Peace on Earth.....

Another year is winding down, and it went by rather quickly. We get so busy with the many medical appointments that goes with the territory of getting older, that we hardly notice the passage of time. It took a while for it to hit me that I am now in my 80's, and learning to accept is a large part of coping with things now. As the song says, I hurt now in places I used to play, pretty much sums it all up.....anyway, it is what it is. Tonight, I thought I would do a little image for the Christmas and New Year, but for obvious reasons, the wishing of a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year seems somewhat trite, given that there are two major wars going on at present. Added to that, there are homeless folks living in tents, in communities large and small, from coast to coast in the country. Sooner or later the piper must be paid, and it is usually someone else who foots the bill, instead of the ones responsible.....but I won't go there, except to say that in 1981, I found myself having to renew a mortgage at 23.5%, up from 4.75%, and guess what.....as the sole income wage earner for the family, the same thing happened to me....it ain't fun! So this year, my heart goes out to folks who through no fault of their own, find that they are caught up in the machinations of life that are beyond their control, and having to visit the local food banks for something resembling a Christmas Dinner for their families. I cannot bring myself to wish folks a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year this year, but instead would offer wishes for Hope and Peace on Earth....Cheers!
 

Back Yard Abstract.....

Autumn arrived rather abruptly this year here in Windsor. One day it was +28 C., and the next it was +12 C., and it has stayed there since the Thanksgiving Weekend. However, for me at least, it was welcomed, as I do not do well when it is unbearably humid, which is often the case here. So I have no problem breaking out the sweaters and warmer clothing. Back home, there is a saying that goes...."there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad choice of clothing." Anyway, this little image is one that I grabbed while the roses are still in bloom, and I used the Illustration mode of my camera to give it a more painterly impression. We might still get a few more warmer days yet, but my guess is that we are in for a rather cold, snowy Winter this year. Get out the snow tires for the truck, and tune up the snow blower! Hope the NHL hockey games are great this year.....Canada has 2 seasons, Summer and Hockey! Cheers!  

Fruit & Flowers Still Life.....

 This image was the result of enjoying about 3 baskets of really delicious peaches that were locally grown. It is the time of year when local produce is available on the grocery store shelves, as well as many roadside stands all over Essex County here in South Western Ontario. When the urge hit me to do a little studio still life photography, this is the end result.....a little food for the body and mind. Hopefully some will find it enjoyable.....Cheers!

Rosebuds Illustration....

The days are getting a bit shorter now, so just before sunset tonight, I went into the back yard to grab a few shots of the Roses of Sharon, and the other Roses as well. This little image appealed to me for some reason, and I decided to do a little work on it, to see what the outcome might be...and this is it. Hope everyone had a great long August Civic weekend, and arrived back home safely. This weekend, I started it off on Friday afternoon by joining in with some of my old music pals, and we did a little 2 hour gig at a retirement home out in Wheatley, Ont.. It was a lot of fun, and nice to see some smiling faces in reaction to our efforts.....the pizza was great also....Cheers!

 

Hosta Blossoms Still Life

If anyone was watching, they must have thought that I was really losing it, as I was out in the back yard in the dark, snipping blossoms for this little still life endeavour. At any rate, when have I ever done anything normally? After the snipping phase, I went into my lair again, and proceeded to set up for this little image. It was shot with my full frame SONY a900 DSLR, with my Minolta 85mm f1.4 lens attached. The lighting was from my LED lighting kit, and I was tethered to my computer via Capture One Express for SONY software. Sounds rather complicated I guess, but it really isn't once you take the time to wrap your head around all of the digital nonsense that goes with photography these days. Anyway, it was a fun little exercise, and for a little while, I got the feeling I used to get when I went into the glow of the wet darkroom safe light, with the radio playing in the background. Soooo, this is what I did tonight to keep the old mind active, and avoiding the troubles of the world, while playing with the lighting for this. Hope you enjoy....Cheers!
 

Portrait of a Talented Lady.....

This image was originally done about 30 years ago, and again, I recovered it from an old box stored in my garage. It was shot on Fuji Reala 120 film with my Mamiya RB67, and enlarged to 11 x 14 inches. A few days ago, when I happened upon it, I took a very quick hand held existing light shot of it, and downloaded it into the computer. My Corel software pretty much did the rest. It was converted to Black & White, which I liked equally as much as the coloured version. She has many talents, and is an industrial seamstress. If you fly Air Canada First Class, you are likely sitting on seating that she has sewn and assembled. She also is an artist, having studied art history etc. at university, and is responsible for the abstract art that I posted below. It is wonderful to be surrounded by her art pieces when I enter my "cave", and escape the world. I love my girl....she endured through being asked to pose for the old man for years! I'm a lucky old dude! Cheers! 

Fleeting Innocence Captured.....

This image is one that I found in an old box stored in the garage for many years. It is from about 40 years ago, when the world was much less complicated, and the bad guys hadn't taken over yet. Childhood innocence is such a fleeting thing, and before long, they are grown, and their world changes without their realizing what has happened. The expression of wonderment on this little lady's face, as she gazes into the bubble that I blew to her, just as I clicked the shutter button, is a frozen moment in time that will never be replicated....and I am so happy that it gave me so much happiness at the time, as well as all these years later....it still makes me smile. The original image was in colour, and this is a photograph of an 11 x 14 inch photo that I used for display.....in my other life. Cheers!

Abstract Art.....

