Bad weather fun..

First off, here is Charlie doing his duty as a Comfort Dog. I was changing the bed and folding laundry just before it should have been Rich's 'nap' time. 

He moaned and groaned and then nudged me repeatedly until I put him on the bed. 

Just as I finished with putting things away, arranging the commode [yeah, there is that] and  filling the CPAP water container, Rich announced he was ready for a nap.

 I laughed and told him that Charlie had anticipated this and everything was ready.

Charlie pushed the blanket with his nose and nested right next to Rich's pillow. 

When Rich came in, Charlie moved over and waited, tail wagging furiously. Rich laid down and Charlie nudged under the blanket to nest at hubby's back.

That is where I left the two of them.

With the house clean, laundry done and put away, chores finished, and supper thawing, I decided it was time to get back to some creative photography.

But first, a couple of Infrared Shots of Friday evening's wild clouds and weather. We live in a hollow, the winds sounded like a C-130 airplane flying over the house. 

Things got crazy Friday night but we suffered no damage near our house.
Shot with IR camera with a 720nm filter. Infrared really brings out the contrasts in the skies.

I've been 'off' of most photography since the beginning of March for obvious reasons. 

However, I was feeling the need to 'create' something, anything just to get the juices going again. The land is brown, the dull outdoor season is upon us. It is exciting in a way because the first plants to poke their leaves up will cause intense joy. So March may be wild, but it also brings joy [unless you are caught in a March storm].

This is a photo of the Cheese Maker's shop in the Medieval Town. I thought it would be fun to greet the cheesemaker with Nina and her herd of goats. 
The mat that the characters are on is simply a cheap 'grass' mat of paper glued to cardboard.

The background of the sky and field is an AI picture I created with DDG. I set everything up in front of our old Smart TV and used the digital image as its background.

I used the Lensbaby lens to shoot this. I am enjoying the weirdness of this little lens and how creative it can be. So most of what I do for a few weeks will be pushing the limits of this little lens.

I think this is my favorite shot of yesterday. The foreground is just a piece of brown cardboard, the 'stuff' on the cardboard are the dried bits of tea from a tea bag. I used my pipe cleaner tree an alien Lego and the minibots. This too is a digital background. 

It appears to me that these guys jumped through another worm hole into a place they shouldn't be!

I wanted to do an 'action' scene too. 

I set this up and really...I shot it using all the WRONG colors.

I wanted the mood to look like night. So I used what I thought would be bluish lights...

It turned out crappy. But with some ON1 magic, I may have saved it enough to try it again in better light. I can work with this and reimagine what I'd like. For now, it is this:

I'm happy to experiment and make mistakes as that is the only way I can improve anything I do.

I'm hoping to get out and take a walk today to look for mosses and lichens. I'm in a 'close up' macro kind of mood.

I want to crawl around in the dirt and smell the forest floor. Yeah, I am weird, but there you go...good weather, bad weather....I can usually find something to do....
We also finished the Plum Blossom Lego set!

Just make it up as I go...

With the news that is overwhelming and concerning each day, I do try to find something...anything to take my mind off from it and also ease my whirling brain from both the news and the difficulty of being a Caregiver.

I was stuck inside [during that last cold spell] so I decided to do something interesting 3D printed character I acquired. It has no face, no name, but has the number 13 on its chest. It is a color I would never have chosen, but there it is. 

Pink.

Pink must have a story behind her. She is a she, correct? She came with a faithful robot dog. Everyone needs a faithful sidekick, right? So I call them Pink and Pip. I don't know why but just because I felt like it.

They live somewhere in the future I suppose in a warehouse. 

She dreams of a beautiful place a dreamy place. The sort of place her handlers have talked about in the distant past. Beauty, flowers, tranquility.

Pink and Pip play fetch on their down time as Pink explains about this wonderful world she has never seen but has only heard about.

Pip rejoices with her master and plays fetch. They talk about dreams and possibilities. Why is it that their handlers are the only ones allowed to have dreams?

Robots don't really sleep. But they do have down time. One night...Pip pulls Pink out of her downtime. Pip squeaks and squawks.  

This is no imaginary dream. She awakens to ...

to what? She is not programmed for this.

She goes outside to stare at the unbelievable...

What would happen next? I got stuck here for a long time. Actually for a few weeks. I didn't know what Pink should do.

And I left her in a desperate situation... like a cliff hanger on a mystery show...

But then I recalled my MiniBots from last year. I used them for a while and then gave them a storyline with Donder regarding the fact that they found Worm Holes and Rips in the Fabric of Time to travel through.

Maybe ... maybe Pink should find the MiniBots to help transport her away from this awful future world?

All of the above photos were set up indoors using a digital backgrounds. I made the backgrounds using Deep Dream Generator. I simply create a scene I can imagine [which takes many tries] and then either use my laptop for the background as I do for smaller things, or the old smart TV for the larger items. 

It is like making a movie as you have to build 'a set' for the characters that work. It is like producing a Hollywood scene and is quite fun.

I have learned so much from a site called Toy Photographers. I often go back and read their articles. The tips and tricks are fun to experiment with and I think it helps my regular photography also.

Anyway. If my attention remains focused, I'll see if I can figure out Pink and Pip's next steps.

When it is nasty out....

I turn to Toy Photography which is a great way to explore and challenge yourself with a camera. 

It also works great if you need a distraction or something to do when the weather is really quite horrible. 

Or the news is horrible, or the winds are blowing dust like it is the dust bowl era.

