“The Mushroom” The Art Print of the Week

“The Mushroom” The Art Print of the Week

I updated my B&W Photography 2 Gallery this week and the art print of the week is one of the new additions. This print is a macro shot of a mushroom growing in the woods that I came across on one of my hikes here in the Pacific Northwest. As a side note…mushroom or toadstool, I don’t know the difference as I don’t pick them, so in my mind it’s a mushroom. That said, I thought the texture and contrast of the shot lent itself well to a black and white art print. Visit the gallery for other shots recently added from my hikes and from the Issaquah Railroad Museum….

source: B&W Photography 2 Gallery

The Mushroom

Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

A Photo Shoot: “The Bench”

As any outdoor photographer can tell you, when we are out and about, we are always looking for a great shot. There are those occasions where I am out specifically getting shots like last week when I did the photo shoot of the Seattle Great Wheel, but there are also those occasions when you are just out and about and you catch it in the corner of your eye. If possible, you stop and go back at that moment. I have been known to make sudden side trips with a passenger in the car and they look at me , like are you nuts….no…I saw something. My wife has gotten use to this, so she humors me.

I saw that thing in the corner of my eye the other day, but couldn’t stop and take advantage of it, so I had to pass it up. It weighed on my mind the rest of the day and into the next. I finally decided, I had to go back and take some shots now…unfotunately for me it was raining, a nice steady rain, but I couldn’t get it out of my head…yea, I ended up hiking in the rain to get that shot.  I call the photo shoot: “The Bench” as a bench is the subject matter I was after.

There is something about a bench on a trail or in front of a scenic overlook that invites you to sit and take it all in or to sit and have a conversation with someone close to you. Whatever it is, I am drawn to capturing them.

I have attached three of those photos I took from my rain excursion and then included the three watercolor art prints that resulted from them .

The Bench Picture 1

This is the original photograph I took, you can tell it’s a dreary rainy day, but we still have the fall color and the leaves have fallen over the path.

Next, the resulting watercolor:

The Bench Watercolor 1

Next is picture number 2…

The Bench Picture 2

The same bench, just a slightly different perspective. The resulting watercolor…

The Bench Watercolor 2

And finally picture number 3…

The Bench Picture 3

and the resulting watercolor…

The Bench Watercolor 3

The same bench in all three, but from different perspectives. So, that was my photo shoot for the week and the resulting art prints.

Thoughts? Comments? Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

“The Wheel and The Ferry” – Art Print of the Week

“The Wheel and The Ferry” The Art Print of the Week

I updated my Black and White Photography 1 Gallery  this week and the art print of the week is one of the new additions. This print is of the Seattle Great Wheel located at the end of a pier along the waterfront in downtown. In the back ground is one of the many ferries that run from across the Puget Sound connecting places like Bainbridge Island and Bremerton to downtown Seattle. Although the actual day was sunny with high clouds, I chose to publish this shot in black and white to create the perceived Seattle mood. Visit the gallery for other art prints of the Seattle Great Wheel and much more…

source: Black and White Photography 1 Gallery

The Wheel and The Ferry

Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

Related articles

• A Photo Shoot: The Seattle Great Wheel (thewallgalleryblog.wordpress.com)
• A Photo Shoot: The Olympic Peninsula (thewallgalleryblog.wordpress.com)
• Fall in Emerald City (portfolioenroute.com)
• The Seattle Great Wheel (aka Ferris wheel) (biskey7.wordpress.com)
• Puget Sound Orcas Circle Ferry Carrying Artifacts (seattle.cbslocal.com)
• Seattle: Downtown (reshapingreality.wordpress.com)

A Photo Shoot: The Olympic Peninsula

Last week I posted some of the results from my photo shoot on the waterfront in downtown Seattle. My focus was the Seattle Great Wheel and I was very pleased with a number of the shots that I got. This week I wanted to post a few shots from that same photo shoot, but these shots are a series I captured by my wife politely nudging me to turn around and pull out my telephoto lens. When I did turn around, I wasn’t so sure but changed lenses and began to shoot. I am so glad I did. The first picture is to give a reference point of the location I was standing….waterfront, downtown Seattle.

The Waterfront in Downtown Seattle

I am standing on a pier and by simply turning around and pointing the camera (with the telephoto lens) across the Puget Sound, I got the following pictures.

The Olympic Peninsula

Bainbridge Island in the foreground….

The Olympic Peninsula

Bainbridge Island in the foreground across Puget Sound.

The Olympic Peninsula

Bainbridge Island still in the in the foreground.

This shot includes the Seattle side of the water with the sail boats docked to the north of downtown region.

The visual impact of the Olympic Range is definitely heightened by the use of the telephoto lens, but does remind us of the incredible beauty that sits just to the west of the Seattle area between the Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.

As I work through the shoot and evaluate what I have, some of the shots will find themselves transformed into paintings and black and white photography, while others will stay color photographs.

Thoughts? Comments? Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

The Rock Climber

“The Rock Climber”  The Art Print of the Week

I updated my Inspiration Gallery and the art print of the week is one of the new additions. This print is a motivational thought of mine as an overlay on a color photograph. The photograph was taken last spring in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area right outside of Las Vegas. What I like about the picture and why I chose it as a backdrop on one of my inspiration prints was the rock climber barely visible in the picture. When you first look at the picture, you go…cool….red rock…pretty and then you see it. The tiny speck of bright red in the lower right of the picture. It takes a second, but then you realize the red dot is a guy climbing up the face of the rock and he has two buddies at the base below him. It brings the perspective of size into focus real fast.

