Water Abstractions #3
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© Dorothy Gantenbein. All rights reserved.
Flower Vendor #3
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Geary Road #10
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Geary Road #2
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Heading Home
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Uvas Canyon #13
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Lunchtime Drive-By #4
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Just for fun, check out The Epic of the Ilfordians.
Bodie - Pastel Sketch
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This is a pastel portrait of Bodie. I made this pastel portrait as part of my online class on using Corel Painter through Better Photo. It took MUCH too long to complete and I had to go into Photoshop to fine-tune the colors. You cannot see on the web but there is purple shadows that are lost by the color conversion to sRGB.
Digital Gum Bichromate #7
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Digital Gum Bichromate #6
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I am still experimenting with Painter. This process is reallly leaving the look of a gum bichromate print. I changed my approach to keep the painted layers brighter and this resulted in a lot more color.
Digital Gum Bichromate #5
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Digital Gum Bichromate #4 Reworked
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Tried again with a violet underpainting. I think that the composition is too weak so will move on to another image.
Digital Gum Bichromate #4
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Digital Gum Bichromate #3
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Another try at the digital gum bichromate process. I am still working on my palette. I am not there yet but working my way through near misses.
Digital Gum Bichromate #2
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Another try with the digital simulation of gum bichromate printing. I do not have the color palette correct yet.
Digital Gum Bichromate
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I have started a year-long workshop with Ted Orland and David Bayles. Wow! I am very excited and little nervous to get started. We had our first meeting yesterday. I proposed my project as a portfolio of small intimate B&W landscapes from Sunol Regional Park. While at our meeting, I decided with gulp that I would do a book. Well, consider this image my leaping off point. I wanted to colorize my images ala Brian Taylor’s work with gum bichromate. After looking at how gum bichromate processing works, that is not for me. Way too fussy and hands on.
So, I set out to invent my own version using Photoshop and Corel Painter. This is my second piece (the first is not public). I started with charcoal sketches in Corel Painter. Those sketches were tinted with gold, green and blue. I then blended the tinted images in Photoshop using the Multiply blending mode. The Multiply blending mode simulates multiple exposures in camera. Then, I did tonal adjustments and color tweaks in Photoshop. The image was not working for me. So, I added solarized coloring.
Cantor Entrance
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Work has been very busy but I am going to catch up on my posting. I hope to go out and collect new images this weekend. Here is a composite of the door to the Cantor Museum in Stanford along with a Sunol shot.
Rippling
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With no new images this weekend, I decided to create one.
Stepping Stone
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This is an image for a class assignment. I am taking a Photographic Style course. I chose a subject area of intimage infrared landscapes. The assignment is produce images in three different styles for our subject area.
In or Out?
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What a surprise. I just had an itch to make a montage and another for the Urban Woods series resulted. The base image is the Cantor Arts Center with a shot from Yosemite.
Flying Low
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This is another for the Urban Woods series. Hope everyone had a good Christmas. I have a funny story from my girlfriend. This year, she gave into Christmas tree-itis and put up two trees. Her little boy is 4 years old. Early on Christmas morning, her little boy ran in and woke them up. He says "I have good news and bad news.". Dad says "What is that?". The little boy says "Well, Santa came but he only delivered to one tree."
Flowering
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Another from the out-of-focus series. I am undecided but decided to post anyway.
Floating Peacock
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This is another in my fuzzy watercolor phase.
This work is loosely inspired by child art prodigy, Marla Olmstead, age 4. Yes, she is 4 years old and yes, I love her paintings. See http://www.marlaolmstead.com/mainwork.html.
Elevator to...
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Today, I expected to go out shooting but instead just visited a lot of locations and had a nice outing instead. This image is another for "Urban Woods" even though I thought I was done with the series.
Emergency Exit Only
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This is the same base image as yesterday’s image. Of course, the resulting image has a totally different feel. At this point, I am no longer in active development for "Urban Woods".You may see an image or two being posted. Per my portfolio class, I have decided to start a portfolio called "Meditation Spots". This work is much more like my work before Urban Woods or Grungy Flowers took over.
Limitations
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I made this image when I was depressed about losing Cho-Cho. I made a second image (to be posted tomorrow) with the same background that has a totally different feel.
Streaks of Fall
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This weekend, I decided to take a workshop from Digital Stop with Olivia Parker. We had a very small class. This image was made during the workshop. I like the watercolor effect which mimics Olivia’s technique for starting a composite. She starts with out-of-focus shots and merges them together. My resulting composite is very different though.
Blockade
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Another possibility for the Urban Woods series.
Riverwalk
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This one is a composite of a San Francisco street scene with a ’Lost Yosemite’ picture. I have not posted the Yosemite image yet but will in the future. In the lower-left hand corner, there is a pigeon walking down the sidewalk. I did not realize it was there until I starting make this montage. I left the pigeon because it made me smile.
Hanging Out on the Metreon Terrace
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Yes, another for the "Urban Woods" series. This is a slightly different viewpoint of the Metreon Terrace. I am starting a portfolio class next week so expect some changes of directions soon.
Lighted Path
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Today was a miserable day. I had a migraine all day. Finally, I just gave in, took my prescription, and went to bed to sleep it off.
On the hardware front, my backup hard drive for photo backups became unformatted according to Windows. I have tried multiple utilities to see if they can restore the data but no go so far. If Chip cannot recover the data, I lose all my raw images since the beginning of this year.
Ok, enough whining. Tomorrow will be a better day. It is Friday after all.
For some very intriguing beach shots, check out this image.
Warning - Smoking Area
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This one just fell together tonite when I sat down and said "Hmmm...what to post?". I looked at a Coyote Creek shot that was not posted and plopped it on top of this grab shot of a hotel Smoking Area near my work.
