Fine Art America/Pixels Sale

I started a Fine Art America Shop about eleven years ago. It includes all of my custom digital art pet portraits and photos of Capitol Hill and from our trips to Iran, Denmark, England, and France. About three years ago I started participating in a weekly photo challenge called 52Frames and have met a lot of people from all over the world. I started to add the photos that have been taken for this weekly challenge to the Fine Art America/Pixels website. There has been traffic to this website over the years and it’s always exciting to receive an email that someone has bought an image of something I painted or something I took a photo of. That happened yesterday! A person from Pennsylvania got a photo of the Old Town Alexandria tunnel matted and framed. I was just so tickled! Then I was reminded that I also had another sale earlier in the year for a print of the carousel on the National Mall. The buyer was from another city in Pennsylvania. All told I’ve sold 58 items on this site since 2013. It has been a fun experience to not only start these websites but also keep them up to date with the latest work. And if someone likes it well enough to buy makes it all the more worth it. 

The Layering Option in Photography

I belong to a weekly photo challenge. Lately some of the entries I have been submitting are composite images. That means it is not just a single photo, but elements from more than one to several photos all combined to create a new image. I rather like the idea of being more creative that way. A friend of ours was asking about the methodology and I was more than willing to help. He was using the Snapseed app; I use the Procreate app. I don’t think it matters because the concept is the same. After talking about it on the phone a bit he sent a successful sample and asked for comments. The image turned out really well and I am looking forward to seeing his submissions in the future using this technique. So I had a bit of fun with it and sent him back a couple of ideas. One was to make the subject look like it should actually be in the photograph. In this case it was his son who was originally sitting on the kitchen floor. I put him on the steps in Old Town Alexandria and also on the fishing dock in Needham Massachusetts. The second option is to have fun with the subject and make sure whatever background is selected compliments the subject - not overwhelm it. Then you can use transparencies and all other sorts of fun things. I suppose I enjoy being creative beyond taking a single photo. I’m not really a photographer - I just enjoy taking pictures. But adding these types of effects makes it all the more interesting. 

Fine Art America T-shirt Order

It’s always fun to get an email from a website that showcases my digital art and photography informing me that an item was purchased. Unlike with Etsy communications, those are requests for commissions that require me to create a new piece of work. These are communications that inform me that someone liked something that was already painted or photographed so much that a purchase was made with the likeness. And that’s what happened yesterday. I not only got one email, but two from Fine Art America. The great thing about digital art and photography is that the images are available worldwide. I have had commissions and purchases worldwide as well. So it was interesting that someone from Markdorf Germany found two images that they liked. One was a photograph of a birdhouse in front of the “pull the curtain” art display at the Hirshhorn Museum, and the other was one of my first digital art paintings of the Martin Luther King Memorial - both in DC. The idea that someone all the way in Germany found the images, liked the images, and bought the T-shirts with the images on them just tickles my fancy. I have a few websites that I constantly update and attend to - Fine Art America, Redbubble, and Zazzle. And everything I do is highlighted on my website LoisTavaf.com. So, thank you for noticing my work out of the millions of images out there! 

Ali Shokri Photography

I belong to the 52Frames photo challenge group. Every week we need to take a photo of a specific subject matter and then submit one image to the website. It’s been a great hobby to have during the pandemic - an excuse to get out of the house. My iPhone is my camera so I’m a bit limited trying to learn a variety of techniques. But I have learned a lot and have gotten apps to assist in some of the more interesting challenges. Last November the challenge was to imitate a photographer. So I found Ali Shokri who specializes in black and white tree photography. While in central Virginia for Thanksgiving visiting family I mentioned that I needed to get a good tree photo. I got a few reasonably decent ones along the James River. Our son mentioned that we should stop in Arrington Virginia on our way back home to visit a single huge oak tree that sits on an old plantation. So we did. And there it was - a HUGE white oak on the farmland. So I submitted that image to the challenge that week. I always post my images on Instagram as well to see which ones resonate with the audience. Last week Ali Shokri “liked” two of the images I had posted. His work is really quite lovely and I developed a liking for black and white photography - I never cared for it before. So, thanks for noticing my images - and thanks for sharing your work! 

52Frames Fast Shutter

Last week’s 52Frames photo challenge was slow shutter. Because an iPhone doesn’t have a slow shutter I needed to download a camera app, study it up, and try to meet the challenge. This week the challenge was fast shutter. That process is something an IPhone can do and I have used it a few times before. You just hold down the shutter button for the time the object is in motion, go back and look at all the frames and select the ones you like. You can also take videos and take screen shots of the video at a spot you like, but the photo quality isn’t as good. We were so happy to finally be able to visit the Capitol reflecting pond last week since the fence surrounding the perimeter was taken down and Independence Avenue and the US Botanic garden once again became accessible. I was hoping the ducks returned to the pool and wanted to get a photo of them doing something. Well, the ducks were all over the place, but not within a reasonable range. The IPhone telephoto lens doesn’t exist, and the close ups are very pixilated. A couple of seagulls were in my range but weren’t moving. So my husband walked in a bit closer to get them to fly. I really didn’t think I was able to capture anything. I got the tail end of the first one. But the second one was very cooperative. I was able to get decent shots of the bird thinking about taking off, starting to take off, taking off, and flying. The most unexpected aspect of the photo was the beautiful background of the pool water that shimmered in green and blue. I’m not really a photographer and my iPhone is the only camera I have. But I was really pleased with my winged friend’s image. 

