Leland

Black Pearl

Black Pearl is so named in reference to Josephine Baker, an entertainer and activist who was an American living in France.

Amsterdam

Nymeria, Warrior Queen

Smith Island

In my mind, I'm going to Carolina!

Beach Daze

I've got 9400 images on my iPhone, I have GOT to start processing and backing up.  Bad Cindi! What can I tell you, I love to shoot. Making images is for me very meditative. It is being  in the moment, quiet and intent. There is no noise, no frustration...  just instinct and the desire to express the moment in a way that will recreate the feeling of that experience.   Processing can be a similar journey as I move from app to app looking for just the right combination of tonality and texture. Sometimes I nail it in a couple of moves and sometimes I must return to it again and again, knowing that the image is not there yet.

I was called to stalk this family, sensing that it was baby's first day at the beach. I like to witness a human's first experience of any kind but I knew that taking in something as vast and powerful as an ocean would be special. I like how this baby meets Madam Ocean fully square on.  In the future when I look at this image, I'll wonder about the boy.  It's important to say that while I may get my shot before engaging so not to break the spell, I then introduce myself and send them an image as we're talking.  This way, follow up is not hanging over my head and there's instant gratification for the subject. If I improve the image in processing, they get a copy of that as well.

Get Smart(er) The iPhone Expeditions

On most Saturday mornings I lead a tour called Get Smart(er), it's the original iPhone Expedition. It lasts 3 1/2 hours and is ridiculously full of great information on shooting and processing images with your iPhone.  The last hour or so we go out to shoot and while it's always fun...  last Saturday was ripe with wonderful characters. I love DC, I love the people, the architecture, the history...  it's all good.
I've got tons of Cherry Blossom images forthcoming but I'm always excited by the people I find on the street.

Grungy ol' Camelia

Lucky

Lucky was a rescued pup who I met when visiting a friend in New York. She insisted on sleeping with me which always seems to be the case with me when I visit friends with dogs.  It has to be said that my favorite was a Westhighland Terrior named Gillian Gillyflower, who growled every time I moved. Nobody got any sleep that night, we were both growling before sunrise!
This image was made by combining Toonpaint and a straight image in Blender.

Bolt

Thanks to everybody that showed up to the iPhone Class yesterday. I can always tell when somebody drinks the "Kool Aid."  It's the excitement that you feel when you find a new avenue for creative expression. There are truly limitless possibilities every time we sit down to process an image.  As we were wandering back to the class room, I found this cool guy.

The Original Leia Skywalker

This image was originally a faded black and white  photograph.  Using a masking technique I added the face of an eagle to this woman's face, then wiped away those areas that identified the eagle. Next, I added a layer of a picture of a map, then went into FX PhotoStudio to enhance the jewelry, wandered into Pic Grunger to crack the portrait, then added the canvas texture just because it was interesting to me. All in, it took hours to complete this image. I had to take breaks and come back to it again and again.  Sometimes an image presents itself in minutes, then other times it will reveal itself in it's own good time.

Googley Eye

I love Googley Eye.  She started as a straight color image of a woman. I masked in concrete pavement that had been processed in AutoPainter in the shape of her hair, widened the eye and mouth then added a glaze to the over all portrait.  Nice!

Charleston - the Low Country Expedition

Join us March 29 - March 31, 2013  Charleston, SC Tour and Workshop
The iPhone is the most used camera in the history of photography. With it's powerful apps and limitless possibilities, it's the perfect on-the-go creative tool. The Friday day long workshop teaches you to use your iPhone beyond shooting snapshots and explores the process from capture to final image. We'll introduce some of the best apps out there for creating beautiful and artistic images.
LEARN MORE!

Brain Wash

I was in San Francisco attending MacWorld/iWorld where wonderful iPhoneographers from all over the world gathered to share information and ideas. It was fun to be there with the "tribe" and it was fun to walk the streets of San Francisco. I don't know if the chocolate/hazel nut filled buttery croissant will ever be far from my thoughts. Also, the walk to Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill had a view of the city that couldn't be beat.  This is a Hipstamatic shot processed and blended with a slight amount of cartoon filter. Oh, the fun we can have....  good, clean... fun!

