I just looove bookbinding

Those who have been following here might remember that I enrolled in a bookbinding course at Enmore earlier this year with Rosemarie Jeffers-Palmer from Amazing Paper http://www.amazingpaper.com.au/


Rosemarie runs a beginners course on behalf of the Sydney Community College but she also has her own bookbinding business.

I loved it so much I came back for seconds.  My only regret is that I will be a way a bit later in the year so will have to wait until 2013 before I get my next dose of tuition.

In the meantime, as well as learning about bookbinding, bookrepairs and book design I have been experimenting with some of my own designs using my photographic images.

My very first fledgling prototypes are ready to take in to Rosemarie for this week's class and await her critique??  Compared to the beautiful work I see in her studio/workshop, mine are a pale comparison, however, they are so much better than my early attempts.  And I do love the "create" part of the process.  I also love that I think I can enjoy some of my images as covers on my handmade books for gifts for family and friends.  I might eventually sell some at our market stall.  Just need to get the technique perfected.

Here below are a couple of my first attempts.  My designs are using an almost square format.  I like it more than A5 and A6, although I have a couple in that sze in the making.   These "almost square" designs vary,  but are approximately 5.5sq".  (or roughly 14-14cms) square.

For these books I have used a Japanese stab binding, linen thread, beautiful Canson Montvale Aquarelle paper for covers and cartridge paper (about 100gsm) for text pages.  I'm attempting to use a "re use, source local, offcut) model.  Not perfect, but I'm certainly watching my footprint.


This first book features an image from a Turkish Bazaar.  (front and back)

This Black and White cover book (below) features one of my maple images from my tree at home.

Recovery Mode

In the process of recovering from a small health problem and being forced to stay home and remain quiet for a few days I've discovered the joy of reorganising and re editing some older images.  Some not that old, but they were images I'd had a bit of a go at when I first took them and put them aside for a rainy day.

I'm also in the process of slowly moving to Lightroom 4.  Still not entirely happy with the metadata that I can bring in as I upgrade.  I'm keeping versions of LR3 so if (when) they sort it out over at Adobe or when I discover "how"?? I can have another go.

One of the things that always intrigues me when I open an image that I haven't looked at for some time, is the way I see it with new eyes and often I think the 2nd edit is much better.  I always have to be disciplined when I'm in the middle of a major block of time editing work.  I can make an absolute idiot of myself, good judgement right out the door??

Why is it that when completely ensconced in your own world, you can lose all perspective.  My little rule (that is quite often broken) is to not upload anything immediately - and if.... no ...  when I do, to make sure that I head right over to that site the very next day and rescue myself.   The readout on my computer actions these past few days would make interesting analysis as I've pretty much ripped everything I have uploaded off again and started all over.  I think that's one of the things I love the most about the digital world of photography.  Nothing has to be definite and most things can be dressed up with a new look for a new idea.  The trick for me, of course, is to make sure I publish all the versions and don't just write over each one as there is a wonderful treasure trove of my days and my life hidden away midst my photography.

So now for a snippet of what I have found - just a small look.


This gorgeous fellow (below) was in Turkey, not for from Van when our mini bus spotted a wedding party being followed by their friends and family along a main road.  Cars everywhere, horns blaring, red scarves being waved by young people leaning out car windows.

These guys (below) were also in Turkey in a very historic town, Sunliurfa.  We'd been enjoying some street photography in the local meeting place and this snap was taken when these fellows were inspecting the image on my friend's camera.

A tiny village (below) close to the city of Van in Eastern Turkey.  This youth was busy in the workshop.  I've processed this a few different ways and it looks good as a B&W but when I used a different process with a blue tone and stronger contrast I got a completely different impression.

And finally, a pic from western NSW (below).  The old woolshed @ Kinchega, near Menindee bathed in late afternoon light.

