Photographing Doorways

I've once again been busy organizing old digital files! Today I came across a folder of doorways! Like many photographers I enjoy photographing old doorways, especially in Europe. I wish I knew the history behind each one! What stories they could tell! Here are a few of my favorites from Estonia, Sweden, Russia and France.

Architecture

Just as I enjoy photographing staircases,  I also can't help but photograph amazing architecture when I see it!  Below are a few of my favorite examples!

The "Carl Icahn Laboratory" at Princeton University designed by Rafael Viñoly. You can see the Frank Gehry sculpture in the atrium. I love the play of light and shadows!

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, California this is "The Salk Institute" designed by architect Louis Kahn.

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Boudoir Photography Workshop with Christa Meiola

This past weekend, thanks to creativeLIVE, I enjoyed watching a free three-day “Boudoir Photography Workshop” by photographer Christa Meola. As I’ve mentioned before I love creativeLive!

I’m not a boudoir photographer, but I still found the workshop very informative. Christa covered how to work with women, how to relax your clients, posing, flattering all body types, styling, sets & props, lighting & equipment, post production and Photoshop.  All that information is  useful when photographing other styles of portrait photography.  Then, for me, I found all the information regarding branding, marketing, pricing strategies and selling extremely helpful! I must admit I'm definitely weak in that area! Christa was a terrific and enthusiastic instructor.  I have to thank her so much for sharing her knowledge and experience.

A few years ago during a fine art photography workshop I attended at the “Maine Media Workshops” I had my first nude photography shoot.  I was rather intimidated at first, but having willing and cooperative models I soon regained my confidence.  Below are a couple of my images from that workshop. 

...edited in Photoshop

This image is a digital collage created in Photoshop

 FROM creativeLIVE website 

 “…creativeLIVE is about providing the best free, live creative education on the web. From our studio in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood, we offer free online workshops in photography, video, web and graphic design, app development and a wide array of other creative topics.

All of our live creative workshops are available to watch for free in real-time. Once a live workshop is over, we edit the best of this content into easily downloadable files available for purchase through our online store. It's that simple.

At our core, we're a dedicated group of creative-minded individuals. Our aim is to work with the very best instructors who want to share their knowledge and creative expertise with the world.”

Christa's web-site - http://christameola.com

Focus on Flowers

I feel so fortunate to be just a short drive away from the amazing "Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden", home to so many exotic tropical plants. Walking through the garden is always an uplifting experience. The abundance of so many colorful flowers is a sight to be seen!  Below are a few of my favorites.

Giant Milkweed (Calotropis gigantus)

Passion Flower (Passiflora)

Jade Vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys)

Chalice Vine (Solandra maxima)

Flower of the Cannon Ball Tree (Couroupita guianensis)

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Experimenting with Motion Blur

I enjoy experimenting when I photograph.  Using motion blur is a fun way to do that. You never know exactly what you'll get ...you might have a pretty good idea ...but often you can capture unexpected surprises! Below are some different  examples.

This is an image that I took looking out of a train window while traveling in England. I used a shutter speed that was long enough to blur the background. The ghosted reflection of a passenger on the train appears in a passing tree! 

In this image I deliberately used a shutter speed that would blur the people. This was taken under street lights in the evening in Sicily.

Here is a sunset. I just panned my camera sideways as I made this image. I used the smallest aperture possible so that I could lengthen the exposure time and thus achieve some blurring. I like the softness and blending of the colors.

Here I panned my camera upwards. This is an image I have used as one of the backgrounds in a digital collage.      ...See below

When creating digital collages in Photoshop I play with the layer blending modes in order to achieve the look I desire. This collage has four layers that have been blended together.

Bird Sightings!

I must admit I don't have the patience of a bird watcher but I definitely enjoy photographing birds that I'm lucky enough to come across!  I have a sister who has a beach house on the west coast of Florida and on my visits to her we take long walks and always seem to come across some amazing birds! The diversity of life that we have on this planet never ceases to amaze me! Just taking birds alone the diversity is incredible! Below are a few of the birds from my walks.

Snowy Egret


Yellow Crowned Night Heron

A Pelican feeding

An Osprey with it's catch

The same Osprey ...checking me out!!!

Roseate Spoonbill ...a lucky sighting!

Roseate Spoonbill

A Family of Bald Eagles ...another lucky sighting!

The Beauty of Staircases!

I've always been drawn to photograph staircases. I love the design of them. Here are a few from hotels in Europe that I came across today while doing some image organizing. 

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year!  Can’t believe how quickly time has been flying by! November and December, always a busy time of the year for me, went by in a flash! Today I shall share some images from Miami’s wonderful Art Basel, probably my favorite Miami event of the year.  From December 1st to the 4th Miami hosted it’s 10th Art Basel Miami Beach, with all it’s many satellite art fairs and parties throughout the city.  It is definitely sensory overload for art lovers! 

art miami
Located Midtown Miami - 3101 NE 1st Avenue 

Known as Miami's premiere anchor fair, art miami showcases the best in modern and contemporary art from more than 100 international art galleries and prominent art institutions.

 

Laurence Gartel Cymatics Multimedia Exhibition

Bang & Olufsen, 1691 Michigan Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida

Exhibition continues through March 3, 2012 - Closing Party March 2

Laurence Gartel, a friend and inspiration, is considered to be the "FATHER" of the Digital Art movement.  Always pushing the boundaries of artistic expression this exhibit showcases his new original works of art inspired by the creative interaction  of sight and sound!

Laurence Gartel

Wynwood Art District
One of the biggest street art districts in in the world.
Located between I-95 and Biscayne Boulevard, from 20 to 36th street.