Creative Art Notes

Photography Exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post Opens

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:13:20 +0000

Here is a photo of my portion of the newly opened photography exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post Gallery in Grand Marais. The opening was last night (October 21st) and was well attended. All seemed to have a good time chatting about the exhibit, munching on appetizers, and comparing notes. The exhibit consisted of photographs by 18 to 20 local photographers from the Cook County, Minnesota area and subject matter ranged from northern lights, to scenery and wildlife, to portraits and ice. If you are in the area you should stop in and enjoy the views. The exhibit runs until December 4th.

Smoke on GM Harbor From Nearby Fires

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:05:42 +0000

Late this afternoon a thunderstorm rolled into the area and instead of clearing the air it brought with it a tremendous amount of smoke from the Ely/Isabella area wildfires. This photo shows how really thick it was, obscuring the Sawtooth mountains. It actually set off the fog horns on the lighthouse and boats. I can now identify a little more closely with what folks experience in other areas, like Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, when wind brings smoke to distant places. It actually makes it hard to breathe and irritates your eyes. Lucky for us it was not a fire in the immediate area as it is so dry. Soon the wind shifted slightly and we were able to get a fresher bit of air.

“Fall on the Pigeon River” Panoramic Wins Best Of Show

admin — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:14:10 +0000

This photo that I took of the Pigeon River was entered in the Cook County Fair here and came out the winner of a 1st Place Blue Ribbon and a Best of Show in the Arts and Crafts Category. I loved this scene at the moment I first I saw it and photographed it as quickly as I could because the sun was just about to set and it would not have been as dramatic a scene without the sparkles and reflections in the water. It was produced from five consecutive photographs and stitched together in the computer. I did very little color correction or tweaking as the colors seemed very realistic and matched what I remembered of the moment. I can envision this as a very large picture, say 40″ x 70″, on the wall so I could just sit and enjoy the restfulness of nature without the light fading away.

Calm Before the Storm, Harbor Clouds, Grand Marais

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:47:00 +0000

This photo was a chance occurrence shot. I had come down to the harbor to see if I could find a sailboat belonging to a relative who was visiting but I had not seen yet. We finally found the boat (farthest from the camera) but it was the one. We found out later that they were having pizza at Sven’s and we could have seen them there. Oh well. As we were enjoying the view, this huge bank of clouds moved in just before sunset. I took about six or seven pictures side by side, left to right, and stitched them together to get the panorama with the sky as the main element. It turned out to have an ominous feeling of …rain coming.

Kadunce River Lights

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:22:43 +0000

Flowing Water of Life

While trekking up the Kadunce River trail recently, I was entranced by the sun’s reflection glistening on top of the flowing water. I took several pictures but was not satisfied with the results. I got closer and slowed down the shutter speed until I got a good exposure at just 1/4 second. I didn’t have a tripod with me so this was handheld which introduced a small amount of movement but not enough to overcome the image stabilization built into my camera. The results were extraordinary as not only the reflections traced their way downstream but also little splashed droplets of water shot like fireworks in the middle of the picture. The color of the rocks in the sun under the water added the color along with slight reflections from the blue sky. I did very little to alter the picture on the computer other than slightly cropping and adjusting it. I hope you enjoy this photo as much as I do.

Partridge Falls Panorama Story

admin — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:20:58 +0000

A while ago I was fortunate enough to visit the Partridge Falls on the Pigeon River right near the Canadian border. Getting there is more than just a hike. It starts with a multi-mile journey on an unmaintained (read really rough) road and ends, after a short hike along the river, with a climb down a steep embankment, stepping on, and hanging onto tree roots and rocks. It all worth it when you get there as you are right next to the falls with its refreshing spray, about 15 to 20 feet away. The trouble with trying to photograph it is that you ARE so close. Even a wide angle lens cannot capture it all. So I tried a panoramic shot with six photographs taken horizontally to cover the trees on the left side of the falls over to the down river side on the right, about a 160 degree view. I then assembled them in Photoshop and came up with a panoramic photograph that looked like the scene when I was there.

Split Rock Lighthouse “Painting”

admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:34:31 +0000

I call this “DigitalArt” because it started as a photo I took and after adding and subtracting filters and color changes, this is what evolved. This picture actually started as a slide and after scanning it into my computer, I used about 20% of the image as a starting point. Then I imported it into Photoshop (my favorite program) and played with it, experimenting with different effects and filters and sometimes ending up with as many as fifteen layers of different transparencies. Once I was satisfied with it I flattened it to one layer and did some more touch up here and there. It is so much fun to experiment on the computer as you can change, save, undo and keep going so much quicker than actual painting. You can see more at my website by clicking the “Digital Art” button above. Your comments are welcome.

Wildlife Serigraphs Come to Life

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:10:25 +0000

When I got the idea to make a series of wildlife serigraphs (aka silkscreen prints) I tried to decide on which creatures to include. One of the most obvious was the conspicuous grey and white Herring Gull that inundates our harbor around “feeding time” which is when the fishermen put out the scraps from their catch that day. Hundreds of gulls circle and contest for the best and biggest pieces. In this particular piece of art called “Lighthouse Gulls” because of the background, it is as if they are discussing the meal they just had…or the weather. I took a whole roll of thirty six pictures (in the days before digital cameras) and used them for reference for the series. You can see the rest of the series of 16 gulls, fox, moose and loons by clicking on the serigraphs link above. Enjoy!

One of my Early Panorama Experiments

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:37:27 +0000

Distant Leaves on Oberg Mountain Overlook

This photo panorama is one of my early experiments. It is taken on the trail up to the Oberg mountain overlook near Lutsen, MN. I used a Panasonic Lumix LZ7 point and shoot (which I still occasionally use.) This was totally handheld with no special in-camera software involved. I just chose specific trees to use as reference points and took six horizontal shots overlapping them as I went. Surprisingly, I had to do very little to enhance the color, crop or filter the image once it was assembled and I think it is one of my favorite panoramas. You can see this and other panoramic photographs by clicking on the the Panoramas button at the top of the page.

Hello world! Welcome to my blog!

admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:12:41 +0000

Welcome to the Creative Art Notes Blog. I established this blog to give some insight and hopefully some inspiration by explaining the why and how of my art and photography. I hope you enjoy it and will explore the links … Continue reading →