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Collection Artist Exhibition: virtually_supine
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<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2659/3694148410_883d386991_o.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/inspiringcollection/discuss/72157620978812487/>IG Collection Artist Exhibition ~ virtually_supine</a>
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Seen in
IG Collection Artist Exhibition ~ virtually_supine
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Having seen Ame Inu's and Mariette's beautiful exhibitions I believe that as a member of Inspiring Gallery and Inspiring Gallery Collection I am surrounded by unique and inspiring artists. When I joined Flickr in December 2007 I never imagined I would be invited to join such groups; far less that I would have work selected for the Inspiring Collection and an receive an invitation to create this exhibition. I am truly honoured ...
Some background ...
I did a short Open University course in photography in Autumn 2007 to try and understand the technology and techniques of photography. Although I've had a variety of cameras over the years I had always been pretty hopeless technically. I must have the most photographed fingers ever ! I joined Flickr in December 2007.
My favourite themes and subjects are: nature - especially flowers - water, light play, motion, reflection and blur. If asked what influences me I would say, in general, Impressionism and Japanese and Chinese printing; specifically, the paintings of Monet and J.M.W Turner and a book of nature photographs, A Tree, A Blade of Grass by Japanese photographer, Shinzo Maeda. This was a birthday present many years ago before I owned a digital camera or thought of taking up photography as a hobby; I look at these photographs often. These influences are quite strong, though unconscious, as I don't think about deliberately recreating them when taking photographs.
It would be fair to say I'm something of a Photoshop Elements junkie. Rather like a kid with a paint box, I enjoy experimenting and using different effects to create different versions of an image, especially using textures to create painterly effects. And, I'm a bit of a magpie, often taking photographs of things that catch my eye for later use in collages or as texture layers, or simply to experiment with; though maybe a squirrell gathering and burying acorns would be a better analogy.
In terms of equipment, all the images in this thread were shot with a either a Panasonic DMC-FS3 or a Fujifilm FinePix Z2. This woman's "must have" accessory is her camera; mascara and lipstick come second and third on the list;-) Both cameras are point-and-shoot. Handy because I shoot many of my photographs on the way home from, or on screen breaks at, work. My Nikon D40 is simply too bulky to carry around on a daily basis.
Finally, my grateful thanks to those who donate their textures for use under Creative Commons; where I've used textures other than my own I've credited the artist.
Hope you enjoy my exhibition
virtually_supine/suzanne
(July 2009)
Originally posted at 4:56PM, 7 July 2009 PDT
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August Norman (a group admin) edited this topic 35 months ago.
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Caught In Light
This lily was in a bouquet that I bought to practise indoor photography and to get used to the Panasonic which I bought earlier this year. It was February and the light through the window was cold. I was drawn to the luminosity in the centre of the flower and the subtle details of structure, texture, and tone the light produced.
The composition was tricky. In order to have the light, and avoid using flash, which I don't like, I had to shoot through the leaves and minimise their intrusion without bumping against anything or knocking over the vase. I used a texture layer to create a painterly feel and to soften the texture of the wall, and gradient fill to soften the appearance of the leaves. I adjusted the crop online with Picnik to further minimise the leaves; although they do frame the lily and create an interesting diagonal ...
View On Black
Texture: FREE TEXTURE - IMG_289901by ground*floor
Originally posted 35 months ago.
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virtually_supine edited this topic 35 months ago.
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Unravelling
One subject that interests me is the texture and structure of flowers and leaves as they wither and die. This image is what becomes of Clematis Vitalba or "Old Man's Beard" when the flowers die in Autumn.
Without the sun behind them, they look like balls of grubby wool with twigs and seeds trapped inside. I'd passed these tangled messes every day on the way home for months and vaguely pondered on them. Then one day I saw them in sunlight and could see the delicate twisting tendrils and their filigree hairs. But, I had to negotiate a hedge and sacrifice my nylons to get the shot. Thankfully no one was watching the "negotiations" or I might have been in trouble for a variety of reasons. And I hasten to add that no hedges were harmed during the taking of this shot; the nylons were a different story ;-)
I've used gradient fill to focus on the part of the plant with the light behind it and the most detail, to create depth and a degree of abstraction and randomness. Finally I added a texture layer to bring through the pale blue sky tones to compliment the muted brown hues.
