A Matter of Time

Foolish children sing
Too Much time on My Hands
The arrogant declare
Time is on My Side

Sages declare
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

References: STYX – Rolling Stones – Pink Floyd respectively

Digital photography is a boon for learning and challenging yourself.
Like when you want to make photos of fast moving birds. Their erratic movements become an obsession to master.
Now, at year’s end, going through the folders, I see handfuls of usable pieces, and thousands of rejects.
Thousands. It is time to assess and measure the time spent. I am glad I did it, and will continue to do it. It IS however overtly time consuming on the output end of the equation.


In my last entry, I presented some works from the first quarter of 2021.
The second quarter always looks different. Photography has to fit my lifestyle (work schedule).
Most of my end-of-day pieces are made between October through March. So, instead I might make a bunch of static work.


During these months, I will break out some creative lenses for some on-the-fly exploration.
A year ago, I picked up a little Russian lens and modified it to make some swirl fall off pieces like this:

Wide open, this lens will crush backgrounds

and this:

California Sunflowers

There is just not enough time for all the photos and video to be fully vetted/edited. Perhaps when I retire, my photography schedule will catch up with the volume. Perhaps.

One Trick Pony

Fall descends in a gust
Winds narrating
The passage of ageless sparks

Wind created by wings
Many, becoming one
True to their calling

In the fall/winter, I am a one-trick-pony. Obsessed with murmurations and their relationship with the ending of day. They dance with the moon and get drunk with the reds of the eventide. It has been ten seasons that I have sought them out. They no longer number in the 100’s or 1000’s as that first year, but the call is still irresistible.
Multiple exposures on a single frame. (Nikon Z6) – Selective blur added





Don’t Leave

There is a certain stubbornness in the air
Though sun falls faster and cold grabs the neck
In firm coercions to change, to die off a little

“Look, all the other trees have shed their coats
Why won’t you conform?
Go to sleep already”

Tree, so steady:
“Yet it is ninety degrees today
A time for basking and soaking

If I had legs, I’d go surfing
You may be around less
But this confusion
Does not come
Without a price

Soon enough.”

trees across the lake – Mission Trails, San Diego –

The Gathering

A gathering of crows is called a murder.
I wonder why. There are many explanations.
The eating of human flesh after a battle seems appropriate.

A group of rhinos – Crash.
Apes- Shrewdness…ok!
Alligators – Congregation…a Sunday morning ritual?
Lemurs – Conspiracy….(or is that just the theory?)

More here: https://www.businessinsider.com/odd-names-for-groups-of-animals-2016-3#a-troop-or-barrel-of-monkeys-23

Composite stitching (multiple exposure photos). Available print: https://bluemarblephotography.smugmug.com/Composites/Birdscapes/i-7zjkvJt/A

Slight Delay

A knock at the door
It’s a cool night come calling
Rustling of leaves
Signals remembrance
Now at day’s early slumber
Perhaps I can again visit those murmurations
Most enchanting.


The newly planted winter garden promises growth that has become impossible in the summer heat. Lettuces and such love this cooler weather.
Once again I will traverse to the lake where my little blackbirds swing and sway to the light of the moon.
It has been a long two weeks in our home. The virus which shall not be named visited us. It has left, but its mark remains on some of us (no taste, tired) . I was fortunate with minimal symptoms. Tomorrow I’m back to work.
Multiple exposures from 2018