No Parking Anytime
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Well, this is another iffy. This is a scene from Coyote Creek overlaid with a grab shot from our recent museum visit.
Fort Mason Receding
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This is a montage of a Fort Mason shot from Photo SF and the north woods of Canada.
Branched Walkway
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This one is more in line with my grungy flowers series but does fit my Urban Woods series except for color.
Ok, I was a little bored today and was referred to this video. I think these guys must have to much free time.
Park Benches
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This is a montage of images from Hakone Gardens and a shot from San Francisco of benches along a concrete wall. I am iffy about this one but decided to post anyway.
Midnight Walk
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I have another roll of B&W film in for processing. However, it is going to be at least a week before I get it back from the lab. The first place that I visited said 3 weeks so a week is better.
This is a montage of two other posted images, one from Santana Row and the other from Golden Gate park.
City Center Receding
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This is a montage of three images. The images of the tree trunks was taken in Samuel P Taylor park but never posted. The second image is a marsh scene from Coyote Creek trail. The final image was taken with my small digicam in downtown Oakland.
On an earlier B&W post, Terri mentioned the B&W work on Andre Kertesz. This reminded me of a find at Photo San Francisco. Check out the Night Journey series of Susan Kae Grant. I visited the Modern Book booth and was fortunate to see her entire portfolio. On my B&W images, I must try a more creative approach to unblock myself. I think all the masterful B&W work that I have seen is running through my head and stopping my own experimentation.
Day Lilies
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This one is a montage of a night shot of day lilies outside In-and-Out Burgers with a waterfall with ferns shot. I definitely went through about 3 dozen layers to end up with this effect.
Moonlit Walk
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Swept Along
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Another for my "Urban Woodlands" series.
Tonite, I had good news waiting in my mailbox. I just found out that I received an Honorable Mention in the Photographer’s Forum Annual Photo Contest. This is my third year of entering, and I have been a finalist in the last two years but no better. Of course, the question now is which picture? I do not know. In fact, I cannot which (3) images that I submitted. Here are the (4) possible pictures. My guess is that it is "Devils Gulch Trail #2".
Step In
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I am running out of material. I have to go out sometime this week and shoot some new images.
Swimming Upstream
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Another in my "Urban Woodland" series.
Enter the Circus
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A circus mural from Santana Row combined with a door and flower image.
A Touch of Frost
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Another image that I am unsure of...but good enough to post.
Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.
Taking Over
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Another composite in the "Urban Woodlands" series.
Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.
Blooming
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This is a straight shot taken at Santana Row. The colors resulted when I applied the Nik Infrared Color filter in Photoshop. I then added grain just because it seems to work with the colors.
I just bought a book on Maggie Taylor’s work and found it fascinating.
Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.
Sweet Dreams
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This is a grab shot from lunch today combined with a woods shot from Canada.
Note: I am in the process of transferring the dorothyphoto.com domain. If you experience any problems, you can always view the blog at http://www.dorothyphoto.com and email me at dgantenbein@comcast.net.
Stairs and Falling Water
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I am undecided on this one but decided to post it anyway.
Meadow Returning
This one does not exactly fit in my "Urban Woodlands" series, but I like it well enough to post.
In Memoriam
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In Memoriam |
For Chip's father.
Hidden Passage
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Hidden Passage |
Just Up the Stairs and to the Right
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Just Up the Stairs and to the Right |
Forest - 2nd Floor
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Forest - 2nd Floor |
Alternate Entrance
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Alternate Entrance |
More on my 'Urban Woodscapes' series. This one is an oldie of the arched entrance combined with a panning shot of the Canada woods. I have not posted the panned woodland shot.
Tea Garden
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Tea Garden |
Santana Row
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Santana Row |
Alternate Path #2
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Alternate Path #2 |
Alternate Path
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Alternate Path |
Watercolored Walk in the Woods
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Watercolored Walk in the Woods |
Another montage with only two images this time. Spent a lot of time blending the water ripples into the tree canopy.
Scribbled Reflections
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Scribbled Reflections |
Grungy or Not?
(rollover mouse to see color version)
I could not decide if I like this grungy or not? Probaby tomorrow, I will not like it at all.
Dancing into Blue
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Dancing into Blue |
To interrupt the Dancing assingment, I made this composite image this weekend from three different images taken during my Dancing assignment. Here are (2) that were posted. See Dancing #12 and Dancing #3. Originally, I had planned this as a vertical but was shown that a horizontal composition worked better.
Oriental Poppy
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Oriental Poppy |
Two Paths
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Two Paths |
Grungy Waterlily
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Grungy Waterlily |
New Beginnings
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New Beginnings |
Cave Painting
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Cave Painting |
It has been a while since I have put up a new grungy flower. I feel inspired today after seeing German Herrara's work at the BAPC event. After spending more time with his 'Book of Mirrors' portfolio, I was shocked to see the similarities that my recent work has with his. I thought that my grungy series was a little weird but unique. Not true. German has been working on his composites for over 5 years. I guess I just have to keep to my own path.
On another front, I thought that I had broken my new Canon 5D. I had been plagued with dust and now hair in the viewfinder and even on the sensor. I felt like the camera is a Hoover sucking in all the gunk outdoors. I kept cleaning and cleaning but seemed to make matters worse. There was a small hair in the viewfinder that was making me crazy. I tried to blow it out and wipe it out with a sensor brush. After my efforts, the viewfinder now appeared to have a semi-circular crack. Since I was down in Long Beach last week, I dropped into the Canon repair facility in Irvine. They took one look and said it is just a big piece of har and you need it cleaned. It can be ready in a few hours and is covered by my warranty. WOOHOO! Finally, a clean camera again. I just hope I can keep it that way.
