Finding the art in a few blocks...

My favorite fun lens is a Lensbaby 3G. It looks really odd, and the images it creates are not exactly normal - but it's fun, and if the conditions are right, it can create the most beautiful images! I walked around in downtown Fallbrook today - just headed north from the studio, with just my camera, my keys, and a LensBaby! I have some attachments that make the LensBaby more versatile, but I left them in the studio - I wanted to see what I could get with one lens, walking just a couple of blocks.

While I was shooting in front of the Art and Cultural Center, I looked up and noticed a woman with a camera across the street in the Village Square, and then another one, and another. Because the LensBaby is good for shooting close up, I'd been so focused on the small things directly in front of me, that I hadn't noticed all the people with cameras across the street. I have a feeling there was a class at the Art Studios this weekend - and I was totally wishing I could sneak in and see what they ended up getting! A few of them started to make their way across the street as I started to walk back, so they were shooting in the exact same area where I shot, just moments later. It would be fun to see what other people would do - so if you're reading this, and you were there, send me your link so I can check out what you got!



Plant life, abstracted by the lens. There is a large Bird of Paradise in front of the Art and Cultural Center, and these are the stems and leaves. I have a shot of a flower below from this same plant, but this is the shot I prefer. I mean look at those colors!



This looks like a watercolor painting to me - it looks unreal. And look at the egg-shaped circles of confusion. Beautiful!



This was right in front of the Art and Cultural Center - it's a potted plant and I love the way the leaves blur into nothingness. That is what the Lensbaby is all about!



Another abstracted shot - this is a patch of weeds bordering the sidewalk - but the lens abstracts them so beautifully, it looks like paint on a canvas.



The rest of the images are less abstract, but still fun. This one is the same Bird of Paradise plant as above, from another side, with the window display of the Art and Cultural Center in the background. The window is decorated in a really pretty color palette right now, and this bird fit right in. It still abstract, in that it's the lines and colors that make the image - rather than the subject matter.



Behind the Art and Cultural Center and Primo's, there's an old pepper tree. One hundred years ago there were a lot of pepper trees in Fallbrook, but slowly they seem to be disappearing. This one is not that old, but it is old, and it reminds me of the kind of a tree frequented by elves and fairies and all the little creatures that populated the poems my Great-Grandma wrote to entertain us when I was a child. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue and beautiful - my Great-Grandma would have loved this tree and this moment!



Bark from that same pepper tree.



One of my neighbors has a big plant with these long yellow blooms. Each bloom is as long as your hand.



On January first I shot this same tree right before sunset and it was covered in yellow-green leaves. Now it's bare.



And finally some more weeds, just around the corner from my studio. Backlit and beautiful!

Bounce the light...

Abstracted by iPhone

Yeah, these were shot with an iPhone! It's a great little camera and you can do some super-fun things with it...

Technology

Electricity



Running Water



Computing



Printing



Keys and Cards



Journaling

Fallbrook at Night

Sometimes it's more interesting to shoot after the sun goes down. The whole world looks very different at that time of day. The first image was created about an hour after sunset - it was 8PM, but the sky still had some lightness to it, and with a long enough exposure it almost looks like daylight. The wisteria was in bloom, and while it's magnificent in color, somehow I like it even better in B&W at night.



The next one was right at midnight, in downtown Fallbrook. Notice the car lights streaking by, behind the blooming tree. The exposure was only about 15 seconds, but several cars and trucks crossed through the frame during that time.



The final image was shot at the old fruit packing plant, right after midnight. I've shot this building before - most notably for a CD cover for a local band. It's been a charming eyesore for over a decade, but they recently began the big renovation to turn it into a trendy restaurant and office and retail space. If I was planning to stay in Fallbrook I'd be tempted to look into opening a studio there. It's a great location, and the plans indicate it's going to be a fabulous space once it's done!