52Frames_singlefocalpoint

Unfortunately it’s been snowing way too much around here. I am not a fan, having lived in the Midwest for thirty years. After being cooped up on the house for four days, we finally got out and drove in to the city. I wanted to find something that might be a good candidate for the 52Frames single focal point challenge, thinking the WWII Memorial might be a good place to start. Earlier in the week I tried taking a few images in the house and parking garage that might also work in case we couldn’t get out of the house - including a close up of my husband’s torn sock. We parked at the tidal basin and walked over to the Mall. I thought the gold stars at the WWII memorial turned out well, but my husband didn’t like it. We then walked over to the little pond on the way to the Lincoln Memorial, but turned back to walk up constitution Avenue. The barricade and fencing around the White House was clearly visible. Then we headed over to the Washington monument where the sun was hitting the top of it - casting a huge wide shadow. I usually don’t take photos in to the light, but this seemed interesting. After that we took a turn by the Tidal Basin and then a ride up towards the Capitol and our old neighborhood. I can see why the neighbors are so upset about the fortifications there. If I was still working at the Library of Congress, it is walled off by high fencing and barbed wire, along with guards with long rifles. It feels like the green zone and I a, happy that we moved ways almost two years ago. When we got home I thought the Washington monument image was the one for the challenge this week. But after looking at all the photos again, another one stuck out. It was a flock of geese that flew overhead. I could hear them but couldn’t see them and randomly took a few photos hoping I might catch something. So I put it through the editing process and turned up the blue sky. I don’t know if it qualifies for anything special, but it’s a lot different than what I usually do. Besides, I’ve already showcased the Washington monument twice in eleven entires and thought something different would be nice. I suppose that is the idea of the photo challenge - do things you may not have thought of doing before, and being less literal about the challenge. 

52Frames_Horizon

At the suggestion of a friend, I joined the 52Frames weekly photography challenge. It’s been eleven straight weeks. I’m not really a photographer, but I enjoy taking photos. The iPhone is my camera of choice since I don’t own a “real” camera. And If I was to upgrade, it would be the latest iPhone. Right now I’m using an iPhone 8plus. So to find some “horizon” shots we drove down the GW Parkway to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove that is located near the Pentagon. There were boundary channel photos where we walked over the foot bridge to the grove. Then we walked along the foot path next to the GW Parkway and I tried to get a clear view of the Washington monument. It was difficult because of all the traffic. Then we walked towards the Marina. Across the way is the Pentagon, but before we got there we saw a bunch of geese near the outdoor closed restaurant/shack. I would have loved to run in to them, but they are mean and ornery. On the way back we stopped at the memorial grove. We had been there a couple of times before, but never in the winter. In the spring the place is filled with daffodils. On the way home we stopped off at two scenic overlooks, but I wasn’t impressed with the views or the photos. I ended up selecting the view of the Washington Monument from the GW Parkway because it actually captured six to seven “horizons” with some greenery to frame the image. The quality of the photos isn’t the best, but I gave it a try and did my best. My husband is a great photo assistant. His opinions and suggestions are extremely helpful. It’s a way to spend some time every week doing a bit of creative activity - something we can all use about now. 

Editing Photo Images

I have never taken a photography class, but I like taking photos. I remember my dad’s complicated manual 35mm camera. He took a lot of slides and we watched them projected on the wall. I was the first to get a swinger instant camera, and after that I always had some sort of camera - including the first digital camera that used discs and the latest was a Sony. But when the iPhone came along I now only use it for everything, including the weekly 52Frames photo challenge. Most photos require some sort of editing and I usually go with the “auto” option. But sometimes it’s worth making finer adjustments depending on the final look one might be after. Last week I practiced manually changing two images that were recently taken - one from Great Falls and the other was a “horizon” image. I wanted to make the River more obvious and bring out the green color; the other I wanted to make the sky more brilliant so the Washington memorial stood out more. There are several options - from exposure, to tint, to shadows, to vibrance, etc. Right now I’m just adjusting at whim. One of these days I need to study the names and definitions to see what the impact is supposed to be rather than rely on the here and there approach. It really does make a difference to the final outcome. So I put that photo activity on my list of things to do. There is always something to learn. 

Taking Photos Lying Down

Sometimes you just need to get on the ground to get the right angle for a photo. I must admit I never did it before, but since I joined the 52Frames weekly photo challenge I need to look at things a little bit differently. So when the “get low” challenge came along, we drove over to the Tidal Basin because I wanted to get a photo of Fala at the FDR memorial. Luckily, there was no one else in sight so it made things much easier - for me. While I was there, my husband took pictures of me taking pictures of them. Not only was Fala a subject, but the bread line and Eleanor were too. Since my only camera is an iPhone, I can’t get the exact shots I would hope for. I primarily take photos for this blog, and 52Frames is an excuse to stay occupied for a while every week. After we left the FDR Memorial we walked along the Tidal Basin over to the MLK Memorial. Usually these places are packed with visitors, but being winter, and with all the extra security measures in town, we were about the only ones there. So I tried the same technique with MLK. All in all it was a very pleasant morning after we walked over to the Korean, Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials. Everything is pretty close together. Since we moved to northern Virginia from our Capitol Hill neighborhood we try to drive in at least once a week. This is a good excuse.