Daniel Ruf

It Must Be March

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light."  Theodore Roethke

As the snow has just about disappeared from our region of the country and the balmy southern winds have brought warm temperatures, it seems so much like March, but I know this is a trick by Mother Nature to confuse those that are so silly as to believe what is before us...to catch us off guard.  It is because the black earth is showing that I have decided to go "underground" to begin doing still life work in order that the creative juices can find a release.

Still life work doesn't require much at all, a little window light, some ordinary props from around the house and maybe a flower or two from a local florist and one can easily set up shop on a dining room table or some other favorite area where the surroundings make little impact on the subject.  I continue to find them enjoyable to do and another lesson of visual understanding.

The top blog image incorporates some of my favorite stand-in's...flowers, books and baskets and once the articles of interest are selected the development of a setting begins.  This not only involves use of light and placement to take advantage of the light, but also the restrictions of the room, background and table.  In this case the reflection of the flowers in the foreground was about as important as the basket prop in the background.

The camera was a Canon 5D Mark II with a Lensbaby lens on the front and, as with any other photographic subject, minor movement of camera or self is important to tweaking the final outcome.  The "tweaking" is really what the still life is all about, after the subject parts are selected, to achieve a natural placement of subject items.

The capture was an HDR processed in Nik HDR Efex Pro, then Nik Color Efex Pro 4 to make subtle changes and finally processed through Alien Skin's Snap Art 3 which is where the painting transformation occurred.  I was relatively sure at the outset that the original capture would be finalized as a painting and it's what I find most enjoyable about digital photography...the ability to "visualize" a final outset to a capture while still in front of the subject.

Change is a primary declaration of life as it also is in the artistic world.  There may be subtle or grand adjustments, but all should be for the betterment of a person, a process, or the art. 

One final note is that on opening the book, placing it on the table and arranging the flowers I gazed in some surprise at the title of one of the poems "The First Flowers".  Prophetic?

Thank you for joining me today and please feel free to comment.

SIC 'EM BEARS!

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" and new book "Take What's Given" can be purchased online at-  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Define Your Facination

"Whatever the medium, there is the difficulty, challenge, facination and often productive clumsiness of learning a new method: the wonderful puzzles and problems of translating with new materials."

Helen Frankenthaler

During late Fall I happened on an old farmstead that was set aside as a community park near my home.  It was the first time I had visited with the intention of treating the site as a serious photographic opportunity.  At first glance it just appears to be a cluster of old sheds and farmhouse with little desire trip my creative trigger.  After having taken some time to view all the nooks and crannies I walked back to the truck think that this was just one of those sad little plots of ground of little consequence.  Finally, I thought that if I didn't at least take out the camera I would never take the scene seriously and would drive down the road empty handed, but always curious.

Again, taking another look around, I found this shed, the exact same shed that existed a few minutes ago, but this time I realized I was fascinated by the doors, the windows and the hodgepodge placement of farming equipment.  A nice soft lighting on the face of the building and long afternoon highlights on the steel roof was enough to find a position to address this now beautiful exterior.

A little later, after the thrill of the hunt set in, I came upon what I call "the potting shed" complete with a bed of flowers and another set of an interesting door and window.  This time I thought about putting the Lensbaby lens on the camera to get an idea of what would happen with the scene and especially the highlights.

The lesson for me was two fold.  One, that if you one doesn't make the effort the "promise" will never be realized.  Two, that whenever a scene becomes difficult to decipher define the fascination, or, in other words, what trips your trigger.

Thank you for joining me today and please feel free to comment.

SIC 'EM BEARS!

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" and new book "Take What's Given" can be purchased online at-  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4

Remember

"Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song."

Konrad Von Gesner

It is the "reminder" season for all of us...a reminder to be thankful for all the treasures and blessings that have stepped in our way and for those around us that make our worlds so much more special.  It is the "reminder" season for all those easily unnoticed instances of grace that garner the minutes of our day, from a simple door being opened for our entry to every smile and "thank you" that we give and receive.  All are special exclamation points of our existence put there by whatever Holy being we wish to name to add color to our lives or the lives of others.

The blog image reminded me of that as I was doing some last minute touch up's before going to the printing process.  This flower called "Sneezeweed" was a resident of a road ditch near a forest in northern Wisconsin.  Disregarding its unpleasant name there are many parts of this image that, combined, serve to give an absolutely beautiful point of view, at least for me, at the time of capture.  The shaft of light in the background which illuminated the specular high lights, the tiny environment around the subject acting as the supporting cast and the absolutely exquisite mood of the day...to some "gloomy" but to me softly exciting.

