Latest Obsession: Infrared Photography

I very easily become obsessed with new projects.  My latest is infrared photography.  After seeing some IR images online I immediately knew it was my kind of photography.  I'm still working on procuring a camera. Some of the best cameras for this type of photography were made around 2000 and can be found on eBay but as with all things eBay, it can take a little patience to get exactly what you want. 

I also have to get a filter, which seems a little harder to come by- I haven't seen any listings for the size I'm going to need but I'll keep checking.  In the end I think it will be well worth it if I am able to produce images that are anywhere near as interesting as these.  There's such a magical, mystical quality to IR images that fascinates me.  

Photo by Paul at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexxus/

 

Photo by Chad at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch4dwick/

Photo by Kyle May at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemay/ 

 

Photo by seannaber at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seannaber/

Photo by seannaber at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seannaber/

Photo by seannaber at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seannaber/

   

Photo by Aitor Escauriaza at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rotia/ 

Photo by Spixey at http://www.flickr.com/photos/banyan_tree/

Photo by the dreaming tree at http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-dreaming-tree/

Stamps of the Week: Chile!

Today's stamps are direct from Chile.  Hubdude just returned from his annual trip to Antarctica and spent a little time traveling through Chile on his way back and he brought me a packet of really great stamps.  These are some of the highlights.

I seem to be running across a lot of airplane stamps lately.  I think I'm going to pull these along with my others from my main collection and start a smaller plane collection.

 

I think I've mentioned before that I separate collection of stamps with ships, so I was really happy to see some new additions.



















I'm always a fan of the really tiny stamps that some countries have.  These are no exception:

 

All in all, a very nice haul of stamps!  Thanks Peter!

Polaroids

I've always been fascinated with Polaroid pictures. When I lived in Alaska years ago my boyfriend at the time gave me a green Polaroid camera that went everywhere with me for years until I lost it.The thing about Polaroid pictures is that they're lovely but to me they also always seem to have a lonely, nostalgic sort of feel to them.

I recently had the chance to pick up a couple of Polaroid cameras and some film, so I thought I would start documenting some of the more urban aspects of Denver with them, along with my Holga.

These are some of the Polaroids I took yesterday while out photographing graffiti in my hood. This first one is the intersection that I live near. STOP! And maybe say hello?



These next couple of photos are from this fabulous graffiti fence that I wrote about yesterday. I'm enthralled with it and I'll be sad when the graffiti paint cops come and paint over it next week and the abandoned field once again turns back into a boring, weed filled blight on the urban landscape.







And finally, a photo of my new Holga camera. Isn't she cute? Unfortunately you really CAN'T take a Polaroid from 2 feet away... So a bit blurry, but I like it anyway.

Downright Dramatic Denver Graffiti

I'll just state right off the bat that I don't advocate public graffiti without permission, nor do I enjoy seeing the crappy little 'tags' in one color that some graffiti perpetrators leave all over the city. But sometimes, you run across graffiti pieces that you can't help but smile at- like the huge Obama one that my neighbor did during the election that made it into the NY Times because the City of Denver insisted on fining him for putting up an 'election advertisement' that was larger than the allowed maximum. On his alleyway fence... Here's the picture NYT ran:



Yesterday I ran across some more artful graffiti around the corner from my house and went back today to take photos of it. This white field is normally full of weeds, broken glass and a dirty brown fence. I have to say, I was delighted to see this yesterday- it just looks so great with the snow and adds a little color to this drab corner of the Denver Art District.









While I was walking over to photograph the fence above, I wandered down one of the alleyways between here and there and saw this spectacularly purple graffiti- this is in the alley behind my house. What's not to love? Except maybe the home owner's that perhaps didn't give permission for this graffiti-mural on their house.... I particularly love how they just incorporated the pipe on the wall right into the man's face rather than painting around it.







I took my Polaroid camera along on this trip and will post some of those tomorrow.

Pin Cushion Plant I

Pin Cushion Plant I
Originally uploaded by feedthepheonix

I love this plant AND this photo! It definitely looks like some kind of cushion plant and I've love to know what kind...

Note: Just discovered that it's Nertera granadensis

It's Hip to be Square! No, really...

I've been working on some new botanical pieces lately. I've mentioned the 'Physics & Flowers' series that I'm working on, but I'm also working on some smaller square flower pieces. I seem to be stuck on squares and flowers at the moment...

This little painting is a mixed media piece that is still in progress, which I'll probably finish this weekend after I hit upon the right paper to complete it.



This was my first gocco print on my new-used gocco printer. I hand painted and stamped this one. I like the gocco process, but I think I like pulling prints from glass just a little more. Perhaps because printing from glass only gives you one image, rather than being able to pull 75 or 100 prints.



I'm also in the midst of finishing a larger painting that is, yes, full of flowers. A globe full of flowers to be exact. It's fun, but slow...

La suite

La suite
Originally uploaded by nicolas geiser

I really like this one with the bees! Check out his 'La suite' set of photos on flickr.

La suite

La suite
Originally uploaded by nicolas geiser

I really like this artist's use of empty space, color and delicate lines.