View On Black
View Large On Black
Texture: Dappled Sunlight On A Wall
Posted 35 months ago.
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Sunset on Water
Water is a fascinating subject. Watching it or listening to rippling by is very soothing and you see wonderful patterns, reflections and colours. I'm lucky that Oxford has various brooks and streams running through it as well as The Thames to provide photo opportunities.
This is sunset on the Mill Stream taken last July. The sheen of the light reflecting on the water reminds me a little of raw silk, the colours seem to change subtley as you look and the ripples have the texture of oil paint. I like the impressionist qualities of this image and it's one of my personal favourites.
I use this image as a texture. It made Explore, which amazed me since it was tagged as a texture layer. This is the only image in this selection on which I've not used effects.
View On Black
Posted 35 months ago.
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Spring
The original photograph, of white wild flowers by water, was taken last summer for collage and collaboration work because I liked the butterfly-like outline of the flowers. Not a lot of thought went into it's composition and capture at that time as I had no specific project in mind. I was "squirrelling".
One evening I had one of those "happy accident" serendipity moments. I'd been looking at one of my favourite books A Flight of Butterflies, a facsimile of Japanese woodblock illustrations by Kenzaka Sekka. The butterfly illustrations made me think of the very simple photograph I'd taken of white flowers by the Mill Stream and in my mind's eye an image started to take shape ...
After some experimenting with textures and blending I arrived at this version of the photograph. I like its' simplicity, the feeling of space, the freshness of the colours, and the way it combines elements of Monet and Japanese printing. And, it made me think of Spring on a cold March day. Another personal favourite.
I've not found any illustrations in my wild flower guide that identify the flowers. Maybe they are not wild flowers at all, but escapees from a nearby garden ;-)
View On Black
Texture: Texture 1 by amy higgins
Posted 35 months ago.
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It Never Rains But It Pours 2 (through glass)
I got caught in a torrential storm in central Oxford one January evening, took shelter in a shop doorway, and started taking pictures.This is the manipulated version of one of the images I took.
The reflected light from shop windows and car head lamps on the wet pavement was almost blinding, but produced great reflections and atmosphere. This was what I wanted to capture. When I uploaded the photograph, I felt the line of bikes, bollards, and phone box detracted from my intention. A raindrop had landed on the lens whilst taking the photograph. This gave me the idea of distorting the objects in the image with the glass blocks effect in Elements to reduce their prominence and make the scene appear as though it was seen through wet glass.
I'm quite pleased with the outcome.
An example of being in the right place at the right time, and why I always have a camera in my handbag.
View On Black
Taken with my FinePix Z2 hand-held on manual (ISO 200, exposure 0.25 seconds)
Posted 35 months ago.
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Blur of Light and Movement
The earliest photograph in my selection. It was taken one evening in November 2007.The heavens just seemed to open. People dashed about willy-nilly trying to get undercover. The rain reflected bright halos in the street lights and jagged patterns of light as it bounced off the street. This woman was a blur of light and movement as she dashed across the road to shelter.
This photograph is possibly my favourite. I really like the reflections, distortions, blurs, movement and its' Impressionist qualities. And it is another 0.25 second hand held exposure. But, at the time, I wasn't happy with the tones; they were slightly pink and looked wrong for a night scene. Eventually, I found some texture layers which gave me the tonal qualities I wanted, and I posted it in April this year. Since then it has become my most favourited image.
View On Black
Textures:
Lichen by skeletalmess
Mausoleum Door Texture by amy higgins
Dappled Sunlight On A Wall
Posted 35 months ago.
