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A Bit of Fall at the LA County Arboretum

Published: Thu, Dec 20, 2018
Written by GizellaN
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Categories: Blog, Burnside 35, Double Glass, Landscape, Lensbaby, Photography, Photowalk, Pinhole, Single Glass, Sol 45, USA, Velvet 56
Tags: Fall colors, LA County Arboretum, Lensbaby

In mid-December I was able to make another visit to the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Since my daughter started high school, visiting places that are somewhat far from us has become quite difficult due to her very strange drop off and pick up schedule. But this day provided an opportunity to spend some time farther away from home, and I chose the Arboretum for my destination.

I have been using my Lensbaby lenses a lot more than my auto lenses. One exception was a fundraising project at my daughter’s school theater program, where I documented their creation of a play throughout two weeks of rehearsals, and made the images available to purchase for the parents, which resulted in some extra funds for the Theater program. When it comes to people photography, catching moments on stage – especially with youth actors – is what I really enjoy to do.

Now back to my Arboretum visit. I first walked though the Aloe Trail, and towards the end of it I found this gorgeous succulent in the shade. (Velvet 56)

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An Autumn Trip to Oregon

Published: Tue, Nov 20, 2018
Written by GizellaN
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Categories: Blog, Landscape, Photography, Photowalk, USA
Tags: Autumn, Oregon, Portland

In October of 2017 I did something I had not done before: I spent 6 days away from my family on a trip to Portland, Oregon. I chose this destination because I really miss seeing the Fall colors at our current Southern California location.

This trip was super fun! I did everything I love doing: walked in the city and hiked in the forests, listened to audiobooks on the buses and during walks, visited three museums, and of course, took over a thousand pictures. But, as soon as I got home, I had to jump back into the everyday life and somehow I didn’t spend time on culling and post-processing my images. This past week I was tidying up my portfolio, and I realized that in addition to my Hungary, Colorado and California pictures I also have images from Oregon that I could share with the world. This blog post is features a few of those images, but head over to the Oregon gallery to see the rest. You never know… you might even consider ordering a print to decorate your house or give it as a gift.

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The Shoreline Project (Laguna Beach, CA)

Published: Mon, Nov 05, 2018
Written by GizellaN
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Categories: Blog, Burnside 35, Double Glass, Landscape, Lensbaby, Photo Events, Photography, Single Glass, Sol 45, Sweet 50 or 35, USA, Velvet 56
Tags: Elizabeth Turk, Laguna Beach, Lensbaby, Shoreline Project

On Saturday, November 3rd, 2018, Laguna Art Museum hosted an event on the Main Beach of Laguna Beach, CA. Entitled the “Shoreline Project” was a community project based upon Elizabeth Turk’s art work. Hundreds of volunteers held led-lit umbrellas that featured Seashell Mandalas by Elizabeth Turk and moved around with them.

My friend and I arrived more than an hour prior to the start of the event and set up our cameras in a good vantage point. We were able to see the whole beach from the cliff; unfortunately the volunteer dancers did not move much away from their original location. I only took my Lensbaby lenses with me, and just one 85mm prime lens.

While we were waiting for the event, I captured the late afternoon beach with various LB lenses. On some of the following images you can see the group of volunteers dressed in black on the left side of the pictures.

Sol 45
Double Glass
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Another Lensbaby Visit to the LA County Arboretum

Published: Wed, Oct 10, 2018
Written by GizellaN
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Categories: Blog, Burnside 35, Flower Photography, Lensbaby, Photography, Photowalk, Sol 45, USA, Velvet 56
Tags: Burnside 35, LA County Arboretum, Lensbaby, Sol 45, Velvet 56

Yesterday I was able to meet another Southern California Lensbaby photographer, Rita. She lives about an hour north of LA, and I am the same distance south of it. We decided to meet half way in between, at the LA County Arboretum.

I was very excited about driving there because of the overcast. It is so much easier to take nice floral photographs on cloudy days. Unfortunately, as soon as we entered the arboretum, the sky cleared up. Although it wasn’t what I wished for, we had a beautiful, sunny day to walk around for a few hours.

There weren’t a lot of plants blooming, but the place was still very beautiful.

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Beach Hopping in Laguna Beach (Lensbaby Blog Circle)

Published: Mon, Oct 01, 2018
Written by GizellaN
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Categories: Blog, Lensbaby, Lensbaby Blog Circle, Photography, Photowalk, Sol 45, USA
Tags: California, Laguna Beach, Lensbaby, Lensbaby Blog Circle, Sol 45

To my delight, I was able to join a group of wonderful Lensbaby photographers from around the world, and take part in their monthly Lensbaby Blog Circle. At the beginning of the month we all feature images in a post created with various Lensbaby lenses on diverse topics. To visit all the blog posts you just need to sit back, enjoy a post, then click on the link posted at the end of the post to hop over to the next one. I’m very excited to be part of this group.
For my first Blog Circle post I am featuring images from Laguna Beach, California. I have just received my new Lensbaby lens, the Sol 45. I had seen a lot of wonderful images taken with this lens in our Facebook group and on Instagram, and I was very eager to try out myself. On the first day I had it, I created some macro flower images in my backyard. They turned out delightful. But I wanted to see what kind of pictures I can create in a non-macro environment. I decided to go on a beach hopping tour – visit my most favorite beaches in the town of Laguna Beach and just shoot, shoot, and shoot.

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