It has been a very long time since I have made a post here on Blogger. I have had my life destroyed and now I am starting to be at the point where accepting my new life I will try to move forward out of my past and hopefully be able to have a better future!

                                                                                                  Many years ago way back in the mid 1980's, I visited Turkey and had the privilege of going to the municipality of Katahya.  I was able to visit the many world famous pottery shops there. I fell in love with the wonderful hand painted blue and white pottery and I bought many pieces. At this time in my life I have very few of them left. The vase in these images is one of the surviving pieces. 

 A while back I had some roses that I had picked and I put them in this elegant Katahya Pottery vase and thought what a delightful still life it would make. I got out my old Fujifilm XT-10 digital camera and took a few images and was rather pleased with this one in particular. I decided to do a bit of Photoshop on it and ended up with this nice image that has an almost vintage 1940's type of quality!
 

I have just set up a Pinterest page with some of my pottery that is available at this time. Just click on the link below to view.  If you are interested in any of my works, please contact me

Michael W. Moses Pottery Currently Available

 Above is a very small pottery artifact fragment pin tray, featuring a benignly smiling creature. I created this piece a number of years back on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Currently available.

It has been almost four years since I have made a post. My world disintegrated in 2019. Almost everything in my life has changed since then and nothing for the better. It has been a very long and sad story that I will not burden the reader with at this point, other than to say I have ended up far away and removed from my beloved Gulf Coast and the now seemingly blessed life I had. To be lost in the very "Mountains of Madness. For almost 2 years I have had little urge to do much of anything. I sit and watch the telly, surf the net, and play the "Sims4". I have numbed my mind with loss. I guess in a way I have withdrawn and retired from life. It has taken me quite a while to get to this point where I am able to even consider taking up my long neglected blog once more. Initially I was way to busy to take time for making an occasional post, but the good kind of busy. When all was lost I did not think I would ever care to blog again or anything else. I am now waking up after a long sleep and in a way want to reach out into the world once more. I know that very few people will see this so it is kind of a safe step out of doors for me so to speak.

The image above is an art photograph that I did late last year. It started out as an image of some leaves blown to the curb in a strip mall parking lot. The next day I just happened to run into this big mantis on the front porch of where I am residing so I took a photo. I took an image of the rose that I have in a pot. Added an image of an ancient silver coin from the Greek city of Ephesus.
Photoshoped the living daylights out of them and ended up with this digital image that I have called "Rock n Roll". It is entitled as such, because the rose is named, "Rock & Roll". Created by American rose breeder, Tom Carruth, in 2006 and introduced to the U.S.in 2007 by Weeks Wholesale Rose Grower, Inc. 

Mobicon 2017 Photos by Michael W. Moses

Mobicon 2017 was held over the last Memorial Day Weekend at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, located in Mobile Alabama  it was on the 26th to the 28th May 2017.  I took a remarkable number of images on Saturday the 27th. It was a wonderful day of just talking with people and taking lots of photos of the incredible costuming!  CoastConFan Blog posted a large number of my images taken that day on his blog and you can visit the blog and see the images by jumping to them at the following links to the two different post he did for the images:

 Mobicon 2017 Part I

Mobicon 2017 Part II

 I have had a lot of life occur during the time that I took these images back in May and have also taken a mind draining number of other images at other events and places, so, it has taken me a bit longer than I would have cared for to get this posted.  I hope you enjoy them and please feel free to comment.

         

 Rikativity

      Click  Above to Visit Her Facebook Page 

I would like to thank all the fen that were kind enough to allow me to take so many images of them and their beautifully creative outfits!  A well done job to all! I would like to also thank all the kind, courteous and patient folks working at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel.  

I would also like to thank the guests staying at the hotel for their generously putting up with all of our hijinks and shinnagens!

 With so many of my images, I know what the finished work will look like as I am taking the photograph on the spot. The photograph above, was one of those images. As the exquisitely dressed woman was posing, I knew exactly what background I would use and how I would handle the over all mood of the photograph.  It is almost hard to believe that this antique image was taken in 2017!

 

The image above "Isolda Sophia" shows the original unaltered photograph and is followed by the finished Art Image.  Using various different apps, I cut out, paste, and blend different images mostly of my own manufacture, together to create one original work of art.

The above image of the two young ladies in 1920's haute couture apparel was taken inside the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, which is a delightfully sunny place, but unfortunately for my photography has yellow walls that give a warm golden glow to many of my images. The warm golden color can fortunately in most instances be corrected and made to look more natural. In the case of this image "Flapper Girls" I rendered the image into black and white and then gave it an antiquing filter and an authentic circa 1920's border. The over all effect has a truly vintage look!

