Project 'Inside' 5 - red pepper

A dull and rainy day was best spent making one of my infrequent trips to the supermarket to stock up, working through that pile of ironing that's been waiting for me  - and then, in the afternoon, practising with my macro lens some more. I retrieved a red pepper from the fridge, before it started looking too shrivelled to be nice. There's something about the red and green combo that is pleasing and attention-grabbing. These were just lit by the light through the skylight in my attic. On a cloudy day it gives a nice even spread, ideal for photography.

Project 'Inside' 3

A dead tulip...  Most of them lost their petals as they shrivelled but this one hung on, reminding me of a dancer, perhaps - or someone wearing a scarf in the wind. The things you do when you're locked down, hey?

Project 'Inside' 2

More idling away of time in lockdown... This triptych is made with paper and coloured acetates through my macro lens.

Project 'Inside' 1

Given the current constraints on being outdoors, I've been trying, without much success, to interest myself in some indoor photography projects. I had a little play one day with my iPad and a glass vase I've had for ages. I like the colours, at least. It's good to experiment - and then push yourself to experiment some more. The first image I came up with is below and I do quite like the simplicity of it. With a bit more thinking and inspiration I created the image above, marrying the vase with a sprig of fake blossom that I keep in my bathroom (don't we all?!). The more complex study is, I think, the better of the two, though it will no doubt be down to personal preference in the end.

An unimportant object

The project for my online group in October was a bit of a challenge. The theme was 'an unimportant object, something that a burglar would probably leave behind but that to you is actually significant'. That in itself wasn't too hard. I chose a tiny snail shell, no bigger than my pinky fingernail. I find I am drawn to natural objects, so around the house I have a few small collections of water-smoothed pebbles gathered from various beaches, feathers I've picked up on my walks and some little shells like this one. Nothing of use to a burglar! I enjoyed the challenge of capturing the exquisite shell with my macro lens.

The second part of the brief was to render it in a manner inspired by a photographer called Ray Spence, whose work is definitely 'edgy'. (See HERE).  (I can't say I really like much of it, but that's just a personal view and I do like that he is doing something different and thoughtful.) He often uses the wet plate collodion technique, an early photographic methodology. Thankfully we weren't expected to do that! But we were invited to use a square format, monochrome and to capture something of the spirit of that technique in our photos.

I don't know if I succeeded... I did have fun playing, using a texture layer and a border to try to achieve the right feel to the image.

A mindful moment

An autumn leaf floating on the surface of the lily pond at Harlow Carr seemed to me rather beautiful; a moment of mindfulness, enjoying the shapes, colours and arrangement of forms in this little tableau.  (It's probably, as they say round here, 'a bit of a Marmite picture'. Marmite is that salty, yeasty spread which you either love, as I do, or hate!)

Blessings at Christmas

May the blessing of JOY abide within you; 

May the blessing of PEACE rest upon you;

May the blessing of LOVE flow out through you;

May all the blessings of the Lord be yours 

at Christmas and in the New Year.

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate the festival, and warmest wishes to those who don't. 

Thanks for another year of friendship and sharing. 

(The crib scene is my own, crafted from olive wood by Christian Palestinians.)

What's your tipple?

Lots of people were doing 'DryJanuary' - and are presumably enjoying a G&T tonight! - but it's dry all year round for me. I've been teetotal for many years. Alcohol gives me a migraine and for a long time, too, I've been taking migraine-preventative medication, which reacts badly with alcohol. So there is no temptation to stray... but I do get a bit bored with drinking juice or straight tonic or one of the many very sweet, fizzy alternatives. I was delighted therefore when a friend introduced me to Seedlip and then my lovely daughter gave me a bottle for a Christmas present. It is wonderful! It's a carefully crafted, distilled, non-alcoholic spirit, made from herbs, spices, fruit and berries. There are actually two flavours: Spice 94, a warm, aromatic blend and Garden 108 with a fresher, herbal taste. I've tried them both and they're both delicious. You drink them as you would gin, on the rocks and with a mixer. It's a very 'grown-up' drink. I like this one with orange and ginger ale, but it's also good with a slice of pink grapefruit and tonic. The only downside is that it is pretty expensive, marketed as a luxury product on a par with gin. But hey, I've saved so much over the years by avoiding wine and spirits that I think I deserve a little pampering.

What's your favourite tipple?

I'm posting this because the January theme in my online photo club was 'still-life'. I think it's a classy bottle and it seemed a good choice as the basis of an arrangement. I spent a while on a rainy day experimenting with different configurations, lights, reflectors (interesting what a subtle difference a gold reflector makes, over a white one). I liked this image the best.

Hops

'Hops... good for what ales you.'

I seem to have been to several places lately that have been liberally decorated with bines of dried hops. They look very attractive. I thought these made a pretty still life, especially when I added a texture layer. Hops are the flowers of Humulus lupulus and are, of course, the traditional flavouring for beer, as well as being used in herbal medicine and as a sleep aid.

