Free Texture Friday - Circular Abstract

This week's free texture is circular abstract pattern.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.




Download the full res image here.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. May your time with family and friends be rewarding and full of love and warmth.

Free Texture Friday - Natural Whirlpool Texture

This week's free texture is natural abstract whirlpool texture.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.




Download the full res image here.

A Rare Posting - A Recipe for the Masses

So this is a special edition of my blog post... Courtesy of my lovely wife.

Last weekend I attended a framing party for Help Portrait. I brought a bucket, yes literally a one gallon bucket, of Peppernuts that my wife had made. They were a hit. When I left two hours later the bucket was drained as several people took ziplock bags of them home with them.

Many of the folks who attended asked for the recipe and tonight Nathan reminded me that I need to get this recipe out there; or else. So here it is.

Peppernuts 

Ingredients:

3 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1½ cups of butter
3 eggs
1½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. oil of anise
9-10 cups of flower
(Optional - ½ to 1 cup of crushes nuts; peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.)

Steps:

1. Cream together sugars and butter.
2. Add eggs and set aside.
3. In a new bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture from Step 1 with oil of anise.
4. Kneed thoroughly on lightly floured board or using a mixer with a dough-hook. Do not try and use a mixer without a dough-hook or you will burn it out. No dough-hook means kneed by hand.  
5. Two options for Step 5 pick one:
• Option 1: Roll dough into long ropes, ¾ inch in diameter. Using scissors, snip into ½ inch long segments.
• Option 2: Split the dough in half and roll each half flat until it is ¼ inch thick. Cut into 1"x1" squares. 
6. In Step 7, start with a small batch, of six or so, and experiment with how your oven cooks.
7. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes. 

*IMPORTANT - Do not over bake. At twelve minutes these will be crispy cookies or nuggets, depending on your choice in Step 5. If you go over twelve minutes and they will burn. If you take them out at nine or ten minutes, the center will be firm but chewy, a little like salt water taffy in texture. You can experiment with this timing to get the results you want.

If you are seeing this...

If you are seeing this post, it is because you come here on your own and not because I posted it in to the social webs. This means you are interested in what I have to show, teach and talk about. Thank you. I won't be sharing on my personal social media sites any longer. If the few that actually want to come see these posts, they can do so of their own free will and not because I used my personal social media accounts to whore myself out.

I have been posting a lot lately about fall, mainly because I experienced two full months of fall this year. Normally in Oregon, we get one week of fall. Under normal conditions, the trees in Oregon start to change colors and then the first big storm comes in with high winds and heavy rains and rip both fall leaves and green leaves from the branches and all of the color ends up on the ground. One week, boom, and fall is over.

This year was different. Fall lasted a what felt like forever. It was only two weeks ago that the landscape truly looked winter-stark. It was beautiful year to live in Oregon in the fall.

But it is time for me to move on and stop dwelling on the beauty of fall. It is time for me to shift my focus on my New Years resolutions. I know, those lames resolutions, but I actually did well on my resolutions this year and I am looking forward to developing next year's.

Last year's goals and results were focused on giving and were as such:

• Educating
• Giving
• Execution

In the realm of education I taught numerous low-cost workshops to teach photographers. By low cost, I mean I didn't pocket much, if any money per workshop. In total I may have made $30 this year after all expenses were paid. I made it a point to make myself available to members of my photo club members to answer their questions during our events.

In the realm of giving I volunteered at the local humane society, until my car broke down and then a few months later I sold all my lighting equipment and wasn't able to make the pet portraits properly. I participated in the help portrait event this year, as a matter of fact I am going to a framing party for this help portrait today. I vowed to guide others in the pursuit of their goals and as a result I gave a lecture on goal setting and   I encouraged a photographer friend to pursue an education in the arts and as a result she started in the Visual Communication Program at the local community college.

In the realm of execution I had great successes in that I was able to pick 4 projects and execute them. One of the projects was to shoot a themed fall portfolio using a style I developed on my own and not something I read how to do on the internet. That is what the last few months have been about.