Bon Voyage!

MacWorld/iWorld recently held in San Francisco was a wonderful opportunity to get together with the "tribe" of fellow iPhoneographers.  This was my last image shot the morning before my flight. I highly recommend the route! I started at the Ferry Building, walked along the water front towards Telegraph Hill. Ran up the steps of Telegraph Hill and spotted some of the parrots featured in the documentary called...  what else...  "The parrots of Telegraph HIll". It was all very exotic and lovely coming across the occasional local person walking their dogs and enjoying the morning.  I ended up at the top of the Coit Tower and made one last prayer of gratitude for the lovely sight before me. A 360 degree view of one fantastic city!

Frogman Finds Bliss!

Sense of Place

I've started an old truck series because I like them but it's also a way of telling the story about an environment. This particular beauty was found near Tres Piedras, an area that can be rather harsh in the winter, cold and windy. It's also known for it's Earthships, a type of passive solar house made of natural and recycled materials but then that's a whole other story.

I want my photographs to express what I'm feeling in that moment. Yes, it was cold and yes I brake for red but more than that there was a bit of magic in the air.

The Obama Condom- "Hope is not a form of protection"

Yesterday was one of my all time favorite days in DC. The crowd was smaller than the first inauguration (by about a million people), the organization for getting us on and off the mall was better, I had a great view of the Capital and was right in front of a Jumbotron, it was 20 degrees warmer AND I liked the President's speech. Of all the wonderful images I captured, this was my favorite. The one liners were streaming out of this lady....   This Obama Condom "won't break as easily as his promises"  ouch..  "Hope is not a form of protection" (now we're getting somewhere) The Obama Condom "The Ultimate Stimulus Package"..   Very funny stuff though the lady in the background seems less amused.

I used Hipstamatic to shoot the image with "Rock" film, a nice tight grained B&W film. It works well for street shooting, editorial and night shooting. No additional processing on this one!

Pro Camera Set Up

I promised to give the settings info for ProCamera to my friends in Charleston so this postings is dedicated to the enthusiastic, talented photographers back home in the lovely southern climes.

Open the app and push the PRO button on the bottom left, then select SETTINGS. You'll notice on the next page in the top left corner a button that says MORE. Choose that so you'll get all the options in the set up.

There are explanations on each page that will give you a better understanding of why we've made these choices.

1. Use Lightbox- (off) you want all of your images to go to the CAMERA ROLL.

2. Quickflick (on) 

PHOTO MODE OPTIONS

3. Stable/Shaky around the middle of the slider

4. Timer (left side) you can always change the setting when you need the timed exposure.

5. JPEG compression - slide over to high quality

6. Rapid Fire (on)

7. HighSpeed Mode (off)

 8. Fullscreen Trigger (off)

 9. Expert Mode (on) This allows you to separate the exposure (circle) from the focus (square) That's why this is such a great go to app for shooting!

10. PhotoZoom (on)

11. Auto Save (on) Remember we always want to save a version to our Camera Roll.

12. Datestamp (off)

VIDEO MODE OPTIONS

13. In Video Mode, the only button I've turned on is Video Stabilization. Read each explanation and make your own choices.

GENERAL OPTIONS

14. Direct Photo/Video Toggle (on)

15. Calibrate Virtual Horizon- I use the gyro when I'm shooting panoramas to make sure my edges don't go wonky.

16. Pinch to zoom (off)

17. Green mode (on)  saves battery life.

Go back to the camera screen and press the button on the bottom right side. It'll give you different choices, when selected, are in red.

Across the top from left to right.  Ratio, histogram, gyro, grid

Left column: Most important to me is to highlight Expert Mode so I can separate exposure from focus.

Ok folks, this is all pretty straight forward and self explanatory but since it's the first time in for most of you, I wanted to hold your hand!   Happy Shooting and thank you for having me to your wonderful club!

Stay in touch!

