Winter Doldrums

During the winter, while I'm laid off from work, I sometimes feel like a kid during summer vacation saying, "Mommy! I'm BORED and there's nothing to do!" Of course, as an adult, I know that's bullpucky. There's ALWAYS something to do. Yes, I do have my new skis and that season pass to BearValley Ski Area but, I'm more of a spring skier. Yes, I could've gone to Yosemite and taken more pictures but, my car needs some servicing. Yep, ALL of those are excuses for not living my life to the fullest. I finally reached an impasse in my winter layoff, bored of all the dumb things I've done so far since I've been out of work. Sooooo, without further ado, here's some samplings of something I've thrown together out of boredom.

I did order a fancy new Nikon film scanner but, it's been backordered since my birthday in January. Only just now has it arrived at the mail order company I ordered it from and they're fumbling around, taking days to even get it on a truck to me (GRRRRRRR!!). In the meantime, I've decided to play around with the more "artsy" functions of Adobe Photoshop Elements. A good thing to do to see my photos bigger and better is to right click on the picture and select "Open link in a new window". That way my entire blog doesn't refresh when you go back to it.

The "poster edges" effect seems to go well with my pictures and I'm going to be using it a lot to try and produce some "fine art" photos suitable for framing and sale. Below is one that I think will be a winner. It is the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls and I really like the stark contrast and the isolation of just these two elements of Yosemite.

This next one below is Cathedral Peak, so aptly named by John Muir. I used the watercolor effect on this photo, softening and smoothing the jaggedness of the High Sierra. The original series of these pictures has climbers on the face of this popular rock climb.

This scene of both Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls was altered with the "dry brush" effect. Many of these techniques require that you use restraint in the strength of the alterations, as the details go right out the window with heavy-handed manipulation. Maybe someday I'll get around to making psychedelic abstracts (grin).

Here's another view of Cathedral Peak with the "poster edges" effect again. Somehow, these seem more detailed than the original images. If you look VERY closely by clicking on the picture, you can see the climber near the top of the peak (and use your imagination). Someday, I'll climb dat sucka!!

Here's one that didn't come out all that good. I had another one ready to go but, saved it to the wrong folder. Notice the tiny bridge all the way on the right side of the picture. Zooming in even closer you can see the tiny people on it.