Another attempt at expressing feelings – not entirely successful

by Posted in Landscapes, Things Leave a comment
abandonedshoes-1

I came across these abandoned slippers on one of our beaches. My first reaction was that they were very “glittery” as the sun caught the speckles all over them. I tried to capture this in the picture above.

Then as I thought about it more it seemed to me that they were a little sad too – the way they had just been left behind on the beach. But how to express that? It occurred to me that if I stepped back a little and got down low I could show more of the context and that this might go some way towards what I wanted. See picture below.

I don’t think I was particularly successful in either case. The first picture doesn’t really capture the ‘sparkle’ that I saw and I’m not entirely sure what the second does, but there’s something about it that I like.

Ah well – better luck next time. In my defense it was a little difficult to take such a picture while holding the dog on a leash.

abandonedshoes-2

A float

by Posted in Abstracts, Flowers, Nature Leave a comment
afloat-1

I came across this lonely float near a dock on one of our beaches. I liked the way the light area in the bottom left balances a similar area in to top right. And the way the darker area to the top left balances a similar area to the bottom right. Also the way the the curved twig seems to lead the eye to the float, which doesn’t really need this because of the extreme contrast between the bright colors of the float and the comparatively less saturated areas of the rest of the picture. It seemed to me that it would make an attractive almost abstract composition.

By the roadside 9: Yellow flower

by Posted in Flowers, Nature Leave a comment
yellowflower-1

I don’t really know what I was feeling when I took this picture. Probably something along the lines of: “Great! Another one for the ‘By the roadside series’ – one I hadn’t seen before”. I guess it’s just an ordinary picture of a pleasant looking bright yellow flower. Even less interesting than some of my other pictures. Still, if I’m going to document plants growing by the road around our lake I suppose I have to try to get as many as I can. Or maybe not… It’s also marred by the leaf just below the flower. It was a breezy day and the flowers were moving around a lot and I imagine I was so focused on the flower that I didn’t even see the leaf. Another example of how important it is to really look around the frame for distracting elements.

I have no idea what this plant is, but I find it quite attractive.

Still life

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stillliffblue&white-1

We had some friends over for lunch last weekend and as we were clearing up I noticed the remains of a salad on one of my wife’s many blue and white dishes.

Although I wasn’t the least bit sad the bright colors made me feel cheerful. I liked the bright red of the tomato; the bright blues of dish; the emerald green of the basil leaf and the more muted yellows and greens of the beans and the lime. All against the greys of of our counter top.