September's Rose Abstract.....

This is the last day of September....where did Summer go? So, I thought that since there are still a few roses blooming in our back yard, I would leave you with this little image of a rose that I recently shot. The background effects filters are of my own contrivance, and while it may not be to everyone's taste, I enjoy sharing it with anyone else who may want give it a peek. October starts tomorrow, and I am happy to be here to enjoy whatever it may bring....Cheers! 
 

Contemplation.....

 Maybe I'm getting a little daft in my old age, but it seems to be so very tiring being constantly bombarded with the madness and mayhem that the MSM is constantly pumping out. Tonight, when dusk descended, and my string of solar lights came on to provide a soft glow on my back deck, I decided to take it a bit further, and lit a candle beside the little fountain beside my chair. There is nothing so relaxing as a cup of tea while listening to the sound of water flowing in the soft glow of a candle. It helps the mind drift away, and reflect on the good fortunes in ones life.....and being thankful for them. After a bit, I decided to record the moment, and went for my camera. The image was shot in colour, but after playing with it in Photoshop, and Corel, I decided I preferred the Black & White version. Soon, I will be developing my Ilford Black & White film in the old traditional way...the darkroom. I have 2 rolls soon to be processed. It should be interesting to learn how much I have forgotten, since my switch to digital a couple of decades ago. My images in colour will be done digitally, and my Black & White will be done in the old traditional analog way....the darkroom....now if I can find a late evening Classical Music station on the old radio, it will be a return to the past, which I remember enjoying very much. Who knows, it just might make me want to stay on this old planet for a while longer after all..... hope you enjoy. Cheers! 

Hosta Blossoms.....

A short walk in our back yard today provided this lovely white Hosta blossom. The hot humid weather finally broke yesterday, and it is nice to be able to sit out and enjoy a coffee on the back deck again. The roses and other flowering plants have struggled in the heat this Summer, and they seem to be responding to the more moderate temperatures now. For the last several weeks, the temperatures have been up in the high 30's with the humidex up in the 40's, and I call that melanoma weather, so I stay close by an A/C when it gets like that. Anyway, it was fun to be able to stay outside for more than a few minutes today, as it makes it more pleasant to be doing a few things. Hope you enjoy this little image....Cheers! 
 

Monarch on Flowers....

This newly born Monarch apparently emerged from its chrysalis with a malformed left wing, and did not fly merrily away when it gained its freedom. A neighbour of ours nurtures these lovely creatures from the egg stage, right up until she releases them to great blue sky, and hopefully will eventually find their way to Mexico when they migrate at the end of Summer. She presented me with this Monarch clinging to the bouquet of flowers from her garden, and told me to get my camera for a picture while it was still alive. So I immediately grabbed my piece of black velvet, and draped it over the towel rod in the kitchen beside a North window. The lighting is a combination of natural ambient light from the window, and my flash bounced straight up off off the ceiling. This made for very flat lighting, but very rich none the less. Later, I took it outside and watched it trying to fly away, but was having a lot of difficulty doing so. A little while later, I looked out of the window, and it was gone. I have no idea if it actually succeeded in flying, or if a bird had it for dinner. At any rate, even though it was not a perfect specimen, it still looked quite lovely sitting among the flowers in the vase. Why do I bother shooting this kind of thing? It takes me away from the concerns of the world for a few minutes of enjoyment....hope you enjoy it a little also....Cheers!

 

This little illustration was one I shot this afternoon in our back yard. It was blistering hot, and with the humidity, it had to be over 40C, and my lenses on my cameras both fogged up so badly, I was only able to shoot for about 5 minutes max. Now that I am feeling somewhat more energetic, I would like to be able to get outside a little more, but this is real heat stroke weather right now. Thankfully it will be a bit cooler next week. It would be nice to go for a little walk down by the Detroit River, and take in the scenes around Coventry Gardens, which is about 4 or 5 blocks away from our place.....until next time, have a good one. Cheers!
 

It was approximately 2 or so years ago that I was experimenting with doing some table top still life with my medium format Mamiya RB67 SLR camera. The lens was likely the 90mm, and tonight I thought I would give it a go on the Epson V550 Photo film scanner, to see what the outcome might be. My experience using the scanner for black & White film processing is minimal to say the least, but everyone else seems to be having a fair amount of success with this procedure, or work flow, as they say nowadays. It will take a bit of getting use to, and I may even try my hand at making a digital print of some negative that I would happen to like. This image is of a white Datura plant, also known as the Devil's Trumpet flower, so I thought the inclusion of a little gargoyle that I had laying about, might add a bit of a sinister touch. At any rate, it was a lot of fun, and I hope some might get a bit of enjoyment from it also. Cheers! 
 

Recently, I have been contemplating going back to my first photographic love, and shooting black and white film again. It finally got the better of me, and after digging out my old Minolta Maxxum 9, 800si, and XE7 film bodies, which have been stored for some 20 years now, they all seem to be working perfectly after replacing the batteries. So I bought some film and processing chemicals, and it is back to the peace and quiet of the darkroom again for me. It is like trying on an old pair of slippers, or jacket that used to be a favourite for many years. Why would I do this you might ask? Well, let me see, no more checking the white balance, no more looking through an electric view finder. The optical view finders of the above cameras are just super. The tactile experience of loading a roll of film into a camera body, and being very deliberate to pay attention to the quality and direction of the lighting, makes one feel like they are actually in control of the process, and not some built in computer that insists on doing things its way. The only controls you need to worry about, aside from the ASA or ISO of the film, is the aperture and the shutter speeds needed for a decent exposure. The rest is all darkroom magic. No more special effects filters, or special effects modes built into the camera. Just find a pleasing image, determine the exposure, and go click, make a nice simple image in black and white. This image that I am posting tonight was one that I shot about 40 years ago on a visit to Florida, and it was shot with probably an old Minolta SRT101, and 28mm lens. Since I do not have my darkroom set up yet, I scanned the Ilford FP5 negative on my Epson V550 Photo scanner, and added a little sepia in Photo Shop Elements. So I ask myself....in 40 years from now, will any of my digital images still be useable? I certainly won't be making any images of them, and I doubt anyone else will care to either.....let me see, that would make me 119 years old...LOL! Anyway, for what it is worth, I am looking forward to putting some fun back into photography again. Stay tuned....Cheers!