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2013-05-18 05:31:20 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 20: Framed 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

Just happy to finally get this posted tonight. I'm not sure if this is going to lead back to the album or not. Can't say I'm liking the problems I'm having with the new interface, but backwards compatibility seems anathema nowadays. God forbid you should have an OS that's two years old. rassemfrassem….g'night

2013-05-11 05:13:12 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 19: Food
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak

A texture map. Processed with SEP2 using the Antique2 preset.

2013-05-04 05:29:23 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 18: Speed
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

The day I shot this Magnolia, it was very windy, and getting a shot in focus was a real challenge. This was my backup entry for the theme, but I thought it fit because nearly everything is in motion. Also because it has everything to do with shutter speed. I had a bit of trouble with the processing, but I stuck with high key to maintain the energy. I used a white vignette to emphasize the outward motion from the center of the frame.

2013-04-27 05:21:45 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 17: Night Lights
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

Umm, sorry. Took a little unintended nap in the middle of processing things tonight. 

2013-04-20 05:26:45 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 16: Fade
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

I didn't have to do much on the processing for this, the weather did a pretty good job of making the fade effect for me. I did use the soft sepia preset in SEP2 which uses a soft grain, and then switched the toning back to selenium.

2013-04-13 03:37:39 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 15: Flowers
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

Yesterday, I went over at lunch time to see if I could find any crocuses blooming at the CBG, and was lucky enough to find the staff in the middle of getting the beds planted for their upcoming antiques show. The misty rain made some beautiful patterns on these flower petals for me.

2013-04-06 20:37:34 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

The Handcrafting Community is holding its first ever Spring Handcrafting Show and Sale this weekend. We've got some really talented members, so I hope you can stop by the Event and take a look as our members show off their work!

2013-04-06 02:19:11 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 14: Transportation 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

2013-03-30 04:56:31 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 13: Look Up
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

Looking up at the banana tree in the Chicago Botanic Garden's greenhouse.

2013-03-23 04:55:21 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 12: Uneven 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

2013-03-16 04:23:26 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 47 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 11: Old 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

It is thought that orchids may have coexisted with dinosaurs. In fact, the family may be as much as 100 million years old.

2013-03-09 03:08:26 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 37 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 10: Reflecting 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

So, there's actually as much reflecting going on behind the camera here as in front of it. This is me, looking at a beautiful sunset reflecting off of Friday night traffic and reflecting that I'd rather be looking at it from somewhere else, doing something a bit more useful with my time. I started a new job this week, and it's been quite an adjustment to my life, much less my schedule. Still figuring out how I'm going to fit in time for photography, and hoping not to have too many of these phoned in driven in shots in future. 

2013-03-02 01:25:42 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 39 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 9: Hands
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

So, a concept I've been carrying around all week and just got to work on today. This is one I'd like to revisit, but here's what I got at this point.

2013-02-22 23:30:51 (14 comments, 1 reshares, 48 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 8: Isolation
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

I've been doing a series of minimalist landscapes for +Charles Lupica's excellent mentorship/tutorial this week. With the brutal cold snap we've had lately, shooting the stripped down prairies and frozen over fens felt like a natural extension of the BW52 Isolation theme. I liked the idea of the lone goose being isolated from the formation in this image, as well as the general feeling of the trees being isolated subjects in the background of the sky. 

2013-02-16 01:12:22 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 7: Abstract 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

2013-02-09 03:10:01 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 6: Rule of Thirds 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

This was a pretty crazy week for me, running around. But I just love the look of a nice deep snow, as long as I don't have to shovel it or do too much driving in it! So I'm kind of digging all the white stuff, even if it did give me Spring fever at first. This is the first decent snowfall we've gotten this season, so I'm enjoying the winter wonderland while it lasts. I got some early morning shots earlier this week, but we had another front come through yesterday that just plastered every tree branch with white ice and snow. Add to that the milky light late this afternoon and it was just otherworldly out there. The whole world was glowing like some film noir set.