Mixed Emotions

I have a few things on my mind but really being inspired by the change in weather yesterday where we had rain and lovely mist over the last of the autumn leaves.
Today the sun is out but there is also wind and I am sure that some of the beautiful leaves I have had my eye on may not be there much longer.  So, inspired by some work last weekend with my lensbaby and imagining the effect of bright blue sky (today's weather) gusty breeze moving the leaves and glorious colour I've just zipped outside, taken a few lensbaby shots with my 5Dmk11 (I usually just pop it on the smaller sensor body) because I can see some magic happening so want as many pixels as possible to play with.
AND I wasn't disappointed.  I'm going to find another 30 minutes later today to have another go.

Here is my meagre offering that's had a fast and furious edit in LR4 and Nik Color 4.0.


Enjoy!!  I certainly did.

Late Autumn Light

It's Mothers' Day and it's been glorious.  Blue skies, crisp clean air, cool enough for a coat but warm enough to enjoy being outside.

I've recently been discovering some of my older images and looking at them with clean eyes.  It's so easy to get immersed in some newer work that you lose a bit of perspective - are they really that good?  maybe not? or maybe they are.  However, I find that when images are put aside for some time, fresher eyes are often a better judge.

So what have I been enjoying?  I've really loved finding some of the older images from the local area here in the Blue Mountains.  I'd completely forgotten that some of them even existed.  One of the joys of this sort of reminiscing is that now my skills in editing are far better than they were even a couple of years ago.

I've loved working with Nik software and have made a real effort recently to dig a bit deeper and learn more about the tools on offer.  Nik Silver Efex is a great B&W help.  Because I was never a darkroom person I avoided a few of the film effects that are hidden in the palette but recently I did a couple of webinars and have found so much more that I had been using.  Color Efex is my other current favourite.  Version 4.0 allows so much more than the earlier version so I've been working my way through it slowly and finding the ability to use multiple filters in an image quite beautiful.

So, today, with the last of the sunshine lighting up a couple of my maples, I grabbed the camera determined to take a shot for posterity.

Here are a couple of my favourites - real quick and dirty shooting and a bit of lick and polish thanks to Nik.


Enjoy!!

Recovery Mode

Arrived back last night from 8 days in Western NSW with a couple of photo buddies.  Fabulous time, brilliant scenery and photo opportunities.

We began the trip from the Blue Mountains and headed west to Hay for our first night, then on to Mungo National Park where we stayed in the Shearers' Quarters for a couple of nights.

The first four images are taken from around Hay.  I had some fun panning and "blurring" as the car went along.

In Mungo, the history, the sense of being in a very special and ancient place was all around.  The Aboriginal people who now have responsibility for the stories that their elders know, shared with us as we walked on the Walls of China.  Impossible to fully explain the sense of significance in this place.  The Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, in which Mungo sits is a very special part of Australia.  The discovery not so long ago of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man have changed this place.  It is a area steeped in both Aboriginal and European history.  It is a place where scientists, archaeologists, local Aboriginal people, farming families and government work together.

The sands are moving quite quickly each year and every new rain and windstorm bring a difference to the landscape.

For us, to spend some time here in the silence and with nature allowed us to really begin our photographic journey.  Emus, kangaroos, birds were all about and the recently renovated old shearers' quarters were wonderful to sit and think about what had come before.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkWorldHeritage.aspx?id=N0049

The land here has experienced much.  It was also a working sheep station for many years.  The renovations at the National Park Information Centre are fabulous and allow you to get a strong understanding of all that has come before.  Quite a bit of interpretive work has been done for the displays and outside, the new landscaping has provided a dignified yet informative welcome.

This emu was around the old shearing shed with a few young chicks.

One of the roos we came across in Mungo.

These emu chicks were out with their father (not shown here)

We had a long drive around Mungo and this is typical of the landscape out there at the moment.  They have had some unusually high rainfall of late.

Even though the rains have been, it is clear what the ground will be like in the coming weeks.  It has begun to recede and dry up around all the waterways.

