All good things must end

First of all, here's my quilt -- finished after a very long time sitting in the quilting hoop!  The quilt is actually a bit more turquoise than the photo shows... I had some lighting issues when I took the picture.  (One thing I have learned from my "silly photography" class is how vital it is to have good lighting -- but  knowing that is one thing, and achieving it is something else entirely!)


Here are some detail shots of the hand quilting:

My "silly photography" class is now over, and I have to say it was a fun way to get me to read the manual for my camera!  Here's my final image for the class, which I processed with two layers of  Kim Klassen's "golden" plus one layer of Shadowhouse Creation's "faux daugerrotype."  Check out Kim's Texture Tuesday party to see all the wonderful images that people create with her textures each week.


For me, the hardest assignments in this class were the ones involving strangers.... like the day we were told to take at least 100 snapshots of random people on the street.  I was planning on taking daughter #2 into the city for some shopping anyway, so I figured I could easily do both at the same time.  Let me just say that our shopping expedition was much more successful than the photography!   Although my eye is beginning to see things I might never have noticed before, I was stopped again and again by an inner voice that said, "don't go too close, you might offend someone."  I saw so many interesting things that day:  a toddler sharing his ice cream with a dog, a street vendor dozing in his chair, a little boy in front of a cupcake display trying to make a decision, a couple walking arm in arm oblivious to the crowds on the street.... but I was too afraid of intruding to capture any of those images.  How do street photographers get right into the scene and shoot?  

Here are the pitiful best of my shots that day:

(cupcakes sans little boy -- I didn't want his mom to think I was a stalker!) 

(I cheated here... this is my daughter!)

Sigh. Maybe I should stick with bees and flowers... and quilts!

(I used two layers of Kim Klassen's "golden" and one layer of her "dreams")

Silly Portraits!

My silly photography class is so much fun.  Luckily, one of our assignments this last week was to do a portrait.  This was serendipitous because that is the theme for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.  You can click here to see all the amazing images that are submitted.

One of my daughters was willing to be my guinea pig subject, so we went outside so I could get the right light, and this is the result....  I used Kim's pourvous, warmly vintage and serendipity textures to give it a vintage feel.

Now I have to give you the back story. I love this photo, but it is not the one I intended to take that day!  It was the other daughter who was my subject.  This one was most definitely not cooperating.

Daughter #1 and I were on a roll (so to speak), and I was getting some nice images:

Then, daughter #2 decides to come outside with snacks... and the dog.  Now I can't tell you how many snaps I have of #2 with a goofy expression on her face -- I think she is constitutionally incapable of smiling directly at the camera.  The mood changed abruptly:





The party moved out onto the lawn, daughter #2 decided to put up her hair, and I captured this:

She is nothing if not mercurial.

A walk in the park

I've been working on finishing my quilt, so I'm being quiet on the blog front.  (That's a good thing... remember push-pull.....)

Well, I can't be too quiet!  I took this photo yesterday, while I was out on assignment for my Silly Photography Class with Steve Sonheim.  I used three of Kim Klassen's textures to give it a vintage feel:  serendipity, chamomile and magic scratches.


But that was just for fun.  My assignment was to find an interesting (yet safe) spot to close my eyes and shoot 20 pictures without peeking, and then choose one to submit to the class pool.   I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so I worked on this while walking in the park with my dog, Jackson.... in retrospect, not a great idea!

Most of my photos looked like this:



This was my best shot :

 I like how I captured some bokeh, but for the life of me I don't know how I did it... in other words, I don't think I could replicate it.  Well, maybe this class will help me understand my camera a bit better and have some fun along the way!