My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
So what story can this rusty bolt tell us? It is part of a hinge for the gate to a pasture but why is it on top of the post? Who put it there? It seems out of place. Once the mind games have settled down I realize it’s real purpose is there for me to photograph it. I wanted to present it as I saw it, with my vision. It’s another one of those things in life we sometimes overlook. When we look closely we just see more than before. 🙂
I am always mentally photographing everything as practice. – Minor White
Plain and simple, I wanted to write. I came to the coffee shop to enjoy a mocha and get into some writing but with the background noise it wasn’t going to happen. All I could hear was the annoying music in the background and a couple of guys talking decibels above everyone else. As I sat there sipping on my mocha my eyes wandered outside through the window. My mind quickly followed and I was now focused on the sunshine casting shadows of the black cast-iron chairs and tables across the flagstone patio. No longer a writer but now morphed into a photographer, I found myself pulling the camera out of the bag and moving towards the French doors leading to the patio. With shadows and shapes like those, images had to be taken. I’d write later. Just too much noise!
Loveland has a sculpture park called Benson Park that has 130 pieces on display. Since it is a few blocks from my sisters house, I stopped by and walked among the sculptures one morning on my way to the coffee shop. I wanted to try and show the  large quantity of sculptures but nothing seemed to capture that. So I settled on this bronze lady with her hat on and not much of anything else.
A couple of days after the above image I awoke to overcast skies and a light fog. Immediately my mind went to the sculpture park so I spent some time wandering around looking for more images.
Fog is an instrument nature uses to create one of its beautiful emotive scene. As a nature photographer we can take this same tool to make our images. Fog acts as a natural soft box, scattering light and reducing contrast. I’ve learned to expose for the the fog and not the subject, very similar to snowfall. As I headed for the coffee shop, I remembered the isolated trees in the open field and actually saw this image in my mind. It was not quite what I had envisioned but it works for me.
The last 2 days I had off it snowed. I then worked for 4 days and while I was gone they had sunshine 2 of those 4 days. I’ve been home now for 2 days and it’s been cloudy and overcast both days. It has rained all day today and may turn to snow tomorrow. I seem to be in one of those cycles where funky weather is hanging around the neighborhood when I’m home. I leave in 2 days and have a few friends who want to see me leave. 🙂
I will admit I enjoyed the peaceful and calming quiet of the windless snowfall and it was pretty. As I stared out the window, mezmerised by the drifting delicate snow flakes, I found my mind wandering off to a warmer season called Spring. I dreamed of venturing off to one of the parks to see the colors the rising sun would create, or listen to birds sing a good morning song, or feel the coolness of the morning dew, look for new plants sprouting upward. And, today with the light rain I yearn even more for Spring.
“The camera’s not a camera, really. It’s an open door we need to walk through. It’s up to us to keep moving our feet.” Joe McNally
Joe McNally’s post about photographers being “strange” is true. He pins me to the wall when he talks about photographers “staring at strange stuff”. I plead guilty to that and probably hits a chord with anyone reading his blog or even this blog. Case in point is the wall outside of a restaurant/bar called the Boathouse in Myrtle Beach. I had gone over for lunch before we flew out later in the afternoon. After devouring a shrimp BLT sandwich and fries, something I’d never had before, I walked out the door and noticed the painted wall of the building. It looked like a fresh paint job and I had to have a photo. I took a half dozen shots, adjusting my position by moving forward and backwards, stepping to the side, trying different crops until I felt I got what I wanted. Probably took no more than 1-2 minutes of time. Turning around I found myself staring at a car wanting to park right where I was doing my photographers dance routine. I can hear it now, “I don’t know Martha, looks like he’s shooting a wall. Strange!” I gave them a sheepish smile, waved, put the lens cap back on and got out of their way.
Whether we’re strange or not, we must keep moving our feet. 🙂