Day 34 - Many Colors

The many colors of the Crayola Crayon.

Multi-colored - Day 111 #CY365

My multi-colored kite against a clear blue sky. Canon G15, 1/1250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Choose a Favorite - Day 62 #CY365

Today's challenge was to choose a favorite color. My favorite color is red but I thought I try a little color theory with today's photo. I formed a color wheel using my grandson's crayons. The arrangement of the colors around the wheel help define both complimentary and analogous colors. Complementary colors can be found by choosing any color around the wheel and then looking straight across the wheel. For red the complimentary color is green, think Christmas. Yellow's complimentary color is violet and blue's is orange. Analogous colors are those on either side of main color. In the case of red, it's red orange and red violet. A color wheel is a very useful tool for decorators, artists, photographers and even a guy when picking a tie or socks to match that shirt. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro, LED ring light and two LED litepanels.

Keep Going - Day 59 #CY365

Moving up the kettlebell train. Got to keep going because as they say, "no pain - no gain". Canon 5D Mark II, 1/20 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 1600.

Vivid - Day 26 #CY365

Vivid - In thinking of today's challenge I was looking for something that was both vivid - very bright in color and producing distinct mental images. I chose this empty bill container because of not only the bright colors but the memories it represents. This was one of two such containers that my father-in-law Carlton Garrett relied on each day towards the end of his life. Suffering from renal failure diagnosed in 2006 he spent 6 years in hemodialysis, 3 visits a week - 4 to 5 hours a visit, and then home based peritoneal dialysis for the last year and half of his life. There were a variety of pills to take four times a day and the brightly colored containers brought some order to the chaos of it all. We miss you Dad but always know your memory will be vivid.

iPhone 5, 1/300 sec @ f/2.4, ISO 50, Camera+ App, clarity enhancement, Diana filter and Film frame.

Umbrellas - Day 23 #CY365

Umbrellas - Day 23 of 365. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/1000 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, backlit with LED litepanel.

Abandoned - Day 19 #CY365

"Abandoned" - a line up of abandoned sea mark buoys at L. Chenman, Inc. Scrap Metals in Norfolk, Virginia. The green buoys are know to mariners as "green cans" which is also the name of a local microbrew from O'Connor Brewing Co. located just a few blocks from the Chenman buoys.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/100 sec @ f/16, ISO 100.

"I never met a color I didn't like." - Dale Chihuly

We went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts today. It is amazing. I really appreciate his work and his policy allowing educational and non-commercial photography of his work. Please enjoy this mini-tour as captured by my camera. The pictures show the colors and some of the glory of the work but they are no substitute for seeing them in person. The descriptions are from the text presented with each display at the VMFA. I hope my photos inspire you to make the trip to Richmond to experience it in person. Better hurry through the show ends February 10, 2013.

All the photographs were taken with a Canon 5D Mark II with either a 35mm prime lens or a 100mm macro lens.

FIORI AND FLOAT BOATS - They would get in their boats and go down and collect the glass—it looked so stunning in the rowboat—that was a whole new idea for me, and it’s one that I still use today.
—Dale Chihuly

This installation includes two of Chihuly’s wooden rowboats, one filled with Fiori elements and another with Niijima Floats. The Fiori Boat features various garden glass shapes and forms inspired by Chihuly’s love of gardens and conservatories. Niijima Floats were inspired by the artist’s trip to the Japanese island of Niijima and by childhood memories of discovering Japanese fishing net floats along the beaches of Puget Sound. Chihuly first filled boats with his glass pieces in Nuutajärvi, Finland, during the Chihuly Over Venice project in June 1995. Wondering if the glass would float, Chihuly began tossing works into the river and let them float downstream. Local teenagers in small, wooden rowboats gathered them up.

PERSIAN CEILING - The Persians—that’s one of the most difficult series to describe. It started off that they were geometric shapes, I think—it was a search for new forms. It was so interesting, what came out of it—we worked for a year only on doing experimental Persians—so I got to pick and choose from these parts and develop a new series. It has changed in many ways over the years.
—Dale Chihuly

Chihuly began the Persians series in 1986 while experimenting with new forms. Originally, he displayed Persians in pedestal compositions, often with smaller shapes nested in larger pieces. The first Persian Ceiling was presented in his 1992 exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. Lit from above and resting on a flat glass pane, the elements of the Persian Ceiling come together to provide an immersive experience in color and shape. There are over a thousand Persian pieces in this installation.

