• Annie Dillard,  fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes,  seasons

    Concerning trees and leaves..

    Concerning trees and leaves… there’s a real power here. It is amazing that trees can turn gravel and bitter salts into these soft-lipped lobes, as if I were to bite down on a granite slab and start to swell, bud and flower. Every year a given tree creates absolutely from scratch ninety-nine percent of its living parts. Water lifting up tree trunks can climb one hundred and fifty feet an hour; in full summer a tree can, and does, heave a ton of water every day. A big elm in a single season might make as many as six million leaves, wholly intricate, without budging an inch; I couldn’t make one. 

    Annie Dillard

    Annie Dillard’s quote caused me to rethink my perspective on the world of these trees around me. It’s that thing where I look at them, see their beauty, see them as a passive object, while failing to see the innate and active power within them. And, I couldn’t make a leaf either. However, I love to see them swirling in the wind, whether the leaf is clinging to a branch or free-falling to the ground, or lying peacefully on the ground. Always intrigued by their shapes, patterns, colors and how nature seemingly and randomly scatters them to and fro, making beautiful art, just for me. And, I love to photograph them. ❤️

  • fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  seasons

    A walk with my camera

    Dew is the result of water changing from a vapor to a liquid. Dew forms as temperatures drop and objects cool down. If the object becomes cool enough, the air around the object will also cool. Colder air is less able to hold water vapor than warm air. This forces water vapor in the air around cooling objects to condense. When condensation happens, small water droplets form—dew.

    The colors in town have been vibrant this year or I’m more alive to them than previously. The sun was warm and bright yesterday morning making things look vibrant. So, I took my camera and the 35mm f2.0 for a walk. Only makes sense to photograph all this beauty.

    Wisdom for today: I need to walk away from food rather than around food.

  • John O'Donohue,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Nature of the Soul

    Love is the nature of the soul.

    John O’Donohue

    Yesterday was my oldest granddaughter, Abbie, and Patton’s wedding. It was absolutely beautiful in so many aspects. They are in their mid twenties and seem very much in love and not just in the fantasy of their minds. They seemed so comfortable, relaxed and excited. A good time was had by all except for those of us who overate. 😂 May they grow in their marriage! I love you two! ❤️ I will be looking forward to seeing the wedding photos.

  • Dewdrops,  grass,  Mary Oliver,  Plants,  poems,  poetry

    Lingering in Happiness

    After rain after many days without rain,
    it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,
    and the dampness there, married now to gravity,
    falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf, down to the ground

    where it will disappear–but not, of course, vanish
    except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,
    and the white threads of the grasses, and the cushion of moss;
    a few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole’s tunnel;

    and soon so many small stones, buried for a thousand years,
    will feel themselves being touched.

    Mary Oliver, from Why I Wake Early
  • Albert Einstein,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Deep Into Nature

    Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

    Albert Einstein

    Yesterday was a cooler day with refreshing rain and more rain is forecasted for today. It is overcast, damp, and foggy in Colorado this morning. The fog mixed with the smoke filters the sun to glow bright orange through it all. Wish I knew a good way to photograph that color but I haven’t come up with one yet. But, that’s okay because I was able to just sit and experience nature doing its thing, and just for me.

    My prayer this morning is for more of us to take a deeper look into nature which means spending time there and on a regular basis. Seems to me Albert knew what he was talking about. Leaving in a few minutes to meet a special friend for coffee and conversation. Have a great Sunday!

  • Dewdrops,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    What is my work?

    Looking close at nature and its ability to create

    “My work is Loving the World.”

    Mary Oliver

    I believe nature can create visual art that brings pleasure to my soul. I’ll even say it creates art that touches all of  the senses; smell, touch, visual, audible and taste. Could it be that nature is the ultimate artist? As Mary Oliver ask do I participate as an artist with nature in loving it, respecting it, protecting it?

  • Creativity,  Dewdrops,  landscape,  leaves,  Metro Parks,  natural areas,  Plants,  quotes

    Growth in my Photography

    Morning dew on the leaves at Inniswood Gardens

    “I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” 

    Rainer Maria Rilke

    While living in the Westerville, Ohio area I was exposed to nature areas that were so different from my home state of Colorado. I was enthralled with all the green, the insects , the soft diffused light and the amount of rain. I was not used to all the rain and for sure had to adjust to the overcast skies. I cans still in my memory recall the distinct fragrance these forested areas offered, telling me how alive they were.

    At the time I was traveling 3-4 days then home for 3-4 days. These extended days off gave me the opportunity to explore the Metro Parks in around the Westerville area. I found two  parks within about 10 minutes of my apartment so I ventured into those worlds on regular basis. One was Inniswood Gardens and the other was Blendon Woods. And, the days I was traveling were opportunities to explore new cities, peoples, cultures and almost unlimited photo opportunities. It was during this time I feel I began to grow emotionally and spiritually which in turn allowed my view of the world to grow. And, this emotional and spiritual growth was the seed to the growth of my photography.