Line and Form.

Line and Form.

Not only does Mother Nature provide us with brilliant tapestries of colour in the form of landscapes rich with ever changing hues, she is a brilliant architect. 

Often when I'm out, and surrounding myself with nature, I am drawn not only to the colours, but also the patterns and textures of such things as trees,plants,flowers, rocks,and water. Strip away the colour, and you are still left with a beautiful image and the ability to see the lines and formation of the object with much more clarity.

Now..I will never give up my love of colour and how colour translates into a mood or feeling but I will also continue to have a faithful collection of photos in black and white that speak to me on a different level.

Much like my love of capturing architecture, and architectural details from the city, I will continue to capture natures architecture.Building styles come and go. They are built and they are altered, and they are demolished. Natures architecture lives on forever not following any trends. It's perfect. It's beautiful.

Here are a few of my favourite recent, and earlier black and whites that I enjoy for their lines and forms.

Still Life photos...

I have always loved images of Still Life. I remember one particular framed image of a a still life in my Grandparents home. It was a print of a bowl of apples. It was very simple with some of the apples in the bowl and a couple sitting outside of it. I am sure most of you have, or at least remember a home that had a still life image in it somewhere.

What I like most about them will come to no surprise to most of you. If you look at the examples I have posted of some well known still life paintings, they all speak to my love of dark, rich, moody colours. The joy about still lifes are that they appear simple but yet are complex in the way they are telling a story. Often they play with senses...items that bring forth memories of smells, or tastes. Or they play with your emotions, not only through the item being depicted, but in the way they are represented through light. Plain backgrounds allow the items to stand, and speak for themselves.

Fast forward to today, and still lifes are still alive and well and have been given a new outlet in the form of photography. A friend of mine who lives in France just had his first gallery showing of his still life work. His work is simply put...Stunning. I have decided to explore this aspect of photography myself, and hope some day I can come close to his talent.

For now, I will just share some of my favorite still lifes I have taken thus far. I'm sure this will be a lesson in before and after, so stay tuned.

Mellow Yellow

I seem to recall that the groundhog predicted an early Spring......I think I'm going to make groundhog stew tonight for dinner.

I managed to squeeze in a quick photo shoot at Allan Gardens the other day. Yes, it does tend to be my 'go-to' place, especially this time of year. But who can resist the warmth, the smell of moist soil, and fragrant flowers when outside it is still damp, cold, and downright ugly. (I dislike March, can you tell?)

The purpose of this shoot was to add a few more shots to my "Kaleidoscape" series, especially the ones using colour from flowers. These are some of the ones that turned out, and I am happy with. You definitely get a feeling of spring and warmth from them. Don't you?

I am also working away at putting a few portfolios together for a contest that a rather large and well known photography magazine is hosting, so stay tuned for info on that. It may be a long shot, but you just never know.

Kind of like not knowing when Spring will start...

Come on Spring...

I am sure I am not the only one who has reached that point of winter where it can not end soon enough. I knew we would pay for the last couple of balmy winters that saw no snow and temps hovered around zero. What a long winter this has felt like....And I am sure I am not alone.

So this post is simple. And I think the picture says it all...

Come on Spring!!

(Picture was taken in the balmy indoors of Allan Gardens)

Snap!

Last week was a tough one. To make a long story short, I got accepted to show in my first ever juried exhibition called Scapes. I had made a blog entry about it earlier in the year, and had had high hopes about getting in. The problem as many of you already know is that my letter of acceptance got emailed to a wrong address and I never found out in time to get my work in the show. I was devastated and a little angry, but it was out of my hands, so I have chosen to move forward......

Tonight I will enter these four shots into a photo competition/auction/charity event called SNAP! I entered four last year as well, but did not make the cut. This event has alot of publicity and is held at the National Ballet School, and is a huge AIDS charity event. I may not make the cut again, but the submission fees will all go to a good cause so it is a win, win situation.

These photos are a first for me in that they have added effects done in post editing. They are all flower pictures taken the other day at Allan Gardens.

Wish me luck....

Flowering Cherry

It has been a busy, but productive spring. Mother Nature seems to be in a rush as most flowering trees are about 2 weeks ahead of their normal blooming times. Forsythia, Cherry, and Lilac trees all seemed to bloom at once. I wasn't able to get out and get as many shots of the cherry blossoms as I would have liked, but this shot of some great pink blooms is from a recent walk to Riverdale Farm.

On another note, I am happy to report that I just have just had an opening night reception for my first public showing of my textural work. 17 images are currently on display at Freedom Clothing Collective, at 939 Bloor Street West. Hours are from 1 to 7 from Tues to Sat. I also have a second exhibition coming up shortly that will feature 7 images on a different theme, so stay tuned for details.....

Hope to post more often, but I thank you for being so patient!!

Tulips

I figured since the temperatures plunged back to winter like levels, it was the perfect time to remind us all that it is actually spring, the days are growing longer, and it won't be too long before tulips are actually blooming outdoors.

These purple beauties were blooming indoors at Allan Gardens in early March. It was a cloudy day which created the soft haze behind these blooms.

Enjoy, and stay warm!