Tag: tree

The Fence

On By John2 Comments

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I’ve not showed this picture to anyone yet, and I’m slightly concerned that you might think it is a black and white shot; but it isn’t.  Honestly, this particular morning was one of the densest (most dense? ugh grammar) fogs I can remember.  The light was super soft, and with all this white around, it’s hard to differentiate the snow on the ground from the sky.  Everything melts into one sublime space. Gotta love it!!  Interrupting it however, is this broken stone wall fence and a tree.  The sensor in my camera just couldn’t handle this very well, and so I sent the snow to white, and the rest got underexposed to near silhouette.  This is the result, a fake black and white.

I drive past this scene everyday on my way to work, and literally for years I said I would take this very picture.  I can’t tell you how many times I’d driven past it in some spectacular light, or a weather condition that would make for an amazing picture, and I just kept driving to work.  I would shake my head and say, “Some day I’ll take that picture.”  There’s a certain complacency with photography around your own home.  After all, the tree wasn’t going anywhere, and after over 20 years of looking at this fallen down rock fence, I knew no one was planning on fixing it anytime soon.  That doesn’t mean you should take it for granted either.  I call these kinds of pictures “Some day shots”.  The ones you have filed away in your subconscious. Then one day, it all came together.  I was off, and this fog had settled in over everything, and I knew the rock fence was calling to me through the fog.  Ironically, the very road I drive on as I pass this tree would have been in the picture if not for the thickness of the fog!!  Anyway,  get out there today and take one of your “Some Day” shots.  Or, if your not into photography and you’ve stumbled onto my sight and are reading this…   First, welcome!  Second remember that everyone has a “Some Day” something.  Make that Some Day today!!  Good Luck!!  All the best!!!

Years and Years

On By JohnLeave a comment

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Hi everyone.  It’s great to see you again.  I thought I would post something in line with the New Year starting today, and I came across this picture which I took on a hike a few months ago.  It was just before sunset, and even though we were underneath some heavy tree cover, the golden light of the sun managed to sneak through and illuminate this felled tree edge on.  It was perfect for seeing all the rings representing the many years it had been growing.  Obviously, the limb was deliberately cut.  I see this often when hiking a few days after a big storm.  This guy probably came out on the loosing end of a heavy wind gust, and came down across the trail.  The park ranger must have cut it up, and left it to the elements.  I’m sure there will be mushrooms all over it next spring.  I tried to count the rings, but found I will need an upgrade on my eyeglass prescription before that happens.  It’s somewhere around 20 or so, I think.  Not exactly a General Sherman Redwood, but no less important in my book.  It had seen a few New Years come and go, sort of like all of us.

For 2016, I want to concentrate on making the work I do count for something.  I want to balance my time properly so work, and leisure activity, each get their fair, and necessary share, of my efforts.  If you like, you can join me in one of my “First 100 Day Plans”.  This year, that is April 9th, because of leap year.  I’ve formulated a few tasks I would like to complete by the 100th day of the year.  Here we go:

  1. Stop drinking Soda…Forever this time
  2. Lose 20 pounds…that’s less than 2 pounds a week
  3. Establish a routine where I hike/photoexplore (my own word) a least 3 times every 2 weeks.
  4. Take this blog to the next level, with more posts and tutorials
  5. Finish reading the Harry Potter series…I’m stuck on Goblet of Fire, and I refuse to watch the movies until I’m done!!

To be fair, I make a separate list for work, but I’m sure you could care less about that, so I’ll leave it out.  What do you say?  April 9th?  Make you own list, and get cracking.  Whatever you choose to do, or not do, have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, and I’ll see you back here soon!

Lazy Day

On By JohnLeave a comment

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The summer is great for so many reasons.  It’s laid back attitude and weather are perfect for outdoor fun, and make it one of my favorite times of the year.  On this particular day, my son and I were doing a little fishin’.  We’re not really hard core fisherman, actually, we’re mostly worm drowners, but we go out from time to time anyway and have a lot of fun.  We practice catch and release because neither of us want to eat anything we catch.  We’re more of the burger and fries variety, but it’s still a lot of fun, and very relaxing, to stare at a bobber for a few hours and be occasionally interrupted by a bite.  Every so often we even catch a fish.  Not a bad way to spend a hot summer day.

Our luck this day however, was running thin, and since we couldn’t manage to catch anything larger than my index finger, I decided to just sit in my chair under this very nice pine tree, and take in the sites.  While my son kept fishing, I started making some photographic compositions in my mind of our surroundings.  Have you ever done that?  Some people even make a relative square with their hands like movie directors in Hollywood do, and evaluate the results.  I’ve read that it’s actually really good practice to do this sort of thing, and if done consistently, can help you compose your real photos better.  My favorite composition came from looking straight up, through the trees where we sat, to the perfectly blue sky above. In fact, I liked it so much, I grabbed my camera, and took this picture.  You know it was a great day of fishing when you come home with pictures…of trees!