I recently received a coupon from Photojojo for a discount off an Iphone macro lens. I had seen this lens before but hadn’t paid it no never mind until one of our students used it for her entire series. I was hooked by the interesting perspective she was able to capture and when I received the coupon I knew I was going to be buying one. I have been experimenting with it every second I get. I am after all a master procrastinator and this is the perfect opportunity to focus on everything but the task at hand. These images above are macros of a Yucca plant, these plants are all over the City of Angels and to the naked eye are a drab olive green, to the macro lens they are colors that take your breath away, they could rival any peacock! I have always wanted to try macro photography but couldn’t justify the expense of a macro lens, at $15 the Iphone macro lens is a happy compromise. I highly recommend it, especially when you are feeling in a photo funk. A macro shot can ignite a new desire to see the world in a totally different light.

P.S. My Photojojo lens took two days to arrive, so it was a super fast shipment and I didn’t research to se eif you could get them anywhere else, but if you are on a budget last night I found them for less that $7 on Amazon!

My edit No. 52 yesterday blew me away.  I thought it was super creative for me and all I got was crickets. So today I figured I’d just do something pretty, no deep thinking, planning just a little texturing here and there, who doesn’t like a shot of the Pacific? I did something similar last year, maybe even better, but I didn’t save a large copy so I decided to do a do-over. I will be packing Thursday for my trip to Nor Cal and to Portland. I am really excited about both, but wish I hadn’t planned them so close together, I need more time to do things like laundry. I have lot’s of laundry to do, but still absolutely no clothes to wear. I wish I could just forget about laundry and buy a new wardrobe. Wouldn’t that be aces? Speaking of aces below are some of the places we plan on visiting whilst in Portlandia, any other suggestions?

These restaurants were recommended by Souvenir Foto School student Jen, they look pretty darn good:

TastynSons, Toro Bravo, Nostrana, Laurelhurst Market, Castagna.

We are going there to look for potential homes, so it’s not a vacation (although I plan on pretending it is), so I am also open to neighborhood suggestions. Thanks!

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.

 

When I shot this I knew exactly how I was going to edit it. The way this Bobcat was placed in such an odd place in front of all the Gazelle’s on a high shelf,  it made me imagine him escaping and climbing up to the highest point to get at his prey, yet the bird was too fast. I knew I wanted to convey motion with both the swat of the paw and the birds fearless escape. I even framed the horror in the eye of the Gazelle as he witnessed the rogue Bobcat in his herd. Gazelle and Bobcats would never be found in the same zipcode, not even at a zoo, so this odd pairing really created the story in my head about the naughty Bobcat. I actually don’t know if these are Gazelle, they could be Ibex, there was no identification. I know for a fact that these specimens were vanquished and forgotten in a dark corner of  the museum before they built the current room and brought them out for display.  You really do need to see the before to be able to take in all that I was babbling about above.

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.

P.S. Don’t forget to check to see if you were one of the winners of the Natural History Prints giveaway! 

I will be sad to part with my little birds of prey menagerie but so happy that they will be going to good homes. I really enjoyed looking through all your pins and inspirations it is always so hard to choose. I really loved the work that went into the board by Julia Eagle (perfect name for the giveaway right?) Her board was timeless, nostalgic + rustic, I wanted to move right in. Visit her winning board here. I am pleased to bestow the Hawk to Julia and have her add it to her home. Paula of Two Ellie had a modern + rustic inspiration board and I think the Owl would be delighted to watch over her home, so I shall be sending it to her! I wasn’t going to be giving the Snowy Owl away this round but it was hard not to give it to Krista who has a whole board dedicated to owls , I mean with all that owl adoration going on I feel that she deserves one too.  Thank you all for indulging me. There will be plenty of prints to be given away in the future, so if you didn’t win this time do keep playing! Congrats Julie, Paula and Krista!

I uploaded this photo and immediately thought I can’t wait to have the new blog done! I am going to make the photos a titch bigger on the re-design and that makes me happy. This was an easy edit, I started with a pretty well exposed, sharp image. I want to note here to those that have stumbled upon these edits that I am not a horrible photographer, I do try to pull the must hideous ones to work on. I get a lot of emails from outraged photographers that want me to proselytize getting the best photograph ‘in camera’ as possible and not rely on Photoshop. I promise you I believe this wholeheartedly, it’s just sometimes you shoot and your photographs are crap and you need a miracle.  I like to work miracles. It’s a lot more exciting for me to transform a photograph that you would ordinarily delete and turn it into something you would frame. I have some winners to announce this week, which is another thrill. I love that I have the opportunity to share my good fortune with you!

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.