Shawna of the desert

These are just a few of the shots I did of my friend Shawna Coronado when I visited her on my “Arizona or Bust 2021” road trip that began on Thursday, October 8 and ended when I returned to northern Virginia on October 25.

So before I embarked on my long road trip, Shawna texted me, “How do you feel about Annie Leibowitz? Would you feel comfortable doing something over-the-top creative?” She wrote the magic words every artist wants to hear.

(Behind-the-scenes notes: The velvet dress was purchased online for $30; the fabric was $4 a yard and I bought it just a few hours before I drove over to her house…I had no idea what I would do with it, but with that sunset-southwest-ombre palette, I knew I had to have it. Shawna brought the cool lattice chair from her house and we shot just after sunrise in a local park. Shawna calls her curls “wild child hair” and I thought it mimicked the wild cholla cactus behind her quite well.)

I did lots of promo shots for Shawna for her business and then we spent this day doing more “fantasy/experimental” shots for fun. These are two of those shots.

Isn’t that ombre fabric just perfect for this shot?

Who’s next? 

© Cindy Dyer. All right reserved.

Pixel in the spotlight

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max)

Dad

My friend and neighbor, Rebecca, just colorized a photo of my dad that I had posted yesterday on FB. I told her I work in PS daily and haven’t ever had the opportunity to do colorization like this. She did a beautiful job. Thanks, Rebecca!

This is my father (center, staring intently at his beer) when he was in the Air Force. He entered very young (barely 17), and I imagine he was maybe 20 years old in this photo. I see my resemblance to him a lot in this photo.

Lovely Scout

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 8Plus

A few weeks ago, we had this beautiful girl as a houseguest for a week.

 

Sad puppy dog eyes

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 8Plus, Snapseed app border

Lobo shows up to entice me to feed him. I try to avoid his sad, puppy-dog gaze. I tell him I’m working and I’ll be with him in just a minute.

He goes away, and then comes back a few minutes later. Apparently he can tell time.

Re-post: Celebrate Home Magazine, spring issue

It’s almost spring and I thought I’d share the spring issue of Celebrate Home Magazine again. Barbara Kelley and I created this magazine in 2012-2013 as a personal project and had so much fun doing it! Click on either of the links below to download your FREE pdf copy of this issue.

This issue is jam-packed (and there’s even a jam-making feature with my friend Sophia Stadnyk!), so download today and get started reading.

Single pages version: Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping):

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here.

On the cover: What says “spring” more than colorful tulips? I was photographing this bed of flowers and was standing on the edge of the wall when this little girl, clad in a princess skirt with sparkly shoes, came running around the corner. I got this one shot and she was gone. Serendipity!

Time to get back into the garden with your camera!

It’s that time of the year again. Time for garden photography! Learn my tips for capturing beautiful shots in gardens with Nikon’s Learn & Explore series:

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/how-to-grow-your-garden-photography-skills.html

In the studio with Mia Elise

Mia is the granddaughter of my friends James and Irma in San Antonio. Their daughter Tess and son-in-law Chris left Mia with them for the weekend and we were able to do a quick photo session after dinner tonight. She was the best model. These are just a few of the almost-500 shots I did in less than an hour. She has such an expressive face!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D800 / Nikkor 85mm lens / LED lighting and ringlight

And here’s the look one gets near the end of a session…the Churchill stare:

 

 

iPhoneography: Freeway sentinels

Playing with Snapseed and Distressed FX apps

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.  iPhone 7Plus

 

iPhoneography: Nite nite, Queso

Curled up next to mom (wearing her $5 Walmart nightshirt, adorned with cats, of course)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 6s / Snapseed app border

Thanksgiving 2017: Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Quest awaits the dinner bell!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 6s / Snapseed app border

iPhoneography: Saturday sky

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 7 Plus / Snapseed app border

 

iPhoneography: Love me some clouds

Ah, those skies. My, how I love me some purdy skies. This was the sky in Northern Virginia on July 30 of this year. It was out of this world. All of these shots were made with my iPhone 6s from a shopping mall parking lot!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 6s / Snapseed app border

 

These are a few of my favorite rings…

My friend Camilla and her sister Cathy started a ring-swapping tradition years ago that has grown into a fun collection for both of them. Read all about it in the winter issue of Celebrate Home Magazine, still available for digital download in the links below. Click on either of the links below to download your FREE pdf copy of this issue. The first links is for single-page viewing (perfect for printing off your favorite recipe!); the second link is set up for “reader spreads,” so you can see the magazine in spread format (my favorite!).

Single pages version: Celebrate Home Winter 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Winter 2013 Spreads

You can order a print-on-demand copy of the magazine (at cost, plus shipping) here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/513977

Click here to view on issuu.com.

Design, layout, photography and interview by Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

 

Re-post: Celebrate Home Magazine, fall issue

In 2012, Barbara Kelley and I launched Celebrate Home Magazine, a quarterly lifestyle publication. Visit our website at www.celebratehomemagazine.com. We published four issues (fall 2012, winter 2013, spring 2013 and summer 2013).

Click the link below to download a two-page spread pdf of the magazine:

CelebrateHomeMagFall2012 Spreads

Click the link below to download a pdf designed for single page printing:

CelebrateHomeMagFall2012 Pages

Want to order a print copy of Celebrate Home Magazine? Click here, then sign up for a free magcloud.com account. You can download the FREE pdf or purchase a print copy on this link.

Last week to see my exhibit at Green Spring Gardens!

