Monday, July 18, 2011

Monster creations, sunsets and a last minute dog photo!

How is it Monday again already? Although I think a more important question is how this week managed to both fly by and drag at the same time. Positively baffling. I should stop thinking about it though or else I'm going to get sucked into a mental vortex and I'll never complete this post.

I have had a mondo busy week so again I allowed my laziness to overcome my urge to take photos. I've been sleeping in because I can; I'm still kind of on vacation, I think? Everyday I have visited someone, driven to a few places and I believe that more days than not I was at my storage unit hacking away at the enormous task of packing all of my possessions.

The good news is that I have quite a few photography project ideas beginning to brew in my mind. Little still life things here and there that I'm excited to put into motion. Unfortunately this week won't see the progression of any of those ideas because this coming week is going to be even busier than the last! Shopping, moving, family gatherings and a wedding. I really believe that my calendar has never been more full.

Now that I've rattled off my excuses for why I have little content for the second week in a row, here's what I do have for you!

 This guy still needs a name. He was supposed to have arms, but his feet ended
up looking like flippers and Andrew liked it, so I left the arms off.

First off is a preview of some Weird Little Monsters that I've made. In a nutshell, Weird Little Monsters (trademarked name, I think? I'll have to double check with him!) is a business idea that Andrew has had for a few years and has experienced a few stop/start attempts at getting it going. He asked me if I'd be interested in helping him get the venture off the ground and I gladly said yes. I really enjoy sewing and the thought of creating and assembling original monsters is very exciting.

The first little guy came together extremely sloppily; a combination of unforgiving slippery fabric and me being severely out of practice. Also really just poor attention to detail and a total lack of measuring. I suppose I could be obnoxiously negative and continue talking about what's wrong with him, but I'm going to stop. I'm proud of the fact that he's together in one piece and doesn't look like an Ugly Doll. He even has some flipper-like limbs that are firmly attached! I'm excited to make this same monster again with some different fabric and a greater attention to detailing for the eyes.

Glamor shots of Rohmer from my new camera application. I have yet 
to take any real photos, but I plan on it!

Monster number two, my favorite (and very first original) design, came together much more smoothly. My choice in fabric really helped with the aesthetics, I believe. The muted blues look much more comfortable. I'm glad that I still have so much canvas to work with as well. His pants just feel so sturdy and I like it! The only thing missing from Rohmer (named by Andrew) is the monocle that I drew in his original sketch. I'm still brainstorming possibilities on how to best construct it. I have some ideas in my head involving internal magnets, so we'll see what happens next time I make another Monster of this style.

When I first bought my new phone I spent a good amount of time researching interesting, free camera effects applications. I found two that I like (one for a wide range of edits and one that has a tilt/shift feature. LOVE tilt/shift) and I've been working with them for the past month. Just a few days ago I decided to take another look and see if I had somehow overlooked something particularly good. To my delight I found a free application that includes a fisheye filter, as well as a rather fun polaroid filter. It's easy to accidentally overuse these sorts of things, but I think they definitely have their place in the world.

There's just something about those two photos (fisheye and polaroid of Rohmer) that I enjoy. I look forward to more opportunities to explore and experiment with my various applications. It'll be some time before I have a real tilt/shift or fisheye lens. I'll take it however I can, and free is perfect for the time being. I hope to have a lensbaby lens sometime soon, they open up the door to creative freedom in similar ways to film, but with the easy and enjoyability (for me anyway) of digital. And as far as I know they offer the most affordable tilt/shift lenses for digital SLRs.


 It looked so much better at first! Some really great rays piercing through the
trees! Also, had to zero in on the mountain there. The views here are spectacular.


On Saturday evening I arrived at Andrew's parents and was greeted by a rather wonderful sunset. They live in a highly advantageous area for sunsets, so I stood in front of the house and enjoyed it for a few moments. Then I remembered that I'm a photographer and I have a camera and I needed to move my butt into the house and get the camera. Of course by the time I got back outside (roughly 45 seconds later) the sky had shifted to something much less spectacular.

I snorted in irritation at the inconsiderate nature of the sunset, exhibiting such a lack of concern for my interest in capturing its beauty. I did what I could. It wasn't a total loss.

 Shot of her lovely engagement ring, as well as their carving.

Happy smiles all around :]

I have to apologize for not having any photos of Slinky. I'm taking them tonight, so that doesn't really line up well for this earlier entry. I wish I could promise that they'd be in next week's blog, but next week I'll be in the car with Andrew on our way to California! I anticipate blogging from the car entirely with photos that I've taken with my phone. I'd better keep that in mind while I'm snapping away with the Canon this week.

So much to look forward to!

Oh, also, I included a few more photos of Rachel and Zach. They are from their choices. I spent a lot of time coming up with some new editing ideas and styles that I'm feeling pretty proud of. As a result it took me quite a long while to complete them, but Rachel is thrilled with them and so am I. Mission accomplished, I'd say!

EDIT:

Slinky! Sweet nine year old dachshund. 

Snuck in a photo of Slinky :D He is an extremely camera shy dog, so this was an exercise in patience and creativity. I'd say probably 90% of these photos he is a blur or it's the back of his head. Harumph.

-MJ

-Miranda

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