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December 6, 2017December 4, 2017

Share Six Blog Circle – December 2017 | Wonderland

Massachusetts Photographer | Share Six Wonderland | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Another edition of the Share Six Blog Circle is live! This month the team are sharing their take on the theme {Wonderland}.

To me, and most of you I’m sure, Wonderland means Winter Wonderland. Specifically, Snow. But we’re yet to see any snow here this year. I grew up where we saw snow maybe once a year if we were lucky and it was hardly ever enough to build a snowman (just enough to bring the great British transportation system to a grinding halt), and I spent the last three years living in the desert. So yeah, not much snow there either.

So my children are incredibly excited to experience their first real snowfall this winter. The anticipation is excruciating! But whilst we wait on that I’m taking this opportunity to look through some archives to find some wintery treasures.

I’ve been to the Grand Canyon six or seven times now, and three of those times it has been covered in snow. The first time we went it was January 2nd and we were completely blown away that there was snow. We had literally no idea it was even possible there and had a tent with us so we could go camping! Lesson learned, hotel room found. In that and all subsequent visits I do think the winter is the most special time to visit, and in my eyes there is nothing more “wonderland” than the Grand Canyon:

A few years ago we rented a Jeep for a day and drove trails in and above Sedona, AZ. Coming from Phoenix and it’s warm winter, we were again completely unprepared (notice the lack of coats) and surprised to arrive at the summit of the mountain and be surrounded by snow! We even met a snowman!

This next image was taken at Saguaro National Park near Tucson. It was COLD. And it’s the desert. We were prepared with coats on this trip but it was still so surreal!

My final image this cycle, not a winter wonderland (yet anyway), but our new wonderland. New England in the Fall was a bucket list item for a number of years, and now we live in it:

Thank you for joining us for another month at Share Six. Please continue around the circle by clicking HERE. I can’t wait to see how the talented Liz of It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Wilson interpreted this month’s theme.

Join us for this month’s theme by posting your {wonderland} images on our Facebook page at SHARE SIX and to our Instagram gallery, by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_wonderland. A new theme will be posted on 6th January.

May 14, 2017May 14, 2017

Artists Inspired Blog Circle | May 2017 – Purple

Scottsdale Photographer | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Let me tell you about one of the stark differences between the UK and the Sonoran Desert. Apart from the obvious (the weather).

This has been our third spring in the valley, and each and every time spring rolled around I have been astounded by the vast array of colour. As an outsider I imagined the desert to be dusty brown and lifeless, but oh how wrong I was, and never more so than during the spring. The desert goes literally bananas with wildflowers, all the palo verde turn 1000% yellow, the cacti create flowers from seemingly nowhere and the air becomes thick with the smell of pot pourri. But the thing that gets me, going back to my original point, is the colour of all the blossom. In the UK the colours of spring are soft, pastel, gentle and muted; in the desert the colours are bright and vivid, striking, in-your-face-look-at-me-now colours. They are bright yellows and neon pinks; not ivory, baby pink and soft lilacs.

In the last couple of months alone I have had two occasions where I’ve been focused on photographing one thing and suddenly side-tracked by {purple} flowers. I can only think it is because I see them so rarely here in the desert, when I was so used to them in England. (Let’s not mention the purple flowers in the front garden, ok? I clearly see past them each and every day).

One afternoon at the Desert Botanical Gardens I was looking for Red for a different blog post, when lots of bees and some beautiful colour took my attention elsewhere:

On our recent trip to Big Bend National Park, TX we were headed to a trail head and I was busy with my head in the guide book navigating and whatnot, when these flowers appear just as tiny flash out the corner of my eye. Hence followed the universal photographer’s cry “PULL OVER!”

Ok, so they might technically be “Blue” Bonnets and my processing may have accentuated the “blue”, but any blue flower is really purple in my eyes!

I’m included this image here too, also from Big Bend National Park, even though I’ve included it in a previous blog post, because I love this little dude:

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 21, 2017March 21, 2017

White Sands National Monument | Documentary Photography

White Sands Photography | Scottsdale Photographer | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Spring Break has a wonderful habit of coinciding with my birthday, so lucky me has a habit of making celebratory road trip plans. This year, somewhat selfishly, I decided we should visit Texas. I’d be lying if I didn’t say the entire purpose of the trip was to go to Waco, the home of Chip and Joanna Gaines of Magnolia Market and of Fixer Upper fame. BUT that also meant I searched out all the places to visit on along the route that we might never have otherwise seen. I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that many of our destinations, regardless of the trip, are chosen on their photographic merits. Oh boy, did I have had high hopes for our first port of call!

The first day of our Texas Road Trip 2017 didn’t actually get us to Texas however; it was nonetheless a long day of driving, from Arizona to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. When I mentioned this plan to my dad he said, “oh, they test missiles there!” (yes, White Sands Missile Range is nearby) but there is more to it than that! Here’s how the National Park Service website describes White Sands:

“Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.”

We arrived shortly before sunset, just in time to play on the dunes and watch the sun dip below the distant Organ Mountains.

Taekwondo on the dunes

We spent the night in Alamogordo and returned the following morning to do some sledging. The Park Service sell used sledges and buy them back from you once you’re done; you have no time restriction and can keep them if you have so much fun you can’t bear to part with it. There is no restrictions about where you can go on the dunes so we had plenty of space and our choice of dune despite the other visitors in the park. Although there is no photographic evidence that I joined in, I assure you I did! Despite my reservations about the height and acute angle of the slope, it was so much fun!

We had such a great time and we were still picking sand out of deep dark “places” a week later!

After the sledging we took a walk along a boardwalk to see more of the ecosystem. I imagine the area looks quite astounding when the wildflowers are in bloom and is unbearable in the heat of the summer.

Understandably, the kids were exhausted after all the sledging. Walking up sand dunes is a tiring business, let me tell you!

If you’re ever in New Mexico I would definitely recommend a visit to White Sands. Whether you’re a photographer or there just to have fun, there is so much beauty to be seen and enjoyed.

After our morning at the dunes we visited the Space Museum in Alamogordo (just the outside of the museum actually, but even that was worth it) and then hit the road again. The next stop on our trip was Carlsbad Caverns; a place worthy of it’s own blog post!

~Ceri

March 14, 2017March 13, 2017

Artists Inspired Blog Circle | March 2017 – Green

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.

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.