2013-02-01 18:31:17 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 57 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 5: Color w/out the Color
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

I got the idea of a prism stuck in my head this week, and I'm shooting against black for my other project, so here you have my take on the spectrum in black and white. While I was doing this, I was also recalling discussions I've had in the past about color sensitivities of film. Somehow, you could always tell which objects were red on black and white film. I can't tell you how many times I ran into people in the printing field who are color blind. I know several pressmen and a couple of prepress guys who have at least partial color blindness. They can often distinguish tones with great accuracy. They just can't always tell you what color they're seeing.

2013-01-26 01:57:09 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 34 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 4: Camera
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

The camera takes a selfy. Either that or the camera is taking a crime scene photo of a dead camera.

2013-01-19 05:39:05 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 3: Frozen
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

Life kept stacking up all week, as it will, so I'm definitely playing catch up today. I had shot this creek a couple of weeks ago and returned this week hoping to find it had frozen over more than on the earlier occasion. Instead, I was disappointed to see the water running freely, with just a few patches of ice remaining. But as I was walking along the banks I spotted this small pool formed by a large rock where the water had obviously frozen and thawed quickly in thin layers, forming interesting patterns in the ice.

2013-01-11 19:11:38 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 41 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 2: Self Portrait
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

I'm not sure how much to explain about this one. I wanted to do a shot against a black backdrop. I started shooting, and I hate still pictures of me because when is my face ever still? So I decided to set the camera for bursts of ten shots. 

I like this shot because the hand seems disembodied almost--and in a way more prominent than my face--which is symbolic of my life at this point.

2013-01-19 05:38:35 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Project 52 B&W
Week 1 - Happy New Year
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +Gene Bowker , +David Bowden

I'm not much for celebrating New Year's. I'm generally asleep by the time the festivities get under way. So I went looking for something that was a visual analog of fireworks, champagne bubbles, streamers, etc. What I found was these: about ten feet tall, with spiky seed pods. I just loved the line of them against the sky.

2013-01-01 03:14:33 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Week 53 - Christmas

Taken outside of Zion National Park on the 27th.

My final submission for +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile and curated by +Kate Church with a great and hardworking group of mods including +Shelly Gunderson +Gretchen Chappelle +Gary Munroe +Greg Berdan +Sue Butler and +LaDonna Pride. My thanks to all of you for all of your time and work.

The past year has been a challenging and often frustrating one for me on a number of levels, (most of them having nothing to do with photography), and that is certainly reflected in the work in this album. But in the end, I am happy to say that I am a better photographer than I was last year. And this weekly project definitely played a role in achieving that. 

#project522012   #2012project52   

2012-12-23 18:28:38 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Week 52 - Mirrors

Driving through New Mexico/Arizona, headed for the Grand Canyon.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile curated by +Kate Church and many mods
#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-12-17 16:36:06 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Week 51 - Winter Angels

I'm taking a break from the road trip and spending the day with my sister in Oklahoma. I took this sunrise shot before I left home and I thought it was just me seeing things when I was processing it. I'm not really an "angel" type of person, so I hesitated over the title. My brother didn't see it. But as soon as I mentioned angels, my sister pointed right to the same thing I saw. Weird how the mind processes things. So, with or without angels, here's a Winter sunrise.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile curated by +Kate Church and many mods

#2012project52   #project522012  

2012-12-12 13:10:17 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Week 50 - Street Photography

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile curated by +Kate Church with many excellent mods

forgot my tags #2012project52  

2012-12-07 15:47:54 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 5 +1s)

For anyone who crafts or creates with their hands, this is a community for you. We know you're out there on Google Plus! Help us craft a handmade community here--whether you create in wood, class, ceramic, paper, make jewelry, sculpture, knit, sew, crochet, or whatever! Whether you sell your work or not, come share tips and techniques, post pictures of your best work in the Gallery, talk about the crafting business, and just hang out with other craftspeople! 

2012-12-06 23:31:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Added photos to Canon Users - Share ONE (1) Photo Event.

2012-11-27 03:36:39 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Week 48 - Flowers

Camellias in the parents' front yard at Thanksgiving. For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile and curated by +Kate Church and many great mods.

