Photography course: Week 24 - Elements

The assignment for this week was to capture one (or more) of the original four elements as espoused by the Greeks.  Water, Earth, Air and Fire. 

Water seemed the easiest as I am at the cottage, but how to portray it in different fashion?  I finally decided that my best photo was that of a scene, taken during the Golden Hour and slightly edited in both Lightroom and Photoshop.    The clouds blowing across the sky represent the Air, the granite boulders, so profuse in our area, the Earth, and the Water of course, speaks for itself. 

This is the one selected for the course:  A scene taken from our dock looking north on Lake Memphremagog. 

A black and white shot of a very turbulent lake.

The reflection of a large granite boulder beside a shallow section near the shore.

Practicing close-ups with a friend's 100 lens.  Water drops on a clematis.

I'd love to know which is your favourite.  Thanks for looking.

Photography at the Cottage

Last weekend my photography group went to the cottage for a few days to practice different techniques.  Some of us have new cameras and needed some time to figure them out.  Maria Korab-Lakowska is the professional in the group and so kind and helpful with our problems.  Needless to say, the potluck food was delicious.

We drove down via the Abbaye de Saint Benoit du Lac on Lake Memphremagog.  The monastery was founded for Benedictine monks in 1912 although the building you see below was built much later. They are famous for their cheeses and apple products, both of which are sold in their store along with other tasty items.

photo by Margaret Czalbowska

 The rest of the photos are mine except for the group shot at the end.  These two below were taken inside the Abbaye. 

The sunset one evening at the lake was quite glorious and lasted quite a long time.  It gave us lots of opportunity to play with our settings.

 We stopped in at the Wheeler's farm to take some pictures.  

Below are from the Tomifobia bike trail.  No white trilliums, just red ones.

We were learning how to take a photo of an object at night.  Now to try it on some flowers!

Here we are at the Michael Dunn park at the south end of the lake. 

Lake Memphremagog Blues

Indigo dyeing is something I've wanted to do for a long time and it was a great to do it with the help and support of a group of friends.  We had 3 days at the cottage and were able to work outside the whole time.

The indigo is synthetic partially reduced granules from ProChem and following the directions on their website, we made up a 20 litre vat.  This shows the stock solution that is about ready to go into the water solution.  The transformation, both of the coppery crust that forms, the limey green that shows underneath, and the colour that emerges after had us feeling like alchemists!

The stock container was slowly submerged and as the contents spilled into the water a navy cloud emerged.

After being submerged for several minutes, this twisted and tied piece of cotton was withdrawn and as you can see it's as green as the glove.  In a couple of minutes the colour had changed (oxidized) to blue.

The gloves (from Dharma) are called Mad Scientist Gloves and reach up over the elbow - and down to the bottom of the vat when something fell to the bottom!

Some of our folded pieces hanging on the line to dry.

And this is what they looked like after they were opened up.

The first piece on the left is pole wrapped cotton, and the next 3 are silk velvet scarves.

Cottons wrapped and stitched in a variety of ways.

Soy wax and various kitchen implements were used to create these designs.  Also a wood block and tjianting tool.  It will look better cut up!

And here we are!  Blue fingers notwithstanding.