For Comment: Shot with 400mm f6.3 Spiratone lens bought in high school!

For Comment - Images from Bowie Park Nature Fest

 

For Comment

Spent a good part of my day yesterday setting fire to 10+ years of old tax records.  Side benefit:  some great flame shots for future composites

 

In The Shadows

In the shadows

 

chat

 

still life

 

For Comment

 

Still Life:

My definition of still life images covers a rather broad range of interpretation--even within the natural world, where a lot of my photography lives.

The life cycle of the cicada is extremely interesting. The cicada nymphs hatch from their eggs in trees. After a few days they fall to the earth and burrow underground, where they spend their time tunneling through dirt and eating sap from the tree roots. They live that way for 13 or 17 years (depending on the species). After their time is up, the nymphs wait for the soil at 8-inches depth to reach 64 degrees. Then they emerge from the earth to molt one last time (as pictured above). They have reached their adult form when their fresh exoskeletons have hardened. They now have 4-6 weeks to live. The adult males lay their eggs in trees and start the process all over again.

A crepe myrtle blossom has fallen on an oakleaf hydrangea shrub to add a bit of color to my found still life.

 

Still Life

 

Since I had recently done an 'arranged, story based' still life, I was looking for something to just 'hit me'. When I go to Warner Park Organic Garden, I always stop at the greenhouse.  It was mostly empty save this trusty old broom and garden hose. I think greenhouses have a lot of symbolism around the plant life cycle and relies on a dedicated work ethic to create growth. I love the random way there are unintended plants in this space as well, so I did this image in color to highlight the plants growing in defiance of the broom. 

• Care
• Growth
• Protection
• Safety
• Sanctuary 
• Extended seasons of growth
• Optimized environment
• Tending 
• Productive Work
• Harvest
• Germinate
• Nurture

Still Life: Being in the middle of a move, I had to get creative with my interpretation of "still life."

 

For Discussion

 

Still life

 

For Comment...

Girl Power

Pink and Ponytail

With two grandsons playing baseball this fall, I find myself at the ballpark at least five days every week, either for practice or games. So, I look for things to photograph. This little princess is determined to keep her femininity while rightfully taking her place in a world traditionally held by little boys.
 

For Discussion: These 2 images were chosen just as a point of reference for a discussion I would like to have. Both break common axioms for what makes a proper picture. My feeling is that If you take to heart what many of the pundits on videos say about the perfect compositional technique you may come to believe that you must always create an image in which the subject is placed in the ideal position in the frame and made to dominate the image by use of leading lines, significant cropping, removal of any distractions or unnecessary content. While that is an important consideration for some images like portraits it could ruin others if applied indiscriminately in my view. How do these axioms apply to an abstract or even a landscape in many cases. Also you are told that the image should tell a story? Again using an abstract as an example, the only abstracts I have every seen with a story maybe where done by Picasso. Are these axioms really only relavent to certain type of image or every image? Personally, I like photographs that have little visual treats scattered about them for the viewer to enjoy and maybe more than one subject. One definition of fine art is: creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content. What do you think?

Summer Flowers

Having moved largely to film this past month, which takes all of my "spare" photography energy, I was nevertheless surprised to see my paltry digital output these past few weeks.

Still Life

 Inspired by Sam Abell's YouTube Video, Photographer of Life, I set out to do a still life linked to a landscape.

This is certainly not Sam's "Moscow Moment" (Pears in a Windowsill) but it was terrific to play with the various elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYf9klvk8vQ

 The Light Ekphrastic 

I had mentioned this at the last meeting, and just in case anyone else would like to participate, here's the link to the article that came out.  This was a really fun process. 

The poet I was paired with is Ann Bracken. 

The first two images are from "Musica Notturna" my series about moonflowers utilizing Italian musical terms to describe each images character. 

Silver Slipstream by Ann Bracken

Just after midnight I startle at the touch of a hand on my shoulder.

Someone whispers in my ear, and I find myself standing in front of an 

open window, holding a bunch of violets. A portal appears, and I step onto 

an unfolding ladder of twinkling lights. I clutch the purple blooms to my chest and 

awake in a sepia-toned room that’s vaguely familiar. I’m sitting on a straight-backed Victorian chair seated next to Sylvia, my grandmother’s friend. 

Welcome, dear, do make yourself comfortable, but you know we don’t have much time. Oh, what am I saying? Sylvia laughs and sips from a cut-glass punch cup. Don’t look so surprised, sweet girl, you summoned me, although this time travel seems to work only in one direction. Come here, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.

The violets are still fresh in my hands, and I notice Sylvia’s hair is a tumble of curls 

loosely piled on top of her head. You’ve admired my dress, haven’t you? It’s the one I was wearing in the photo.  I blush, asking “How did you know about the album?” But she anticipates my question. Others have tried to visit, she smiles, but no one had the foresight to think of the violets.  One violet has already wilted as if it’s a talisman of lost time. 

Maybe she’s read my mind across time’s silver slipstream. Maybe I’m meant to be here. “Sylvia, what’s your secret? I’ve been charmed by you ever since I first saw your photo.”  

She blushes, roses blooming on her cheeks. Let’s get to it, dear. You can only stay until four violets wilt. I’ve some important ideas to share with you. I notice a second violet limp on my lap.

You’re curious about May— your grandmother— I presume? I work as a lace maker in the shop where she purchased her wedding gown. We took a liking to each other immediately. May’s full of fire, and even marriage can’t tame her, though heaven knows John is trying. 

Your grandmother corsets her fears and her anger the way she corsets her waist each morning. Don’t be fooled by her acquiescence to conventions; a steel fierceness propels her through life. One day soon she’ll break free of the stays and the laces, defying everyone’s expectations. May is a free spirit, and you’ll be well-served to let her life-choices guide you.

A solitary violet remains. Sylvia stands, and I know she’s leaving me before I can find all the answers I came for. She puts her finger to my lips, pats my hand and whispers, 

 You must always take risks.   Seek adventure.  Place fresh flowers on your desk. 

Know this:. Your instincts are never wrong. 

My response: Denouement is the final part of a narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved. I was fascinated with the story that Silver Slipstream presented and wanted to create a still life with components of the story that showed what the narrator did after her time travel experience with Sylvia. How would this change her life? I wanted to show the impact that Sylvia’s lesson taught her through the memory of the album and show a life of learning, travel, adventure, natural beauty and always having fresh flowers (and violets) on her desk!

Denouement