For whatever reason, as in nature, I find the simple gestures of a daily life to have great power, yet are often the least regarded.  The eloquence of grace in today's world seem to be few, but, to me, are worthy of the greatest thanksgiving, for these attitudes are the "comforter" of our being and elevate our attitude towards those around us...a sort of "pay it forward".

So, yesterday, as with many days, I gave thanks for the precious moments I've been allowed behind the camera lens as I hope they define how I "lean" towards others.  For all that view this blog site I am thankful for the time that you take to join me and for the many kind comments that have been sent my way. May we all remember daily those precious moments of grace that come into our lives and that we release outward to others.

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" and new book "Take What's Given" can be purchased online at-  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

Sic 'em Bears!

When It Rains...

"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind."  Khalil Gibran

With a few days of rainy weather upon us I decided that I needed to pull out some props and commence doing some still life images in the comfort of my warm dry house by the glowing light of a window.  I had recently found some old boards deteriorating outside and decided to clean them up and then give them a touch of stain to "warm" them up.  With the rain pouring it was a good day to try them out as a platform for the ideas to come.

When I get ready to do still life work I'm as confused as a beginner.  My body races around finding props among the hidden corners of the house while my brain is trying to decide on a theme, color scheme, etc.  Once these issues are hashed out, things start to flow and the composition begins to fall into place.  Don't be afraid to try this at home when "outside" time is limited for it's a great way to keep the creative wheels oiled.

The foreground napkin (actually a woman's hanky) has turned out to be a prop I really enjoy using, not only for the intricate weave pattern around he edge, but also because it shows such great textural qualities in side lighting.  Actually it seems to have a mind of its own so that any way I plop it down usually seems to work. Also, the flower arrangement in the background is something I threw together from an old basket I found around the house along with a few bucks of artificial (yes, artificial) flowers. One should keep an eye out for these special items that are tucked away in some forgotten drawer or corner.

Still life productions also give me a chance to sharpen my skills using my Lensbaby lens which has some unique focusing abilities to help with compositional strength and directing the eye within the image space.  You can Google Lensbaby on line to get all the features.

After working with this capture in Photoshop and Nik Color Efex Pro I let the wild side come out by using Alien Skin's Snap Art software to develop a final presentation as a watercolor painting.  The plug in has a number of slider adjustments that can be used to really fine tune the final outcome.

The more I do still life work in the odd "off time" the more I'm enjoying the chances I get to sit by a window with a camera in hand while learning the endless possibilities and resources that are at my disposal in this old house.  One of my next adventures will be to find some old "hard bound" books on a garage sale to add to the prop collection.

Start hunting for your treasures, grab the camera and tripod and begin a new adventure.

Thanks for visiting.

My new book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

Shifting Gears

"What a caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly."  Richard Bach

Shifting gears is what the weather seems to be all about for the past few weeks.  We've gone from highs in the extreme 80's down to frost laden mornings and everything in between.  A couple of weeks ago, when I got the blog picture for last weeks post, I only had to turn around to my four old friends, known to me as the Butler Brothers, for a "wet" sky and another opportunity.  It was an HDR three image composition and required some perspective adjustments in Photoshop CS5 to undo the harsh converging lines due to the use of a wide zoom set up very close to the bins.  The thing that first attracted me to this possible capture, outside the fact that I'm bent on collecting images of grain bins, was the rain showers in the lower right that provided some nice texture to the background.

A week of rain and cold followed which found me back at the computer editing some more of the work from my Smoky's experience until, quite suddenly, the sun came out and the vertical water ended.  I grabbed bags and headed for Ft. Defiance and Spring Creek to see if I couldn't find a flower or two doing the Spring thing.  I crawled among the ferns to find a show of Nodding Trilliums along with several Jack-In-The_Pulpits and Bloodworts.  It came to me to use my Lensbaby lens for a little more creative viewpoint and I wanted not only a sharp area on the flower, but also a sharp leaf edge that would work as a diagonal into the scene.  Of course, when you have all these "wants" a simple shot it becomes a little more compicated to find the right natural elements that will comply. 

The nice thing about laying on one's belly for this type of low level shooting is the aromatic earth that is right under your nose.  I'm not sure that the elevated stature of us hominid's was ever a great idea since there are so many things that humans miss in their effort to tromp to their next destination.

Enjoy the fresh Spring days and thanks for visiting.  Feel free to post on any blog page of your choosing.

Thanks for visiting.

My new book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1