An opportunity to wander over one of the sand dunes.  Fabulous views!  I have tried this shot a few ways but like this interpretation as, for me, it captures the simplicity and the beauty.

The mono image above was also taken on the Dunes @ Mungo.









The Walls of China (below)

Then to Menindee .....

Menindee is on the Darling River and the large lakes surrounding the area can be home to many birds and animals.  With 2 heavy rain seasons in a row, the lakes are full to the brim.  One of the women in our group has visited Menindee on many occasions and has never seen such water.

The middle of the day was not ideal for capturing photos but I found on this occasion a few nice spots that came up well as almost a black and white image.  The image below is one such image.  Taken in the middle of the day in bright sunshine, the white milky looking water against the dying trees in the lake and reeds in front, looks as if it could even be in a snow field mid winter.   I was really attracted to the blackened bottom sections of the trees as they met the water.

These next two images (below) also taken at midday in sun shows the milky water beyond the pepper tree.

In the two images (below) I enjoyed the opportunity to get a pano look.  It was a stunning vista!

And then to sunrise.  I am not a morning person, but agreed to be shoved in the car about 5.30am to drive about 45 minutes to see if we could get a nice bit of early morning light.  Even if the images weren't award winning, the moment certainly was one to treasure.    I wandered a bit away from the area where we started because I could see this lovely creamy yellow streak appearing on the water parallel to the horizon and a bit below the trees.  This is a hasty edit of one image so I could upload today.  I'm looking forward to playing with a few of these a bit later to see if I can get one to print well.

The image above is the Darling Pea in early bud.












The journey home......

In all we did about 2800kms.  Heading east again, we stopped for lunch west of Nyngan and shared the table with the Apostle birds.  They in turn shared the water bath with a few hundred bees.  Harmony in nature!

Through the windscreen heading east on the way home. (below)

The sun was gone and the fog lights were on as we headed back over the mountains.  This image below was taken about Blackheath around 5.30pm.  What a difference!

OK, so I'm hooked!!!

A further note on my new favourite things.  Talking here (in case you didn't realise from yesterday's post) about my new ipad and the "too much fun" app, Snapseed.  If you haven't got it yet, you have to download it.  So much fun and quite a bit if creative control along the way.  (see note at the end of post)

The only rider I give to this post is that it is very wet in Sydney today, it is the NRL grand final day, I do what I always do on grand final day and that is to ignore it and instead, get out my camera.  I had planned to head to the city to catch Len and Christine's exhibition but terrible weather and a silly teenage girl and her equally silly friends took advantage of the parent being away next door and partied hard all night - and I mean, ALL night.  So, with almost no sleep and bad weather, I stayed at home and took a handful of images only but today I restricted myself to a 70-300 lens.  Why?  Because it was already connected to my small camera and Len is correct in his comment on yesterday's post that sometimes restricting choice produces much better results.   My subject matter is therefore quite limited.

I've sort of figured out the transfer from camera to ipad to imac and then to upload here.  I have done this in a roundabout way as I wanted to be able to bring them back into LR3 and reduce their size.  And also, partly because I want to print a couple and see how they look and although I can print wirelessly from the ipad, I really want to have all the choices available to me in the LR3 and Epson 3880 interface.

My focus today?  More leaves.

And the note I mentioned?  If you do use Snapseed, it's important to play with as many of the options as you want, just "apply" before you leave that area.  All of these images have been cropped, had a Tune Image to get brightness, contrast right.  Some had Vintage Film, Grunge or B&W used, some had texture.  Most had frames.  In each case, at the end of my fiddling, if I wanted to add more light or contrast or ?? I just went back to the relevant folder (I think they are folders) and fiddled a bit more.  The sliders are lovely to use.



Enjoy

This image (above) of the vine on our carport, looking out to the rain is my favourite from today.  I'm hoping that I can print it properly as I think it will make a fabulous card.

This crazy red leaf is on the see thru roof at our entrance door.

The Black and White option is Ok too.  