My own recollections are a bit less benign... Years ago, at primary school, we used to be marched in a 'crocodile' down to the Victorian swimming baths. The walk took us under the darkly dripping arches of a railway viaduct and past the brewery, where there was an acrid stench of hops. I hated swimming lessons, I hated the walk and I hated the smell! I've never quite got over it - and I still can't swim very well!

Oranges are not the only (orange) fruit

Jumping back a month, the theme for my online photo group for June was 'orange'. I didn't really come across anything that seemed to fit when I was out and about on my travels and by the last week of the month I'd still not had any inspiration. I thought about photographing an actual orange... but then I noticed the apricots I'd just bought and realised they were more interesting, with their subtle colour variations.

I've recently acquired a soft box, so lighting still life arrangements is a bit easier. This needed my tripod, the soft box, an umbrella to reduce unwanted reflections from ambient light on the shiny blue plate and a small reflector to bounce light back into the shadows. It was hard to get the apricots to stack and not tumble about... maybe I should have used a bowl rather than a plate but I liked the rich blue contrast.

Apples

Apples - looked too good to eat.

Tulip time

I love it when tulips start being on sale in the florists again. There's something so rich and voluptuous about them. The ones I've bought recently have been these multi-coloured bouquets. For some reason, perhaps the variety or that they must be 'forced' indoors as it is still so early in the season, they seem to stay upright and don't flop over as they mature, which is a pity as I also like the random floppiness effect of dying tulips. Nevertheless, I'm pleased with this bunch - both in real life and in my photo.

Falling for you...

Traffic light colours

Possibly my favourite photo of the steam fair batch (which goes to show how bad the rest are!) I liked the shapes and the red, yellow and green primary colours, like traffic lights... and it all reminds me nostalgically of my dad's garage, somehow.

Mini landscapes

Wales - When it's drizzling and wide landscapes are less attractive, that's the time to seek out a few mini-landscapes. These are some of what I found at Poppit Sands.

Flowerpots

This post suddenly disappeared and I've had to repost it, so apologies to those people whose comments have been lost.

I like these old clay flowerpots much better than the plastic ones that are ubiquitous these days.  I can't imagine they use them at Harlow Carr much now either. These were piled up and displayed in an old shed along with some vintage garden tools, more to add atmosphere than anything, I suppose.

Purple harvest

Another photo assignment for my online photography group .... vegetables. I'm not that fond of turnips; they're pretty tasteless on their own. I thought they'd make a good subject for a photo, though. I love the purple tones and adding the red onion seems to bring the colour out even more. I arranged them on brown paper but a texture layer gave a bit more depth. It gave me pleasure to make something so humble look quite rich.

Confusingly, 'neeps'  - a traditional vegetable in Scotland and the north of England - are actually not turnips at all but the larger, yellow-fleshed swedes. They make up the dish known as 'Haggis, Neeps and Tatties', commonly served on Burns Night in Scotland.

Empty

Last month's theme for my online photography group - 'Empty'. It had to be a photograph in monochrome. I was a bit short on ideas but decided a shoe box would suffice. It may have paper left in it but as every woman knows, this box is nevertheless decidedly empty.

When I had new wardrobes fitted recently, I had to do some clearing out, which was not in the end as bad as I'd feared. Turns out I wasn't hoarding too much rubbish... though I do have a lot of empty shoe boxes. I always feel they might come in handy one day. Well, this one did.

Raw garlic

The challenge in my online photo group for January was 'One shot' - we had to take just ONE photo, no practice shots, no choosing the best of a number of pictures taken on an outing, no post-processing.

When I'm out with my camera, I usually go on 'an expedition' and often take quite a lot of photos of whatever takes my fancy. I shoot in RAW (unprocessed even by the camera) and then upload them to the computer and tweak them afterwards - crop, fine-tune the exposure. Sometimes they need very little intervention, sometimes I play around a lot with them, it just depends on my mood.

I decided that I couldn't bear to waste a whole 'expedition' and only take one shot - I love going out with my camera. So I decided I'd try a still life at home, for a change. This is my 'one shot'. I submitted the unprocessed RAW file to my group. However, I have processed the RAW file in the version above by very slightly adjusting the white balance. My camera renders things very cool so the original had a slight blue cast. I like this better.

Blue like jazz

This month's theme for my online photography club is 'Blue'. I didn't think I'd find it hard - but most of the month went by without me noticing anything that might fit the theme with any panache. Perhaps if Saltaire was more Mediterranean.... but blue doesn't seem to be a colour used a great deal around here, apart from the odd front door or blue car.

I do, however, own a small collection of blue glass bottles and vases. I love the way the light shines through them so one sunny afternoon I decided to play around with them. I rarely take anything approaching a still life inside, so this was new for me. I gathered them on a piece of white paper in front of a sunny window, camera on a tripod. The hardest bit was arranging them and positioning the camera to avoid the glimpses of bright white light through the gaps. I have underexposed it a bit in post-processing to enhance the blue and put a gaussian blur layer behind.

For some reason it reminds me of a book title I once saw that has stayed in my mind: 'Blue like Jazz'. I never read it! but I thought it was a great title.