patricia emerson mitchell photography
the way I see the world
Pink Cyclamen, 12.10.14
I do a lot of walking whenever I’m able. Today, for instance, was a seven mile walk day. Under six miles bothers me — I feel as if I’ve failed somehow. Silly, I know, but there you go. This cyclamen was made on a walk last week, when I did a nine mile walk. Those longer walks are always so very enjoyable!
Red Amaryllis, 12.10.14
I will take my leave with this red Amaryllis, which I found at Santana Row. That shopping area brings back such special memories of Christmas shopping with our family. We’d often stop at the sweet little bakery there either before or after shopping for cocoa or coffee and something tasty.
Hm. I think I need to go back there this year, despite having no children home for Christmas. Just for the memories.
Earlier today I posted this Amaryllis, again from Santana Row. I post it in memory of Irene Dalis. I’m so very sorry to have to write that she passed away yesterday morning.
White Amaryllis, 12.10.14
White Poppy, 1.20.14
I’m home from my musical weekend. It was such a fine time, and now I’ll go through a withdrawal of sorts. I suppose that means I’d better go out with my camera for a recovery walk or two. (Tomorrow might not work out though: rumor has it we are in for more rain!)
For now, though, I leave you with the goodnight flower and head to bed.
… and that is all. Just a good Sunday morning greeting. Plus something in white.
White Rose, 11.5.14
Over on Google+ I’ve participated in “Unsharp Saturday” on occasion. Here is what I’ll be sharing today:
Unsharp: Shoe Tying, 12.27.13
Sometimes “unsharp” is the best way to describe how my brain is behaving, and it is currently in that very state!
I’m able to say hello after all … as it turns out, my host here in Grass Valley has wifi available, and I have a wee bit of time, so here I am, able to post a goodnight flower. I’m not able to do much more, however: after the long drive and a tiring rehearsal I’m one tired camper.
So as I wrote above … Hello & Goodnight!
Filoli: Pink Rose, 9.18.13
I have been in the habit of saying goodnight with a flower on the various social media sites I frequent. I guess from now on I’ll just say goodnight from here. That makes it fairly easy (aside from Ello, which has yet to be included in the sharing options on WordPress — at least as far as I can tell).
For the most part I give my photos names that are pretty matter-of-fact, and I date them to avoid having the same name over and over (yes, I have a number of “Pink Rose” shots), and dating them also means that I can easily locate them in Lightroom. (Surely there’s a better method, but this is how I started and I am rather stuck in my ways.)
I’m so stuck in my ways, in fact, that I can’t seem to let go of posting a goodnight flower. (I guess that means I’d better have some lined up for when I’m gone. Hm.) One of these nights I just might have to take a risk, be brave and bold, and skip it — but I’m not sure if I would be able to sleep.
Goodnight world. Keep turning.
Working with red can be a bit of a challenge. The camera has a tough time handling a really intense red. ( The same can go for purple, and certain blues as well.) My husband, G Dan Mitchell, has explained the why of it to me several times, but I’m not able to wrap my slow brain around it all, or at least I’m not able to hold on to the knowledge for much longer than the blink of an eye. Or shutter. Or something. That being said, I continue to work with the color. This time of year I work with it quite a bit. Much of the time I have to turn down the saturation. I’ve noticed that highly saturated photos are a big hit with a lot of people, but I want something to look the way I remember seeing it, and I don’t usually see things so ultra-saturated.
This photo above took some work. And yes, I did slide that saturation a bit to the left. At this point I think I may try to print it, as I think it would make a lovely card, and for a variety of events: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, special occasions … it works for all. It think it would make a good larger print as well. I guess it’s time to feed some paper into the printer!
Side note: I’m not sure if I’ll be posting anything for the next few days: I’ve been hired to perform in some Christmas concerts out of town, so I’ll just have to play it by ear. The posting, that is, not the music. Dan will hold down the fort here … you can always go look at his absolutely fantastic work. Needless to say, I learn a lot just by studying his photographs.
Yep. Already. My house is partially decorated, but other than that I’ve done very little. With no Nutcracker this December (our struggling local ballet company is using tape this year, sad but true) I think I was a bit thrown off.
Today, though, I started working on Christmas cards. This is just a quick hand-held shot of what I’ve done so far. Soon I’ll post each of the shots so you can see them more clearly: I have a few more to work on so I want to get back to those before I post.
I always enjoy making cards. I enjoy sending them as well. There’s something about a card like this, where one can put a personal message inside, that I really like.
This is one of my favorite photos. I like the simplicity. I like the lines. I like the color. It makes a good print.
Do I know what this plant is? Nope. This was at Filoli and I can walk you to the exact spot where I found it, but I don’t believe it was labeled. Some guessed it might be a tulip, but I can assure you it was not: these leaves were larger and longer than tulip leaves. I plan on returning to the spot in March to see if it appears again so that I can take an “all of it” shot. I’m rather bad about remembering to do that, and of course one needs more than this to identify a plant.
Still, even if it remains unidentified, it makes a good print. I simply titled it Green (I) (I made two images). That’ll do.