abstract

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What’s crazy is that I’m still not even close to done with all my cherry blossom images from this year! We had great bloom and I tried to go out as often as I could. You would say that I went pretty hard! Out of the two weeks, I think I only missed two sunrises. Even if it was really grey and windy, I still went out to see what I could find.

This was captured at the National Gallery of Art. The same time I took this image. But at this point the sun had already come up so there was a little more light available. If you’re not familiar with the gallery, then it may be a little difficult to see what’s really going on. The blue part is just the side of the building. The orange/warm part is the inside of a corner of the building. It goes in a little bit and it has it’s own special uplighting which is causing the warmer tones. I love how the cherry blossom branch just unifies everything in this image.  I have a couple more variations of this image that I still need to play around with but if you’ve been following my blog then you’ll know I love the contrast between warm and cool tones that this image is bringing. It would be really neat to see this as a series. So many ideas, so little time! One day.

And the cherry blossom vlog is coming! It’s been taking me a while because I finally downloaded Final Cut Pro X. I figured it was time to upgrade my video workflow as well. Thanks to my friend, Andy for the extra push! I love how creative you can get with the videos but it’s just taking me a while because I literally have to google every single thing that I want to do. It will be worth it though. Just taking time… apologies.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/25th of a second at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.

 

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Before we left on this road trip, we had all our stops planned. But the original plan was to stay in Roswell, New Mexico because Sue’s bananas over aliens. But days before we left I was on tripadvisor.com and everyone was saying how Roswell was very disappointing it was. Skrt Skrt– change of plans.

Luckily we were able to adjust our plans to stay in Santa Fe instead. In hindsight this new plan was a 100x better. Not knocking Roswell or anything but we drove through it and the 15 minutes that we spent in the town was all we needed. It probably would have been cool at night time but for us to get the most out of the trip, Santa Fe was a much better idea.

I was so excited to be visiting. It’s one of those places that I’d heard of before but never thought I’d ever visit. My mind immediately went straight to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum. One of my all time favorite artists. I just admire her paintings, creativity, and boldness so much. I could not wait to visit!

georgia okeefe museum, exhibit

Thats me looking at some images of the artist. I swear I’m wearing shorts!

We ended up staying one extra night in Santa Fe so we spent the next day in Tent Rocks National Monument. I guess I was still thinking about O’Keeffe’s flower images while walking the trail because I see some of those abstract qualities in the image above. I took the image while we were walking through the extremely narrow slot canyons. Everyone was concentrating on what was ahead on the trail, I ended up just looking up.

I can see why O’Keeffe loved New Mexico so much. It’s a such a beautiful state and I’m so glad we got to spend extra time traveling and sight seeing. I really look forward to visiting again.

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About two weeks ago, I visited Glenstone Museum again. My second time visiting but just as great as the first. This time however, I was really hoping to see Split Rocker in full bloom, which he was and it made me so happy. I circled him about 3 times while smiling before we had to go on with the tour. It’s crazy to see such a huge statute full of flowers. Props to Jeff Koons.

But I think my unexpected favorite was the Richard Serra piece called Sylvester. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, but as you circle to the inside, you get all these amazing variations of sunlight and shadows. Also the way that the piece divides the sky is very cool too. I bet it’d look amazing during a really puffy, cloudy day or even a nice sunrise/sunset.

And it’s actually much bigger than you think it is but doesn’t take much effort to walk through, if that makes sense? Once you’re totally inside, the acoustics in the center are totally amazing. You can totally feel your voice echo inside you. Kinda surreal. But I can also see how it’d be distracting if you were trying to hold a real conversation.

So walking out, I noticed this form. Again it was the shadows and the lines that really drew me into this scene. The sun flare from the lens was an added bonus that adds a little bit more interest into this piece. I don’t know, abstracts like this isn’t something I usually photograph or post. What do you think of it?

If you ever want to have a unique museum experience, make sure to book a tour at Glenstone. It’s privately owned so you have to have a reservation but it’s completely free. Totally worth it, especially if it’s a really nice day and you can enjoy the outdoor sculptures.

My settings for this image was F/9 at 1/160th of a second at ISO 200.

Something a little different than what I usually do. Can you guess what it is?

It’s the side of a rock wall where it meets flowing water. I was fortunate to visit Watkins Glen State Park during the autumn time when the leaves were changing and falling. The light parts of the image are flowers petals that had fallen from above. With a long exposure and a tripod, I was able to create this cool wavy, abstraction. A totally different way to see this beautiful park.

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I took this image a few years ago. I don’t remember the exact date but I do remember what I was thinking while I was taking it.

First, I remember it being really cold and freezing my butt of on a rock with my camera and tripod. Second, I remember being obsessed with the light. But I think at that time I didn’t know why or what about it that I loved so much. I just remember being so hypnotized that I couldn’t even blink, you know the kind where you just keep on staring and staring. You know that you need to turn away, but you just can’t.

And then when I got home I didn’t like the image. I think it was because I didn’t know how to edit it properly to what I saw. Now that some years have passed and I’ve gotten better at post processing that I can now accurately depict the amazing flow of water, light and rhythms crashing in front of me. I loves it and it’s crazy how just looking at an image can bring back so many emotions.