#2012project52   #project522012  

2012-11-15 18:11:17 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Taro leaf
All roads lead to Red.
+Leaves On Thursday +Ray Bilcliff +Marilou Aballe +Anne Durand 
+AllThingsRed +Lucille Galleli +Stephen Thackeray 
#leafonthursdays   #allthingsred  

2012-11-13 15:41:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Week 46 - Vanishing Point

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile curated by +Kate Church with an excellent set of mods 

So, I've been meaning to try focus stacking for a while now. I first became aware of it thanks to +Alex Koloskov and then was reminded of it by a recent +The Photoshop Show which featured +Don Komarechka. For reasons unknown to me now, I thought this theme would be a perfect one to try focus stacking jewelry with--something about the long earrings acting as leading lines or something. In the end, I'm happy with the focus stack but it's not that effective as a vanishing point image. I had trouble dropping the POV in the front because of the focusing rail hitting the table, but I could have brought the ear wires together in the back for a stronger angle.

I'll definitely be trying the focus stacking technique again, though. Ilo... more »

2012-11-12 17:30:56 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Added photos to Canon Users Share One (1) Shot Event.

2012-11-10 18:07:37 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Artichoke Agave

for +Earth Pattern Saturday curated by +Annette Gretler and +Beat Gretler.

#earthpatternsaturday  

2012-11-06 00:41:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Week 45 - Halloween

+Project52-2012 curated by +Giuseppe Basile and +Kate Church and many wonderful mods
#2012project52  

2012-10-31 18:31:30 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Happy Halloween! O Great Pumpkin! Saw this on my WWPW on the 13th. This thing was massive--definitely capable of squashing lesser beings.

#halloween   #halloweentown  

2012-10-30 02:14:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Week 44 - Reflections

For +Project52-2012  #2012project52  +Kate Church +Gretchen Chappelle 

2012-10-23 01:16:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Week 43 - Openings

For +Project52-2012 

#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-10-16 02:20:57 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

Week 42 - Black and White

Meet the Giant Toad Plant. I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden again, this time for the +Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk, when I ran into this character. In person, it's a soft sage green with burgundy lines and central fiddly bits. (Those are the technical terms, of course.) The sign said it was part of the milkweed family, but this plant was a lot larger than any milkweed pod I've ever seen. Apparently, the plant is also known as the Carrion Plant because it is said to smell like rotting meat, however there wasn't really any noticeable odor about this one, thankfully.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile and with many excellent mods among whom I have no idea who wants to get pinged nowadays, maybe +Kate Church, +LaDonna Pride +Gretchen Chappelle? But thanks to all seven (or eight) of you for your work on this project! more »

2012-10-12 15:44:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Peach Begonia

That's not the real name of the plant as far as I know, but the colors on the petals of this Begonia do look exactly like a ripe peach! I used this image for my parents' anniversary card recently because it has that nice negative space at the bottom. This was shot at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I'll be there tomorrow for the +Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk . Looks like it's going to rain off and on all day, but this will be my first time taking part in it, so it should be fun.

For +FloralFriday by +Tamara Pruessner 

#floralfriday   #flowerphotography   #floralphotography   #worldwidephotowalk   #chicagobotanicgarden  

2012-10-11 20:45:10 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Moraine Hills State Park - Maple 

For +Leaves On Thursday curated by +Ray Bilcliff +Marilou Aballe and +Margaret Tompkins. It's been a while since I posted some leaves and the time for leaf color in the Midwest is quickly passing! I took this shot toward the end of September in Moraine Hills State Park, where I found some early turning maple trees with beautiful red leaves.
 
#leafonthursdays  

2012-10-11 17:04:47 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Don't you just love it when someone takes time out of their busy life to leave an anonymous message "correcting you" and letting you know something they think you don't know? While also attempting to be condescending and insulting? In the sure knowledge that you have no way of responding to them directly, or responding to them at all? Don't you love that?

Yeah. So do I. I wish people would do that more often.

