Factory Girl: Every Picture has a story and process: Juxtaposer App

FACTORY GIRL

The Story: 

On Monday, Don Vetter and I visited the old Lonaconing Silk or Throwing Mill. We met Amy McGovern and her husband there. Amy had called ahead and let the owner know we were coming.  The current owner Herb Crawford is desperately trying to save it from the demise of time. (He raises money by charging admission of $75.00 to any desirous photographers.) He has guarded the mill for some thirty years now and single handedly has tried to keep the building in tact. He is fighting a losing battle now due to money, age  and resources. The rain has penetrated the roof and the lead paint is peeling off every wall, and the smell of well oil machinery permeates the thick air of history.
There are current attempts to raise awareness and money on many sites like this Blog by Rusty.
However, my sense is that the building will fall further into ruin. The image here Factory Girl, was inspired by the many women who's lives were both of the factory and ruined by the factory's unforeseen and sudden closing, leaving many of them to economic hardship. The personal belongings of some of them remain in the building today, covered with the dust of time. The tickets which most likely were used to tag spools of silk or monitor employee production were still seen throughout the mill in several places. This image was my visual attempt at sharing this thought, or feeling I had about those women.

The Process:

When I go into places like this I take shots of miscellaneous pieces; such as surfaces, or snippets of material that alone does not necessarily make a compelling image, but when brought together with other snippets just might make a compelling image. This image was made with this idea in mind.
So here's the process I used on the iPhone:

Three shots:
Shot 1: The Tags: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

Shot 2: The Shoes: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

Shot 3: The Brick Wall: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

I then opened Juxtaposer and used the BrickWall as the base layer; I layered on the shoe shot and then the tag shot. Selectively erasing the part of the image I did not want in the final composition, and arrived at this image.

I ran the composite image through Grungetatstic and put a small inner border of rusty color around the images. Then I opened the app called "ScratchCam" and opened the composite image with the rusty border, tabbing through the options until I arrived at this one:

Although the image  was dark, I liked the effect the filter in ScratchCam gave the image, so I saved it and then opened it in Iris to brighten and make a levels adjustment:

 

I then finished the image by applying a black border in the app Crop'n'Frame.

AutoPainter II App explored and Tierra Amarilla

CameraPlusPro capture: Iris saturation; brightness: Perfect photo to sharpen:Grungertastic~Red inner border: and The NEW APP AUTOPAINTER II Felt tip option

Just getting back to posting some iPhone shots from the New Mexico trip while trying to stay in chronological sequence....we stopped in Tierra Amarilla on the way to Chama, for a bite to eat at the Lobo Cafe. After enjoying a great bowl of Chili...I was noticing the environment of the small rural cafe..and it was very red (when you see red shoot it)...so I went out and grabbed the iPhone to make some shots in the cafe. When I was leaving I also grabbed a shot of the sign outside so I would know where I was and what the name was, but when I started to process the images, I really liked the sign too. After lunch we were free to roam the town for an hour and I made a couple iPhone shots of the abandoned gasoline station across the street.
AutoPainter II is a new app for me and has several choices of processing from Felt Tip, Chalk, Old Book and water and ink. I like the AutoPainter App for paint so I thought I would try their new APP and for only .99 it's a deal. I did not make any blended images in this post, so you could see exactly what the images look like when they come out of AutoPainter II Felt Tip.Normally I would use this as a layer to blend with some other processed styles of the same image. I would want the words in these shots to be legible; so some ArtistaSketch or PencilPaint would help with that.

BracketMode:TrueHDR:Iris ~levels and sat:AutoPainter II~Felt Tip: Grungetastic~red inner border

St Francis Plaza Ranchos de Taos

Processed with PicFX: Grungetastic: TrueHDR: Crop'n'FRame and Impression

Heading out of Santa Fe we made a stop at the St. Francis Plaza at Ranchos de Taos. I made some shots there with the iPhone. While most of the group was working the church I made a quick run around the plaza with the iPhone shooting in BracketMode, so I could work fast and have some images to process later.

PicFx:Iris: TrueHDR:BracketMode:Touch Retouch

Add caption

AutoPainter: Iris Blends with Original: PicFX:BracketMode:TrueHDR

Canyon Road and the iPhone

This image is a blend in Iris of AutoPainter: and ArtisaSketch: run through Vintage Scene for a border enhancement and PicFX for some grunge.

On Monday, May 9, I decided to spend the day in Santa Fe before meeting up with Steve Gottlieb and his New Mexico Adventure workshop group in the evening.
Canyon Road, is known for it's fabulous collection of art galleries, architecture and shops. I decided to travel light and only carry the iPhone. I passed the old church where volunteers were making adobe bricks for the construction crew that was making needed repairs to the structure. Iris were blooming outside one of the shops and I loved the way they looked against the old adobe wall.

