Creative Backgrounds!

I tell ya, few can match our crew for creativity! And this assignment was no exception.

Patty Beasley used several environmental backgrounds (grass, carpeting and furniture textiles) for her first shots. Then, with the assistance of some live and dead sea urchins, she took a sharp left turn into the realm of using objects as background for other objects ... most notably ... plastic toy Googly-Balls.

Bill Draper proved household objects can be fun! His first shot of a bouquet of Texas bluebonnets against a milk jug background brought exclamations of appreciation. Bill also showed flowers in his outdoor beds with natural backgrounds, static and enhanced. His final series of cut glass against ordinary clothing used as backdrops showed the elegance possible from daily wear. 

Ben Luna, as always, knocked our socks off with the sheer elegance of his presentation. Ben took a sharp right turn into constructed backgrounds, and even made use of some not-quite-optimal shots that didn't stand on their own well, but when combined with creative backgrounds, absolutely shone with elegance! Ben's backgrounds ranged from natural scenes and botany shot and enhanced with graphics editing software to special effects on plain and gradient colored fills he dropped in.

Eve Kerr took shots of her night-blooming cereus plant from all angles early one morning, before the brilliant white blooms from the night before faded and died. Natural backdrops such as her deck's wooden slats and the canal water and coastal backdrop of her Padre Island neighborhood set off the blooms beautifully. But the real kicker came when she revealed a shot of the blooms against a batik-rainbow of texture from an old quilt. Stunning! Other sheers created nice textural backdrops in different colorations as well.

Drew Jacobs, without a doubt, brought down the house! Drew is one of the most creative thinkers in our group, and she really jumped the shark with this assignment. As Drew said, with maybe a little trepidation, "this is kinda weird!" ... but hey, weird is good! And in this case, it had us absolutely roaring with laughter as we followed the adventures of Montie Mouse, a "contribution" to the project from her yard cats. Drew says she used an old issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine (that subsequently went right in the trash!) for her backgrounds. Simplicity brings its own mark of excellence. The photo essay she created of Montie's "adventures" made us all laugh so hard, our stomachs hurt!

Bill Beasley gave a wonderful program on getting back to the basics in photography, with visual reminders and examples of what to keep in mind when composing photos. Bill's original artwork was a fun addition that made the lesson even more fun! (thanks, sweetie!)

Thanks to all of our wonderful participants! Be thinking about a shoot-around location, time and date. We'll be getting back out in the field again soon (when it cools off a bit more!) to stretch our leg and brain muscles and put those lessons to good use!  

- Patty Beasley

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