• clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Those Edges

    May 14, 2023
    Storm clouds over Pineridge Natural Area

    The most interesting parts of the natural world are the edges, places where ocean meets land, meadow meets forest, timberline touches the heights.

    Galen Rowell

    I have been interested in horizons for many years and never really thought of them as edges, where a sky of clouds or stars meets the land, water, forests, prairie and those lovely song birds. Maybe the edges are the most interesting thing for me in my horizons. Could it be that is what the birds are singing about, those edges?

    This morning we have no visible edges on the horizon. Nor are there any dramatic clouds as we had yesterday afternoon in the above image. Instead a fine mist and low clouds sits over Pineridge Natural Area, while the city is shrouded in mystery. Even without the sight of those edges we know of there existence and if we are courageous enough, venture towards them. What discoveries will we find? And those song birds continue to sing reminding us there are edges to discover, maybe even urging us on.

    Happy Mother’s Day!

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  • haiku,  landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  seasons,  snow,  winter scenes,  writing/reading

    To See With All of Them

    February 4, 2022

    “I began to realize that the camera sees the world differently than the human eye and that sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed.”

    Galen Rowell

    This is another image from yesterday morning at Pineridge Natural Area. It was not as cold this morning at -2 degrees as it was yesterday. Sun is also radiant against the blue sky today. I put on a pot of Chicken Tortilla soup and let it cook for about six hours. I love how the condo smells when I cook soup. It is a good day for soup.

    As some of you know I have played around with writing haiku and sharing it on my blog. I began to look at haiku because of the suggestion of a good friend. I knew nothing about it nor had I read any of it. My understanding is that a haiku is a language of creation, a way to re-create the essence of a moment and allow it to touch our hearts anew. 1Haiku-The Sacred Art: (The Art of Spiritual Living) by Margaret D. McGee. When the pandemic began I spent more time in nature, had those moments that touched my heart and tried to capture them with haiku as well as my camera. It seems to me the eye of the heart sees much differently than the human eye or the camera. Today my desire is to see with all of them.

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  • frost,  landscape,  leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Unlock the Artist

    December 11, 2021

    At the heart of all photography is an urge to express our deepest personal feelings – to reveal our inner, hidden selves, to unlock the artist. Those of us who become photographers are never satisfied with just looking at someone else’s expression of something that is dear to us. We must produce our own images, instead of buying postcards and photo books. We seek to make our own statements of individuality.

    Galen Rowell
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  • architecture

    Looking Up

    April 25, 2014

    Looking Up
    Looking Up

    “At the heart of all photography is an urge to express our deepest personal feelings – to reveal our inner, hidden selves, to unlock the artist. Those of us who become photographers are never satisfied with just looking at someone else’s expression of something that is dear to us. We must produce our own images, instead of buying postcards and photo books. We seek to make our own statements of individuality.” – Galen Rowell

     

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  • landscape,  mountains,  National Parks,  Smoky Mountains National Park

    You Had Muir

    December 14, 2011

    The Great Smoky Mountains

    Perhaps the greatest tribute ever given to Muir took place in a private conversion between two great contemporary mountaineers. Galen Rowell once asked Rheinhold Messner why the greatest mountains and valleys of the Alps are so highly developed, why they have hotels, funicular railways, and veritable cities washing up against sites that, in America, are maintained relatively unencumbered by development. Messner explained the difference in three words. He said, “You had Muir.”

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