Vegetable Splash Photography – Red Pepper

A photographer friend of mine turned me onto a You-Tube video showing how to do splash photography by dropping vegetables into an aquarium.  Looked interesting, so I decided to try it out.  I think it turned out pretty well.  You use a couple of off camera flash to light the vegetable which also stops the action.

Red Pepper Splash

Timing is everything and does takes some practice.  Every time you drop the vegetable into the water, droplets splash all over the glass which has to be cleaned or it will show up in the image.  The first batch of images I tried looked good in the camera but when I looked at them on the computer, I found that a bunch of very fine bubbles had started to form in the inside of the glass and showed up in the image.  I found you also have to watch for these and squeegee then off from time to time.  Now I am thinking of all kinds of things I can use next time to make splash pictures.

Three Grey Tabby Cats

In photography, cute subjects always do well in competitions.

May Tabby

Little kitties always get the oohs as people look at the image.  In our neighborhood, people always find a litter of cats this time of year, they try to do the right thing by having them spayed or neutered and find them a good home.  We try to help out by taking some nice pictures of the animals so they can post them on websites or posters.  A cute image always brings in the soft-hearted that will take them to a good home.

These images were taken last week of three Grey Tabbies.  I like taking pictures of a Tabby because of the nice patterns these cats have.

Three Grey Tabbies

When I have more than one cat, I take individual images first and then try to get the whole litter together in one basket for a little family shot.  It’s not easy getting three cats to stay in a basket and all look in the same direction.  I did get some nice images and I hope all the little guys get a new home.

Fairies Spotted at Renassance Faire – Irwindale

Every year I make my trek to one of the local Renaissance Fairs.

Renassance Fairy

I enjoy the event, people don’t mind having their pictures taken and it allows me to practice taking pictures at a fast-moving event and talking to strangers.  Photography is an art and you get better with time and practice (mostly practice).  I love doing people pictures and these are great events to get a few new images.

The Irwindale, CA event is a very large venue and you may see most anything.  I have always been drawn to the Fairies.  They are generally pretty and very colorful and make great images if you can catch them.  Like many that dress for this event, they get into the psychology of the character.  I think this is true with the fairies.  They do a lot of work for the look and need an artist to paint them and then the costume.

Spider Fairy

They seem to flit around like butterflies in a random pattern, never staying in one place very long which makes it very hard to capture their image.  At this Faire there were at least five.  I was able to get pictures of all of them but only nice ones of three, which you see here.  Because they are so colorful, I would love to have one come to my studio for a formal portrait.

Blue Fairy

Art Controversy in Bisbee Arizona

While on a trip to Southern Arizona, I wanted to make a visit to the old Copper mining town of Bisbee.  Once a busy with mining, the mine is closed and the town has made a lot of changes in recent times.  It has become somewhat an artist colony which the city seems to promote but controversy has developed between the free wheeling artist and the city fathers.  I wanted to visit Bisbee as I had not been there for over 30 years.  Seeing an article in the Sierra Vista newspaper about a battle over an art wall painted in honor of a local artist that has passed away recently, Rose Johnson, I knew I had to find and photograph the wall.

Joe the Artist

I met Joe Klinger, a local artist and certainly supporter of the rights of the individual and freedom of choice in the art community.  Some of his art pieces that adorn the outside of his studio on Brewery Avenue have the tongues wagging by some of the town locals and city officials.  Joe, a former resident of Paterson, NJ moved to the area about 5 years ago and opened his Renegade Studios.  He has been involved in the local artist community, helping start Bark Park, a homegrown dog park along with walls of some of the old buildings being painted with murals and other art work.

Artist Workshop Bisbee, AZ

This was on private land which limited what the city could do.  It wasn’t until some of the artist painted a mural in honor of Rose Johnson, a well-known Phoenix painter and muralist that moved to Bisbee in 1998 and passed away recently.  It was an old, ugly retaining wall that was painted by Joe and several other artists.  The wall, owned by the city but painted without permits has caused the controversy.  The city council to study and vote on keeping the wall or painting over it.

Bisbee Art Wall – Bark Park

While I don’t know how it is going to turn out, it was interesting to see and hear the stories of the Art Community in Bisbee.

Frosty – Dog Photography

Frosty belongs to a photographer friend of mine.  She is 14 years old now and has some medical problems and I wanted to photograph her while she was still doing well.  Frosty has had a long career in police work as a narcotics detection dog.  When she retired from that work she was trained as a Service Dog for the hearing impaired.

I thought for sure this would be an easy shoot with all the training she has.  It turned out to be a difficult shoot because of the training.  She would not leave her owners side.  She watched her owner all the time making it difficult to get an image looking at the camera.  She also would not listen to any commands except for those of the owner.  While it turned out to be a tough shoot, I was able to get some nice images.

She has one brown eye and one blue eye which makes her unusual but is really a big part of her beauty and personality.  I wanted to make sure both eyes showed up and revealed the color.

La Purisma Mission – Lompoc

Just on the edge of Lompoc lies La Purisma Mission, the 11th of the 23 California Missions.  Originally built-in 1787 and home of the Chusmash Indians, the mission was pretty much destroyed in the 1812 Earthquake.  The mission lands covered over 470 square miles at that time.  The mission was rebuilt and continued to convert the local Indians until about 1830 when the Spanish started pulling out of the area.  The mission eventually turned to ruins but was rebuilt in 1934 to look like it may have in the 1820′s.  Later it became a California State Park.

Today, La Purisma, remains a state park and is nicely restored with the church itself and many rooms that have been decorated as they were in 1820.  The park is located at 2295 Purisma Road and is open 9AM-5PM.  Check the website www.lapurismamission.org for events and Mission Life Days where reenactors recreate life as it may have been in 1820.

While I have been here several times over the years, these images ae from my most recent trip.  There is a lot to photograph is you enjoy small details, historical furniture and church items.  While the church has a very nice alter, it is mostly an open room.  There are lots of rooms that depict life of the Spanish Solders, Padres quarters, kitchen, library and other rooms of the Spanish Mission life.  Outside, there is the old bell tower, a corral with animals including a Bison and drying hides over fence posts.

I hope that I can return sometime when they are have an event.  Many of the rooms would be great to photographic with people dressed in period dress.

Fillmore and Western Railway

The town of Fillmore, CA lies along Hwy 126 between Ventura and Santa Clarita.  This area is still farm land and is a pleasant drive.  You will see orange trees and find fruit stands along the way.  Fillmore is famous for Trains.  The old standard gauge line was once owned by Southern Pacific and hauled fruit, today it is part of the Fillmore and Western Railway with its depot at 354 Santa Clara St.  A tourist attraction with weekend excursions, dinner trains and some special events such as Railroad Days in March, it also supplies trains and locations for the movie industry.  You can visit the depot area and park any time and a few of the trains will be in view but most of them are behind fences and crammed together that doesn’t allow for great photography or access.  I would imagine if you follow the events and come at the right times, you could get good access to their steam engines and other rolling stock.  The engine shown in the photograph is an EMD F2 built in 1946.  I was there on a weekday morning on the way back from a trip to Morro Bay, it was quiet with no activity.  You can follow their events and learn more at www.fwry.com