Keeping With The Times

living, learning, and keeping with the times

Minimalist at Heart

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Hi. I’m Barb, and I am a minimalist at heart.

This is an image inspired by a succulent, a few pebbles, and a polka-dot coffee cup I found in a cute kitchen shop in Quebec. When I saw it I knew I had to have it. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with it, but I had to have it.

minimalist, Keeping With the Times, succulent, green, black, white

I especially love white, graphic images, they make my heart sing.

But what a nightmare to get two photos with the same white tones! That’s why I’m only posting one of the dozens of images and edits that I’ve spent (too much time on.)

Have a look-see at the History panel in LR …

As well as adjusting tones, highlights, and shadows, I desaturated almost every colour from blue to red. As I desaturated each colour, I watched the succulent to make sure nothing I did affected it. The only colours I didn’t desaturate were green and yellow. And still, I’m not happy with the white background. I have much to learn.

Lightroom History panel

I’ve written about this before for Friday Finds – Stillness. In that post I mentioned that I follow Mary Jo Hoffman’s blog STILL. She shares her tips and techniques so openly but I still can’t quite get it right.

So I’ve found that only practice makes perfect, and even then, maybe not perfect, but good enough.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Friday Finds at Kim Klassen dot com

Autumn is a New Beginning

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Good morning, and happy first day of autumn! Where I live, the autumnal equinox started at 8:29 pm last night. It’s astronomical! Literally …

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower (Albert Camus), minimalism, {keeping with the times}

“autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower” albert camus

I love September, I love autumn, and I love the feeling of a fresh new start. To me, it feels more like a new beginning than January 1st.

I’ve been feeling extremely energized and creative. One minute I’m outside cleaning flower beds, then suddenly I spy a mushroom and I’m off to grab my camera … 30 minutes later I remember what I was doing in the first place, and head back to the garden.

Next, I spy some gorgeous, mottled cotoneaster leaves and am off to grab my camera again. This time, the quote by Albert Camus came to mind and I ended up creating an autumn flower.

Right after breakfast I’m heading out on a photo search … it’s another perfect day with a little bit of cloud cover. I want to soak up every single delicious autumn moment before it’s gone.

I’m excited to begin the new Start to Finish class later today, and I have some more baking to do, so I’d better get a move on!

Have you signed up for my newsletter? I’ve already sent out two this month, and there’s been a great response so far. You can sign up using the form on the sidebar – I’d love to have you!

One last thing … there’s going to be a slight change to “app” happy wednesday, starting tomorrow. I love seeing your art, and I hope to see you there!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!