Jewels

I’ve been playing with my images lately and liking the altered versions more than the “as shot” originals. I shot these plums last Sept for Connecticut Magazine and they’re beautiful as is in all their purple majesty but I’m loving the toned versions too.

Here is the original and a couple other versions.

Sometimes on a shoot the preparation shots are the most interesting. This was from a recent travel story where the staff was setting up flowers on the bar. I shot the it later when it was cleaned up and pretty as it was I liked this better. This was in an Inn where everywhere you looked there were beautiful things to photograph inside and out.

The best part of summer is eating outside, sitting on my deck with a nice glass of wine with a friend or family or by myself, corn on the grill, a stack of magazines or just meditating on my trees… I dream of this all winter and although we’ve had a brutally hot summer I’ve enjoyed many evenings sitting in my outside dining room, a gift from someone who enjoys the outdoors and a nice glass of wine as much as I do.

I bought my first Hasselblad 25 years ago and my third about 5 years ago when I added the digital back. They’ve served me well and are a marvel of engineering and design but it’s time to move on, I have a new love now, yes Canon, it’s you. So I sold them all for a tiny fraction of what I paid but I suddenly feel freer and lighter. I’m free of cords and external hard drives hanging off me, free from the ever present tripod and now have the lovely autofocus working for me. It was a huge decision to give up medium format and my beloved square but now that it’s done I’m excited about creating new lighter pictures, and working within a rectangle. So thank you Hasselblad, I will not forget you!

As a long time Hasselblad shooter I never thought I would be using 35mm again. I picked up some Canon equipment recently and love it. The lenses are beautiful, it’s soo much smaller and easier to handle than my clunky but loved square format. I’m using both formats on jobs right now but can see that with the addition of a few more lenses I may make the complete switch to Canon.

continuing daily pics shot with my snap shot camera

I have a thing for bowls and blue so this was a perfect match for me on my bi-annual trip to Ikea in New Haven with my friend Lynne Graves… they came in a smaller size perfect for olives or nuts and this larger size… I bought both…. I love that you can get in and out of Ikea for under $100 bucks with plenty of goodies and even have money left over for their Swedish meatball lunch..

While shooting these Ohio Buckeye seed pods… which I collected last fall in my backyard… I realized that the linen background I was shooting them on was a beautiful subject on it’s own…

I saw these tomatillos in the grocery store and thought they would make a good subject…I love the papery texture of the skin and the pale green color… I shot them last week on a piece of green slate and then again this week on linen… very different feel to each…

now I need to find a recipe….

This very simple classic lamp was bought as an inexpensive temporary bedside reading light. I had been looking for something prettier and couldn’t find anything I liked in my budget when it dawned on me that I could just paint the one I had…two, actually. I found a pale blue paint at my local Benjamin Moore store and went to work ..first spray painting with metal primer and then brushing on two coats of the paint. I liked the texture of the paint but wasn’t completely happy with the color..it was a little too baby blue, where I wanted more of a smoky pale blue. I took the paint can back to the store and they worked with me adding small amounts of red to get just the right shade.. I repainted and here is the final result…

Now to liven up the shade… stay tuned…

These latte bowls hold just the right amount of my favorite winter squash soup–curried butternut or a serving of blackberry ice cream. Found them on sale at Anthropologie (6 for $18 including shipping). I love how the receipt is folded into the little cloth bag… And the bowls came covered in fanciful tissue paper as if they were a gift… even though I paid for them. Now I just need to replace my old chipped plates and other dishes that Brian took with him to college… If you have any affordable suggestions, please post…

My favorite color is being honored this year by Pantone. I love it in all it’s shades and variations from aqua to sea glass. Turquoise is sprinkled all over my house in vases, dishes, jewelry, clothing, bedding..you name it…I like it best in small doses paired with a neutral color like tan, cream or white. Here are a few of my favorites from my home…ok, more than a few…

sources:

hand blown glass: tag sale
flower pot: Putnam Antique Market
earrings: Ten Thousand Villages
frame: hmm, don’t remember
globe: 26th St flea market, NY
lamp: Restoration Hardware
paperclip holder: gift
plastic tumblers: Target
Qtip holder: tag sale
quilt: Target
sarong: shop on Martha’s Vineyard
seltzer bottles: various antique shows
soap dish: tag sale