I have been working on next years (2018) calendars. Every year I try to select the best photographs I have made over the past year and create calendars for family and/or friends. This year there are 3 different calendars.: one with bird photographs, another with butterfly photos, and the 3rd with, this year anyway "Landscape" photos. Not that all of the photos in the Landscape Calendar are really of landscapes. Feeling that just landscape photos would get boring (the area I make my photographs in is fairly limited) I included some photos that are more close up photos of nature, not long distant shots so I have fudged a bit.
The bird and butterfly calendars are in a way a bit easier to pull together, I just pull out my best photographs and select from there. Since I need 14 photographs for each calendar I usually don't end up with a lot of extra. Esp. as I don't want to repeat species in each year. But with the landscape calendar there are some months that are harder to make the final selection for. So this blog post includes my "rejected" calendar photos. They didn't make the final cut, but were selected as possibles.
The above photo was a possible March. For the Landscape calendar, photos are made in the month they represent. This one was made in March at Ponkapoag Golf Course, showing the Sugar Maples that line the road leading back to the Bluehills Reservation area around the pond.
The above photo was made in Ames Nowell State Park, Abington, MA in April. Powered boats are not allowed on lakes in the state parks, but some visitors bring inflatable kayaks or canoes such as seen here.
This photo was made in my local city park in August, and shows this year's swan family, parents and cygnets swimming away from me. I used another photo of the swans in the calendar, one I liked better, and didn't want to repeat the image, so this one got cut.
The photograph above was made at the Governor Ames Estate, Easton, MA in July. This is what I mean when I say that not all of the photos are "Landscapes". Still nature, but not a long distance shot. I really like this photo of water lilies, but it just didn't fit in for that month.
This photo was made at Daniel Webster, MA Audubon site in Marshfield, MA in June. It shows the fields where the bobolinks make their nests. The fields are mowed toward the end of every summer so that the trees don't take over, but it is done after the young birds have fledged so are out of the fields. I just liked the range of values and colors in this photo, but it just didn't fit so got eliminated.
Hope you enjoyed this peak behind the curtain so to speak and like viewing my "rejected" photos.
Lately I have been trying to get back to some of my other loves (drawing and sewing) so above are two bookmarks that I have been working on. I painted a made up landscape on some watercolor paper, then cut the paper into strips and added ink work over the painting. There are a couple of more that I need to finish, but these two are the ones I have done so far. I apply acrylic medium to the fronts and backs which not only makes them waterproof but pretty durable.
That is it for today. Per usual comments are welcome