2012-10-09 21:39:42 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Week 41 - Body Parts

I pulled the base black and white model shot for this from ancient archives. I wanted to do something worthwhile to make it new and interesting to me for this project. I have my doubts about this one. I had worked it to the point yesterday where I thought it was probably overworked and I should just scrap it and start over. Then I had to walk away and come back to it. I can't say I'm happy with it as it stands, but I thought it was at least at a point today where I didn't mind posting it.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +Gretchen Chappelle et al

#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-10-08 17:32:38 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Lily Bokeh

For +Lily Monday curated by +Ray Bilcliff and +Bob Rutan 
#lilymonday  

2012-10-08 15:30:36 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 9 +1s)

Today is the anniversary of the start of the Great Chicago Fire, so I thought I'd share this collage of shots of the sculpture Pillar of Fire by Egon Weiner outside the Chicago Fire Academy, which was built on the site where the fire began in 1871. After burning out of control for two days, the fire is estimated to have killed over 300 people and left more than 100,000 homeless, destroying over 2,000 acres of the city. That destruction is what cleared the way for the construction of so much of the famous early architecture in Chicago.

This is a bit late for the new +Sculpture Sunday but maybe I can scoot it in past curators +Kevin Burns and +Dirk Röber.

Also for +#MetallicMonday curated by +Thomas Raschbacher.
 
#chicagofire   #greatchicagofire   #sculpture   #sculpturesunday   #chicago   #metallicmonday   #photography   #collage  

2012-10-02 03:03:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Week 40 - Colors

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +Kate Church +LaDonna Pride +Gretchen Chappelle +Shelly Gunderson +Gary Munroe +Gene Bowker and +Sue Butler 

#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-09-29 20:20:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Added photos to         Who Are YOU?     Share a COLLAGE / say hello    :0).

2012-09-25 05:07:58 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Week 39 - Negative Space

Not what I envisioned shooting for this theme at all. But I ended up at Moraine Hills State Park instead of in Chicago. So it was either trying to isolate small scale silhouettes of plants or flowers or large scale landscapes. This was one of my favorites of the landscapes. 

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +Kate Church +LaDonna Pride +Gretchen Chappelle +Shelly Gunderson +Gary Munroe +Gene Bowker and +Sue Butler 

#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-09-19 18:33:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Week 38 - Autumn

I kept second guessing myself on this theme. We're weeks away from Autumn leaf color here in Chicago, and the sports or school angles didn't really appeal. I'd done the geese flyover in Spring. In the end I just got stuck in my comfort zone of the natural world and shot the seasonal cycle that continues to fascinate me. I walk out my door and get sucked in to these miniature dramas, one plant winding its way around another, this one thriving while that one dies off, the other one suddenly sprouting flowers or fruit. Every week it's something new. So, there's a hint of leaf color here, but it's not exactly the iconic Fall shot.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +LaDonna Pride +Kate Church +Gretchen Chappelle +Shelly Gunderson +Gary Munroe +Gene Bowker and +Sue Butler 

#project522012   #2012project52 ... more »

2012-09-19 02:27:46 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Week 29 - Summer

Playing catch up again. This leaves me with just one missing.

For +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +Kate Church +Gretchen Chappelle +Shelly Gunderson +Gary Munroe +Gene Bowker +Sue Butler and +LaDonna Pride 

#project522012   #2012project52  

2012-09-11 04:30:34 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Week 37 - In the Garden

for +Project52-2012 created by +Giuseppe Basile with mods +Gretchen Chappelle +Shelly Gunderson +Gary Munroe +Gene Bowker +Sue Butler +LaDonna Pride and +Kate Church 
  
#project522012   #2012project52
+Lily Monday curated by +Ray Bilcliff and +Bob Rutan 

2012-09-03 23:25:17 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Week 36 - Metal

For +Project52-2012 with mods +Gretchen Chappelle  +Shelly Gunderson  +Gary Munroe  +Gene Bowker  +Sue Butler  +LaDonna Pride  and +Kate Church 

#project522012   #2012project52