And finally,

I'm not usually a frame person, but think it has added to the images where there has been texture used.

Can't wait to see how this all goes out at Mungo and Menindee next week.  

When I teach I learn

We've just had the most marvellous weekend of photography here in the beautiful Blue Mountains.  As I wrote previously, we had a workshop last Saturday and then on Sunday we enjoyed a walk with some of the photographers along the Charles Darwin walk @ Wenty Falls.  Incidentally, only a few minutes to where to current bush fire is in Leura.  I think we have a nasty summer ahead of us in the mountains bushland.  It's had a lot of growth with the rain and now it's dry and crackly.  I live adjacent to bushland, and there is a deep layer of fallen leaves and mulch that will burn very quickly if a fire was to come along. Thankfully, the Crown Lands department have been working on the section immediately beside our house and have cleared away a few dead trees and quite a number of overhanging branches so we now have a bit more separation between house and bushland.  Fingers crossed for a safe summer in the Blue Mountains this year!

The title of this post came to mind after I have been doing a bit of teaching and offering support to friends and colleagues with a few basic photography practices.  Having retired about 18 months ago from a long career in education and management, I have begun to miss a little of the joys of teaching.  Although I hadn't had my own class for a good 20 years, working in schools ensures that you are teaching and learning every single day.  So it is quite natural to meander along my new life's path adding daily to my own learning and knowledge bank.

I'm not a professional photographer and never will be.  I have no intention of encroaching on a field where professionals have often done many years of study and full time practice.  However, the edges of this area of work are the aspects that interest me.  How do you manage your photography files, your prints, your archiving?  How do you ensure that the images you take today of your family and friends are available to your grandchildren in years to come?  How do you become a more competent photographer, able to use your camera's settings to ensure you capture the world no matter what the conditions?  How do you learn from art?

It's been a slow realisation of what I can do outside my earlier life in education.  My previous world was very regimented.  I loved it for its connection with people and for the way people worked together to make the world a much better place.  I don't want to return to the commitments, lack of flexibility and sheer hard work that was my life.  I now have the luxury of choosing a new path.  And I think it has finally found me.  Thank you to to all those other wonderful photographers who have encouraged and nurtured me as I dipped my toes into the beginnings of a new life.

So, what am I doing now?  Well, I'm trying to learn a bit about housework for a start!!!  Still a long way to go!

I'm also working with a a few photo buddies (Kay, Sue, Dot, Robyn) to improve my photography practice.  I'm still enrolled in Lens School.  I'm working with Len on a beginner's course and again, with Len, I'm writing an introduction to Lightroom.  I've been trialling components of the new Lightroom course with my mates and it's getting closer and closer to a launch.

"When I teach I learn" is a truism for me.  In all the work I have been doing on Lightroom, each time I take a new client or walk a group of people through the program, I dig deep into my own practice and each time I come up a little short.  It's about learning.  It's as much about my learning as my teaching.

This past week I have been privileged to work on some stunning images from a local photographer.  I've also supported a couple of people with setting up Lightroom on their own systems.  Busy, tight time frames but absolute joy at the challenge and the opportunity to view wonderful images from other photographers.

From both of these exercise, I emerged with deeper knowledge of my subject area and inspired to revisit some of my photography that will be better edited and presented with my new skills.  Teaching is truly the best way to learn.

Enjoy!!  I certainly am.

Eastern Turkey, 2010.  In a small village, this bridge underpass leads to a deserted old bathhouse.  New editing to soften and enhance the brickwork and peeling paint.

Evening light in Istanbul visiting the Blue Mosque with many others, we were enthralled by the beauty and significance.

In the shadows of Mt Ararat, Eastern Turkey, a local village has planted their field.  In the re edit here I have again tried to soften and bring out the colours and lines.

This tumble down building in a village in Eastern Turkey, has been someone's home in a a past life.  I loved it cropped and published as a mono but again, by softening the patina and bringing out some colours I think it is much more handsome.







