USING PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE A NEW IMAGE

Most of my posts here relate to travel and adventure, but this morning, in a fit of insomnia related partly to my dog, I'm posting this series of pictures which detail some of the things I do with my photographs which don't quite "make it".

In other words, they are somehow flawed and cannot really be used or sold in their original condition. You'll see what I mean below. These images are from a trip I took to Boothbay Harbor in Maine in the mid-90s. Obviously well before the popularization of digital photography.

This shot, on film, has been in my archives for the following two decades and rarely trotted out. Originally it was in good shape, but the years have not been kind to some of my negatives, resulting in color loss. In addition the scanning process to digitize the image results in color imperfections and other flaws.

So this morning I've been playing around with Photoshop to create one of my digital paintings, using the original shot of Boothbay Harbor. I'm happy with the finished image, and will be adding it to my "Digital Painting" portfolio available on Etsy.

I welcome your thoughts and comments on the process and the result.

The original image as scanned in:

Murky. The colors are washed out and tinted.

The image as color corrected:

Much better, but the sky is still distorted and "off". Lots of photographic artifacts (blotches and dots). The image is still a bit dark and the whites are too glaring, overexposed.

The image using a Watercolor Filter, cropped for composition:

By focussing the composition on the red boathouse (actually an artisan shop)  we get the pop of red against the more muted background. The artifacts in the sky now become stylistic elements of a watercolor, and the whites are pulled back into the rest of the composition.

Enlarged this looks quite nice, which is why I'll be adding it to the Etsy store. The use of filters and image altering software to create a completely new piece of art isn't new, but I've only begun really playing with it in the last few years. It's an opportunity for me to create something different from my photographs, with a new artistic outlet.

Let me know what you think.

TIME FOR A DRIVE

Although our Grand Tour last year took care of any simmering urges for a long driving vacation, I find myself mentally preparing for a couple of days up in the desert.

Just me and the scenery.

Stay tuned.

THE SUNDAY QUOTE

SATURDAY ADVENTURE - CAPTURING THE LIGHTHOUSE AT SUNSET

Starting a new series of weekend shots showing people experiencing the world around them.

First up: Capturing the Lighthouse.

THE SUNDAY QUOTE

ABSTRACT WORLD

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” 
                               – Henri Cartier-Bresson


For years now I've been posting travel-related works, essays and photographs with only the occasional side-tour to something which either caught my attention or otherwise earned a word here on the blog.

Today's going to be something slightly different.

Le Select Burgers, St Barth

New York Metropolitan Museum

Great Falls, Virginia

As a photographer I work in several areas. Travel photography is, of course, one of my premiere interests and vocations. (Heh...spellcheck corrected that word to "vacations'.)

Other areas in which I pursue my interest and at-times profession include the occasional event
photography engagement, in which I cover a wedding; a music concert; a celebration of some kind. Unlike a typical wedding photographer, I tend to cover the in-between moments rather than the usual wedding staples such as "bride and groom with mothers-in-law" or "bride and groom with best man and maid/matron of honor". I know several photographers who make decent money doing that sort of thing, but it isn't really what interests me as an artist. I like capturing people being themselves, not posing but in the moment.

I like to catch people being people. One of my favorite photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a master at this, and his works fascinate me no end. Capturing people being people is that middle-ground between photo-journalism -- capturing a news story as it happens -- and human interest. (And believe me, the best photojournalism contains oodles of human interest.)

Bourbon Street, New Orleans

Pike Marketplace, Seattle

Alleyway, Korcula, Croatia

In my travels I try to catch and convey the experience of the trip itself. What it was like to participate in a day tour for example, not just the accommodations of the cruise ship we happened to be embarked upon. If I can effectively convey the moments and the overall experience I consider myself successful.

Which brings me to this particular entry.

Three weeks ago or thereabouts, we buried my mother at Arlington National Cemetery after a six month long agonizing experience of watching her decline and finally pass away from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. If you had asked anyone in the family if we believed this would happens quickly we would have rejected the idea outright. It's an awful disease, brutal and ugly. 

Given that 2016 is a year which is pulling no punches nor taking prisoners, losing Mom was a deeply unexpected and profound loss for us all.

But as is befitting a 61 year spouse of a celebrated Navy veteran -- a role which establishes the spouse as themselves an honored servant of the country -- Mom was accorded burial at Arlington with the expectation that at some point Dad will join her.

Running up to the burial I had several discussions with my wife and my siblings, finally asking my Father about the propriety of bringing my camera to document the burial. I personally have the heebee-jeebies about someone standing at a funeral taking pictures. Just seems disrespectful in many ways.

But after consultation, we agreed that we would all like to have some sort of memories. Not of the memorial service, but perhaps of the lead-up, the burial site and a few moments of the family.

I am honored that my Father, who is tight-lipped about any sort of praise aimed in my direction, has asked to share the photographs and my captions with several important family friends who were unable to make the journey back to attend. It means a lot that while he won't necessarily tell me directly he thought I did my Mother proud, he shows it through actions and telling others what a good job was done.

And so, below, I would like to share those images with you. I hope you feel like you were able to attend on a beautiful October day in the nation's most hallowed burial ground.

Cheers. And welcome to a bit of my family.

My sister helps my father to the limousine for the ride to burial site.

The hearse bearing my mother's casket

The hearse arrives at the Honor Guard, who will carry the casket to the burial site, which is just left of this shot

 

Mom's casket and the area of field 55. Her burial location is 100 or so yards to the right of this picture, but this shows how beautiful and peaceful the surroundings are

Some of the many who have gone before

Mom's grave site under the branches of a magnolia tree. She would have been please with that

Another view of the plot. She is the first in anew line and directly adjacent to the magnolia

Mom's view of the Washington Monument

My brother-in-law, younger sister and father

Dad leaves to head back to Annapolis

What happens when you leave your camera with your younger sister in a family of comedians

More of the fallen

The view of the Memorial Bridge with the Lincoln Memorial in background

LONG BEACH, CA -- SHOOTING THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Photographing sunrise. It's a shot I've gotten myself from close to this person's position.

The Long Beach coastline, unlike the majority of California coastline, faces almost due south. The sun rises over the mountains east of Orange County, casting a beautiful reflection on the bay. 

It's a beautiful and serene standpoint, worth the chill air and cooling coup of coffee one has to endure.

But I like this shot and the way it depicts an artist capturing the moment.

Oh, the places we've been

“Life’s too short to be spending all your waking hours doing something you’re not excited about." - John Knoll

As we get ready to start a new year, I've been reflecting on what has been a seismic year of change for  us here at Thumbnail Traveler.

Times change. Things change. All we can do is continue to move forward while casting a fond glance in the rearview mirror.

Here then, is a photographic history -- in no particular order -- of our last fifteen years on the road.

The Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska

Sunrise atop Mt. Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii

The Las Vegas Strip from atop the Palms Place resort

Early morning, Lincoln Ave. Calistoga, California

Foggy farmland in North Carolina

The Paris Metro

Loading for a boat trip down the Na Pali Coast, Kauai

Mt Vesuvius

The El Yunque rainforest, Puerto Rico

Kilauea volcanic crater, Big Island of Hawaii

Nat's Place, Anguilla

Polar Bears outside Churchill, Manitoba

Driving down the Florida Keys

The Wind Surf, Rovinj, Croatia

Looking down on old Dubrovnik

Nice, France

The Casino du Monte Carlo, Monaco

Pike Marketplace, Seattle 

Taormina, Sicily

Korcula, Croatia

Santa Barbara

Snowed in, Philadelphia

The Grand Canyon

Hanalei Bay, Kauai

Looking out over the bay, Korcula, Croatia

St Jean Bay, St Barth, FWI

The Washington Monument, Washington, DC

Everglades National Park, Florida

New Orleans

Long Beach

Sunset, Key West

Washington Dulles Int'l Airport

Annapolis, Maryland

Mt Saint Helens

Swimming with manta rays, Hawaii

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Boulder, Colorado and Rockies

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

The Vatican

Legion of Honor, San Francisco

The Seattle Underground

Tour Eiffel at night

Gondola ride. Venice, Italy

Red rocks, Sedona, Arizona

Epcot Center, Orlando, Florida

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Refreshments. Cortona, Italy

On the beach in Positano, Italy

The Columbia River Gorge, Oregon side

Capala, Mexico

California coastline south of Big Sur

Joshua Tree National Park, California

Wine tasting. Napa Valley

Portland

The San Juan Islands, Washington

Wailua Falls, Kauai

Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona

Highway 40 stopover, Arizona

St Francis Cathedral, Santa Fe, NM

Galleries Hubert, Brussels

Emerald Isles, North Carolina

The Colosseum. Rome

Houses of Parliament, London

Hollywood & Vine

Verona, Italy

Swimming with dolphins in Puerto Vallarta

Washington, DC

Transiting the Channel Tunnel

Paramount Pictures back lot

USS Midway, San Diego, California

Boot Hill, El Paso, Texas

Haunted hotel, Jerome, AZ

Top of Mt Blackcomb, Whistler, BC

Cruising aboard Carnival Pride, Mexico

Gettysburg National Battlefield

Getting rained on, Sydney Opera House

Canal Rocks, Western Australia

Sydney Harbour

The Great Barrier Reef

Drying off, Great Barrier Reef

The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains, Australia

Blue Mountains, NSW

Our plane. Kailua-Kona airport

Live music, Austin, Texas

Wall Drugs, South Dakota

Hometown, Long Beach, California

Leaving Honolulu

Hemingway House cats

Atlanta light rail

Plane to Pocatello, Idaho

Harbor entrance, Ensenada, Mexico

Amsterdam canals

Intercourse, Pennsylvania

Monument Valley

Perth, Australia

Fish in Molokini crater, Hawaii

Saint Martin, FWI

Miami Beach

Xel-Ha, Mexico

Virginia wine country

Rocky Mountain National Park

CalNeva Lodge dividing line

Downpour, Dallas-Fort Worth

Drought-stricken Lake Powell

Swimming with turtles, Maui, Hawaii

Wine tasting, Montepulciano, Italy

Soda along Route 66, Oklahoma

Foggy Bryce Canyon NP, Utah

San Francisco streetcar

Loire River near Giverny, France

Hoover Dam

Coffee in Alpine, Wyoming

Perfumery in Grasse, France

Rum shop, Orient Beach, St Martin, FWI

Lunch stop, Ellsworth, Wisconsin

Playing in the fountains. San Juan, Puerto Rico

Canal side bistro, Venice, Italy

Buschart Gardens, Victoria, BC

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Sorrento, Italy

Lake Tahoe, Nevada side

Giverny

Subway, New York

Grand Central Station

Stonehenge

Kangaroos, Australia

Liberty Bell  Philadelphia

Shopping, Freemantle, Western Australia

Vancouver, BC, morning

Los Angeles County Fair

San Antonio River Walk

Sunset  Malibu, California

The Mall of America, Minneapolis

Doing laundry in London

Early morning tram ride, Seattle

Kuranda tramway, Queensland

South Sawyer Glacier, Alaska

Sunset, Kauai

And so much more.....