Still Life

 My daughter assigned me a task to create a couple of photos that have a wine theme to them. She gave me this assignment a while ago in hopes that she and her husband would find a house and get out of the apartment they were temporarily staying at because their house sold in August.

She told me that she wanted to have wine corks in at least one of the photos; I told her that I would probably use the corks in both to show the connection between the two. I'm not very good at creating attractive still "lifes", but I looked at a lot of "wine photos" that were posted on the internet to get some ideas of how to do it. This is what I came up with:

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

My husband, Mark, and I traveled to Milwaukee on Saturday to help my daughter and her family move to their new home. We were busy from Saturday until today and could have continued working all day; however, I took time off for a couple of hours and paid a visit to the Milwaukee County Parkway System. I added a goose photo on my "Creatures and Critters" page; I also spotted a red barn and any possible photo that can contain red, I will photograph it.



It never snowed in Milwaukee but frost painted the ground and plants.

Another one...

I've come to the conclusion that this isn't as great as I thought over all. ha!  Going back to the fountain one to try to lighten up that tree.    This has too much sky in the upper left hand corner.

Today's wandering

Well, tried to "think" more about light, wind, sun angle, shutter speed, depth of field. . . . blah blah.. . . . 

I put in some contrast and added more saturation to the colors. What do you think?

They really aren't into this type of photo are they?  You know, with people in them? I just like farm ones, Andy was on top of the bin guiding Fonz with backing up the auger.  He's going "that's good"

Bagby - Random People

2nd Try. . . . boy on the jetty

I cropped. . . . but didn't maintain the ratio. . . . does that matter to the judges. . . ?  Would love to have gotten about a foot from his little face and hat. . . !!!!  But wouldn't want to go to jail. . .LOL   He was the cutest little thing....

Canon 101 today :)

Here is my "altered" clematis.

After our Canon 101 and after our first "judging night", I found this picture that I took several months ago.  I have done several things to it:   checked the focus - f11, cropped it more so that the top flower was over more, took out a leaf, darkened the edges.  May submit this one.
Leave comments, please.  Thanks.

pumpkin patch

My farmer twin grandaughters Annmarie and Lena.  Too white behind Andy there, and kinda dark across the top.....

My Nephew had me take some shots of him and his fiancé

My sister-in-law, Mary, and I went on a great photo shoot Wednesday. The day was beautiful, and I hoped finally to create photos at a farmhouse outside of Orion, IL. Every time I drove to Orion, I'd gaze longingly at the lines of metal chairs placed around the house...groups of five chairs, seven chairs...all in beautiful bright colors from days gone by. Those chairs reminded me of my grandparents who had several of those on their patio; they certainly weren't very comfortable, but I remember bouncing on them and generally having a great time!

 I really wanted to create photos using those chairs at the subject, so on Wednesday, we drove there. A few weeks earlier, I had asked a native Orion resident, Suzi, who is part of the QCPC if she knew the owners of the farmhouse. She replied that she did, and then I asked her if she thought they would mind if I took photos of their chairs. She said that they wouldn't care at all and actually are very proud of their collection of these "antiques."

Knowing that, I felt pretty confident that we would be successful. When we rang the doorbell a few times and then knocked on the door, I realized that they weren't home. We didn't feel comfortable staying on their property without their permission, so we walked to a house nearby but was still on the property that I knew was a rental (from Suzi). Thank goodness the woman who lived in the rental was home and said that the owners were gone on vacation and without much thought at all said that they wouldn't care at all if we took photos. FINALLY I was going to shoot chairs and other objects that were scattered around the yard!!!

We found not only chairs but also colored horseshoes, two pitchforks, an old fashioned fan, a rooster...a very loud rooster, plenty of cats, but since neither Mary nor I are cat lovers, we just tried to ignore them, and various other farm-like tools.

To say that we were pleased is an understatement. Of course we couldn't leave until we attempted to track down the loud rooster and take some photos of him. I can't say that it was as successful as the chair photos; however,  Mary got a good one of him when we first went to the rental house, but when we went back, that darn bird hid behind bushes, ran around trying to avoid us, and would not stand still!! Oh well... we were in photo heaven and enjoyed our time there immensely. I would love to visit with the owners; I'm sure there is story behind the collection of the chairs.

Next, we headed to the Orion train tracks. I'll leave what happened there for a future post:)

Results from QCPC

My chipmunk photo received a score of 22 out of 27 possible. That meant that two of the judges gave a score of "7" and one a score of "8". I was happy with this result.

My duck photo received a score of 21, so all three judges rated it a "7." This simply means that the photo is a "good solid image, an image towards which every CACCA member should be striving as a minimum." The elements work together and if there are any flaws, they are minor.

My wagon image that I used the filter gallery from Photoshop received a 20. I believe that it was probably overdone. Oh well...live and learn. When it showed on the screen, all I saw was mostly wagon and not a lot of the background. I wonder if I forgot to decrease its size. I would love to go back to the farm in Maysville and retake this photo.

I forgot to add the word "comments" to one of the photos. For next month's meeting, I will definitely add that element since it's good to hear why a photo received the score it did. All in all, it was a fairly successful first attempt.

Flower

I LOVE to photograph flowers.  I do not use a macro lens.  The challenge is always focus.

MACRO Lens

At Camera Rentals, a place in IN where one can rent a variety of photographic gear, I ordered a macro lens which arrived today. I have about 14 days to play with it and then send it back. I love ordering lenses to rent because then I can try them out for awhile and see which ones I like for the time when I decide to buy. They're so expensive, and I want to make sure that I buy something that I'm going to use and love. Anyway, of course, I had to try it out, so I wandered around the condo and this is what I captured:

I call this one "Hairy Bee."

I call this one "Flying Bee."

I know...not too original, but...
I love the macro lens; however, it's pretty specialized and while macro photography is something that I'm interested in pursuing, I'm not sure that I want a lens with a fixed length. It takes super sharp photos though, so...we'll see. Maybe if I win the lottery; of course, I have to play to win:)

I have entered the three pictures below for competition on 10/3/13.  I am anxious to hear the comments that the judges make....... but mostly just anxious to see all of the beautiful images that will be shown during this first competition of the year.  

Day #1

Here is my first post on a blog that Kris McQuire has created for us.  I am anxious to share images and fun times with others. We have recently joined the Quad City Photo Club in Moline, Illinois.