This image has a texture applied in Iris and is a blend of AutoPainter:ArtistaSketch with some edge treatment in Grungetastic.

Secluded private gardens dot the road with brightly painted fences and gates.

 Shop entrances are welcoming with staged groupings of handmade pottery.

It was a great day exploring the galleries and shops. I enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant near the top of Canyon Road called El Farol.

On to Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch with the iPhone

Sunday May 8th I made my usual walk around Santa Fe making images with the iPhone, so easy to carry around in the pocket. The image above was put together in the app Diptic, after processing each image individually. New Mexico is such a wonderful blend of Spanish influence and American Indian influence, both wonderful art styles combining tiles and shapes and design.

Old Library in Santa Fe..assembled separate images in Diptic app

On the way to Abiquiu I spotted a collection of old trucks behind a chain link fence in La Puebla. I pulled off the highway and tried to make some compositions through the fence with the iPhone. I don't think I could have come away with a shot using the big camera. This image was processed with the app Dynamic light. I used the Orton option and the Dynamic Light option at various strengths and then blended the two images in Iris to get the desired effect.

After shooting the trucks I headed on to Abiquiu on the Old Taos Highway. I stopped first in the community library and asked about making some images with my iPhone as I wanted to respect the community. I was told it would be OK. I also met and conversed with a couple who were doing genealogical research using the church records held in the library files. After enjoying some conversation I walked past the O'Keeffe property and on up the dirt road to the Morada del Alto.  I also made an image of a large handmade pot outside the local school.

After Leaving Abiquiu I drove into the Ghost Ranch now a retreat center of The Presbyterian Church, and made some images in the Ghost House, which is always open. It is the original home of Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico where she lived while she was trying to purchase her final home in Abiquiu.
It was a great day in New Mexico!

Santa Fe Mornings with the iPhone

This image was the emblem on a state vehicle that was parked in the town. I ran the shot through ArtistaSketch and selected a texture in the sketch program to change the back ground look of the shot. Then I blended the image with the original in Iris and ran it through PicGrunger to finish it off with a texture and a vintage look.

During my recent trip to New Mexico, I spent the mornings in the town of Santa Fe, enjoying breakfast in a local cafe and taking a morning walk around the historic plaza. The iPhone was in my pocket as I walked and I enjoyed making intimate images of pieces of architecture, or store fronts that caught my eye. The colors of New Mexico buildings are representative of the soil and sky, the red adobe and turquoise windows and tiles are wonderful! The mornings were cool, but the sun was blazing. With an elevation of 7000 feet, it is not only the United States' oldest state capital but its highest.I will be posting iPhone images I made during the trip for the next week or so chronicling the trip's shots I made with the iPhone. I was on such a schedule that I hardly had time to process, so now that I am home I will be working through them.

This image was shot with BracketMode: Merged in True HDR: Processes with Iris for some texture and grunge and then finished in PicGrunger.

Shot in BracketMode: Merged with TrueHDR: PencilPaint applied in Photostudio: Blended in Iris: finished with PicGrunger

iPhone goes to New Mexico: Mostly HDR apps...Autopainter and blends

Since arriving Wednesday night I have been enjoying my time here in New Mexico. Every day the weather has been brilliant with clear blue skies! So I have been doing some early morning town walks and making some intimate little images before heading out on the road. The shadows here are amazing and always find a way into an image. I have processed a few from my first couple of days...and will have many more when I get some time, which may not be until I get home a week from now. So I am just sharing a few and then hitting the road today. As this is my last night in the same hotel I am uncertain as to the internet access I will have over the next week or time to post any more. Wishing all the Moms out there a very Happy Mother's day.

Spring is Here: Hipstamatic

Yesterday I led a workshop at Cylburn Arboretum. The Oriental Peonies are in bloom. They are one of my favorite flowers. I have, in my garden, one Oriental Peony called High Noon. It is a beautiful yellow color but I only have one blossom this year...as I have had the past several years. I should consult with the gardener at Cylburn because theirs are prolific! This has been the prettiest spring I have seen for a while in Maryland. The images here were all shot using the Hipstamatic app. Helga Viking Kodot XGrizzled. It is a nice combo for flower work.The chives were also blooming at Cylburn and the pink dogwoods in my yard are wonderful this year! It's not too late to sign up for my Creative iPhone photography workshop at Penn Camera in Tysons Corner tomorrow night, I hope to see you there.