So now, I head into the bowels of winter, thinking of what I want and more importantly can accomplish this coming year. Stay tuned for my resolution post. 

Free Texture Friday - Zig-Zag Abstract

This week's free texture is natural abstract zig-zag pattern.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Interesting Skies

Interesting Skies

Simple Clouds

Some times a sky adds as much to an image as the subject does. But a sky can also make an image boring.

Flat blue cloudless skies are about as boring as backdrops come.

But a sky with even the simplest clouds can make an image pop. Clouds can make or break a landscape image or a portrait where the sky is an element of the background.

Simpler Clouds

The sky doesn't have to overly complex with the cloud structure. In many cases something simple and light, like the sky in the image on the right is all it takes to take an image from bland to superb.

Complex Cloud Structure

 Here, in the image on the left, is a complex cloud structure at work. It would be easy for this complex structure to take over the image and over power your subject.

This is a great type of cloud structure if you are shooting a landscape, as the it can add a dynamic volume to the sky that can enhance the image.

But if your subject was a person, this type of cloud structure could take over as the subject making the person seem less important. While this can be true, it isn't always as composition choices play an important role in this decision as well.

Here a prime example of a complex cloud structure used to accentuate the landscape being photographed.

The cloud structure adds a cool, brooding tone to the image in contrast to the warmer toned landscape beneath it.

The key is balance of composition between the landscape and the brooding sky. If the horizon had been shifted down further, to make more of a minimalist type of image, the sky would have over powered the subject. But because the horizon is a little higher, falling more into the rule of thirds, the balance makes the image work by making the sky an element and not the subject.

Here is another image where the brooding sky enhances the image.

The aggressive nature of the sky compliments the subjects, soldiers heading into battle. The sky lends to mood.

Because the sky is in balance with the rest of the image, it is an element, allowing the viewer to still notice and realize the soldiers while adding that element of impending doom, generally at the subconscious level.

The image to the right is an example of an image where having some clouds in the sky would have made this portrait better.

The relative flat blue nature of the sky makes that section of the image boring.

Now the image on the right would have had a completely different impact if the sky had been like the image of the soldiers above. And again it would have been completely different if the sky has been like one of the fluffy cloud images posted at the beginning.

You can't always have the perfect sky for what you want, so you have to work with want you get. But if you have the option choose between days with clouds and days without, always choose a day with some puffs of white in the sky. Your images will turn out so much better.

Free Texture Friday - Diagonal Abstract

This week's free texture is earth swirl tone patterns.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

GOYAS: Stop waiting for the image to come to you

Listen, I know what you might think this is saying about me. Let me clarify that this is not a political statement about the legalization of anything.

Instead, this is an example of what you can find simply by keeping your eyes roaming and your mind open. Okay that last statement did sound like a pro-drug ad, but I swear it isn't.

I was roaming the sidewalks near the myriad of government buildings in downtown Salem on a bright sunny day. The shadow play from the sun and the trees was phenomenal.

I came across this. It was pure chance that I would walk across this spot exactly when the sun was in the right position in the sky to use the leaves from the trees to make this specific shadow on the sidewalk. I wouldn't have captured this image if I had been sitting on my butt at home.

This points to one of the most important aspects of photography. The photograph isn't always going to come to you. You have to Get Off Your Ass and Shoot (GOYAS). By exploring new areas or even familiar areas in a new way, you open yourself to opportunities and photographic interested that you may not have known you had in the past. Even the most common place can provide new opportunities daily or even change hour by hour or minute by minute.

So what is stopping you? Stop reading now and GOYAS.

This week's free texture is abstract leaves.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at the Capital Mall State Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Autumn Orchard

The final fall images of the year are in the bag so to speak. I have been working on a themed result this year in the hopes to put together a show for this winter.

So now I am entering the phase of selecting choice images to include in the show. This will likely take me some time as I am brutal in my selection process.

Stay tuned, in the coming months I will be announcing the where and when of the coming show.

