LIFE photographer Gjon Mili photos of Picasso in 1949

LIFE photographer Gjon Mili visited Picasso in 1949. Mili showed the artist some of his photographs of ice skaters with tiny lights affixed to their skates jumping in the dark—and Picasso's mind began to race. The series of photographs that follows—Picasso’s light drawings—were made with a small flashlight in a dark room; the images vanished almost as soon as they were created.

3 views of the same scene

f 2.8 - focused through the mat on the flowers. Note that the background is black, not red. The mat is red.

f 22 focused on the flowers

f 32 - focused on the mat

A trip to the Dog Park

Hop Hop Hop says the Orange Kangaroo

indoor action

to begin again in the New Year,

one thinks of special handmade gift.

after carefully wrapping,

a special card needs to be created.

for this special New Year gift.

Happy New Year to all!

If at first you don't succeed...

Here's the sequence of what I learned.

1.I brought the outdoors inside using a tungsten 3200K light with a white board fill. I shot a white paper to set the custom white balance for my camera but it didn't work--not sure why.

2. I then hoped to use the Adobe Camera Raw white balance tool but found that when I shot in Macro, I got JPEG images which don't open in Adobe Camera RAW.

3. That leaves Photoshop where I planned to adjust color on the white paper photo then drag the settings to the other photos. That worked but not successfully, probably because the white paper was not in the exact same place as the eggs & cones so the lighting was not the same.

4. Having maxed out my knowledge, I fell back on my improv skills and eyeballed the color using Photoshop desaturation and color balance tools to approximate reality: hold up the egg, compare with the image, adjust the color a bit more...

Green Fairy's new friend, Martini Mermaid

This wonderfully robust mermaid was part of a fun window display in a shop at the Minneapolis Airport (where I had a 3 hour layover). Of, course I had to get her photo so the Green Fairy would know she has a friend... a friend who obviously likes to enjoy herself too. Bottoms up!

Learning Adobe CS4

Paint & Brushes watercolored by Adobe CS4 and Next years Christmas Card!

She's at it again!

Flash and Flashlight

Happy New Year!

Chippewa River Trail

I made these photos in Wisconsin at New Years ... it was 21 degrees below zero, but gorgeous outside. This is frozen nose hair weather! It was a peaceful way to begin the New Year... fresh, clear, frozen air with Nature's frosting everywhere. Wishing everyone PEACE & JOY in 2010.

The Frosted Window

ARTIST TOOLS

A New Year of Possibility

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.

- Thich Nhat Hahn