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Under the Flyover
This image started as car headlamp reflections on the ceramic tiles of the walls beneath a flyover. A "magpie" photograph. I lightened and saturated the image then copied, rotated and flipped it on several layers to create a prismic effect and deep perspective. Abstract and quirky, and a little bit "off the wall" (sorry ;-)), but fun to create.
View On Black
Originally posted 35 months ago.
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virtually_supine edited this topic 35 months ago.
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Ruby
I've never seen such rich red blossom in Spring before. Taken after rain with bright light breaking through cloud this was a very warm and vibrant sight. The leaf colours range from dark green to copper.
After I'd uploaded this image from the camera I noticed white blurs of light from droplets that must fallen whilst I took the shot. I decided to enhance the effect and experimented with some textures. This is the result. The red is gorgeous (I'm not a great lover of red usually). I like the movement of blurry light and colour in this image, the frosted effect of the textures, and, the brightness of the droplet.
View On Black
Textures:
OldPhotoTexture4 by malchik1
Dappled Light On A Wall
Posted 35 months ago.
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Cosmic Web
I liked the light reflected in these droplets and the pattern they made on this web that I spotted between the railings outside Oxford University Press where I work.
The view up Walton Street between the railings made an unappealing bokeh. So, with some inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, I played with some texture layers until I had a background that was more dramatic and reminds me of cosmic clouds or tie-dyed material. Sometimes I just enjoy playing around with no pre-conceived idea to see what turns out.
View On Black
Textures:
MorningSky
Dappled Sunlight On A Wall
Posted 35 months ago.
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Water Irises #1
Usually there are lots of Water Iris along the river banks. However this year, like many other wild flowers, they were stripped out by the Water Board doing maintenance to re-inforce the banks against flooding. I was n't thrilled with the original photograph. But, as I narrowly avoided falling in the Mill Stream to get it, I decided to experiment with what I had. Once I'd cropped the image, it had a "Chinese" feel to it. I like creating images that look as though they've been printed on fabric, or metal, for example. So, I converted the original to infra red then experimented with some textures and different blending modes to try and create a silk-like texture.
I like the blue tones in this image they are quite relaxing and overall I think the image ressembles a screen print.
View On Black
Textures:
BlueMoon
Sunset On Water
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Thank you for viewing; hope you enjoyed my selections.
Originally posted 35 months ago.
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virtually_supine edited this topic 35 months ago.
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The best thing about having 'Point & Shoot' cameras is you can take pictures without worrying about how many shots you have left. That used to be available only to the professional photographers with lots of film and their own processing.
You have an eye for the best use of a texture, which is to enhance the image and bring a new vision of the image details.
Wonderful! Already faved 5 ~ I think. :)
August Norman
Posted 35 months ago.
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Thank you for your wonderful compliment Norman :)
One of the aspects of using textures I enjoy is, as you say, they allow you to change an aspect of an image, and offer an alternative vision.
I agree with what you say about 'Point & Shoot' cameras. And you can take some great shots with them, especially with those that allow you to shoot "semi-manually", so you can adjust the ISO settings if you want.
Posted 35 months ago.
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very lovely show. I appreciated all your stories as it gives much flavor to your style and loves. Great job, mine is in Oct.- will be hard to follow :-)
Posted 35 months ago.
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Thank you so much Renee - I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I shall look forward to your exhibition in October, your photostream is full of wonderful photographs and unique and creative fractals and mandalas
Posted 35 months ago.
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Great exhibition. I think you are a very creative artist. Love them all. My favorite is your's to. Nice use of texture and light. Second one is "Unravelling". Enjoy Flickr.
Posted 35 months ago.
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Mariette, thank you very much for your kind compliments; you made my day :) Hope you have a great time away !
Posted 35 months ago.
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Suzanne, this is a fantastic exhibition, showing an excellent and discerning eye combined with outstanding composition and strong vision. Your use of textures, while alien to me, seems to only enhance what were originally strong photographs, and the results are indeed artful.