Be sure to sign the guestbook to enter your name in the drawing for a free gallery wrap canvas photograph from my exhibit! I’ll have photos from the reception in the next post.

Criss-cross

I like the graphic qualities in this composition with the tight cropping and criss-cross leaves in the background, so I thought I’d share.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

iPhoneography: Cats, Installment #2

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 6s / Snapseed

iPhoneography: Cats, Installment #1

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 6s / Snapseed

Celebrate Home Magazine: Spring!

It’s almost spring and I thought I’d share the spring issue of Celebrate Home Magazine again. Barbara Kelley and I created this magazine in 2012-2013 as a personal project and had so much fun doing it! Click on either of the links below to download your FREE pdf copy of this issue.

This issue is jam-packed (and there’s even a jam-making feature with my friend Sophia Stadnyk!), so download today and get started reading.

Single pages version: Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping): http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here.

On the cover: What says “spring” more than colorful tulips? I was photographing this bed of flowers and was standing on the edge of the wall when this little girl, clad in a princess skirt with sparkly shoes, came running around the corner. I got this one shot and she was gone. Serendipity!

Staff portraits for Hearing Loss Magazine’s special convention issue

These are the interior shots I did of the HLAA staff members for our annual convention issue of Hearing Loss Magazine.

Congratulations, Michael Powell!

My dear friend/neighbor (and fellow photographer) Michael Powell just won a second place ribbon for his “Baby’s Got Blue Eyes” photo of a Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly in the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park photo contest this month. (To the left of his winning entry is his eagle photo and to the right is a bluebird photo he also entered; two of the four entries allowed). I helped him prepare his four photos for exhibition and am so proud of him for placing. He’s finally getting his stuff on display! Next up—convincing him to exhibit an entire solo show of his nature photography. Thanks to Walter Sanford for sharing Mark Jette’s photo of Michael’s winning entry.

See more of Michael’s work here: http://www.michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/

Design Studio: Photoshop Collages

I love the challenges and creativity of compositing photo illustrations in Photoshop! I combined my original photography, stock photography, words, borders, vector art, typefaces and textures to create these illustrations for editorial clients such as Hearing Loss Magazine, Municipal Lawyer Magazine and the AAHAM Journal.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

iPhoneography: Botanicals

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

iPhoneography: Landscapes

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Introducing Queso…

Introducing “Queso,” the newest addition to critterfest! My sister Debbie and I were eating at a Moe’s Mexican Grill in mid-July when she was visiting. It was a Saturday night, about 9 p.m. I saw a woman in the outside patio feeding a small cat. I knew we were in trouble. Debbie asked her if she was going to rescue him but she said she had two dogs who don’t even like each other. So, I approached this little guy and realized just how tiny he was. He was probably about eight weeks old. No mama kitty around and no sign of other babies….in a plant bed outside a fast food restaurant in the middle of a big strip mall. No houses within sight. We didn’t know how he got there but he has a new home now. Since we found him outside a Mexican fast food place, and taking into consideration his coloring, we have chosen Queso as his name (and who doesn’t love cheese?)

It has been so much fun to record his growth with my iPhone 6! Here’s a sampling of photos from the night of his rescue in July (top two photos) to this Thanksgiving week (culminating with the cutest photo of him sleeping with his head on my wedge pillow).

My high school friend Aleida suggested that we build a screen door insert for the master bedroom (where he had been quarantined earlier). Her neighbor was an engineer and came up with the idea. It worked so well for her pet introductions that she’s passing on the idea. Michael built a frame with 2x2s and chicken wire, complete with handles to lift it in and out of place. It gave the boys a chance to see and smell him without beating him up! I’m now happy to report that, with the exception of a little growling here and there from the older boys, Queso now has the roam of the house (with some supervision, of course). Slowly but surely, Lobo and Pixel appear to be resigned to the fact that they have a new (obnoxious) younger brother!

Queso also has built quite a fan base on Facebook—so much so that my friend Carol has requested that he have his own page. I think that might just go to his head.

A burst of color on this very gray day…

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Cloudspotting

Perhaps it’s the lack of tall buildings to block the view, or maybe the weather patterns are different in the region, but the skies in Texas are just spectacular (and nearly every day they offer up something worth photographing!). I shot a plethora of sky vistas and cloud formations while I was in Texas for my niece’s wedding in October. This one caught my eye in the parking lot outside a Vietnamese restaurant in San Antonio. I immediately saw a face and thought, “Einstein!” I shared the image with my FB friends and the conversation took flight. My favorite response was from my FB friend and fellow blogger, Erik Gauger. He described in detail what he saw and then used his creative skills to bring the figure to life. (FYI, I’ve blogged about Erik’s gorgeous, award-winning photography/narrative/nature/travel website, but in case you missed it, check it out here: http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/)

iPhone 6, processed in Snapseed © Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

On Assignment: Kitchen remodel by Cross

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Re-post: Celebrate Home Magazine, Fall Issue

In 2012, Barbara Kelley and I launched Celebrate Home Magazine, a quarterly lifestyle publication. Visit our website at www.celebratehomemagazine.com. We published four issues (fall 2012, winter 2013, spring 2013 and summer 2013).

Click the link below to download a two-page spread pdf of the magazine:

CelebrateHomeMagFall2012 Spreads

Click the link below to download a pdf designed for single page printing:

CelebrateHomeMagFall2012 Pages

Want to order a print copy of Celebrate Home Magazine? Click here, then sign up for a free magcloud.com account. You can download the FREE pdf or purchase a print copy on this link.