Hubby grounded me anyway, so I'm stuck indoors for a couple of days.

I purchased these cake toppers at a Dollar Store over a year ago and like my other Lego minifigs, they get stored away and then for whatever reason, I bring them out. One of the things I really love about them, is that they aren't moveable. Which may not make sense except that their expressions are so fun!

The MiniBot in the center here has become my favorite character of the Minis. He looks like he is yelling. So indeed, he must be the Leader of the MiniBots. 

Below it seems he is dressing down the Droids in front of the other MiniBots. The Droids do look a bit sheepish.

He even has a name.
Steve.

I created the 'scenes' with junk. I've explained before that I enjoy taking trash and turning it into a diorama. I use pieces and parts so I can reassemble them at will into different scenes. 

Most of what went into the above scene was an old humidifier that went kaput. I took it apart and used my craft paints to make the parts look rusty and old. There is even a soup can in the picture.

Moss that is spread about is part of a cardboard box I painted black.

I've also taken some plastic soda tops and straws and glued them together, along with those pesky medicine tops that you have to push down and rotate. They make great little bits for background. Toilet paper rolls always have endless possibilities. Old rusty bolts provide a great scene for ... 

when the Minibots find a Worm Hole to travel through.

I started my interest in toys because I simply wasn't very good with regular items in Still Life. I tried to make beautiful arrangements of cups, sauces, flowers, and other items but I generally ended up inserting something odd.

I once put a Lego minifig into a cup of tea I was shooting. I was trying to do serious Still LIfe, but ended up doing silly stuff instead. 

Once I went there, I was hooked. Silly Still Life is much more amusing.

My favorite toys to photograph are those that aren't Licensed. You know, ..not... Disney, Marvel, and others. I feel obligated to make licensed toys do the things that they were made for. But isn't it more amusing to put them in other situations? 

For whatever the reason is, I've had some fun with these little cheap cake toppers. I mean, what kid would want these ugly little robots on their cake?

I have to admit, they used to look cleaner before I got after them with a paint brush to 'distress' their looks.

One of the easiest things to do is shoot them with a background I made in Deep Dream Generator using my laptop.

I simply typed in something like *wet dark alley, gloomy, with trash laying all around*. Viola. I had a digital set for my MiniBots.

I almost felt guilty for having such an easy set up for these guys. Usually it takes quite a bit of work to set up a diorama and then position things over and over and try to get things lit up just right.

I did a couple more grungy scenes with them then cleaned everything up and put it away. I have another project that caught my attention. I'm like that.

I can be on my way from one room to another and take a detour in the middle of what I am doing to ... do something else. I can have 3 things half finished by the time I get back to what I should have been doing in the first place.

Seriously though, I am much more single minded while doing the chores. 

We have ferocious winds here today. I cannot imagine how awful they will be on the ridge. I'm happy we live in a hollow.

And here we go...on towards the middle of the week.

What next???

Meanwhile

A diversion from reality with some of my still life and fun...

I'm sorry, but I have to announce that we have 
cancelled all tours to Earth.

How many times do I have to tell you
....

you are my droids!
None of that Star Wars fantasy stuff!

Beware?
Looks like they are looking for a lost

Dragon!!!

Here I am!!!!

Searching for Intel

This is not what I envisioned when you said
we'd climb Cinnamon Mountains!

Always be amazed...

The reason we write fiction is because it is so much easier to spend part of each day
in an imaginary world. 

~~

Kurt Vonnegut

Using Junk for fun

Junk diorama.

I've enjoyed the challenges of making something out of nothing. I've watched some great videos about how to make dioramas out of junk. Below are pieces of stuff I was going to throw out. Medicine vials, parts of a defunct humidifiers, CPAP hoses, Toilet Paper rolls, soda caps, and miscellaneous card board boxes and pieces.

That is what the 'creative' table looked like before photographing the characters.

Below is what the photo ended up looking like.

The minibots are actually cheap cake toppers from the dollar store a few years ago. Except for the Lego Droids that I picked up at a yard sale, the cost of this whole set up was $1. Of course I got out my old paints and enjoyed giving everything a look of rustic old pieces of junk.

I keep these pieces in a box with fake rocks I made out of Styrofoam board I found in another junk pile in the shed. I keep thinking I should toss it out...but.....

The fake rocks were used to make this scene of an Ogre and Orcs meeting in a cave. The 'fog' was made with a long exposure of mist from a face mister.

When I get stuck inside all day, I busy myself while my hubby naps. This is something I can do with headphones on. I listen to music and rearrange my junk so I can make a new scene.

This included some of the previous junk stuff. The figures are cheap Hasbro Droid figures from the Star Wars series. I like robots and droids, they are cool. The light in the back is simply a medicine vial that I sparsely painted and set over a balloon light.

The possibilities are endless at my little creative table. The fun part is that  I can set things up and tear things down constantly. 

This next shot is a set up for a Dragon and Rock Monster portrait.

I do say that I make a lot of adjustments and mistakes before I get one shot that I keep.

Many years ago, I swore I'd never 'shoot' anything involving still life. But I took an online class specifically for that just to challenge myself. I enjoyed the class much to my surprise. Still Life can be very technical or very simple.

Since delving into the fun world of toy photography, I've decided that this is so enjoyable and presents with so many creative aspects. I'll keep on keeping on!

I'll never stop enjoying nature photography, but this is a great way to practice the art of photography when I cannot get out in nature.