I was also quite impressed with Sunset On Water, making me want to see other pictures you have taken sans textures--you did such an outstanding job of capturing the raw colors and textures of the river.
Also, I'd love to see the syllabus you used for your Open University course--I have a feeling that it might be quite revealing about how you approach your photography, give insight to your viewers.
Again, great job, and fantastic exhibition!
Posted 35 months ago.
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Wow, Suzanne. I realize I should have been visiting your stream more often. Some of these images are just exceptional and so highly artistic, I fell in love over and over. "It Never Rains But It Pours 2 (through glass)" is brilliant, along with "Unravelling." I hope your illness isn't keeping you away from your computer and camera, and if it is, I hope you're comfortable enough to have fantasies of more creativity.
Posted 35 months ago.
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Ame Inu (Aspergian Autistic) Thank you so much for your kind compliments and appreciation of my selections.:) I find it very interesting to hear what people think; especially since all except one of the images were manipulated in some way, some of them quite heavily.
Your comment about wanting to see photographs where I haven't used textures was interesting. I was thinking the other day that since the start of this year I've only posted one image that isn't textured, and that at some stage I ought to post more. Textures are fun but I think I'm becoming addicted, and soon I'll forget how to take a decent photograph ! The feed back from the OU course was "Keep experimenting and having fun. But DO pay attention to the technical details of photography, such as focus ... And use a tripod in low-lighting situations!" lol!
This is a link to the OU course I took, T189 Digital Photography: Creating and Sharing Better Images. It gives a summary. Unfortunately, I can't link to the detailed syllabus any longer. It covered a lot of technical detail and historical background. We had our own mini-Flickr called Open Studio that we posted our photographs to for feedback, and were encouraged to look at Flickr. There are two groups on Flickr that were set up by former T189-ers.
Posted 35 months ago.
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It's My Party Thank you very much for your kind compliments Tom - Glad you enjoyed it ! I'm always slightly amazed that "It Never Rains But It Pours 2 (through glass)" turned out as well as it did - It was so very cold and wet !
I brought myself some sun flowers on the way back from the spocks the other day, and have been taking photographs of them for practice. I'm still wobbly, so the effects might be interesting ;-)
Posted 35 months ago.
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&ndie [deleted] says:
There are so many beautiful creations here. My favourites are "blur of light and movement" and "unravelling". Blur is very impressionistic, the muted tones are a delight. Unravelling has a very nice light and texture to it and has brought something fairly unremarkable to a new dimension.
On an aside I did T189 in May08 and enjoyed it, it certainly got me hooked!
Posted 35 months ago.
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&ndie Thank you very much &indie ! Especially for your compliments and comments on "blur of light and movement" and "unravelling"; both were quite challenging in different ways.
I had great fun doing T189 ! Ironically, I didn't start experimenting seriously with the effects in Elements until I'd finished T189. Due to work commitments I decided to concentrate on the technical aspects. And, I agree - It got me hooked too :)
Posted 35 months ago.
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Great images! I especially like "It Never Rains But It Pours" and "Unraveling". The first really feels wet, due to the distortions of the lights, the brilliant reflected lights, and the rippling of the lines - the way the scene might look as seen through water.
Posted 35 months ago.
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Thanks for putting this up!
Looking at your expo I am left with a very pleasant feeling that has an edge of fantasy.
:)
Posted 35 months ago.
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IC Collection ~ ICC Artist Exhibitions /
Discuss
Ame Inu (Aspergian Autistic) Thank you so much for your kind compliments and appreciation of my selections.:) I find it very interesting to hear what people think; especially since all except one of the images were manipulated in some way, some of them quite heavily. 
It's My Party Thank you very much for your kind compliments Tom - Glad you enjoyed it ! I'm always slightly amazed that "It Never Rains But It Pours 2 (through glass)" turned out as well as it did - It was so very cold and wet ! 
&ndie Thank you very much &indie ! Especially for your compliments and comments on "blur of light and movement" and "unravelling"; both were quite challenging in different ways.
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