Archive for September, 2009
Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of working with Micaiah to create a series of portraits in Zuanich Point Park on Bellingham’s waterfront. Micaiah and I met through Model Mayhem. We met over coffee and decided the waterfront would be a good location.
We worked several locations and clothing changes, ending with this outfit. I used a long lens for all of her portraits to soften the background. The late afternoon light started out a little harsh, but by the time we got to shooting with boats in the background the sun had sunk behind a thin cloud bank and gave this gorgeous soft glow.
Micaiah had a natural grace which made her very easy to pose. I’d suggest a spot and show roughly what I had in mind and she’d be right there and looking great with very little adjustment needed. She’s interested in a career as a model. Being easy-going, good looking, and able to take direction will all serve her well.
The photo at the top of the post was made soon after the one by the lamppost here. Micaiah saw the sunset developing and pointed it out to me. While the harbor portrait was made entirely with natural light, I used a single small strobe in an umbrella for the one with the anchor and statue in the background.
By the time we got to the rocks overlooking the water the sun had set and we were working with the soft afterglow and blue tones on Bellingham Bay and Lummi Island in the background. Again, a single strobe in an umbrella provided the key light on Micaiah.
One of the things that sets a professional photographer apart from the masses with cameras is the ability to see how natural light is affecting the subject and to work quickly and effectively with added light sources like strobes. Especially as sunset light is fading there isn’t time to futz around with equipment and indecision. Micaiah’s mom was present for the shoot and I pressed her into service as a reflector holder and then holding the light stand with the umbrella in the light breeze as it was getting dark.
September 17 2009 | Photography and Portraits | 1 Comment »
I don’t often think of weeds as providing tasty food, but in the case of our nasty and invasive Himalayan Blackberries, formerly Rubus discolor and now Rubus armeniacus, an environmental scourge of the Northwest provides mighty delicious eating. That makes sense, since the species was originally introduced to North America as a garden plant and food crop.
Blackberries are ripe right now, and they’re incredibly easy to locate. Just find a patch of disturbed ground, often along a road or trail anywhere in the Puget lowlands and you’re likely to discover a blackberry patch. Be prepared to battle the stout and thorny canes to reach the tasty morsels. Since the best tasting berries are those that are at their soft and juicy peak of ripeness, you’ll also come home with hands stained purple with their sweet juice.
Natalie and I spent about an hour a couple of days ago picking enough berries to make two turns of jam. The recipe couldn’t be simpler: smash 9 cups of berries, get them hot, run them through the Foley food mill to remove the seeds, then bring to a boil with 6 cups of sugar. Cook rapidly just to the jelly state and then pour into hot sterilized jars. Makes about 4 pints. We added an extra couple of cups of berries to compensate for the seeds we strained out. Modern practice is to process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, but my grandmother just poured hot paraffin on her jams and jellies. We processed ours just to be safe.
Ripe and juicy blackberries are remarkably soft and tender. Here the moist surface reflects an overcast sky and makes the berries look almost metallic. I simply shook my bucket of berries gently to get some nice looking ones on top of the pile and a random arrangement. With the camera on a tripod and pointing straight down I shot with a 100mm macro lens. This was the closest version, but I shot several other variations as well.
The opening photo was made on my dining room table, again with the 100mm lens. I used the overhead incandescent lights for soft top light, and a little bit of late evening north window light from the right. The blue glass in the background is part of an antique glass collection I inherited from my folks.
If you’re interested in more info on blackberries as an invasive weed, the King County Noxious Weed Board has a good information page, which also discusses the equally tasty evergreen blackberry.
I like to think of our roadside blackberry harvesting as an exercise in controlling the spread of noxious weeds through seed dispersal. If we eat them then birds won’t spread the seeds. Bringing the berries to a boil before straining the seeds out should kill them so they don’t sprout in my compost pile.
September 07 2009 | Photography and Weeds | 2 Comments »
Gardens can be enjoyed many ways, but one of the nicest is to create a view from inside the house out into the garden that can be appreciated in any weather and any season. The living room of this home looks out onto an abandoned pickleball court in the back yard. With a broad expanse of concrete it’s not particularly attractive.
The homeowners and gardeners planted a Coral Bark Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum ‘Sangu Kaku’, against the house at the basement level below the living room. As it grew, May Lou trained the maple into a narrow fan shape. It stays close to the house, and the branches arch gracefully to the sides to filter the view.
From the outside the maple looks good against the house, but you don’t really get a sense of how much good work it’s doing for the interior view. In late summer the golden green foliage is attractive. Come winter the bare stems will be bright red and if we’re lucky, dusted with a light snowfall. In between the leaves will turn a nice shade of red-orange in autumn.
The rest of the garden around this 1960s Bellingham home also has a Northwest-Japanese feel. The bones were there when the current owners purchased it in 1998, but it had been neglected after a few years of service as college student housing.
This entrance gate is one of the new additions to the garden, but it looks like it has always been there. As you pass through the gate you cross a wide wooden bridge to the front door of the hillside home.
These photos were made this morning for a gardener profile which will appear in the next issue of the Whatcom Horticultural Society Journal. I shot with my all-purpose 24-105mm lens. For the interior shot I added an off-camera flash at 1/4 power with a warming gel, aimed toward the blue chair in the left corner by the window. Otherwise I used natural light, taking advantage of the overcast morning.
The home and garden went on the market this morning.
September 03 2009 | Gardens and Photography | No Comments »