The Rock Climber

source: Inspiration Gallery

Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

Related articles

• After The Fall: How A Paraplegic Rock Climber Conquered Yosemite’s El Capitan (sykose.com)
• Our super rock climber (moorfieldprimaryschool.wordpress.com)
• 30 Things Rock Climbers Love (buzzfeed.com)

 

A Photo Shoot: The Seattle Great Wheel

My photo shoot this week took me to downtown Seattle. It  occurred to me that I had not done a photo shoot in downtown for a couple of years and the last time would have been before the Seattle Great Wheel (ferris wheel) had been built at the end of one of the piers along the water front. Some facts: The Seattle Great Wheel was built in less than a year, but its story goes back much further than that. Seattle businessman Hal Griffith had envisioned a Ferris wheel in the city for nearly 30 years, but it wasn’t until he realized he could build one on his own pier that his dream became a reality. The Seattle Great Wheel opened to the public on June 29, 2012. Since then, it has become an icon of the city and a destination for tourists and locals alike. Here are some fun facts about the Seattle Great Wheel:

• The Seattle Great Wheel is the largest observation wheel on the west coast, standing 175 feet tall.

• The wheel has 42 fully-enclosed gondolas. Each gondola seats up to eight people, meaning the wheel can hold over 300 passengers at any given time.

• The wheel was manufactured in various parts of Europe and the United States, and assembled right at the end of the pier.

• The wheel extends nearly 40 feet beyond the end of the pier, over Elliott Bay.

• The Seattle Great Wheel is open year round. With fully-enclosed gondolas and a covered waiting area, the rain can’t stop the wheel from spinning!

• The Wheel weighs 280,300 pounds.

• 550 tons of concrete were poured to create the foundation for the wheel.

My shots are from the view-point of a photographer/artist, so I always look for unique angles and composition. The first picture is of the city skyline and the beginning of the pier. I framed this shot to highlight the fall colors of the trees against the city back drop. The ferris wheel is at the end of the pier past Miners Landing. Please note, it doesn’t always rain in Seattle…nice sunny day!! The next picture is of the Seattle Great Wheel sitting at the end of the pier!

Seattle Great Wheel

The next shots are clearly “artistic” in nature, but I like some of the elements and composition, so I wanted to share the originals before I start playing with them. This one is from beneath the wheel looking up…The next one is standing beneath the wheel looking up one of the support structures..

Seattle Great Wheel

And the final shot a look at the gondolas……..

Seattle Great Wheel

As I work through the shoot and evaluate what I have, some of the shots will find themselves transformed into paintings and black and white photography, while others will stay color photographs. Thoughts? Comments? Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

Related articles

• Seattle Great Wheel Eating Competition (slog.thestranger.com)
• Seattle Workshops and Photo Excursions (joebeckerphoto.wordpress.com)
• Imagine Cup TV Episode 15: All Around Seattle | Imagine Cup TV (channel9.msdn.com)

Arizona Sunset

“Arizona Sunset” The Art Print of the Week

I updated my Abstract Watercolor Gallery this week and the art print of the week is one of the new additions. This print is an abstract watercolor painting of an Arizona sunset. I was lucky enough to capture a couple of shots last spring when we were in Mesa visiting family. From those shots, I created this watercolor using an abstract technique that keeps the visual focus on the suggested shapes and bright colors.

source: Abstract Art Watercolor Gallery

Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

A Photo Shoot: The Moss Covered Stairs

I wanted to get another hike/photo shoot in before the rains take over the weather here in the Seattle area. Yesterday was the perfect day for just that. I live at the base of an area called Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. The park tops out at an elevation of 1595 feet above sea level.  One of the trail heads up the mountain starts down the street from us.  The trail takes you through very dense woods and numerous switch backs as you climb in altitude very quickly. The forest changes from deciduous to almost all fir trees. My goal for the day was to hike to what is called the Anti-Aircraft Peak trailhead. In the 1950s and early 60s, two active Nike missile sites were located within the park’s current boundaries, in order to protect the Puget Sound region from potential air attacks. Eventually, these sites were decommissioned, and in the late 1960s, the county took over ownership of the land that would later become Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

What I wanted to share was a couple of pictures from that hike/photo shoot. The first picture is from the top and gives you an idea of the elevation.

Cougar Mountain Reserve Overlook

This is a view looking north towards Lake Sammamish. My hike started almost straight below this picture. To the right of this shot is the Cascade Mountain Range and to the left would be Bellevue and Seattle proper.

Ok…thanks for the tour Kirt, but what the heck does “The Moss Covered Stairs” have to do with that…

The Anti Aircraft missile site was located just south of this overlook. What remains of what was once an active military installation is a large grassy area. The county has done a great job restoring it back to a useful public park. The park has large posters and maps erected depicting where the barracks use to be, the missiles and all of the supporting buildings, etc. Fascinating, but you truly don’t see any of that now, except….as I walked around the site looking for any old indications of what use to be there, I came across two stair cases that connected the flat “barrack area” (now grass-covered park) up to another level where the missiles had been. The first stair case was through some weeds.

The Moss Stairs I First Found

The second staircase was through a grove of trees.

The Moss Covered Stairs Above Them

Both stairs were created using stone and metal. The first set was pretty straight forward, while this second set had multiple levels and wound around the trees. An interesting find and glad they were left when they decommissioned the site and turned it into a park. Makes for a “wow” moment for a photographer.

I was able to get a number of other great shots in the woods, but thought the stairs were the biggest surprise for the day.

As I work through the shoot and evaluate what I have, some of the shots will find themselves transformed into paintings and others, like the stairs, will stay color photographs.

Thoughts? Comments?

Please visit my main gallery: TheWalllGallery … and follow my work on my Facebook page – TheWallGallery by Kirt Tisdale. (Page likes are always appreciated!) Thanks!

Art Print of the Week 11.1.13