Month: June 2013

“Rockin the Monochrome”

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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to a vintage automobile show at Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan. It’s called the Motor Muster, a yearly show which brings automobile enthusiasts of every kind together with more cars, motorcycles and other vehicles than you can shake a stick at!!

I have just started to get to these images, so while looking through them at first glance, these two popped out at me, and said MONOCHROME!!

Here we have the wheel and details of a beautiful 1955 Jaguar, and the stunning hood ornament from a Rolls Royce of an unknown year. Unknown to me at least! 😉

I’ll be bringing you more images from the 2013 Motor Muster, next time in color. I have a fun image coming up that also involves a vintage camera.

For now, enjoy these and have a great week ahead to all!!

1955 Jaguar- mono

“1955 Jaguar” mono

-Rockin the Rolls- mono

“Rockin the Rolls” mono

“The Cool of the Evening”

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This image speaks for itself, so my words will be few. This is one of the images from my series “Sunsets over Water”. When looking for a title, the first thing that popped into my mind was the first words in a song “In the cool of the evening” by Dusty Springfield.

Now the rest of the lyrics in that song seem in no way related to this serene image, as you may know. The evening though, when this was taken was COOL and peaceful.

So I just started singing this song, and the next thing you know. There’s the title!

Relax, gaze into this soothing sunset from Northern Michigan, and enjoy!!

Pure Michigan Sunset
Pure Michigan Sunset

“Sailing with You”

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Watching over waters blue,
My thoughts and memories return to you.

The days go by like a billowing sail,
The nights stay long as time does trail.

I remember well with fondness true,
Of my time spent sailing with you!
By ~Rachel Cohen~

“Sailing with You”
-Sailing with You-

“On Grassy Dunes”

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Yet another image from the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes. If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll know that I had a big wind problem for quite a bit of the time I was there.

I chose to get down really low for this image. From this vantage point you can see some of the effects of the wind on the grass. I wish you could see how huge these dunes actually are. I usually don’t like to have people in my images, but for this one it would have been nice to have some to show size and scale!

I’m sure many of you have been to this location, but for those who haven’t, it certainly is worth it. The sunset’s along Lake Michigan are a huge plus!!

I hope I’ll be able to process some of those soon. I’m a little back-logged at the moment! 😉

-On Grassy Dunes-

“Sand Flower”

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In stark contrast to the two images in my last post, I thought I’d show you one of the flowers of pure beauty that lives and thrives in the sand at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.

I have no idea what this plant or flower is called, so feel free to let me know. I found this botanical among thousands of others on a climb on the eastern facing side of the dunes.

This day was also extremely windy, especially in this location, so I decided to climb further up, then down, to try and get away from the strong gusts. I ended up going along some very narrow trails, over and under trees of varying sizes, and in the end I found that there was no way to escape the wind. I basically just had to cling onto a tree with all my strength to steady myself in order to get this image. I imagine these flowers only bloom for a short while every year. So I’m happy that I was there to see it at the right time!!

I hope you like it! I sure do, especially after what I went through to get it!! 😉

A Dose of Beauty

“Twisted Beauty”

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I don’t know if you’ll see the interest in this twisted piece of wood that I do, but I thought I’d present it anyway. While at Sleeping Bear Dunes there happened to be quite a bit of wind for most of the time I was there. Many images I wanted to get, weren’t even possible because of the windy conditions. The sand was blowing like crazy! Getting into my eyes, stinging my skin, and of course causing me plenty of worry about my camera!

In the case of this image, I was trying to escape some of the wind by getting down on the ground behind a sand dune. either crouching down or on my stomach. While there I noticed this single twisted piece of wood protruding from the sand. I thought it had a nice curve, and a barren look to it, so I got a couple of shots.

I decided to use this one, which I processed in color first, then decided it would look nice in a monochrome conversion too.

Check it out. See if you see the beauty where I do, and which image you like better. The color version or the monochrome?

Twisted Beauty in color

-Twisted Beauty-

Twisted Beauty the monochrome version

-Twisted Beauty- mono

“Fly the Flags”

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On a recent trip out to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore. I passed through Traverse City. As I drove along 31, which hugs the shore of Grand Traverse Bay, I kept seeing sailboats pass by on the clear blue water.

I decided to make a quick stop into a spot for viewing, hoping to get in some nice contrast with the beautiful blue water and white sailboats. While there, I headed up to where a jetty ended into an overlook area and two flags were flying in the breeze.

By the time I had reached, all the sailboats had long since sailed away! So consequently I never did get any images of the sailboats, but I did like this composition of a part of the jetty, a walkway, lines, flags, and clouds, so I grabbed this shot!

To me it really calls out summertime, and beauty! I hope it does for you too!

Enjoy!!

Flags upon the Bay.
Flags upon the Bay.