My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
But before all else a work of art is the creation of love. Love for the subject first and for the medium second. Love is the fundamental necessity underlying the need to create, underlying the emotion that gives it form, and from which grows the unfinished product that is presented to the world. Love is the general criterion by which the rare photograph is judged. It must contain it to be not less than the best of which the photographer is capable. – Eliot Porter
Paul had a recent post about the constant noise he experienced in New York City. I relate. In my area its riding lawn mowers, leaf blowers, grass trimmers, trash truck, train whistle ( a mile away), sirens, loud stereos, Harley’s, etc. Some people seem to enjoy making the noise and for others it’s a way to make a living. For me I have enough noise in my head without all the external noise. Yesterday was an extremely noisy day as they are tearing up the parking lot across the ponds so machinery have been in operation all day. Tearing up asphalt makes a lot of noise! Maybe I need to move to the country.
My escape are trips to local nature areas, the mountains or some dirt road on the eastern plains. Basically out of town. This past weekend I took a drive to the Riverbend Nature area. This area is on the edge of the city limits so I can still hear some of noise, but it is the reprieve I needed. The clouds were putting on a beautiful show and helped cool things down while the setting sun make for some nice light and shadows. As I worked my way back to the truck a few rain drops added to my enjoyment. And, I was not the only one who needed to get out to the nature areas.
Had to a take a trip over to the small town of Windsor which has until recently been primarily a farming community. For me these short excursions are a good way to get out of town for periods of time and away from the bustle of the city. Fall is a time of year when we think about cooler mornings and heavy dew turning to frost. Canada geese will begin their noisy flying overhead and using my ponds as overnight rest stops. No need for a rooster with them around. Fall is also a time for picking blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet corn, squash, onions and whatever else you planted. Just made myself hungry for vegetable soup.
Field corn, what you see in the above image is harvested a bit later than the other vegetables. It requires a low moisture content where it will be used as feed for cattle. Field corn is not generally regarded, in industrialized societies, as not desirable for human food without commercial pre-processing. The stalks and husks will be used as feed also.
On my drive back from Texas I traveled along Highway 287. This is a pretty desolate stretch of road with seemingly endless miles of brown, dry prairie grass brought on by the severe drought. I was struck by the wind turbines against the blue skies and the open land so I had to stop. And, yes the wind was blowing. We are seeing more of these farms along the eastern plains of Colorado. This one is called the Lamar Wind Farm and is the largest in Colorado. It utilizes 108 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines. It resides on an 11,000 acre cattle ranch and only uses 2% of the land. So, each turbine takes up about one cow. I did not count them but will go with what the website says.
“You don’t become enormously successful without encountering and overcoming a number of extremely challenging problems.” Mark Victor Hanson
I’ve had a few of challenging problems in my life and I assume you have also. Reflecting back I see where some of those challenges were not really challenges at all, some were created by me and some were both. I learned from some of those challenges while some I repeated (more than twice). While working as an engineer, I found it exciting to encounter challenges. Those challenges helped keep my interested in that career, at least for a few years.
As we age many will face the challenge of health problems. Knees will pop and crack, backs will hurt more, arthritis will be more persistent, naps will play a more important role, our metabolism slows down and more. And, I imagine, keeping up with technology will require calling the (great) grandkids. As you know I just made a trip to visit my parents and I see the challenges my parents are facing and notice them occurring in my own life.
Photography, also offers us challenges. Learning the capabilities of our gear, dealing with weather and lighting conditions. If making money with our passion is required then we may have challenges with learning how to work as a business, marketing, finances.
Anyway, while relaxing on my parents back patio I noticed the patterns and colors of their pergola and the blue sky. And, since I had my camera I took one shot. To me this is an example where images do come to us. This image was given to me rather my efforts to capture or take an image. We just have to be there.
This was taken on a walk near my hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s sort of a strange perspective as I was trying to crop out a banner tied to the bottom of the windmill and stay out of traffic. I do like the starburst effect the Fujifilm 18-55mm f2.8-4.0 lens. It is a sweet lens for me.