CalevPhoto

It’s freezing here!

OK, perhaps I have lived in the Pacific Northwest too long, because I should not be surprised at snow in April, which was very common in upstate New York where I grew up.  However, here it is a very strange phenomenon to be so cold and receive snow that actually sticks to the ground close to April!  Last week it was cold and rainy almost every day, which has made insect photography much more difficult.  On Thursday I spend an hour by the pond near my office and for the first time that I can remember I couldn’t find a single interesting thing to take a photograph of.  Other than a few pill bugs there wasn’t much that I could find interesting.  I had hoped to find a spider web with dew drops on it, but the majority of ground spiders (the larger orb weavers aren’t out yet) decided to not show up.

However, I felt the need to be stubborn and spent some time on Friday in my backyard, where I have a better sense of where to find certain insects.  Still, I found it very difficult to find much of interest to photograph.  I eventually decided to cool looking for insects and photographed a dandelion that was ready to burst.

Generally I have found that when I have difficulty finding something, turn to a different subject and your original subject will eventually capture your eye.  Shortly after playing with the dandelion, this turned out to be true once again.

Continue Reading…

It’s freezing here!

OK, perhaps I have lived in the Pacific Northwest too long, because I should not be surprised at snow in April, which was very common in upstate New York where I grew up.  However, here it is a very strange phenomenon to be so cold and receive snow that actually sticks to the ground close to April!  Last week it was cold and rainy almost every day, which has made insect photography much more difficult.  On Thursday I spend an hour by the pond near my office and for the first time that I can remember I couldn’t find a single interesting thing to take a photograph of.  Other than a few pill bugs there wasn’t much that I could find interesting.  I had hoped to find a spider web with dew drops on it, but the majority of ground spiders (the larger orb weavers aren’t out yet) decided to not show up.

However, I felt the need to be stubborn and spent some time on Friday in my backyard, where I have a better sense of where to find certain insects.  Still, I found it very difficult to find much of interest to photograph.  I eventually decided to cool looking for insects and photographed a dandelion that was ready to burst.

Generally I have found that when I have difficulty finding something, turn to a different subject and your original subject will eventually capture your eye.  Shortly after playing with the dandelion, this turned out to be true once again.

Continue Reading…

Experimenting with color

This weekend I glanced outside in the morning and noticed small drops left on my Japanese maple bush outside.  This meant only one thing – it had rained the previous night.  I rushed out with my camera as dew drops are one of my favorite subjects.  However this time I decided to try something new.  The last several times we had drops here, there were no flowers in bloom.  Now we had ample primroses available – so I plucked one and placed it a short distance behind a dew drop.  The shots were for the most part successful – though my wife still doesn’t like them.

Still, I decided it was time to play around with Photoshop and see what I could do.

Continue Reading…