join in a photography workshop right in my local town (no travelling for hours!) with a photographer by the name of Richard Posener. I urge you to check out his link - he takes fabulous portraits of people and their horses, among other things. He was an encyclopedia of photographic wisdom and we had a great day, and learned about apertures, shutters, ISOs and even a little photoshop. Lots of fun! 

I thought I'd share with you a few of the images from the days exploring... first, a little shot of one of Minnie's babies - haven't they grown?! Now at the 'so cute it's going to be hard to part with them' stage, I know - from extensive experience - that they will quickly reach the 'cute, but if they destroy one more plant or chew through one more boot, I'm going to kill them' stage! I love this photo - even my firstborns chewed fingernails...I guess it's kind of tender,and the light is beautiful (at least to my eye, it is!)

Richard talked about depth of field, and the 'perfect circles' we could bring to our images...I really can't explain the science behind this - it is all to do with depth of field and focal length, but the circles are there! Very cool 'bokeh'!

When class was finished, we went to visit our local boutique, Rhubarb, which, I am tickled to tell you, has recently changed hands - having been purchased by one of the gorgeous young women who call my husband "Pa", and her partner (our middle prince!). How lucky is the little town of Theodore, to have an establishment of such charm, grace and good taste? Not to mention, wonderful photo opportunities! If only I had a raspberry pink wall to hang that clock on.....

Sharing Something Special

Today's post is to share with you just one of the blogs I especially enjoy. My thinking is, that if I enjoy it, there's a big chance you will too! Jonas Peterson is a wedding photographer based in Brisbane. The photos you see here aren't his! His are much more awesome! I like all my posts to have something nice for you to look at - so I've included these photos from the wedding of the daughter of special friends of ours.









And, while I was happy enough with them, They are not a patch on Jonas's brilliant images . He has the ability to capture not only beautiful images, but powerful emotions as well. I couldn't tell you how many times I've looked at his work with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.



So, if you have a minute (actually, I'd reckon you might need an hour...once you begin, it's a little hard not to look at 'just one more') swing on over to Jonas Peterson's blog, and be inspired.


You can find him by clicking on the links in this post, he's also only a click away in my blog links on the right hand side of the page here, along with a number of other bloggers whose efforts inspire, amuse and entertain me. I hope you find some enjoyment amongst that list. I'm planning to add to it over the next few months...I hope you'll get a kick out of checking some of them out!

Echidnas, Floods, and Life In General

This post is something of a mixed bag - much like my life these past few weeks! We've had a son become engaged (Wonderful!). We've been inundated by flood waters, the heights of which haven't been seen in almost 30 years, and my baby (who really isn't a baby at all, but he's my baby) jumped on a plane bound for Canada - not to be seen on Australian shores for another 9 months!



Before he left, we were lucky enough to get a fly with our nephew, Jack, in his helicopter, to check out the water.(Thanks Jack!) We thankfully had no damage to our homes, but had about 3,000 acres of our land go under. A lot of it was grass, but we did have some crops that were about ready to harvest that went for a swim as well. They are pretty much wrecked, so we will feel a pinch there. Nowhere near as bad as some of the cotton growers on the river who have lost their entire crops - their total income for a whole year, not to mention the damage they've sustained to banks and canals and pumps and all other sorts of infrastructure! We consider ourselves very lucky. And, there were a couple of homes in our little town that had water through them - which has to be the pits. Poor things. The photo above is taken looking over our property. The thick treeline is the river bed...the rest is where there was too much water for the river bed! And, those nice straight green lines you see in the water are our crop.


This bridge is over the highway...it just stayed out of the water!


Now, I don't know whether this fellow was trying to escape the water or not, but he showed up waddling across my back yard - in the middle of the day! Echidna's are normally very shy creatures - it's not all that common to spot one, much less be able to follow their progress across your backyard and into a garden bed in broad daylight! He'd normally be rolled up in a tight, prickly ball if someone came within cooee of him! Thanks, Mr. Echidna, for giving me a moment of wonder and fascination in the middle of a very hectic time (and taking my mind off the fact that I miss my baby - even if it was only for a little while!)