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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

still life: mountain bike shoes



This week's Be Still 52 challenge
was to
"create a still life photo
inspired by a still life painting."


After a little bit of research
and
a lot of thought
I captured this
still life
of
my beloved
mountain bike shoes.

***

And once I had
'seen'
through my lens
I felt compelled to
see/draw
with pencil on paper.


When, at last, while seeing/drawing,
you see for the first time
what all your life
you have only looked at and recognized,
it reveals itself to be of inconceivable intricacy.
The commonplace becomes uncommon.
~

***

I have been biking the trails in these shoes
for years,
from the foothills west of Denver
to the steep summertime slopes of
Winter Park, Copper Mountain and Crested Butte
to the rugged cliffs overlooking
the Colorado River.


 


You might say
these are my favorite shoes.
Period.
They securely fasten me
to my trusty
Specialized Stump Jumper
and are
comfortable enough
for hiking long distances
in all terrain.
(I once walked over a mile in them
with my flat-tired bike.)

***

NOTES:

CAMERA
Canon EOS 6D
Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens
Manual Mode
on tripod
ISO 400
f/5.0 0.6 sec
incandescent light
I purposely chose to shoot in the laundry room
as that is where we store our bike gear
and I wanted to capture
an authentic
real-life
still-life.

original capture SOOC

Staging in a cramped space,
my back against the wall
(literally)

Lillian doesn't like the laundry room

LIGHTROOM
I experimented a lot with
color saturation, vibrancy, clarity, exposure
because - face it - bike gear can be gaudy;
and the basement laundry room
is not the most flattering setting.
Then I applied
Kim's kk_walnut preset
and further adjusted
a bit more.

PHOTOSHOP
I auditioned a number
of textures and combinations
before settling
on this one
Font: Carbon Credit

I was inspired by these still life paintings
pinned from http://cargocollective.com/creativesyrup/Still-life-painting

***

Linking up with





11 comments:

  1. Love your idea here Cindy, real life still life, I love that !

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  2. Love your post and all the work you put into it...great pics to go along with those shoes.

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  3. I so admire your commitment to hiking and biking so yes I can see where these would be your favorite shoes. Great shots and glad to know a little more about you...

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  4. Love your post and that you share your behind the scenes set-up. So cool that you share your drawing too.

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  5. Love your unique take on this and great photos of you on your bike.

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  6. Where do you get the textures? I don't have all of the ones I'm seeing on my version of Photoshop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I get most of my textures from KimKlassen.com as well as so very much of what I have learned about Photoshop, Lightroom and more.
      Check out her wonderful website for textures, tutorials, classes, freebies and more.
      Thanks for visiting!

      xoxo

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  7. What a fantastic tribute to your biking shoes which represent your love for the sport. Love the shots of you biking. I do a lot of road biking - just finished a 60 mile ride on my hybrid - but haven't been brave enough to try the trails yet.

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  8. Great post and photo. I did a still life of my running shoes a couple months ago, to bad running shoes don't last as long as biking shoes. You live in a beautiful area to enjoy outdoor activities.
    aka extremely fickle

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  9. photography and drawing! a spectacular duo! and I love all the backstory details...making it real...

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  10. your blog is beautiful. Thank you for stopping by She is Three. I will return for more of your goodness here !!

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