Laghi Serru' and Agnel in Landscape or Panorama print?

I'm refreshing the art hanging on the walls at home at the moment and I have an offer for a hugely discounted canvas print over at the Canvas Factory. The wall space is approximately 1 metre wide and I've decided on one of my own landscapes to get printed up. I'm having a dilemma however, as I have two images to choose from. Actually, two images that I've narrowed it down to. Of the same location - the two lakes at Nivolet called, Agnel and Serru', the scenery is absolutely magical and one I'd love to see hanging on my wall as a reminder of the great times we had whilst in Italy in 2010. 

To view larger, as for some reason I can't get the linking to work with this image, please click here.

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So, do I choose the landscape orientation or the 5 image panorama of the same location? Which would you choose? And why? I would love to hear your theories on what would work best in the space I have allowed.

Valley of the Waters - Wentworth Falls

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Valley of the Waters with two other photographers - Peter Hill and Tatiana R. These two are absolutely passionate about their waterfalls and landscapes and will go to all sorts of lengths to get the shot perfect (and by that I mean, getting up at a ridiculous hour even in winter in order to capture the scene in it's best light) . I was also fortunate enough to borrow a spare Canon 30D  - which, of course, I fell instantly in love with...sigh....

I'm in the process of considering an equipment upgrade, and after using the Canon 30D, I think the upgrade will be happening sooner rather than later. I'm looking forward to our next outing, and shooting some more of our beautiful surroundings.

To view more Blue Mountains and the waterfall images please go and view Peter's gallery here  and Tatiana's gallery here.  Their works are available for sale as greeting cards, matted prints, wall art and canvases through RedBubble.  when you view their gallery of images, I think you'll agree that getting up at "stupid o'clock" is well worth it if it means being able to achieve such wonderful results.

To view more in my series of the Blue Mountains, see my flickr gallery.

 

 

 Peter and Tatiana in action - if you've taken a look at their galleries, then you'll see that getting up at "stupid o'clock" is certanly vital to getting the perfect shot.  And yes, that means not only all the necessary camera equipment, but also good shoes, cap - rearward facing, flask of tea, chocolate and a beanie - preferably with a pom pom, good shoes, and a heap of patience and stamina. 

undergrowth 3, originally uploaded by Adriana_G.



 

theme of the week

Can you guess this week's photographic theme?

Once upon a time there was a little girl who simply loved shoes. She loved high heeled shoes and flat shoes, sensible shoes and silly shoes. In fact, she thought all shoes were beautiful.
Then one day while out shopping, the most beautiful pair of shoes called out to her from the nearby shoe shop shelf.
“Hello little girl who loves shoes,” said the black shiny shoes (for everybody in the land knew that this was the little girl who simply loved shoes). Well, the little girl fell instantly in love with the black shiny shoes but alas she didn’t have a special occasion to wear them to and so couldn’t take them home with her, so she spoke kindly to the shoes,
“Oh, sweet little shoes, you truly are the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever seen, but I have no special place to wear you. The only way I can take you home is if the Shoe Fairy grants me a wish – if only I had a fancy-dancy ball to wear you to, then I would bring you home and wear you to the ball and we would dance, and we would be so very happy!”
That afternoon, when the little girl checked the letterbox, what should she find but a pink and silver envelope and in that envelope was a shiny pink and silver invitation to a fancy-dancy ball. The shoe fairy had granted the little girl her wish!!


The little girl was so happy, she rushed back to tell all her other shoes she would be bringing a new shoe friend over to meet them. So the little girl got into her shiny little car and drove back to the shops as fast as she could (without speeding of course, because that would be silly and dangerous and really not necessary). And there they were – her black shiny shoes with the most beautiful satin ribbon – waiting for her.
The little girl was so happy at being able to buy those beautiful shiny black shoes, that she celebrated by buying a new shiny red dress with the most beautiful shiny red satin ribbon. And they lived happily ever after.
And as she lay down to sleep after the fancy-dancy ball, the happy little girl who simply loved shoes was heard to whisper, “thank you Shoe Fairy, I love you Shoe Fairy,” which made the Shoe Fairy smile.

wall art print available online from RedBubble

New Year, new start...

2009 is here and with the start of the new year comes the fresh outlook we strive for. A new beginning, a time for resolutions. These can be silly, mundane, difficult, challenging, whatever your resolutions may be, let's hope your goals move you forward and allow you to grow.

One resolution for me - to be plain silly. Don't take myself too seriously, relax and have fun, chill out. That's exactly what I did when I shot this image of my Christmas dress in the pool - just a refreshing spot of being silly. I love the colours, the flow and the refreshing nature of the image.

To Delete or Not to Delete Digital Photographs

In part one, we talked about whether “To Print or not to Print” your images, or simply keep them on file. As we continue to embrace digital photography technology, we’re also increasing the number of images we take. So, what do you do with the less than perfect images? Do you keep or do you delete?

Well, I think you fall into one of two categories – the minimalists and the hoarders. Now me, I’m a hoarder. I simply can’t bear to delete an image, no matter how cruddy. There is nothing more calamitous than – gasp – deleting in-camera! Argh! How can you do that?! I recently spent some time with a sports photographer who was happily deleting images in-camera while showing me the images – what if there was a lapse in concentration and he deleted the wrong image? Argh! Obviously, he’s a minimalist as he felt more than comfortable deleting any image that wasn’t up to scratch.

Being the image hoarder that I am, I very rarely delete images, and certainly none in-camera. Rather, I categorise them in various files. As I also like to create image with multiple textured layers, this is where having a collection of images to use as a stock library, comes in handy.





In fact, take this image as an example.

