My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
Well I pushed the button yesterday afternoon for a new look to my website. It is much cleaner than my previous website and it also uses more of the screen. Seemed like the previous theme was narrow and left a lot of blank gray space. Please let me know what you think of it. And, please tell me what you find wrong with it. There are two different image sizes for posting. Not sure I like either one. Wish I had something in between and will keep looking into that. My next issue is with my galleries. Sure don’t care for what I had perviously. Enjoy your Sunday!
The greatest of human discoveries in the future will be the discovery of human intimacy with all those other modes of being that live with us on this planet, inspire our art and literature, reveal that numinous world whence all things come into being, and with which we exchange the very substance of life.
Thomas Berry
A host of thoughts can run through my head while standing before this pre-dawn scene as I worked at capturing the image. This image is a panorama of 7 images using Lightroom Classic. I wanted the whole cloud bank in the image and my 16mm lens wasn’t wide enough so I decided to try a panorama. It works on this blog but not for printing purposes. When I came home and saw this panoramic image on my monitor my thoughts shifted from the craft of the image to the scene itself. It’s easy to look at this open field, even to the distant horizon, and see it as something separate from me. I’m here, it’s there. But that’s just not true. There is a multitude of ecosystems comprising this image and the world. Maybe that’s what makes this scene so appealing and beautiful to me. Because as Berry suggests there are other modes of being: birds of all sorts, insects, animals, the plants and of course, humans. For me the future of discovery Berry is talking about is happening now.
nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.
I was cleaning out a drawer when I came across a set of graduated neutral density filters, a filter holder and adaptor ring. Not sure how long ago I used them. But, nostalgia took over and I took them with me to play with one morning. That was all it took for me to remember why they were in the drawer and not in my camera bag. They were awkward, brought on frustration and reminded me that I’m not a professional photographer selling wall size prints. I shoot because of my love for the craft, its creativity, the time it offers me in nature and its simplicity. The improvement in Lightroom masking has made it easier and better to bring forth the images I want for my enjoyment and this blog. No need for graduated neutral density filters or the nostalgia.
They had some major flooding east of here yesterday and we are expecting more rain today. Stay dry!
To be human is to continually mistake our frames of reference for reality itself. We so readily forget that our vantage point is but a speck on the immense plane of possible perspectives. We so readily forget that there are infinitely many kinds of beautiful lives.
Maria Popova
Yesterday, I had lunch with someone who’s frame of reference of themselves is different from how others see them. They are frustrated and also hurt because others to not see them as they do. I’m also aware that people who have had the same experience in the past, such as a car accident, will remember it differently due to their frame of reference. The reality each of us experiences is definitely not the same. The same is true of the reality my eyes see and what my camera sensor can see.
As I watched the sunrise this morning I was fascinated with the dewdrops clinging atop each blade of grass glowing in the sunlight. When looking at the scene on my LCD or through my viewfinder I could barely see those dewdrops. This is because my Fujifilm X-T3 has a dynamic range of around 9-10 stops of light while the human eye can see up to 24 stops of light. However, I know the sensor is able to capture a bit more detail than the limited range of the viewfinder or LCD are showing me and know that my editing software will be able to increase the dynamic range, drawing some of the details out of the shadows. This allows us to see the glow of those dewdrops closer to what my eyes see. So, I press my shutter button with confidence. This reminds me how our frames of reference for reality differ.
Straight out of the camera
The second image is what the LCD showed me and the top image is what my software was able to pull out of the data captured by the sensor. If you click on each image you will get a larger view. And if you click on that image it will give you the full size image. You will also notice a couple of dust spots in the second image that were removed in the final image.
Cloud shelf along the eastern plains last Thursday provided me the opportunity to create a panorama image using four photos in Lightroom. A wide angle lens would be the better solution but this cheaper. Happy Monday!
haiku is not a poem, it is not literature; it is a hand beckoning, a door half-opened, a mirror wiped clean.
It is a way of returning to nature, to our moon nature, our cherry blossom nature, our falling leaf nature, in short, to our Buddha nature.
R. H. Blyth
I normally crop all my landscapes in 16 x 9 but this image is cropped in 16 x 10. It’s a subtle difference. So, fair warning as I may be on a new kick for awhile.
I’ve read where we should never place the subject in the middle of an image because placing the subjects off-center yields a stronger, more natural-looking composition and allows us to make creative use of negative space. Well I dodid will break that composition rule technique. I’ve also read that we should not should on ourselves, so I suppose I should stop that.
The top image is predawn light over Dixon Reservoir taken at 5:49 am and the second image was taken seven minutes later at 5:56 am about 40 feet from the first one. Again, showing us how nature continuously creates. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
“With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see.”
Robin Kimmerer
I believe that each pen, or any writing instrument, is a tool filled with words and that it is the task of the writer to find them. And, I define a writer as everyone! We just don’t know it yet. Just pick up the pen and put it to paper. I also believe words are found in blank journals and it is the writer’s task to find them. If you don’t believe me then get a journal and pen and begin to write daily. The words may be just for you but they are there.
This morning we had a light frost with the temperature around 30 degrees. By mid-morning the sun and bright blue sky had melted it away. It has been a quiet day for me. This afternoon I sat in my chair in the sunshine and let the sun warm me, inside and out. I watched the wind blow leaves across the yard, making that rustling sound as they danced in front of me. Now it is overcast and cooling down. My journals are my attempts to find words that describe such moments. and they also help me see such moments. It is a practice where progress not perfection is the task. I love what I see in this world so I use photography and my journals as ways to describe them. That’s my reason to journal and why I love my photography.
Morning light entering my bedroom, casting shadows across the wall. I see this almost daily and never tire of it.
I have a feeling That through the hole in reason’s ceiling, In Heaven you can perch, Without ever going to church!
Courtney Milne
I really did not know about Courtney Milne until this past week. I am impressed with his photography. I was also surprised to find he has published 12 books from the conventional to the abstract. One source I read says his photos are a celebration of the world’s “sacred places,” and a seemingly endless meditation on the beauty of the natural world. Sounds like my kind of photographer. Why didn’t someone tell me about his work? One of his best-selling books is Sacred Earth, which I just ordered a used copy of. Seeing his books makes me realize how little a collection I have of other photographers books.
As morning light came in through my living room window yesterday, the camera came out. Exposed for highlights and wah lah. It works for this photographer.