Free Texture Friday: earth swirl tone

This week's free texture is earth swirl tone patterns.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Fall Upon Us

Fall Photography

Brilliance

 Fall is upon us. Rain, gray skies and a plethora of yellows, oranges and red.

The above image is a 6 image panorama of the slough, shot in five exposures per frame of the panorama to create a HDR image of stunning visual representation of the scene.

Contrary to popular belief, fall includes some beautiful flowers as well as leaves. All you have to do is look around to find them.

A few weeks ago I hosted a fall color shoot for a photography group I belong to. Minto-Brown Park, along the Willamette River is a gorgeous location for finding beautiful color and interesting patterns. With 800 acres carved with a variety of trails, it is an endless choice of beauty.


Beauty in fall can be found in the littlest of subjects.

Inner Beauty

Softness

Isolation

Watercolor from a Camera

Fall also allows an opportunity to abstract in vibrant colors. Oranges on the ground, yellows and greens in the trees paint a beautiful backdrop for the two ladies walking down the path in the image on the right.

By shifting my camera vertically, I was able to make a watercolor like painting out of the photo. This photo has had no Photoshop, it is out of camera with a little Lightroom work to compensate for camera raw.

I was particularly struck by the detail that is not only lacking due to movement, but that is apparently in spite of the movement of the camera.

I have said it before and I say it here now;

Get that camera off the tripod and create some art.

Adrift

Solitude

Structure

Take the time to look for beauty in the world and you will find it.

Free Texture Friday - Dark Toned Grass Abstract

This week's free texture is diagonal earth tone patterns.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Fall in Oregon

Water Collection

Fall Flowers

Oregon is a pretty special place, not too many people can argue that. This is especially true in the Willamette Valley. One of the unique features of a Willamette Valley Fall is that as the trees change their colors, flowers are still bloom. This is pretty unique. Most of the rest of the nation is experiencing vibrant colors uniformly in the trees while Oregon's trees struggle through their color change. One tree will be in full color while the tree next to it, a mere ten feet away, will still be green. Then the when the unchanged tree starts changing the tree next to it is bare, it's leaves laying dead and brown on the ground.

This is due to the unique nature of our weather. Our uneven weather patters of cool to warm to cool to warm leave our trees confused. But this weather pattern also allows some flowers to hang on longer than others. The rest of the country gets their cold snap and it remains cold hence Vermont's hillside's of colors.

Extended Work Season for Bees

With the extended blooming season for flowers comes an extended work season for bees.

Bees are busy harvesting all of the nectar they can before fall sets in hard and fast and they are forced to spend the rest of their lives in their hive.

This time of year allows for some of the best photographic opportunities for flowers because the backgrounds are not polluted with color from other flowers. This allows for simple backgrounds and better isolation of the subject.

Now, this is not a proclamation that flowers are everywhere. You will need to look at specific locations, like private gardens, like the one behind the Sparks Center at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

If the garden is privately owned, make sure to get permission before entering the garden.

Water Drop

Isolation

Non-Uniform Water Collection

Due to the nature of Oregon's trees, specifically trees in the Willamette Valley, to not typically change colors uniformly, it makes it difficult to find those Vermont like landscapes.

Now you can head into the mountains to find those scenes. I have seen many amazing fall color photographs from my friends who make an annual trip up to Clear Lake in the Cascade Mountains, but this isn't all that local. The other choice is to figure out how to make due with what is available.

This leads me to stop looking up, and turn my eyes down.

I began noticing an odd pattern in the nature of things. Rain drops were collecting on a sporadic few leaves while the other leaves were simply, evenly, wet. This fascinated me. I am currently on a quest to figure out why this happens which might mean I have to learn about fallen leaves and the properties of their textures, hydrodynamics and possibly magic. I wonder if David Copperfield is available for a consult.

Black and White Fall

Muted Fall

Water Drops

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year for a photographer. Understanding how to get the most out of your region, is the key to being successful in your photographic quest. I hope your fall provides you all the great opportunities you are looking for.

Untitled

Veins

Split

Decay

Reaching

Isolated

Paths