Surfacing Attention

Surfaces and Textures are an interesting theme for photography.  There are so many kinds of surface structures, details, shapes, and textures as the subject of the image. The photographer's task is to showcase the surface and texture itself.   There are so many places to find these - everywhere - in the grain patterns of wood, the surface of stones, crystals of snow and ice, water, fabric, metal, leaves, sand, woven objects, clouds.  Included are urban decay surfaces such as rust and decay where scratches and dents create surface structure, texture, detail, and colour. Textures can occur at all level – including aerial photography and landscape views. The types of surfaces and textures include: rough, ragged, gritty, bumpy, spiky, sharp, fuzzy, slimy, slick, slippery, smooth, soft, silky, scaly, coarse, burl, knot, slub, abrasive, scratchy, shaggy, bristly, prickly, spiny, thorny, burnished, glossy, polished, powdery, and fine grain. So I went to two of my own portfolios to see what was there - Surfacing Attention and Nature's Impressions - and clipped the thumbnail image displays.  We see the array of surfaces and textures all around us.

Betterphoto February Contest Winner

Betterphoto's contest for February had 4700 .  My image of Peacock Feathers is one of the Second Place Winners this month int eh Details and Macro category.  Here's a link to all the contest winners. Looking at the calendar, what might we expect today on April Fool's Day? Here are two food jokes offered up on the internet: 1. Buy oreos for the office - then laugh at the bewildered and disappointed faces when they realize you've filled their cookies with toothpaste. 2. Replace the custard filling in donuts with mayonnaise. If you are inspired to participate and looking for jokes, this link has lots of possibilities here.

Lifehacker Thursday

The Cannas have finished blooming for the year, and the tubers are tucked away till next spring.  The leaves are a significant size.  That  means light in combination with the lines on the leaves make for wonderful abstracts. And I found this with the news today: There's a Top 10 website called Lifehacker.  In April, it celebrated its 10th anniversary and posted its most popular top ten lists of everything.  Take a look HERE.  With the website's success, Thursdays are known as "Lifehack Thursday".

The Artist's Vision

Floyd Elzinga's Vision Floyd Elzinga is a sculptor in metal. He lives in Beamsville with his studio on Mountain Street. The natural world is his subject. Here's his Artist Statement from his website  http://www.floydelzinga.com "Rotten stumps, broken branches, invasive species, ravaged trees as well as polar opposites and dysfunctional objects; these are the things that excite Floyd Elzinga. He has made a career out of highlighting and glorifying these through three dimensional sculpture, relief work and environmental installations for over 15 years. Current themes in his work focus on broken landscapes, portraits of trees and the aggressive nature of seeds." I asked Floyd's permission to photograph his work and to be able to publish my images. He is very receptive to this as his work is three dimensional sculpture, so the original work cannot be replaced or reproduced.  This allows me to to pursue my interest in pattern, line, texture and saturated colour with extraordinary subject matter - subjects of the artist's eye that incorporate the natural world and urban materials.

Hosta Season

It's not just Niagara gardens that have an abundant showing of hostas. In Niagara, though, I have found that the hostas in the garden have doubled in size over the last year and a half.  I now need to move some out of the large front hosta display bed. These leaves make beautiful garden images in every season.  Here are two examples.