freelensed Archives

March 14, 2017March 13, 2017

Artists Inspired Blog Circle | March 2017 – Green

Scottsdale Photographer © Ceri Herd Photography

I had a plan for this month’s installment of the Artists Inspired blog circle. A clear and concise plan. 10 days before publishing the blog we would be travelling to Texas for Spring Break (which happily coincides with my birthday each year) and I was bound to find lots of {green} there. Surely!

…except I had it in my head I was looking for orange and made no attempt to search out green at all!

Anyhow, no matter. A day at Big Bend National Park presented me with plenty of green to share with you.

…but then, two days after we returned home from our epic road trip, having already selected my {green} images and with only 2 days until I have to post my blog link, as I was enjoying a dog walk at dusk, I was struck by just how much green there is in the valley at this time of year, more so than either of our previous years here thanks to winter rain showers. One week away and the valley has exploded with colour and life in our absence; the air is thick with the smell of blossom! I couldn’t not share it with you! I hope these few images, taken in somewhat of a hurry, capture a sense of that life.

These first two may not look like much but there is grass! Grass where I’ve never seen grass growing before! Green where normally there is brown! How cool is that?!

Ok so this last one isn’t actually from my dog walking route; it is from my original blog post with images from Big Bend National Park. I’m including it here because I loved the juxtaposition of the small and delicate wildflower being threatened and yet protected by the prickles of the spiky prickly pear.

This blog is part of the Artists Inspired Blog Circle series. Click here to continue the circle and see how talented photographer, Channon Williamson, interpreted this month’s theme. Be sure to follow the links all the way round to complete the full circle.

The Artists Inspired Blog Circle is made up of an exceptionally talented group of photographers from all walks of life, from all over the world. They are wives, mothers, friends, daughters and visual storytellers who draw from their own experiences to create art that is inspiring, unique, beautiful and thought-provoking.

March 6, 2017March 3, 2017

Share Six Blog Circle | March 2017 – Restore

Scottsdale Creative Photographer | ©CeriHerdPhotography

I am thrilled and honoured to be to joining the talented Share Six team! Share Six is a group of photographers who blog 6 images each month; each month is a different theme. This month our theme is {restore} and what a wonderful theme to kick start my involvement!

As 2016 came to a close I was competing my 365 (in fact 365 + 3 months). I was completely burnt out from the pre-Christmas rush and the endless months of daily shooting. In the last days of December and moving into the New Year, I was not thrilled with anything I produced. I couldn’t find any artistry or *see* what I was looking for. At all.

As January passed by and I took some time away from the camera, I continued with the struggle. My desire to create was still strong but my fear of failing stopped me from picking up my camera.

At the beginning of February I had a sudden realisation that I needed to make an effort to change my mood. This funk was not going to go away by itself.

In order to love the final image, I need to love the process of creating it.

In these past few weeks I have been attempting to {restore} myself. I took some time to focus on the specific aim of “creating.” My Share Six images where not specifically taken for this blog but they were taken specifically to restore my artistic soul. I played with each of my favourite creative techniques, techniques that push me technically and artistically. All of these images (apart from one) was taken within a one hour time frame around noon on a bright and sunny day. You’ll will see which is a different time of day (it was the following afternoon, with much lower and more golden light).

Freelensing

ICM – Intentional Camera Movement

In-Camera Double Exposure

Shooting Through : Prism

Macro

Shooting Through: Convex Lens

Over the coming months I’ll be doing a series of “how to” blog posts explaining how and why I do these different techniques. If you’d like to keep up to date with those posts make sure you subscribe to have them delivered them directly to your inbox >>

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I {restore} my creative soul. Time to stop being burned out and overwhelmed with the catch-up task ahead!

Please click HERE to see the talented Aubrey Dettmer of Applewood Photography’s interpretation of this months theme.

Join us for this month’s theme by posting your {restore} images on our Facebook page at Share Six and to our Instagram gallery, by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_restore. A new theme will be posted on 6th April.

August 2, 2016August 1, 2016

Spring Freelensed Part II | Scottsdale Photographer

Spring in Scottsdale is a wonderful time to be a photographer and a perfect time for daily photo challenge. Yesterday I published a gallery of my favourite nature images from my Spring Freelensed Project (Part I), but Spring isn’t just about nature; it’s about making the most of the great weather (and conversely, getting out the heat as the summer approaches). So today I bring you my favourite people (and dog) images from the project:

If you’d like to see more images from this project, you can see them on my facebook page…here. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.

Thanks for stopping by,

~ Ceri ~

August 1, 2016July 31, 2016

Spring Freelensed Part I | Scottsdale Photographer

Spring in Scottsdale, AZ is a wonderful time to be a photographer. The blooms, the blossom, the outdoor lifestyle, the light. Oh, the light! The perfect time for another freelensed project! A freelensed picture every single day, from the first day of spring to the last.

“Ok but hold up, Ceri! What is freelensing?” I hear you cry. Simples. It is a technique that can be done with any camera that has interchangeable lenses. Detach the lens, hold it close to the camera body and manually focus by tilting and adjusting the position of the lens. Using this technique, you can create really interesting slices of focus, extremely shallow depth of field and amazing sun flares. It takes some practice, believe me it did not come easily to me, but with perseverance your results can be magical!

As I sit here in the sweltering heat of the summer, avoiding the outdoors at all costs, I am finally finally finding time to share a few of my favourites. First up, a blog post dedicated the best of the natural world. Enjoy!

If you’d like to see all of the images from my Spring Freelensed Project, click here. If you have any questions or you’d like to share what you like (or don’t), please feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by,

~ Ceri ~

November 29, 2015November 27, 2015

Freelensed Fall Blog Circle

I recently teamed up with a group of amazingly talented photographers, each of us taking a freelensed image per day from September to Thanksgiving. Be sure to follow the link at the bottom to see the next collection in the project. You can see all my images for the project here but for now, here are a few of my favourites:

Thank you for stopping by! Click here to follow the blog circle. Up next, wonderful images by Kellie of Kellie Brindley Photography.