Hydrangea

The pink blue blend of these Hydrangeas at Skylands was really quite something. They were nicely offset the greens and golds of the leaves in the background.

Evening Iris

I went back to Skylands last night around sound down and found this wonderful iris with a nice end of day glow in the grass behind it. This really is the last of the Irises for this year. Another couple of weeks and the cone flowers will be out like crazy.

I sent my backup camera out to be converted for use in Infrared BW photography. I am really excited. I used to shoot IR in the film days and have missed it. I can't wait to be able to take some dramatic BW-Infrared landscapes again. I am sure you will know when the camera is back because I'll be posting those like crazy. I will be shooting a lot of IR BW on Cape Cod when we go there later this summer.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Little Man A

Little Man A - Waitin for the train. Photo by Robbie Sypnier

My Brother-in-Law, Robbie ( and favorite photo excursion buddy) took this awesome shot of my great-nephew 'Little Man A'. The shot looked great in color full of warm tones and shadows.

Wenderina then entered the room and said "Hey wouldn't that be cool if 'Little Man' was in color and the rest of the shot was black & White...." Well I was giving Robbie photoshop lessons anyway so we set to work. A little while later we had this great image.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

PS - Robbie thanks for letting me post the results of our efforts on my blog!

CS

Sunday Morning Wander - Skylands

Irises - Skylands Wildflower Meadow

I headed to Skylands this morning, with my side kick... My brother in law Robbie.. in hopes of finding the cone flowers in bloom in the wildflower meadow, alas they are just starting to show up. I was discouraged also by the irises really being at the end of their season.... However after a brief encounter with a black bear (He wandered off before I could get my zoom lens out... LOL). I did not want to waste the good light on an early Sunday morning and found if I was selective and looked for the best of the Irises there was still a lot to photograph. We really got some awesome shots. The rain or dew was still on the flowers and the soft light of early morning made for some great shots and a bear story to boot!

Hope your Sunday was fun and adventure filled too!

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Greeblepix Monthly Contest

I chose for this months Greeblepix photo contest this image I took of Rainbow Falls in Watkins Glen, NY a couple of weeks ago. I had to get up and on the road at 3am and drive for 2 hours to catch the falls in a soft enough light to capture all the details. I am thrilled with the result. I just got back a print of this from the lab and it looks even better blown up.

It is so worth it getting up early to catch the shot.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Sunday Morning Ramble

I wandered close to home this morning with my camera. My first location was a waterfall, but the creek is pretty low and will probably be so until autumn. Next I went to Skylands. I had a nice walk through the wildflower gardens and photographed this lovely iris which I will paint... Hopefully tonight. This one has a great shape to it and nice elegant lines. This one should be a quick watercolor. Maybe I'll do a loose sketch and then the final painting.

What are you doing this wonderful Sunday?

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Morning Glow

Morning glow at Skylands

More Watkins Glen

I have finished editing the Watkins Glen photos and here are a few more for you to enjoy. If you ever have the time to visit the Glen and then drive up along along Seneca lake and visit some of the wineries I recommend it.

Now I really should get caught up on some painting.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Watkins Glen

We went upstate to visit family this weekend in Rochester, NY. I had some free time Saturday morning and decided to drive to Watkins Glen to photograph the gorge and waterfalls at dawn. This plan involved leaving Rochester at 3am. I did lay in bed for six minutes after the alarm went off, questioning my sanity, but I knew I wanted to catch these falls on a cloudy morning in early summer when the greens would be rich and the colors would really pop. It was totally worth the effort. Here are five of the images I was able to capture. I am thrilled with them. There are more so you may see another post this week.

My other bit of good news came Saturday evening when I found out that Fresh Paint Gallery had sold one of my photos on Saturday as well.

All in all a great weekend.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Some Images from my sketchbook

Here are some sketches from my sketchbook. Some of these you have seen as finished versions others I only have sketches. I like the freedom I have in my sketchbooks. I thought you would enjoy seeing them. My approach to sketches is fast and loose. I'd like to get a little more of this quality in my finished watercolors.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

PS - I'll be offline this weekend. Everyone enjoy your weekend and I'll have some new photos next week.

CS

Seeing new things in old places

While I was out photographing Mountain Laurel on Saturday I noticed the rocks around me... As if for the first time. I have hiked these trails and walked these roads most of my life, but only recently noticed the wonderful colors in some of the rocks in the park. At least I had not noticed the ones that did not have a stream running over them.

Lesson for the day. Even when you are on familiar terrain and have a specific subject in mind to photograph or paint. Keep your eyes and your mind open to what is around you.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Mountain Laurel - Harriman State Park

The Mountain Laurel are blooming in Harriman and the Catskills. It is one of my favorite flowers. I think I like it because of its short blooming cycle and I find it along trails in the woods so I have to work a little to get this small white and pink flower that hangs in bunches making really interesting shapes and design problems. They are prettiest in the daylight sun, because they stand out from the dark woodland background, but that also makes them tough to shoot from a contrast perspective... I shoot them early in the morning when the light is mostly flat and coming in pretty low. I like to look for spots where the light is filtered, but peeking through to give me a range of tones in the white flowers, this gives some mass to the bunches.

What are your favorite flowers along the trail?

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Fern on Craggy Rock

I found these ferns peaking out of a crack in a craggy rock this morning. The looks so vibrant in the early morning light of the forest.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

PS - got some Mt Laurel too, but need to spend some time on the images. I'll post them Sunday.

CS

Cap Cod Wildflowers

Taken on a cloudy day in October. This is a study in selective focus and depth of field.

Black Eyed Susans

Just a simple photo of some flowers today. I liked the shapes and the design when I took the shot. Sometimes the simplest things are best.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl