Tag Archives: light

Influencing Me – Margaret Olley

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Art, Artists, Influencing Me, Photography, Still LIfe

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Margaret Olley is another Australian Artist.  She was well known for her paintings, but also for her philanthropy and was a popular subject matter for many other other artists.  She died in July 2011, and was one of the last of that era of painters.  An era that was important in the Australian art scene.

She was famous for her still life paintings and that is certainly one of the reasons why I loved her work.

Poppies and Checked Cloth

Poppies and Checked Cloth

I love how she laid everything out.  It was colourful and expressive.  Such vibrant colours.

Evening Kitchen Still Life with Apples

Evening Kitchen Still Life with Apples

She has been written about a lot and one of the things that always struck with me is that the still lifes were done around her home.  She would set up stuff and then paint it, but she would move on as the light changed, so she could be painting multiple paintings at one time.

Still LifeYou know when you see this image that it was done in her kitchen.  I wonder how she managed to paint this and use her kitchen.  Was she careful to keep everything in place as she did the painting?

When you look at her paintings you can see different ones were done in similar places or the same place.  You can also see the same items in other paintings.

I have downloaded quite a few images and will include them in a gallery at the end of this post.

She also had a lovely garden, and many of the flowers in the paintings came from her her garden.  I would like to do more of that.  My garden is always so flower poor, well I don’t have good flowers for doing still life images. It has been a dream of mine to have a garden where I could go out and pick flowers to use in images.  One day maybe.

She loved Morandi, remember I did a post on him a few weeks ago.  You can see some of his influence on her work as well.

Set TableThis is not strictly something I set up, it is the set for the play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, but it reminds me so much of one of her paintings.  I know when I was photographing this there was that idea in mind.

Chocolate Cake - Processed ReworkI possibly zoom in more than what she did, and my work doesn’t tend to be as random, as her work appears, but I do like the idea of the ordinary that is in her work.  The everyday.

If you don’t know Margaret Olley, then please look her up.  I would loved to have met her, now wouldn’t that have been amazing.  Check out some of the rooms of her home, she had so many things and I wonder if my home will end up looking the same one day.  It is certainly on its way to getting there.

The paintings are from various sources, though quite a few are from Eva Breuer Gallery and Savill Galleries.

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Playing with the Light

11 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Photography

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A few years ago when I was studying photography one of my projects was Playing the the Light.  We could do anything we wanted, but light had to be the focus.  I loved the project and I have wanted to do it again for a long time.  I needed a very dark place, a pen light and some things to light up.  I used my hallway with all the doors closed, very cramped space, but since it was my first attempt in a while it worked.

Roses getting some Light

See what I mean?  I put the light over and around the roses.  They didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped, I couldn’t get a very good torch.  All the torched these days are LED, and they give too much light for this.  I had to put a heap of tape over the end with a small hole in it to try and close the amount of light coming out.  I also had to be dressed in black, with gloves as well so I wouldn’t be seen.  It is pretty hot here now and not really a good thing to be doing right now.

This needs practice, I can’t lie.  I also think doing it at night would be much better. I do like how the roses have come out.

Lighting the PlumsThis bowl was purchased at the Daylesford Market and this is the first time I have used it.  The plums came from a tree that my husband rides past on his bike.  The tree is on public land, so he has been helping himself and bringing heaps home.  They are very nice.

This image has worked better, but it could have been better.  I really will have to try this again.

Teatime in the LightMy daughter helped me with this one.  When I asked her what it looked like, she said electric.  It hasn’t worked brilliantly, but it gives you an idea.  The first lot I did, all those years ago, were done on film, and I had no idea if they worked until the film came back from the lab.  The others worked better than today, but I probably need to think a lot more about what I am doing.

Klara in the LightKlara wanted some photos, so I did some. I tried doing what I did with the others, but she kept laughing and wouldn’t stay still.  We had to change, so she sat still and I shone the torch on the wall.  I had to do it quickly, otherwise it burned out.  I also had to take all the tape off the end of the torch as well.  I am going to have to do more of these, but somewhere with a better backdrop.

TiddlesThis is Tiddles, our cat, he kept jumping up on the table I was using, so we thought we would try one.  I think you can see why you shouldn’t do one with a cat.  He kept following the light and wouldn’t stay still, no matter how many times we told him not to move.

Playing like this is a lot of fun, and I would like to do a lot more of it.  I just need to get a better torch, use a bigger room, and do it at night.  Lessons learned.

I meant to tell you this yesterday, and I was in such a hurry I forgot all about it.  Apparently The River Muse is doing something on me.  I was interviewed over the internet and the article was being published on the 10th.  So if you are interested check it out The River Muse.

Awards 

I have been nominated for a few more.

One Lovely Blog Award

The Year of the Warrior

Make Believe Boutique

Leibster Award

Eric M Vogt’s Blog

2012 Blog of the Year

Orbs Delight

CLF4TOLD

patriciaddrury

Finally, from Patricia another award,

patriciaddrury

Congratulations on the awards and thank you so much for nominating me.  Please visit the blogs.

Quietly

17 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in Art, Melbourne, Photography

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This morning I went into the city to take some photos.  The plan was to do Flinders Street Station, early morning, not a lot of people around.  We did it, but so early on Sunday meant not many cars, and you really need those.  One of the things I did like were the empty streets.

The streets were quiet.  Though not as quiet as we would like.  There were people around, but not many.  I liked how bare they were and thought they would fit in with the images I’ve been doing lately.  I think I over did the blurring in this one and probably should have scaled it back.  I think sometimes you need to do this, just to see what happens.

I really liked how this woman came and just sat here.  She remained still, and barely moved.  She was waiting for the church doors to enter.  I don’t know what she was thinking about, or whether she was waiting to go into the church to pray, or to work.  I have no idea, and you will have to decide for yourself what she was doing.

I like the idea of a post apocalyptic world and here is someone going to pray for the world.

My daughter said I over processed this one and it is too dark.  I like that, but I also love the way the light has been caught on the doors, like we need to follow the light, and that is into the church.  What do you think?

Now, here are the original images.  I wonder which you will prefer?

Catching the Light, and When You Don’t

28 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by in Field Trips, Landscapes, Mallee, Photography, Tips

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I saw a great post yesterday about photography and light over at 1001 Scribbles.  I found it really informative and if you are uncertain of light then it is probably worth your while going over there and taking a look.

Light is one of the hardest concepts to understand in photography.  We all know that you should take photos either first thing in the morning, or late in the evening before, or as, the sun sets.  I wish it was always that simple.  I do try and take majority of my images at those times, but sometimes it isn’t always possible.

The other day when we went to Mildura, I found myself there in the middle of the day.  Not only the worse time for photos, but also on a really hot day where the sun is probably the harshest of any other day.  I was there, the first time in too many years, what was I going to do!  I knew by about 3 in the afternoon we would be gone, so I decided to do some photos anyway.

I showed some that I did the other day in a post called A Town of No Consequence.  The photos were ok and to me when I look at them I see nothing but 40 degrees heat.  I think the one above, which was also taken then, again, not a great photo, but I had an opportunity to take some photos of the dust storm.  Dust storms are put of the heat of the heat up there.

If you look under the front verandah thing you can see that the shadows are short and this was taken at a bad time of the day.  The actual building has no real shadows and I wonder what it would look like if I went back another time and took photos late in the day as the sun was setting.  Especially in the summer on a very hot day where the light is very orange.

This was taken after we got back to Woomelang and it was around 5 or 6 at night.  The shadows were longer and you get more contrast which does make the image a whole lot better.  Still, if I had gone back an hour or two later, it probably would have been even better.

You can see the beginning of the orange glow in this image.  The shadows are very long and getting longer.  The harshness of the sun is still there, but by taking photos of the Church with the shadow side you get a better image.  I suspect this image would be better taken in the morning.

All these images have been taken at the wrong time of the day and I’ve shown you many images this week that are the same.  When I was in Mildura I decided to take photos anyway because even if I never used the images again, I still had a record of what I saw.  It isn’t always perfect, but I do know that I want to go back there and take more images, even do the same ones again.  I have seen what it is there and now I know when I go back, I will know when the right time of the day will be to take photos.  I will leave my children at home and just go with my mum.  We will probably stay a day or two and I will see what else is there and photograph Mildura the photographers way.

So the point of this post is that you shouldn’t always think that if it isn’t the right time of the day then you can’t do anything.  Look for other options.  Experiment, try some compositions and practice.  Perhaps you can plan to go back another day and do it right.

On Another Note.

I have decided to offer some of my images for sale.  Not all of them, just some of the ones that I am really proud of.  I don’t know if anyone is interested in purchasing them, but I have started putting some up on my website Leanne Cole Photography, so if you would like to see some of my images again, check it out.

No Longer Alive

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Art, Floral, Photography, Still LIfe

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It’s Wednesday and I usually do a still life of some sort.  I try to get my daughter to bake something and then use it in a still life of some sort, but today I thought I would try something different.

I spent the morning painting a canvas.  I use the canvas normally in its white state as a backdrop for my still life’s, but I really don’t like the stark white of the canvas.  So I took the canvas out to my studio and painted it.  I think it looks so much better and was exactly what I needed for todays subject.

I picked some flowers from the garden that are definitely past their use by dates.  Some would say past their attractiveness.  I, however, disagree with those people and think the flowers from my Bird of Paradise look even more extraordinary when they have dried out.

For you today some photos that I took with my new backdrop and my dead bird of paradise flowers.  The image above is a straight image, and one of the first I took.  I wanted to restrict the light quite a bit, so I set up the still life so the light was coming from the right and sort of from behind. I also opened up the aperture to give it a smaller depth of field.  With this first image I think the flower was too close to the backdrop and so I got too much detail from it.

I moved it further away and took several shots, I stayed with the open aperture again.  I took a series of bracketed shots so I could merge them for a HDR image.  This is the result.  I quite like these.

This image is basically the same as the one before but I zoomed in more.  You can see more detail and the flower fills the frame more.

This one is quite strange, it is like the feathers/petals have gone crazy and gone in every direction.    Very wild bird of paradise flower.  I love it.   Check out the next image.

I like this one, I like the wildness of it.  I also like the first one.  I am really happy with how my backdrop turned out as well.  I have another canvas, so I think I will paint that one as well, but in different colours for different still life paintings.

Moving the object further away from the background really worked here, and I have to keep remembering that I need to do that.  I also think I should remember to shorten my depth of field more often and really pin point what my centre of focus really is.

Flowers on Sunday

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Floral, Photography

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So it is Sunday and I was looking at a bunch of flowers that my daughter was given and decided to take some photos of them.  I like the way petals form a new beauty under the dying flowers.

Not an original thing to do, but here, sometimes you just have to do it.

Sunday is overcast here, hope it is good photography weather for you.

Sometimes It Doesn’t Happen The Way You Think.

20 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in Field Trips, Landscapes, Photography

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The next weekend away is going to be to the Mornington Peninsula.  I went down on the weekend to check out the area and to see how far to the point we could get.  It was also good to see the area late in the day and see how many people were around and what it might be like.  I could see what the light was like as well.

I love those words, “where are we going this weekend?’, my daughter wanting to know where she can drive.

It was a little disappointing the trip.  I really wanted to get down to Point Nepean, but the closest I could get was 3.8kms and then if you want to go further you need to walk.  I wasn’t prepared for that and I certainly didn’t have the time to do it.  When my daughters saw the 3.8, they said they weren’t going to walk there.  It was hard enough getting them to walk the 500 metres to an observatory, a fancy way of saying the beach.There wasn’t a lot there to take photos of.  I took a few photos of a few things, but it wasn’t that appealing.  The sky was so blue and there wasn’t one cloud in it.  I like drama in my skies.  I think as I am starting to develop my own style, the cloud thing is quite important to me.  I want clouds.

The sun was also in the wrong place,  I seemed to be shooting into it always.  Perhaps if it had been a couple of hours later, or even one, it might have made a massive difference.  I think when we go for the weekend, we will visit this area in the morning, early.

Early morning is how we will need to see and photograph a lot of the scenery that is along the bay side.  There is a lot of stuff to photograph, like piers, but as the day goes on, there is also an increase in the amount of people that are there as well.

Our accommodation is booked and we are staying in Rosebud.  That will be our base and we will move around from there.  At this stage the dates are set for the weekend of the 12th and 13th of November.  I am thinking that if other people would like to come along too, I could set a special price for them as this is still early days for the field trips.

If you are interested send me an email.

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