 Tonight I got to experimenting a bit with using some high ISO settings on the camera. In the old days, we called it ASA, and I find myself still saying that....but I digress. Anyway, I had been doing a bit of research on some of the "expert" reviews online about my recently purchased used Minolta 500 mm f8 AF lens. If I were to believe the various opinions of these guys, it was a piece of junk, and not worth much. But being the stubborn headstrong type, I bought it anyway. So, I put the thing on my SONY a900 camera, jacked the ISO/ASA out to 6400, and proceeded to take a few ambiant light shots hand held, in my cave. The lighting was provided by some LED garage lights.....nothing too fancy for this little test. Anyway, the resulting image is very sharp, and had very little done to it in Photoshop, except resizing for this blog. The sharpness of this lens was more than I had expected, and I had certainly expected to see a lot more noise at ISO 6400. I usually shoot almost everything at ISO 100,,,, The image is just a very small portion, about 1/6 of the entire painting, which was done by our daughter many years ago. I rescued it from the attic to help improve the ambiance of my cave... hope you enjoy this image a litle. Cheers! 

Rain Drops on a Rose.....

While I was waiting for the burgers on the grill to cook, I grabbed my camera, and took a few shots of some Roses, and Roses of Sharon in the back yard. It had rained all day, on and off, and the sun decided to make its appearance at about the time I was tending the grill. Anyway, this little image is the one I chose to post on here this evening. I have not posted much lately, as I have been spending quite a bit of time fixing up my "Man Cave", and now that I am almost finished, I don't know why I did not do this years ago.....but such is life. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend....Cheers! 
 

Rose Buds.....

While I was working on this little image tonight, my in house person who passes judgement on my images gave the one on the right a thumbs down...big time. She prefers the unadulterated, original version of any image I might happen to shoot. As a result, I decided to post both versions tonight, for those who might happen upon my little blog. In case you are wondering why I haven't been posting much lately, it is because I have been busy constructing a little studio of sorts, out in my garage. It is the sort of project that is not for the faint of heart. At my age, I must be nuts eh? 

Anyway, this image is the first ones taken with my "new to me" Minolta 500mm f8 AF lens that I picked up last week for a very reasonable price from B&H in New York. It is an item that I did not really need, but always wanted. There have been a lot of discussion and controversy about a mirror lens VS an optics lens. If I were to buy a 500 mm optical lens, it would cost me North of $5000.00 for a good used one. However this mirror lens set me back less than $300.00 and while it is a used lens, it is in pristine condition. But, but but, it gives ugly donut shaped rings in the out of focus areas of the background....well true, but that all depends on what you are aiming it at. It takes a bit of getting used to, and at a fixed aperture of f8, a tripod is a very useful tool indeed. To me, there are a lot of folks who are somewhat neurotic when it comes to grain, noise, or donut rings in the "bokeh" area of an image. To my feeble mind, there is no such thing as perfection, and it is more important to just enjoy an image, warts and all. Sometimes, when confronted with some undesirable element that might crop up in an image, it for me, is an opportunity to try to arrive at something different, unusual and satisfying. It is an enjoyable way to pass a little time, to work on an image, and see what can be made of it, that might be a bit unusual, or even beautiful....to some viewers eyes at least. Whew! A bit long winded tonight eh? Cheers folks! 

Camera: SONY a77ll

Lens: Minolta 500mm f8 AF mirror lens

Specs: 1/360 sec. @ f8 hand held  

 

Monet's Tulip.....

It is starting to look and feel a lot like Spring is happening now, so tonight, my offering to everyone is this little tulip that is growing beside our neighbour's driveway. The mix of red, yellow and orange made for a very colourful image, and I thought that I would try to render it as something that possibly Monet might paint. The tulip was photographed in Illustration mode on my camera, and then the image was worked on a bit in Corel Painter Essentials 8, to give it a bit of an impressionist feel. It's not perfect, but it was a fun way to clear the mind at the end of a day. So this is my little offering to start the month of May....enjoy the flowers folks....like us, they are only here for a little while. Cheers! 

Gerbera Daisy.....

Sometimes when I am watching TV, and my hockey team is losing, I get frustrated, and go get my camera and start to fiddle about with it, while watching the game out of the corner of my eye. This little image is the result of such a situation, and it was taken with a 50mm f1.4 lens, wide open with the flash bounced off of the ceiling. This gives a very shallow dept of focus, as well as very flat lighting effects. When it is enlarged, you can notice that the only sharp part is the center of the red Gerbera Daisy, and the sharpness starts to fall off from there. This lens was bought a while back, and I had not used it much in the meanwhile due to situations beyond my control. When it is mounted on my crop sensor camera, it has the effect of being a 75mm, f1.4 lens, which also makes it rather nice for portraiture as well. While this image is no award winner, I still enjoy it for it's simplicity and mix of colours, and also for the fact that I did not have to do any arrangement of the scene, just record what happened to be there. Cheers!! 
 

Shivering Sparrow.....

A couple of days ago, I found this little sparrow sitting in a Rose of Sharon bush beside our deck. It was a very cold, windy day, and the feeders were swaying in the wind, so I figured this little one was in no mood for a wild midway ride this day. This was a very quick shot taken through the kitchen window, and while I would not consider it for competition night at the photo club, it is still very enjoyable to me. Spring is here, and hopefully the temperatures will rise soon to make it enjoyable to sit outdoors again. Cheers!  

 

Bird Feeder Glitters.....

Yesterday morning, the first thing that met my eyes when I looked out the kitchen window, was this scene. We had had an ice storm during the night, and everything was encased in ice. When I was a little lad, I used to look forward to the many ice storms we had back home during the Winter, as we would put on our skates and skate all over the neighbourhood. After an ice storm, when everything was encased in ice, it was often just shimmering in the sunlight, and we would call it the "glitters"....hence the title for my posting tonight. Unfortunately, it was an overcast and dreary day, so there isn't much "shimmering" going on in this image. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it anyway....Cheers!