Bobbin Spools, Brimfield Antique Show (click to enlarge)
If you are planning a trip to western Massachusetts, be sure to check the calendar for the Brimfield Antique Show. Besides being an antique paradise, this town is a photographers delight. My wife and I spent two hours there before the rain drove us off. During that time we only covered a few blocks of the antique show. There is so much to see, and so many photographic opportunities, that I feel a need to go back and spend at least a full day plus some there.
Here are some bobbin spools that were sitting in a box. Being old and essentially monochrome, these bobbins just screamed to be converted to black and white. The conversion was done quickly in Silver Efex Pro, part of the Google Nik Collection.
Brimfield Antique Show: N42 07 21.17 W72 12 01.82
Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument – Gran Quivira (click to enlarge)
After stopping at the Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument in Mountainair NM, you drive to the three pueblo sites. Because of time and where I was headed (Santa Fe) I only had time to visit two of the three sites. This is a detail image from the Gran Quivira site.
This image shows a series of stone walls taken from the east side of what the park brochure calls the later church. I composed this image from a low angle so that the five walls overlapped each other to form what, at first glance, looks to be a single wall.
On this day I had the usual clear blue skies common throughout my New Mexico road trip. As a result, I did not bother shooting above the horizon. Being grayish, the color of the stones did not really add to the composition. I used Silver Efex Pro from the Google Nik Collection (free!) to convert the image to black and white. Converting the image to black and white places the emphasis on the repeating patterns formed by the rocks and the walls.
Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument – Gran Quivira: N34 15 34.27 W106 05 31.75
Brick Window, Fortress of Louisbourg (click to enlarge)
Here is a scene from Fortress Louisbourg near the town of Louisbourg Nova Scotia. The fortress is an easy day trip from Sydney where we were staying. There are several small towns (such as Port Morien) and lighthouses along the route that offer photographic opportunities.
I thought about making this a black and white image, but liked the red in the shutters. I converted the image to black and white using Google’s Silver Efex Pro. I then used a layer mask in Photoshop to expose the red shutters. That looked a little awkward, so I also exposed the red bricks around the window at the top and bottom of the image.
I think this makes for two interesting areas for the viewer to explore. First is the red brickwork and the shutters. The second is the black and white stone wall. The mix of black and white and colored areas also creates a little depth in the image.
Fortress of Louisbourg: N45 53 27.65 W59 59 08.59