The next 3 (below) were taken in the succulent garden @ the Botanic Gardens, Sydney a couple of weeks back with Len Metcalf's class.  Been there many times but this particular day the patterns and lines were my focus.  Oh, and I discovered a couple of baby penguins as well??

The image (below) was shot in Tarana, just west of the mountains late afternoon.  Had never quite worked out how to display it and I've recently decided to not hold back on "oomph!"  It wasn't quite this bright in real life, however, it did have a strong visual punch to it at the time.  This image reminds me of the absolute beauty and tranquility along the riverbank that day.

These cute little eucalypt leaves (above) were in Dunne's Swamp.  Again, I've been a bit creative with my colour treatment but the rich colours are there for the taking in the bush.  When the late afternoon light shines around and dribbles through the trees it makes beautiful imagery all around.

The Fish River @ Tarana (above)

Another view of the late afternoon light adding its magic to the Fish River.

In Search of an Early Waratah

I was in the upper Mountains this morning and I made a point of taking my camera and monopod because I knew that I had a small job to do up there after my other work was finished.

It was glorious bright sunshine, blue sky and spring blossoms in all the gardens.  The famed rhododendrums of Blackheath were quite spectacular and I was driving along wondering if indeed the whole Spring thing had arrived too early.  Many of the flowers were falling and being replaced by new leaves.  

But it wasn't the European gardens of the upper mountains that I was looking for.  I needed to know if the waratahs were out.  Not the domestic ones planted in gardens, but the bush waratahs.  The ones that appear out of the blue as tall, strange looking creations.  Big, solid, bold.  Different to so many of the other natives around.  I'm always taken aback when I see them.  The leaves look so cumbersome and they are an unusual green compared to the other plants.  The flower is usually so tall that short photographers like me need a bit of luck to get to eye level.  But they are spectacular and not to be missed.

I've always found quite a number along the path to Evans Lookout from Govett's Leap in Blackheath.  I think they are often the easiest to find, especially if you don't have much time.  

I hadn't been down that part of town since the big storm a few months back but today there was no mistaking what had happened.  The National Parks' workers have done a lot of clearing of the fallen trees and there are piles of chopped wood right along the walk.  I have a sense that perhaps a few of the waratah plants are missing.  Maybe the storm?  Maybe the fallen trees?  Maybe it's just not their year? 

I did find three plants.  Two were in bud but not yet full flower and the third was showing the early green bud only.

So why today?  And why waratahs?  My local photography group has organised a fantastic workshop and weekend of photography this coming weekend.  We are so privileged to have a number of professionals and serious photographers joining us to share their work.  Mostly they are sharing their knowledge and amazing photos with us for the sheer love of photography.  It will be a great weekend.  

Darran Leal http://www.worldadventures.com.au is flying in from the Sunshine Coast and to be our main presenter.  For some reason, I have this little nagging thought in the back of my mind that just maybe he might like to see a waratah in bloom???  

However, it wasn't just the waratah that was beautiful today.  Even though it was early afternoon, and not quite late enough for perfect light, the upper mountains were stunning.  I love the abstracty sort of look that appears in images when there is a bit of light, a bit of wind and raw native bush.

Enjoy the selection!

This waratah (above) is not quite out yet.  Another few days.  

Challenged to try to reach this waratah bud (above).

I love the form of this leaf (above).  They are always so photogenic and when you get some sun around the background becomes a painting.

Banksia hiding (above)

After the wattle.  (above)  I've included this one because I was quite attracted to the little red tendrils appearing after the best of the wattle has gone.  Another look altogether.

I'm not sure what this plant is.  I will find out.  There were a lot of them and they were quite beautiful.

These peas are everywhere.  Different varieties throughout the mountains.  Our own bush is full of yellow - these and wattle.  

The white gums behind the waratah are quite stunning.  Simple and strong.

And again here, behind the waratah.

A little extra contrast and the eucalypt leaves pop out.  Background could have been hand painted.

The banksias were very fresh and new today.