Black and White Abstract

Joshua Tree Forest ~ Utah

Sunset in the Joshua tree forest of Utah.  This forest is located in the Mohave Desert near the Utah-Nevada border on old highway 91.  

A storm was moving in this particular evening, and I wasn't sure what sunset would bring.  A window of about five minutes, and a totally different color pallet from the night before, made the wait worth while. 

An old ranch near Capital Reef Utah

I can't resist exploring where a dirt road will take me.  This one took me here.  As I explored this old abandoned ranch, I felt as if I had stepped back in time.  What a beautiful place to have lived and worked!

Giant Leaf Maple

Peace in the forest and with the wild things

Infrared Light

Inspired by the work of friends and fellow photographers, John Allen Poppleton, and Barry Parsons, I recently had the sensor in one of my cameras converted to infrared.  I began making both landscape and portraiture images, and immediately fell in love with the surreal look and feel, that infrared light creates!  

Because of the surreal and almost fantasy look of the infrared portraits, I decided to try my hand at making the model a forest fairy.   First I needed wings.  I didn't want digital wings, so I set out to find real ones.  Found!  With a long set of tweezers I began carefully gathering wings from the bugs that had met their fate in the front grill of my truck. As my husband walks by, he just smiles and shakes his head. He has been with me long enough, that he doesn't even ask me what I'm up to anymore.  After finding just the right wings, I put them on a piece of white paper and photographed them.  In photoshop, I then inverted the image to make the wings white and the background black.  With layering, blending, and a little fairy glow, my enchanted forest fairy came to life.    

I entered the Brigham City Plein Air competition and exhibit with this infrared image of one of my favorite trees.  I was so pleased to have been awarded first place in photography with this image!
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I have found a new and exciting avenue in my photography.  I look forward to making more images with this beautiful light.

Beneath the Water

Beneath the water abstracts.  The colors and textures of the rocks on the bottom of the river, along with the reflections of sky and clouds on the water above.  I also love how the light patterns dance beautifully across the rocks and sand below.

Goldfish for Lunch

This water snake decided to have one of the biggest goldfish from my pond for lunch.  I watched it for at least an hour struggle to swallow the fish tail first.  Finally giving up after it couldn't get past the fins going the wrong way.  Down one goldfish, but it was fascinating to watch!  

Tree in infrared

I just had the sensor in one of my cameras converted to infrared, so I had to try it out on one of my favorite trees.  I think I've found my new obsession?!
This is one of the images that I submitted to the Brigham City, Utah, plein air art competition and exhibition.  If you are in the area, be sure to stop in and check it out.  It will be on exhibit at the museum until Oct. 10, 2015
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I just got the exciting news that this image took first place in the photography medium!  

The Uintas

The last light of the sun on the Provo river.

Dad and I found a delicious treat of wild currants and huckleberries.

Lily pads on Butterfly Lake.

One of the waterfalls on the Provo river.

Peaceful reflections.

Just the beginning of my very favorite season!  More beautiful autumn days to come.

Autumn Flowers

I really liked this one in black and white as well, so I decided to share both.  Sometimes its too hard to decide.

Just for Fun

A full moon, some steel wool, and great company, made for a fun night! Trying something new out at the Spiral Jetty.

Uintas - Provo Falls

This is the lower of three cascades they call Provo Falls in the Uinta mountains of Utah.  

Weathered Door in Arizona

I took a road trip to Tuscon Arizona this spring, and found this old door on one of my stops along the way.  I love the character and texture of things as they age and weather.  

Fine Art Floral

The Tree

Old Hay Derrick

Remnants of the past take on the resemblance of a shipwreck in the grasslands of Paris, Idaho, in the Bear Lake Valley.

Evening Storm

An evening storm approaches the Coral Pink Sand Dunes near Kanab, Utah.

The Song of the Water

Of all the songs in nature, the song of the water is my favorite.  The sound of the falling rain, a babbling brook, the calming waves of a mountain lake, the powerful waves of the ocean, and the waterfalls, mighty and small.

Spring

One of my new fine art prints.  I love the spring tulips!

She...

"She was chaos and beauty intertwined.  A tornado of roses from divine."
-Shakieb Orgunwall

The Dreaming Tree

This post is a little more personal than most of my others.  One of my goals this year is to share a little more about me, so here it goes... I have always received important answers and guidance in my life through some of my dreams at night.  It's a gift that has brought me peace and comfort through the difficult times in my life, as well as confirmation at times that I'm headed in the right direction, or the wrong.  Some of them have been turning points and life changing. I have always kept a journal of the most significant dreams, thinking that someday it might be important to pass them on to my children.  I had the idea several years ago to do a self portrait project to go along with some of the dreams.  It's one of those ideas that I added to my ever growing "To Do" list, but never started.  As I was making my list of things that I wanted to accomplish as a photographer this year, I decided that I was at least going to start this project.  I chose to start with a portrait about a dream that I had during a significant change of direction in my life.  Because of a gift from a dear friend of mine (you know who you are ;) and the fact that in the dream I was a tree, I chose to title this project "The Dreaming Tree".  The rainbow was a special addition from Mother Nature, thank you! It happened to go along perfectly with the meaning of my dream as well.  Funny how those wonderful gifts happen sometimes.  :)   The details and meaning of the dream are for me, of course, but I wanted to share the photograph with you.  
Here's to the beginning of an awesome year ahead, and to all of you who like my work, and support me in it.  I love to hear your thoughts and questions! Keep them coming my way.

Tulips

I love the effect that I get working with layers and textures.  It allows me to take my creativity beyond the camera.  Some work out better than others, but that's part of the fun.  It's the ones that I least expect, that sometimes turn out to be my favorites.  I have enjoyed finding and photographing my own textures to use as well. I end up with a unique, fine art photograph, that has an aged vintage look.

Getting Creative

What do you do on a cold winter's day in the middle of January?  Get creative.  Sometimes I just need to photograph!  It's my creative outlet.  It's my stress reliever.  It's what I do.  I usually drive up the canyon and find a pretty spot on the river, or snowshoe through the trees. Today however, my lovely daughter was visiting, so I drug her into my creative plan.  Using what we could find around the house for props, and only the natural light coming through the window in my sitting room, this is what we came up with.  To get the soft glamorous look, I shot through some ivory tulle.  As photographers, we often think that we need all of the latest and greatest in lighting and gear to create beautiful photographs. Of course I will keep saving and working to acquire the many things on my "want" list. But until then, part of the creativity is figuring out how to use what I have to get the photograph that I want.  I love how this one turned out.  My goal... to do this more often!

Green in Winter

When winter takes most of our bright colors away for a season, this pop of green moss really caught my eye.  As the warm light touched the brilliant green, it almost felt like spring.  I forgot for a moment about all of the snow around me.

Full Moon