Sullivan's Island on a Foggy Morning

Shem Creek

The mystery of the South

Mist

Porpoise Point

Camellia Season in Charleston

First light snow!

Nothing like a fresh snow at any time in my opinion but especially nice on Christmas morning. I was the first one out making tracks and finding serenity in the quietness of it. I had shot this blue truck the day before as it sat outside a store off the plaza in Taos. Now I know where it lives! Horses in the back ground were a very nice bonus but I can report that they seemed a little pissed off.  I dared to show up without carrots, hay, blanket or a heater!
Anyway, the general rule of thumb when shooting snow/sand with SLR's is to over expose by 2 stops to get the white..  white.  In the iPhone, I used camera app ProCamera to get the shot and dragged the exposure circle to the darkest part of the scene to lighten it.  also used ProHDR to get a dark and light exposure. Wasn't looking for the blend but rather the light version to see how my snow looked. This image does have a slight blue cast but I like that, it was cold out and blue contributes to the feeling of cold. Anyway, this was the first of my truck series. A satisfying start to a new project!

Chysalis

This was a departure from all the rusty, lovely trucks I was shooting in New Mexico. Sometimes a girls got to play! It was a wonderful opportunity to finally use those butterfly wings from a butterfly I shot months ago. I shoot everything that interests me because I know there's a good chance I'll use some aspect of it later when the idea comes or the skill level has improved. I rework images from last year that I thought were good and have improved them as I learn new things. We are always evolving... hopefully.. always growing.  Shedding our cocoon's and taking off with our new wings, perhaps?

Happy New Year!

It's not too late to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I call this one Merman and I love it for many reasons. That's the exciting thing about iPhoneography, it's an exploration, creative and surprising every time. It sure was satisfying to get out of town...

Leland

Ojo in the snow

Wonderful, snowy day in Ojo Caliente called for a nice morning soak. I used a new film pack in Hipstamatic called D-type B&W. Every time it gets cold and miserable here in DC, I'll think of this day, brilliantly cold, quiet enough to hear snowflakes land and glorious in beauty. Sigh...  you got me this time New Mexico. We're looking at you!

Horses on Christmas morning

Taken on Christmas morning. I was the first person out that morning, making the only tracks around. This morning started another round of images that involved horses in snow. I stopped all over both NM and Colorado making images with my iPhone of cold and pissed off horses and old cars/trucks. I could happily spend a month doing just that. I also noticed that horses run and buck a lot when it's this cold. It seems to be the equivalent of my flapping about when I'm cold!

A new project! I had quite a good time shooting old cars while out West over the holidays.  We go to New Mexico and Colorado most Christmas's and this year was especially delicious. We changed locations almost every 4 days and it snowed every time we settled in. Snow and fog are a photographer's friend! I admit to adding a little Pic Grunger to this one. Can you tell? Yes, that was rhetorical!

Island life

There was a time when I lived on an island in South Carolina. Situated on the mouth of  harbour I could see ships from far off places quietly sliding by, often so big they would fill the entire length of my double windows. In fall, I'd hear fog horns announcing their arrival, in Spring I'd hear the birds songs of my youth as flocks returned home from winter migration. After an all nighter working on a movie set, I'd come home and drink a beer as the sun rose. My neighbor and friend still marvels at that one. There are so many sensual memories of living in such a place.

Anyway, if one could be in love with a place.... this was it for me.

Blur FX app

I could go on and on about this experience but I generally prefer to keep the best part of a connection made, to myself.  I'll only say that this is Lee. He reads pictures. He is lovely in his Day of the Dead jacket.

I shot this with my iPhone on the fly so everything was in focus.  I'm able to create the illusion of a shallow depth of field by using the app, Blur FX. I then did some selective sharpening and added a very thin border in Filterstorm.

Screenshot of the Blur FX settings.

Dime Store Indian

The Big Apple Expedition was a ton of fun.  There are so many sites to explore in New York but my own particular tastes run towards characters.  I love to shoot people and especially like it when they are willing to play, for me an intimate connection is made if even for a second.

