Tag Archives: featured

Blog, Inspiration, Just Because, Wanderings

Mushrooms, Viewed with a Filter

Winter on the West Coast… To say that this is a moist time of the year would be an understatement. Wherever you go, the forest presents evidence of moisture.

Mossy Forest Lines WL

After looking up, time to look down at my feet. Here is a very ordinary shot of tiny mushrooms, poking out of the mosses. A typical forest floor moment in the winter, on the BC Gulf Islands.

Mushrooms0

When I looked at this photo, I decided to play with some filters. See what would result.

Mushrooms and moss, BC Gulf Islands forest floor. Photo © Andrée Fredette

It got interesting. I could see the various colourways…

Mushrooms and moss, BC Gulf Islands forest floor. Photo © Andrée FredetteHow easy it would be to get fabric printed in contrasting colours, by playing with filters.

Mushrooms and moss, BC Gulf Islands forest floor. Photo © Andrée Fredette

Why not go for brutal brightness? Indeed.

Or just go for the black and white classic…

Mushrooms2BWd

Blog, Wanderings

Mushroom Circle

On the British-Columbia coast, the fall of 2013 was an exceptional fruiting season for mushrooms, in both variety and quantity. That November, while going from A to B in my neck of the woods, I chose to take a shortcut through the forest instead of following my usual path. That shortcut was tricky to navigate, there were lots of obstacles in my non-existing path and I was paying attention to where I was putting my feet.

At one point, I looked up to figure out where I was headed, and this is what I saw:
Cercle de champignons WL

It was a jaw-dropping sight. These short-stem russulas (Russula brevipes), growing in a circle that had a diameter of at least 35 feet!

Some of these russulas were massive. Here is a close up with someone’s hand, to show the scale. Massive.

Cercle de champignons Dimension
So, if I ever needed an excuse not to follow the usual path, this is the perfect one. Get off the path, and go wander in the woods! (…and into my old photo files, too…)

About Art, Blog

Fabric Painting

I got some liquid pigments and fabric medium, and got to painting.

Both these patterns were achieved with an old credit card. That was actually fun. Tchik Tchik.

Hand-Painted Cottons1 WL

And then, inspired, I used an applicator and thickened dye to draw black lines on a painted background, below. With some “thorns”, no less… Also fun.

Hand-Painted Cottons2 WL

Fabric painting is a great way to “disappear into the zone” for a few hours. I don’t have any idea about how to use these painted pieces of yardage. But something will come to me, I am certain…

Blog, Inspiration, Wanderings

Black & White

Taking an ordinary photo and turning it into a black and white version is a great way to start looking at how you compose a shot with value in mind. Value and contrast become the main actors.

So here is a water view of the Unique Brilliance, a cargo ship anchored on Plumper Sound, between Saturna and Pender Islands, for several weeks this summer.

Unique Brilliance Cargo-BW

Seen from the water level, a cargo ship is a veritable wall of rusty steel. In the late afternoon, I like the contrast of the anchor chain, and even rows of rivets show up.

I liked this exercise of translating my pics to black and white – to check out whether they remain “interesting” minus the colour – so much that I worked on a few pictures last weekend, and created a new Black and White photo gallery with the ones that “passed the B&W test”. Have a look!