Stock Image by Adriana Glackin

It’s less than crisp, fairly mundane and certainly not the type of fine art photography you hang on your wall. Now, my minimalist friend would have deleted it in-camera (mind you, he probably wouldn’t have shot it to begin with). But with some clever and creative alterations using editing programs such as Photoshop, this mundane image has been transformed quite dramatically into a piece that can be used as wall art and even a greeting card. Why buy someone else’s stock images when you can create your own stock images by simply keeping the less than perfect images on file.

Take a look at the examples to see some clever variations. For even more variations, visit the Grunge Art Photographic Gallery and A Photographer’s Craft and see for yourself why you too should be an image hoarder and not a minimalist!

Ode to Banksy by Adrian Rachele

A Semblance of Yearning by Karri Klawiter

afraid of the light by andreasphoto



A Year of Novembers by Dana DiPasquale


~ autumn collage ~ by Adriana Glackin

Feature Monday - Fine Art Photography

The days fly by, the months fly by, our lives fly by if we're not careful. We need to remember to stop and enjoy the views around us and take in the sights and sounds that make up our every day. This week, there's a bit of a mix to my Feature Monday. The first image is by Dana DiPasquale, and maybe because I'm gripped with cold and can dream of nothing nicer than dipping my toes in that glorious golden water she has captured, it certainly holds an attraction to me - and it's surely warmer than where I am at the moment!





Another image that makes me dream of holidays spent in the sun, relaxing and catching up with family and friends - surely a most deliciously exotic location and captured beautifully by lallymac.

And while I'm daydreaming of warmer climes, why not daydream about other times - in this case, the '70's. With retro being all the rage at the moment, how fitting to capture the craze and shoot some simply '70's styled bowls, add some edgey cropping and you have a very hip-an-happening piece of wall art to impress your friends when next they visit! Very cleverly done by Nikki Trexel.

And finally, this image brings me crashing back to earth and what is reality in today's society. You can live in the most modern of societies, but that doesn't prevent parts of society from struggling to function in the way that society would like us to. This image by Rose Atkinson shows just where we as a society have succumbed, that we can simply walk by and carry on as though the crumpled lives sitting or lying propped against the city streets are simply ragged clothes and not fellow human beings.

Fine Art Photography - Feature Monday

I was reading an on-line blog today and the topic was "Home Decorating Tips: Where to Hang Your Fine Art" and that got me thinking - now that I've learnt how to hang and how not to hang my fine art, the next decision is of course - what will I choose to hang on my walls? So, for this week, my top 3 images that I would love to hang on my walls would have to be these three - enjoy!

Sepia Toned Photographs...

 Can something as sombre, and dark and moody and timeless as sepia photography, be created with the secretions of the cuttlefish?  Well, that was once the method of producing those rich brown tones...today however, I prefer to use my graphic editing program such as Photoshop CS2 to give me those same rich tones that create the most wonderful mood.  Below are some examples of how well sepia can work on a number of subjects:

 

 

"Darkened Hope" by Karri Klawiter

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"Double Vision" by Tom Vaughan

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"Small in Sepia" by Debbie Black

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"Languishing in the afternoon sun" by lallymac

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"will nobody love me?" by Adriana Glackin

 

Cold Flower by Jay Cougar

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Cold Flower by Jay Cougar"][/caption]

From an artist so young, the work produced by Jay Cougar is hauntingly beautiful and truly inspiring.  This is the first image of Jay's that really caught my attention, and no matter how many times I view it, it's sweetness and delicacy always manages to take my breathe away. It invoked in me memories of my childhood that I reminisced about in my online journal. Recently, a candid online interview was conducted with Jay on RedBubble by DuncanW which showed an artist so unassuming and humble of his work and talent.  If you like your images with that tinge of mystery, melancholy and dreaminess, then Jay Cougar's style is for you.

Interview with John Edwards, artist on Red Bubble

About a month ago, I conducted an online interview with John Edwards, an artist on RedBubble. John doesn't simply photograph flowers, he creates the most wonderful floral images that appear to have been created in another time. Here is the interview with John. If you like this style of art, then visit his online gallery at RedBubble.

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What camera do you use?

At present I use two cameras. A Canon 5D for macro and most of my floral images and a Samsung GX10 for other work. I won the Samsung last year for having the best portfolio in a monthly competition run by DSLR User magazine in the UK.



What is your favourite colour?

I love all colours but my favourite at the moment is Red.




What triggered your love for floral images?

In 2000 I received a Nikon CP990 digital camera as a Christmas present. I was amazed by the images it produced and one day turned the camera on a vase of Lilies. I was so pleased with the resulting image I submitted it to a site run by Nikon UK and came second in a competition they were running. That first image has ended up costing me a small fortune as after that I had the bug in a big way and after a while bought a Canon 300D and started submitting floral images to a couple of image libraries in the UK.




What else do you like to photograph?

As well as floral subjects I’ll point my camera at anything that takes my fancy although I particularly enjoy woodland scenes.




What are your inspirations when photographing?

My inspirations are the life I see all around me in my garden and local woodlands and parks.




What would you do if you weren't afraid?

If I had the confidence and budget to do it I’d love to have an exhibition of my work somewhere.

My On-Line Love Affair...

...started with the sheer delight experienced by rsmac and his dainty image of a sea shell. If rsmac could derive such pleasure from uploading his images onto RedBubble, then, surely so could I..couldn't I? And so almost a year down the track, the love affair of taking photos, editing them so that they become my interpretation, uploading them onto RedBubble, and of course selling the occasional card and wall art and t-shirt has continued and shows no sign of waning. Something so enjoyable couldn't possibly be bad for you, I mean there's the online community, there's groups to join, forums to chat on, competitions to enter, critiques to be a part of... And of course, there is the daily learning. In life, whether it be real or virtual, is there no better aim that to learn something new everyday?

Fine Art & Photography by Adriana Glackin