The incidence of the angle to the sun Relative to the distance The minor variance Affecting the whole of our world
Glancing at Venus Conversing with the moon Behind the cloud The red of sun Splashed for ambience
We’re entering The dark sector Of revolution and rotation A cosmic wonder
My thought “Days are getting shorter” Is an insult To the reality of this grandeur
I’ve been so busy with “stuff” and have had few opportunities to create images. My heart fell when I witnessed such a beautiful sight last night. The moon and Venus (or Mercury?) claiming a stupendous “good night” to the day’s end. I could only appreciate it in passing. Responsibilities. Soon the blackbirds will return to the lake in their murmurations. I must make time for this.
Back country service roads can lead to perilous areas where moving forward is sketchy. At the same time, conditions may occur where one cannot stop to look ahead. Momentum is required to traverse the conditions ahead. Trusting learned instincts is paramount to success in these moments. Once through the danger, there may be some damage. Perhaps the oil pan was compromised/scratched, or maybe the suspension was strained. The “other side” hopefully delivers its treasures and the relative pain is worthy. Sometimes all is failed and documented for future references. Learning is the reward of perceptible failure.
Project: Bird photography for inspiration. Incorporate standard bird photography restrictions: Detail Focus on the eye Get in plane (their level) Composition (duh) More blah blah blah
Of course there are gear, software, editing and tech issues. More opportunities for failure…..learning.
Then What? Always, then what? That will never be found in a lens, camera body or editing software.
Perhaps I have ADHD, ADD, WXYZ, or something, I don’t know. We know that when we endeavor into an artistic genre, we will aim at “traditional.” Once that is known (fully or otherwise) sometimes we ask ourselves, “what can I do with this? It’s nice, but how do I make it my own?” Our thinking drifts in and out of ideas. So how do we work it out? For me, the first step is to take it too far. Sometime that works, sometimes not. When I first started using intentional camera movements in my work, I was elated! My assistant reviewed some of my work and honestly stated, ” it hurts my eyes.” With that, I came to understand that something new and exhilarating to me is meaningless if it does not convey a meaningful message to the viewer. It was not failure, it was learning and with learning comes maturity. So here we are again. The decision to gear up for bird photography in February has brought me here. Processing a color image, save, process a B&W rendering, save, process a B&W image and remove the colors that make the water go to black. Stack that black image over the color and reveal the color through masking. Kitsch? Perhaps. But I will embrace kitsch if it leads me to new knowledge. Anyway, it makes for an interesting desktop background. During this process of editing and video creation I have come to remember why I love photography so much. A few hours spent outside of myself. No cares of the world bearing down on me. Looking for beauty and story. What a lovely privilege. Watching and appreciating nature is a treasure to the heart. In all of that discovery, I see the direction to go. To explore and work. To fail and succeed. To live.
Finding the Light
It is the telling That wears us out So we run to places Where semblances Of light Still reside
The gold of morning Gives us hope. There is no talking here Only instinct And the basic will To survive.
A place for flight And grace Strength and weakness. It waits for no one And moves through us all.
An unending story Waiting to unfold Waiting To be told.
Or take-out, or fast-food. Sometimes the order comes and we realize it is just too much food. Half of it ends up in the fridge.
For this osprey, it was pure instinct to catch whatever he saw as a “safe size.” It makes sense that if the fish was too large, the raptor would leave it alone. As it was, he dove and clenched his prey. After several tries, he realized he could not exit the water with this sized fish still flailing underneath. Some fifteen seconds later, after disabling the mullet, he ascended. The power of these birds is impressive. San Diego channel near Dog Beach
Photographic Impressionistic Illusionistic 