Month: July 2023

Let’s Get Cookin’

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It is enough
To see the flower
To be the flower

A couple of months ago, I dedicated my youtube channel for photography education.
It has been a pleasure to extol the virtues of thinking outside the box and to search out a personal “voice.”
Along the way, I had to challenge myself to get back into the arduous dreamscape impression way of making images. Challenges and prompts are creative killers for me. The process needs to happen organically based on available information.
Stationing myself at the back of our property, I forced some of what I used to do. It was clunky and uncomfortable. As time rolled, I released the challenge and my body/mind remembered it’s little used muscle memory.
Wait. I had to wait for some things.
Find color, tones, structure.
Create impressions with negative space compositions.
Now armed with these arrows in my quiver, now, I could go to work.
I say it is arduous. It is, only because one needs to release all forethought, expectation, stress and become part of all that is visible.

Here is the only product for my efforts. Double exposure. One long, one short. By nature of the process, no textures need to be added.

My YT channel now contains the basics of camera handling and how settings will affect the final output. There are two main sections “Basics” and “Basics In Depth”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0YuAdyEdjABbVeHvK4kIzQ

Harmony

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The natural world
Surrounds us
Like a warm blanket

A warm, itchy, sometimes uncomfortable, too hot, suffocating, beautiful, sweet, funny, heart-warming, worrisome…
blanket

Cover photo is a candid of visiting quail on the property. About one month later than last year. The brood has about one dozen chicks. I was amazed to see them when we got here. Still am amazed. If you stay still, they go about their business.

On other notes: My lovely wife nearly stepped on this speckled rattler in the driveway. It ended up under the truck, then her car, then was “relocated” by a guy who does that.

About two months ago, we had to pony up upwards of $400 to fix the car because a rat had chewed through a sensor.

Then this happened under the hood of the truck:

Under the manifold cover:

We were lucky. Damage was minimal. I had to put on my “exterminator” hat, and I hate doing that. They persisted, but I think our efforts are gaining. Our trail cam has not seen them for three nights now.

Things like this happen all the time and adjusting from an antiseptic city approach is fine. Typically, a city will have their own rodent-pest control.

Don’t get me started on squirrels. Garden raiding on steroids. We planted a new peach tree. Covered the few peaches on it with protective plastic. Gone. Limbs broken off. Wait a year for the dahlia to bloom. Chewed off.
Mouse trap paddles have helped, but it’s constant. (non-lethal)

A papa doing his job protecting his brood:

Field Notes 1

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From our fields:
Due to the excellent rainfall this winter, we have experienced a boom in buckwheat growth!
A favorite of mine over the years, buckwheat typically does not proliferate until well into summer.
I noticed early blooms in April. Bees and hummingbirds love this food source!
The visuals these plants provide are excellent. Crown-like dots of white cover the chapparal like little daytime stars. These flowers turn a rustic red in the heat of summer, exhibiting a second tonal show to enjoy.
I’ve featured a few close-ups from May, shot with an old manual Nikkor 105mm 2.8/extension tube.
When we moved here last year, I told Robin that in lieu of the landscape plants, I’d prefer buckwheat. We border wild land, it just seems like a good idea and buckwheat needs no extra watering for it to bloom and do its yearly color change. Well, we did get a LARGE bloom this season on the property. Love it!

Another close-up from May

Young sprouts – no extension tube.