I really enjoyed this years MobiCon and I will be anxiously waiting for next years to arrive.
I will try to get my next post up a bit sooner, so until the next post.......

Please note All text and images on this blog are copyright Michael W. Moses unless otherwise stated.   Feel free to copy these low-res photos for your personal, noncommercial use.   Also feel free to link to this blog and share with others.

Michael W. Moses Southern Geek Fest 2017

 Lets go back in time just a bit here and look at the images that I took on May 20, 2017. I went to Southern Geek Fest in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  SGF 2017 was a con that covered sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics, and all things Geek in general. When I first entered the con I was immediately struck by the state fair, cattle show appearance of the venue itself and then by the dismal arena lighting! I thought that this was just going to be a no-go for getting any great images. Let me tell you one thing -- well two. First, did I ever get some good photographs! Second, I had the best time I have had at a con in along time.

"Guardian"

"Fallen Heroes"

The lighting may not have been what I was hoping for, but I must say that I have over the years been to some cons where it was flash photography only. Dark and gloomy lighting that prevented much in the way of shooting a truly superior image.  Much to my surprise the lighting at SGF was just perfect for my Fujifilm X-T10! I took some of the most delightful images that I have ever taken at a con. I must not only credit the camera, but mainly all the people that I photographed that day.

"Finally a Day Off"

Everyone was just so photogenic! It seemed as if there were only professional models at Southern Geek Fest. From the tiniest child to the most advanced Fen. There was just a subtle beauty to their attitudes, movements, and costumes, that made for a fantastic photographic experience. There were every imaginable costume to be seen, from Steam Punk, Action Heroes, Monsters, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and a dozen other genre!

Click the link below to view some of the images I took, that have been posted on the "CoastConFan Blog".

Click for Photos of Southern Geek Fest 2017

When I do my art photography, I start out, as many photographers do, by taking as many images as I can. I then go over them one by one choosing the ones that I find the best quality and then I pick out the ones that I want to manipulate into my art images. When one has a thousand or more images to parse, it can take a fair amount of time to go through them all.

"Travel Companions"

 There are certain images that I know exactly how they will look finished as I am taking them. There are other images that literally evolve from one picture into another and end up being unrelated to the original photograph. One of these images is "Fries For the Emperor" The moment I saw this heroic warrior king eating his fries, I knew that an image I had taken a bit earlier in the day would be what completed this and took it from being just a photo to an finished tableaux vivant. A little slice of life. Well, fantasy life that is to say.

"Fries For the Emperor"

Some of my art photographs may only take an hour to create (not as often as I would like), others may take five or more hours to manipulate and process. Some of them, I don't feel satisfied with and they are filed away, not to be thought of for years. Then one day it clicks and I know how to finish the image.  "Fries for the Emperor" took about twelve or so hours to process, making about ten or so variations before I had the image as I had originally envisioned it it should look.

Sometimes an image just happens, like the "The Cats of Ulthar".  It started out as raw image 1, that I took of this very well done pavilion that one of the groups had set up as their base camp.

raw image 1

 I originally took the image just as a possible background for future use. Once I was going through the images I looked at this pavilion and remembered an image I had been working on of one of my cats leaping through the air.

Cat Poster

One thought lead to another and I had made up a cat poster.

Then I added a few cat images and did a bit of touch up work here and there. I chose a background that I had created using "Bryce 6". then I "photoshoped" the living daylights out of it and ended up with "Cat Circus"

"Cat Circus"

I liked it, but there seemed to be something just lurking on the threshold of my mind and then it hit me it needed to be cropped and renamed "The Cats of Ulthar"

"The Cats of Ulthar"

This was an abbreviated description of how through the use of my digital photos and some manipulation of them, I produce my artistic images.

"Dreaming of Air"

So, back to Southern Geek Fest in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It was a very good time and I ended up with some very satisfying art images. I look forward to going to the next SGF and I am anxiously waiting to hear when it will be.

"The Heist"

I would like to belatedly thank all that were involved in making Southern Geek Fest 2017 such a wonderful experience! The people that put the fest on, the guests. the merchants, and especially all the fans that attended.

"Do You Have The Time Sir"

"Cookie Monster Warrior"

"Exploring Together"

Another post will be coming soon....Michael W. Moses