Dandelions….

Tags

dandeliion image, nature art, nature photography, northeast georgia living, photography

Started playing with my Nikons aperture settings while getting a few shots of Dandelions. Found these little guys in our driveway while bringing in groceries…. after I got the milk in the refrigerator I grabbed my camera and headed back outside. What really struck me about these fluffy little remains…was the deep rich color of the seeds.

Really loved the rich burgundy color against the white moon cratered center….

The aperture was set on (f/22) for this shot….this blurred the background into a solid so the focus could be on the white fluff of the dandelion…

this photo is not really special….but it does have my little dog blurred in the background…..

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Nature Abstracted…..

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abstract, abstract photography, abstrct photographys, images of moss, nature, nature abstracted

Not sure how I feel about these photos…but decided to go ahead and share them. Each photo is of a different type of moss I found this spring. Zoomed in like this….the moss takes on a landscape feeling….some look like miniature forest viewed from the window of an airplane…others look like mis-colored lava flows….either way…abstraction was the goal.

Sabi

Photos of White-Capped Sparrows and Goldfinches…..

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image of goldfinch, image of white-crowned sparrow, images of birds, images of georgia birds, images of winter birds

Before breakfast it had already begun to snow here in Georgia. On our back porch we have a hanging mesh of thistle seed and the local birds keep it busy. Pulled out the telephoto lens and snapped these photos through the glass of our back door.

On the move…..

Wanted to get that classic shot of a Red-Cardinal against the snow……maybe tomorrow.

Sabi

Brown Reflections…..

Tags

Georgia State Parks, getting outside, nature art, nature photography, photography, rural georgia landscapes, Watson Mill Bridge

Left for work and hour early the other day so I could visit this place….Watson Mill Bridge is a Georgia State Park located in Madison County. The water was calm and thus made beautiful reflections.

“One of the most picturesque state parks in Georgia, Watson Mill Bridge contains the longest covered bridge in the state, spanning 229 feet across the South Fork River. Built in 1885 by Washington (W.W.) King, son of freed slave and famous covered-bridge builder Horace King, the bridge is supported by a town lattice truss system held firmly together with wooden pins. At one time, Georgia had more than 200 covered bridges; today, less than 20 remain.”

for more on this lovely place visit http://gastateparks.org/WatsonMillBridge

for this picture I used the river bank as the horizon…and centered it so the trees and water reflections could be abstracted in the picture frame…this pic is one of my favorites taken that day..

this shot is pure reflection….of a tall deciduous tree and the sky…

now the sun is fully out and the colors changed…browns are now yellows and the grays are now visible….

years ago when in Europe I took all my pictures at an angle….old habits die hard and the last shot of the day had to be on an angle…..

Thanks for stopping by….hope you have an adventurous day….
Sabi

Love in Orangies…..

Tags

art, black and white photos, love image, photography, word art

Sabi…..

Bad Weather and Creative Output….

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art, bird art, Indian ink drawing, nature photography, sky photographs, the creative life

Georgia had crazy weather this past week. North Georgia temperatures were down in the single digits….because of the cold I didn’t have to go to my day job….so I had two days of studio time. I was able to do several Indian Ink drawings to add to my bird book.

Smoothed Billed Ani

A few weeks back while watching a movie, I saw in the background of a living-room scene a black and white print of a flamingo. So I really wanted to make one of my own. The next set of photos are about the working process I took to make an Indian Ink Flamingo.

After getting the drawing down…..I used watercolor-masking fluid to save the spaces intended to remain white.

Here you can see that the Indian Ink is still wet….the ink was allowed to pool in areas….this makes those areas a super black.

Finished piece…

close up….

This was not all….on Wednesday I started a little book called “The Purple Martin and a Snowy Day.” Will up-date you on this project when I have a more polished look.

Then Saturday after spending the entire day locked behind a computer screen…my daughter asked to visit a little pond behind our house…on our way back up the sun had almost set and the sky was very intriguing. Below are a few photos of the trees against the sky..

Living life creatively…
Sabi

Senior Pictures……

Tags

life of an artist, northeast georgia living, photography, senior picture poses for boys, senior pictures

I have a confession…..I am cheap…well maybe I should say thrifty….thrifty sounds more forgivable.

Our son is a senior this year…so we have had lots of ‘senior things’ to do…like senior pictures, senior night, senior rings, graduation invitations….and this is only part of it. Many of these ‘senior things’ cost LOTS of money. Seriously $400 and up….and to be honest…that is crazy.

So as a family we have opted out of many of these ‘senior things.’ For example, instead of ordering senior pictures from the school, which by the way were terrible. My son looked stiff, artificial, and to top it off he was having a bad teen week with his skin….you know what I mean…. right?

We decided to invest that $400 into a Nikon 5200. At first I was thinking….hope we haven’t screwed this one up…but then I pulled out the proofs from the school photographer….and I know we did just fine. In fact, by taking the pictures myself…our son said that I captured a truer version of himself. Nice compliment!

I did do a little research before heading out to take a few pictures at a local park. I googled ‘senior picture poses for boys’ and I looked at a few professional photography websites to get ideas. Of course Pinterest is a good place for getting ideas too. Then we headed out for our first photo shoot.

Below are a few pictures of the nearly 400 I took that day….and yes…snap…snap…snap…lots of pictures.

playgrounds make for a relaxed atmosphere…

an old bridge makes a great backdrop and for some good lines….

this was one of my son’s favorite pics….he liked the reflective quality of the water…

had to get a few sport-ish pics….

got this pose off a professional photographers web-site…

having fun comes natural to my son and he spontaneously came up with the idea to ride is bike through water at this car crossing…

Over all, I think we got several good pictures. We are planning to take more pictures later on at the high school when spring comes. I hope this gives you some ideas you can use…..after all living the creative life is the best one of all….so get out there and do something creative and smile.

Sabi

Winter Flowers……..

Tags

photography, rural georgia landscapes, winter flower images

This is another group of pictures I took the other day….titled this grouping as Winter Flowers.

My inspiration came from the dappled sunlight and a memory of a few paintings of artificial flowers by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Finding beauty in the ordinary….that was one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s premises for her famous flower paintings.

Sabi

Mushrooms in the Rain….

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image of cream mushroom, image of grey mushroom, image of mushrooms, image of red mushroom, nature art, nature photography

Today’s creative moment came right after a down pour. Getting down and getting close enabled the camera lens to see mushroom details. The combination of repeated linear flutes and rounded tops were exciting to see and capture.

Color and texture really came out in this one….

from this angle the mushrooms looked stacked….

Pet Portraits……

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image of black cat, image of calf, laughing cat image, pet portraits

Tried to get a good facial expression from each animal when taking these pet portraits….

Enjoyed photographing the different animals featured here.

kissing turtles…..

smiling kitty…..

sleepy kitty….

kitty laughin at my joke…

itchy spot…..

freckled nose….