via Photo Challenge: Reflecting
Featured Image above is Cloud Gate, Millennium Park, Chicago
Sitting on the curb in New Orleans
Water Lilies at Monet’s Garden, Giverny, France
Arc de Triomphe, rainy Spring evening
The Thinker
Round Tangle Lake, near Paxson, Alaska
Scorpion in the urinal at Lake Lurleen State Park, Alabama. Sorry about the blur. I guess I didn’t get close and take enough time to focus well.
Funny little airport in Talkeetna, Alaska
Beware of Earthquakes! I loved the “How much time do I have” part.
Same spot as the Earthquake warning.
One hundred years of change in Exit Glacier, Alaska. Year markers show where the glacier was at that time. A huge amount of retreat in 100 years. Whether you believe this is based on global warming or not, I think we can all agree it’s time for us to care more about how we treat our home.
This was a different sort of surprise. I was experimenting with my iPhone, trying to capture blurred motion of cars at night. These ghostly figures walked past just as I clicked the shot.
Again with iPhone, now in macro mode. I liked the bits of pollen scattered about the flower and the tiny speck on the the bee’s front left leg.
If you’re interested using your iPhone for photography, here’s a great site with lots of tips about using it more creatively.
Another good source is Art with an iPhone,
And here are just some general thoughts about Photography as Creative Expression.
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
Violets (I think) in my backyard after a morning shower…
A continuation of an earlier post. Still exploring the limits of my iPhone using the camera+ app for macro lens simulation with no special attachment. Focusing precisely still a challenge with the smallish SE screen, but not bad for just a phone, I think.
Since it is a writing prompt
Roses are red. These Violets aren’t blue. Here they are anyway, first one, then two 😉
Better in pairs…
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
via Photo Challenge: It IS Easy Being Green!
Having fun with my iPhone SE. The camera+ app lets you do fun things including Macro.
The clover featured above is one example. Here’s another:
Just for grins, here’s the same flower in normal mode:
Still working on focus and image crispness, but making progress:
Here’s a great site for more tips about using your iPhone creatively.
Here’s a great book, Art with an iPhone,
And here are just some general thoughts about Photography as Creative Expression.
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
One really great way to express your creativity is with photography. It can open your eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world. You don’t need the fine motor control required for drawing or painting, though cultivating an eye toward composition would be good. And you probably already take lots of pics of children and grandchildren, or your beloved pets. You already have a jumpstart on a fulfilling way to capture visual insights.
Don’t know how to get started? To take it from representing things literally to creating your own vision? Visit the Books link in the menu bar for a range of books to get you going. But you can also start by just starting. And you really don’t need fancy equipment. If you have a smartphone, it probably takes pretty good pictures. iPhones and Androids have lots of useful built in features, but you can do much more with them than you may realize by installing an app or two. The photo below is with an app, camera+, that let’s you treat your phone as though it had a macro lens. If you want some inspiration about what more you can do with them, really nice guide is available through this link to the iPhone Photography School.
So get started. Go out. Or stay in and look around your house. But wherever you are, look at the things you take for granted in a new way. Look at the trees, the buildings, the cars, the sofas, chairs and refrigerators — everything — from new angles, at different times of day, from close up to see textures you normally don’t notice, etc. etc. etc. Click, click, click. The more you take, the more new insights you discover about a world that was already there but you overlooked.
It also might help to have a supportive community of others to stimulate you. A great one is the Google+ Weekly Photo Project community. You can try out a different photographic challenge each week, with no pressure and lots of encouragement. The photo at the top of this post is from my iPhone that I posted to that site. My friend was near a mural and I snapped quickly to catch her looking like she was actually in the street scene. The result was a fun new way to look at things.
When you’re ready to move on to richer images, then you can think about one of the dozens of wonderful digital cameras from the most basic point and shoot variety to elaborate digital single lens reflex (DSLR) marvels.
But most of all, have fun. This is for you, not for anyone else.
Copyright © Thomas Ward 2017
Creativity for You 