This is a cigar maker who works out on the sidewalk in Little Italy. Behind him is a cigar store Indian, an advertisement figure, used to represent tobacconists. Historically, early store owners used descriptive emblems or figures to advertise their shops' wares due to the general illiteracy of the populace.

There are so many ways I could have stylized this image but I opted for a nostalgic sepia toned treatment given the subject matter. There are no limitations in this art form, I imagine there will be other versions in the future!

Skateboarder fell out of the Sky!

I cropped this image to tighten up the composition, make it more interesting and direct the eye to what was going on with the skateboard.  I also found that leaves reflecting off the sidewalk were a little distracting. The eye follows the light so I used Retouch to remove those elements that were distracting.

There are many things I like about this image, for example, the shape of the shadow tells us the story of what the skateboarder was doing without us actually seeing the upper part of his body. The steps and wall on the top of the frame create a natural vignetting. The light skimming across the surface of the concrete brings this image to life.

More than that, it's quite fun to play with these kids while they show off their wonderful skills! You never know what you'll find to shoot on an iPhone Expedition.

This is the original image shot in Hipstamatic. I thought about staying with this composition but perhaps adding Rays to enhance where the sun's rays show naturally. I also could have opened up the shadows.  I decided instead to tighten up the composition and create a little more impact.

Just how much stimulation do we need?

Just how much stimulation do we need?  I step into an elevator, 3 out of 4 people are on their iPhones. Ok, so that's my tribe BUT there's more..   On the Metro, people are listening to music, reading emails, texting... walking down the street everybody's talking on their phones..  I'm pretty sure the reason I don't sleep more than 5 hours a night is because every waking hour I'm looking for something to stimulate my mind.  I look forward to the day when I pay less attention to device and more attention to the signs of nature.  I'll look into the night sky and know the constellations of each season, I'll study the tracks of creatures that have passed thru, I'll smell a storm heading my way..  I'll connect to my wild nature, I'll howl at the moon and know what berries are ok to eat.  It's coming, that day is coming.

This was shot in Hipstamatic with the film "Rock", a very nice tight grained B&W film.  It's good for low light situations and street photography. The blacks can get blocked if there's not a lot of light but if the composition is balanced, it can be graphically interesting.

I brake for red!

I was driving down a country road when I caught a glimpse of this beauty out of the corner of my eye. Slamming on the brakes and backing the car up at warp speed elicited a groan/moan from my husband while I shouted, "do you see that red barn!?"

The title of this post was originally Childhood Memories because the first time I drove something mechanical, it was a red tractor. It's quite fun if you've never had the pleasure, the seat bounces up and down as you travel the back roads. I found this one when returning from a zen like afternoon with my husband.  He hunted 30 million year old shark's teeth, I made images comparing and contrasting nature with the manmade debris thrown up and collecting at the high tide mark.

Notes:  The straight shot was flat so I gave it depth by blending it with an Artista Haiku version, selective sharpening in Filterstorm, adding texture in Glaze and making the color pop in Scratchcam.  It was the shot of the day, reminiscent of my movie scouting days...  always so gratifying to finally find the location that held magic.

Pushup the Sun

Nothing like doing pushups with your friends while overlooking the mighty Potomac River.

The Maryland Renaissance Fair

I shoot daily with my iPhone but there are times I want more optical choices.  I recently sold all the  Canon 5D Mark ll because it was too heavy.  Enter the era of the Olympus OM-D Micro 4/3 camera.

It's pretty sexy...  light, fun, gorgeous to look at and it takes great pictures.  No, I am not getting paid for this endorsement, I really love the camera.

The image on the left is the original image unprocessed.

Now, here's where it gets to be way too much fun.
I wirelessly transferred the image from the camera to the iPad!  It took awhile to get it set up the first time but now it's super smooth processing.

The Process
1.  PhotoBlur to blur the background.
2.  Filterstorm to sharpen.
3.  Phototoaster to warm him up, add the     glowing light and vignetting.
4.  Filterstorm for local sharpening and framing.



The image below was brought into Dynamic B&W so I could compare the two and like them both very much.