MACCHIA FOREST - I think it was in 1981 that I woke up one morning and said,“I’m going to use all three hundred colors in the hotshop in as many possible variations and combinations as I can.” I started by making up a color chart with one color for the interior, another color for the exterior, and a contrasting color for the lip wrap, along with various jimmies and dusts of pigment between the gathers of glass. Throughout the blowing process, colors were added, layer upon layer. Each piece was another experiment. When we unloaded the ovens in the morning, there was the rush of seeing something I had never seen before. Like much of my work, the series inspired itself. The unbelievable combinations of color—that was the driving force. —Dale Chihuly

Chihuly chose the name for this series after asking his friend, artist Italo Scanga, for the Italian word for “spotted” or “stained.” Initially quite small, the Macchia grew in size and, like earlier works, were amassed into groupings or “families.” The Macchia here are installed together on pedestals in a group called a Macchia Forest.

This is a detail of a very small part of the piece called LAGUNA TORCELLO.

NEON TUMBLEWEED Talk about a form of light—neon is light itself. But, of course, neon couldn’t exist without glass. —Dale Chihuly

REEDS ON LOGS - In Finland we started making these long, cylindrical pieces, which looked like spears. This was an exciting new form. It was the first time we ever made anything like that. They can be taken anywhere—they can go outside. They are very strong pieces, and they are very dramatic. —Dale Chihuly

Installations of Reeds, or Spears as they were first named, began when Chihuly was working in Finland in 1995. The first time Chihuly combined Reeds and logs was for an installation at the Marlborough Gallery in New York. Since then, he has continued to create these works in various colors, installing the series both outdoors and indoors.

Fall in the City

The yellow and gold colors of fall grace the east end of Freemason Street in downtown Norfolk Virginia. Canon G11, 1/30 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400.

Fall Explosion

Time for a little explosion of fall color. Canon 7D, 1/5 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Vail Mountain

Still sharing some of my Colorado pictures on the blog. This is the view from the top of Vail Mountain looking down into the "bowl." You can see a grove of aspen trees, and then bands of thick green pines and the cleared sky run areas. I was at about 10,500 feet for this shot. Canon 5D, Mark II, 1/100 sec @ f/18.0, ISO 200, 105mm focal length.

Piney Lake

Piney Lake is the highest elevation lake you can drive to in Colorado at 9,350 feet. The journey is just a spectacular as the view from the lake. You drive 10 miles on a dirt road full of switchbacks and white knuckle, right on the edge turns. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250 sec @ f/14.0, ISO 200, zoom at 88mm focal length.

Sawatch Range

The Sawatch Range in central Colorado taken from atop Vail Mountain. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/16.0, ISO 200, zoom at 70mm focal length.

Thread Rainbow

- This rack of sewing thread at Joann's Fabric's in Virginia Beach, Virginia reminded me of a rainbow. Canon G11, 1/100 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, in macro mode.

Mike and Ike

Mike and Ike candies in one of the 50 cent globe dispensers at the mall. Mike and Ike is a brand of fruit-flavored candies first introduced in 1940 by Just Born, Inc. These fruit-flavored, chewy candies come in several colors and varieties including: cherry, orange, lime, lemon and strawberry. Each candy has 7 calories, 0 grams of fat and approximately 1 gram of sugar. The candy is kosher and gluten-free. According to Wikipedia, celebrity fans include Will Smith, Paul Rudd, and Steven Spielberg. Just Born, Inc. also makes Hot Tamales candies. Canon G11, 1/40 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800.

Beach Cruisers

- Beach cruiser bikes for Christmas? Best Value Hardware 4801 Shore Drive in Virginia Beach, Virginia has all colors and several styles. iPhone 4, 1/161 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80, Camera+ App, Vibrant FX Effect and Vignette Border applied.

Simple

- A simple photo of some decorative colored glass bottles taken at the Hobby Lobby. iPhone 4, 1/17sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80, Camera+ App, Scene=Clarity, Crop=Square, Effects=Vibrant, Border=Vignette.

Big Balls

- Dem some big beach balls. Taken along Shore Drive on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk Virginia. Canon G11, 1/2500 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 200.

Plastic Rainbow

- The rainbow of colors from a plastic Slinky. Canon 40D, 1/1000 @ f/4, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Luminarium

- Hope you like blue. This is another photo from inside the luminarium Amacoco that was here in Virginia Beach last month. Looking up at the ceiling in the, you guessed it, blue room. Canon G11 1/400 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400.