Henry Mercer was an eccentric when it came to details. He incorporated this key cabinet into the concrete architecture of Fonthill’s Central Hall. The “nooks and crannies” in his castle are endless.
I have had the great opportunity to shoot several times at Henry Mercer’s Fonthill Castle with my good friend John Barclay. Some of my previous work is currently on display there. Most of my work has been with the larger scenes in each room. Today I focused on several of Mercer’s collection pieces that are displayed around the castle. It was a dreary day today in Eastern Pennsylvania … great light for capturing details. To capture the mood, I also focused on capturing images for B&W processing.
I saw this emerging Lilac blossom against the bright red of a Flowering Quince and could not resist shooting an image. As they say, “When you see red, shoot!” The red background tends to overwhelm the Lilac buds. I tried to separate the two with a shallow DOF. Later in post processing, I added a little structure to the Lilac and added a little blur to the Quince which helped the separation a little more. Just experimenting …
The sweet smell of the Holly blossoms greet me as I go out our back door. Who could help not noticing these small blossoms especially when they are highlighted by the sun-lit red Japanese Maple leaves in the background.
The early morning dew drops highlighted this emerging Lady’s Mantle leaf. This was a gift of nature just waiting to be noticed. It was a beautiful morning!
Walking around the structure, I saw several areas of pealing paint with interesting patterns. This is one of them. Who thought an old outhouse would be interesting?
I then stuck my head inside the door ….
I gave this image a dose of structure and contrast to give it a grungy look.
Now that my curiosity was triggered, I moved in for a closer look at the outhouse shown in my last blog. I like to work an image from different perspectives. My eye is attracted to details. They naturally went to these weather and wear beaten boards which made up the stoop leading inside.
I used selective treatments of brightness/contrast layers in Photoshop to highlight and darken the boards and background to provide the contrast that I recall when I took the image. Thanks to Chuck Kimmerle for the tips.
Many, many times I see something interesting, then just walk by. Afterwards I kick myself for not taking the time to explore and shoot. Walking down a street in NYC, my good friend Doc and I spotted these fashion shoes and stopped in our tracks. Our wives patiently waited as we took photographs. Something is wrong with this picture … the usual scenario is the reverse.
Even though the background was in red, I visualized this in B&W when I took the image. I worked the image to try to capture the American Flag reflecting in the store window.