PORTRAIT OF A MUSE

Joy is my muse.

She is also a good friend, enthusiastic personal assistant, patient model and dutiful dog walker.

As I was doing the post-processing on the photograph above, something nagged at me. I couldn't put my finger on it for the longest time. Then it came to me! Joy's face reminds me of the female faces of ancient Greek statues.

FUN WITH FILTERS ON FRIDAY

One day last January, while making my way from the grocery store to my car, I happened to look up. The bare, somewhat twisted branches, of a tree stood etched in the low angle sunlight of a winter day against a crystalline blue sky. The sight stopped me in my tracks.

To the amazement of drivers looking for a place to park, I set my bags down and began to dig in my purse. I was in search of my iPhone. With phone in hand, I circled the tree looking for 'the angle'. 

This odd behavior was the result of a photography class I was taking at the time. The instructor, a professional photographer named David Perry, had shown a number of stunning photographs taken with his iPhone. The photographs were wonderfully evocative and imaginative, this achieved through post-processing done with editing apps available for iPhone.

This I had to give a try...

Original photograph

  

'Fun with Filters on Friday': Tree in Winter

What I did...

• Converted photograph to black and white
• Applied square crop
• Applied texture filter (if memory serves, I think it was called 'grunge')
• Applied frame filter

I am going to write more about my iPhone photography experiences in a future blog posts. Stay tuned! 

If you would like to see some of David Perry's work, check out his website: http://www.davidperryphoto.com/site/DPerryPhoto.html

KEEPING IT SHORT AND TO THE POINT

I enjoy reading blogs. Especially when they are short and to the point. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to read lengthy posts, interesting and relevant as they may be.

I suspect many of you are in the same boat as me. So many wonderful things to read and so little time. With that in mind, I make this promise: my blog posts will be as short as possible.


The photograph below is another early effort, this time at night photography, from summer 2014. 

WHY DID I PICK THE TITLE 'SUSAN THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER' FOR MY BLOG?

Maybe it's the writer in me, but titles shouldn't be a random string of words. A title must mean something to both the writer and the reader.

'Susan through the Viewfinder' has the following meanings to me. 

• It references my photography work. A viewfinder is the device on a camera that shows the field of view of the lens. It is used by the photographer to frame and focus the shot. 
• It is a play on words on the title of the sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The title of the sequel is Through the Looking Glass. 
• Photographers with far more experience would probably argue the point with me, but isn't photography all about the capture of reflected light at any given moment? Which brings me back to Alice. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice ponders what the world is like on the other side of the mirror hanging over the fireplace. She discovers that she can pass through the mirror to another world. The world she enters turns out to be a reflected version of her own.
• Photography is a captured moment. It is a reflection of the world around us.

The photograph below is a first attempt at capturing light trails. 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG?

I love to shoot photographs. I also love to write. What better way to combine those two loves than in a blog. Remember the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials from way back when...You got chocolate in my peanut butter! You got peanut butter on my chocolate! Two great tastes that taste great together! Photography and writing: two great things that go great together!

The last year has been a journey for me in more ways than one. One of those journeys has been of discovery, or should I say, of REdiscovery. I have been rediscovering myself. Photography and writing are the vehicles I have been riding on that winding, sometimes very indistinct, road to rediscovery. As I type these words, the vision of an old, drab green Land Rover bouncing across a dusty African landscapes fills my mind. On board are individuals on safari. I can imagine they are wildly excited and more than a little scared. They're on their way to see lions and zebras and elephants and who knows what else! But, what if the vehicle breaks down? They are out in the middle of nowhere. Is there cell phone service? Is that a vulture circling overhead...?

My journey of rediscovery is also one of redefinition, of reclamation. I have been handed the amazing opportunity to become someone new. Like the adventurers on the Land Rover, I am traveling through unfamiliar country. Or maybe, it is a land I once knew when I was much younger. I left it to visit other places. Unfortunately, over time, it faded from memory. 

I know I am heading toward experiences that will change me forever. I am wildly excited, and more than a little afraid... Is that a vulture circling overhead?

I hope you will join me on this journey.

 BTW: The photograph above isn't mine. I wish!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

About this time a year ago, a dear friend (Hi, Sheri!) and I took a class at Bellevue College to learn how to use our expensive, feature-loaded DSLR cameras.  

The instructor was a very patient professional photographer named Tom Heffernan, He painstakingly walked us through the workings of our cameras from A to Z. While I found the technical stuff like f-stops, white balance, focal lengths, etc. squiggle-eye inducing (numbers are not my bag, man), Sheri sucked it up like a sponge. Composing the photograph was much more to my liking. 

There were, of course, assignments to complete. Sheri and I went out on a couple of photographic safaris. We made an awesome team. I spotted the shot; Sheri, so quick to figure out aperture and shutter speed, handled the technical aspect. We would have made a great sniper team.

When I look at my early photographic attempts (those taken without Sheri in tow), I see mostly cringe-worthy efforts. Here and there, however, is a shot that hints at what the future might bring...with lots and lots and lots of practice. (Below is an early effort.) 

BTW: after a year, I think I finally understand aperture. Shutter speed is still a work in progress.