Your Most Valuable Posession ...

"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart."

                                       --Carlos Santana

I haven't posted anything in a while.  Problems with my computer.  Apparently, Mac OSX has a nasty bug that makes some of your files disappear.  Poof!  Gone.  Not retrievable from the trash either.  Just gone.  Not a virus, but a bug in the operating system.  We're looking for a solution.  Other than hunting through backups for the lost files.    Kind of makes you think about what's important.   The art I've been making lately is digital : pixels.  They can disappear in an instant.   I'm glad I have a record on this blog, but those are the smallified pics.  Not the psd files.  Needless to say, I don't exactly trust my laptop at the moment. 

It's enough to make me go back to manual arts -- which I did this weekend.  I went to the basement and dyed some silk scarves.  They are still sitting in pools of color "batching."  Pictures to be forthcoming ...

2BD30 - Street Portraits

 

Vladimir-the-Horseman

Today's lesson was on Street Portraits.  Kim asked us to take to the streets and actually ASK our oh-so-photographic subjects if we could take their picture(s), as opposed to stealth street photography taken with a telephoto lens at some distance.   My pictures come from The Door County Ren Faire this past summer.  My subjects are essentially street performers.   I did ask to take their pictures, though. 

       The Rat Catcher

For both portraits, I started with a clean edit, then used the Holga-ish Filter in Picasa.    The black-and-white helps the viewer focus in on the subject and tames down other things (bus-i-ness) going on in the picture.

Why didn't I use Light Room or PSE?  In truth, I had another street portrait of a local Oshkosh Lady (Someone I did not know ...) sitting at the edge of Miller's Bay looking out on the water.  I was experimenting with different effects on her photo.  Then it just disappeared. Poof!  I don't know where it went--not to trash, not even available in "recently edited" and no longer in the folder where I had saved the original.   Grrrrr!   So I went back to a known entity : Picasa, for the above pics.   Simple edits done with a predictable program.

October 2013 Photo-Heart Connection : Farm-Fresh Eggs and 2 Hearts

Something so simple as farm-fresh eggs from the Saturday Farmer's Market.  I love how they give us a variety of eggs from different chickens "Red" eggs to a coppery "Saxifrage Olive."   Eggs also make me think of the fragility of life.  The shells are strong -- to a point, but also fragile.  Easy to break.    They are meant to be strong enough to protect a baby chick until it bursts out on it's own power.   Or something else happens to break it out ...  Which leads me to this :

"The most living moment comes
when those who Love each other
meet each other’s eyes and in
what flows between them.”
~Rumi 

Truthfully, the photo that really touched my heart in September was this one.  I know--It's not a great picture--I had the wrong lens on my fancy new camera ...  In September, some close friends decided to get married after years of being an item.  As long as I've known them, they've been a couple.  They just hadn't bothered to get married.  The time is right : Their kids are grown ...  One of them has a serious health issue at present.   Maybe the thought that one of them could die before they ever officially tied the knot was the factor that nudged them onto this new leg of their journey together.  That and health insurance ...

In this picture, they are looking into each other's eyes -- Best Friends -- about to walk down the aisle to get married.  Even though it's a blurry picture, you can tell there's a lot of LOVE passing between them in this moment.   They embody the Rumi quote above. 

Best Wishes to you both, Vicki and Lee!  Thank you for letting be be part of your story.  It's an honor!

Stop by to see other Photo Heart Connections this month.

My Very own Charming Textures in Action

 

The other day, I posted a layout with a set of 4 textures that I made myself.  ;-) 

I named the set after characters in the ABC tv series Once Upon a Time.

I wanted to test the textures layered with a photo.  I'm pretty happy with the results :

 

 This is the Charming Texture, layered with the old Red Leaf.

Recipe :  1) Background Layer - Red Leaf

2) Text - Viner Hand Font - Normal 100%

3) Charming Texture - Multiply 100%

4) Copy Layer 3 - Charming Texture - Multiply 57%

Picassa Glow

 Mary Margaret and Henry Textures layered with a feather "blank."

Recipe : 1) Background Layer - Turkey feather 

2) Mary Margaret Texture - Multiply 72%

3) Henry Texture - Soft Light 100%

4) Text - Arabella Font - Soft Light 100%

[Note : The original is a little pinker than this exported version.]

The Henry Texture behind the Red Leaf blank.

Recipe : 1) Background Layer - Red Leaf

2) Copy Layer 1 - Screen 100%

3) Copy Layer 2 - Screen 100%

4) Henry Texture - Multiply 100%

5) Copy Layer 4 - Soft Light 39%

6) Text - Viner Hand - Color Burn 66%

7) Copy Layer 6 - Soft Light

 

 

Here's the Emma Texture with the Red Leaf.  

 Recipe : 1) Background Layer - Emma Texture - Normal 100%

2) Red Leaf - Soft Light 100%

3) Text - Viner Hand Font - Hard Light 89%

Do you like what you see?

You can download my textures on Flickr with links below :

Mary Margaret Texture

Henry Texture

Charming (David) Texture

Emma Texture

Red Leaf Blank

If you use my textures, please do me the courtesy of linking back to show me what you did with them.