Mary Bedy Photography

Please Come In I really like to notice bits and pieces of things around me. I think that may partly stem from loving still life painting, in particular Dutch and Flemish still life painting from the 1600s forward. I used to paint still life when I was painting in oils (yes, the plural is “still lifes” for you grammar purests). I was always, however, painting from someone else’s photograph. I know a good still life when I see it, but I always had a hard time setting them up myself. I find I have the same issue when trying to set up a still life for photos, so I need to work on that. I am, however, good at spotting the wonderful still life in nature - the random gull feather on the beach next to an interesting rock, for example. The other way I satisfy my craving for interesting arrangements is to capture bits and pieces of architecture. Door knobs, windows, old brick walls with interesting texture. The nice thing about architectural detail is your subject doesn’t move and it’s already “

I like the industrial look. I like the shapes and forms of metallic objects created for industrial purposes even though they were not created to be “art” but were usually only created to be functional.   If you look up at massive electrical towers, there are some interesting shapes to be had. The outline of factory stacks can be interesting, old and sometimes decorative sewer grates are works of art unto themselves. As much as I love the local hiking trail, which I have visited literally hundreds of times in all weather conditions and seasons, and as beautiful as nature images are, there is also a place for the man-made, symmetrical, purposeful item when viewed for more than just its function.   When you look at a piece of machinery, think about what the inventor was thinking when he came up with that particular piece of equipment. Was he or she actually thinking just about function? Or was there also some thought to form involved in its creation? Is this thing painted a certain color?