Posts in Category: clouds
He is risen! Happy Easter Sunday.
floating ice skim on one of the ponds along Rt. 9 in Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Happy Easter! I am not sure why this is my Easter image this year. I admit it is abstract, and visually challenging (what is it?). But it is also full of life…full of mystery…full of grace and wonder. It is also highly unlikely. It is a super thin patch of floating ice on a pond along Route 9 in Kennebunk Maine. It was above 40 and had been for several hours when I found it, and this pond has been open for weeks, so I was not expecting ice at all. And the sweeping feather like patterns are more like rime ice on a car window than anything I have seen on the surface of water. And then there are the straight lines, the pattern of triangles among the feathers, like the leading in a stained glass window. And it is so thin, so fragile, so unlikely. Altogether strange and wonderful. It challenges my understanding of what is physically possible.
Then you add the colors of the reflected sky and clouds and trees and it really comes alive. It becomes not just an image of floating ice, but a image in its own right, containing a beauty of its own. Looking at it is almost meditative…it puts my mind into a state of open wonder and receptivity…and something very like peace. Something very like hope. Something very like joy. And so, after all, it is not so strange a choice for Easter Sunday!
What is more unlikely than the resurrection? More challenging to our sense of what is possible? More full of grace and wonder? What greater source of hope and joy?
He is risen. Against all odds. Against every expectation. He is risen and with him hope and joy. And though 2000 years of Christian history have not always given testimony to his truth, yet his truth lives on, and is there to be received by every generous eye. Unlikely as rime ice on open water. Unlikely as perfect triangles in floating ice. And more beautiful than the reflected colors of sky and cloud and trees. Jesus is risen! He lives. He lives in me.
Happy Easter!
And the sky above… Happy Sunday!
Back Creek Marsh, Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
I could see from my yard that drama was building in the sky to the west, and would sweep over us in the next rew hours, so I packed my cameras and headed out to catch some of it. We live a forested landscape…so much so that there are few places with a broad horizon…at least to the west. To the east, of course, we have the sea, and as broad a horizon as anyone could want, but weather systems move over us from the west, and the best you can do on the east is catch the storm going away. Still, the beach, and the marshes behind the dunes, do provide enough sky so that is the first place I headed in search of photos of the coming storms.
This is a sweep panorama of the western sky and the marsh from just behind the dunes. The clouds high in the sky are just the harbingers…the real storms are still down on the horizon just above the trees. I drove further inland, to the Kennebunk Plains, to catch those. Still, the sweep of the creek, the line of the road on the right, the trees on the horizon, and the balance of the sky make for a beauty worth seeing…and worth sharing.
I think our love of moving water and stormy skies comes from somewhere very deep within us. I think we see the power of our God, and the beauty, in such a landscape. God speaks presence and present action. “I am here and I am working. See what I make. See my making.” Or at least that is what the generous eye sees and hears.
It took the storms on the horizon about 90 minutes to reach the coast. Heavy rain, high winds, and thunder. I was out on the Plains when the weather and the drama reached there. Beauty runs ahead of the storm. Beauty runs in the storm, and beauty comes after. God is all in all.
Happy Sunday!
Winter Drama
Back Creek and the Mousam River, Kennebunk Maine
Some people like a sunny, cloudless day. Not me. I like blue sky, but I like a few clouds for little drama…or a lot of clouds for a lot of drama 🙂 To me, the clouds make the landscape. This is the junction of Back Creek and the Mousam River, about 2 miles from our house. It is only 2 PM, but already the light has the slant of late evening. That’s winter in Maine. This is an 180 degree sweep of snowy marsh and winter sky. The little tuffs of marsh grass showing keep the eye busy in the lower half, and the clouds dominate the upper. The light is simply wonderful. The lone figure on the right gives scale.
Sweep Panorama mode. Auto exposure with -1/3EV. Sony HX90V. Processed in Lightroom.
Figures in the foreground
Carol and Anna, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background.
A front was coming through Santa Fe yesterday. We got out in the morning to walk along the lower Santa Fe river along the bike path while the sun was still shining…though it was completely overcast by the time we got back to the car. This is my wife Carol and my daughter Anna, who is in grad-school in Santa Fe. We are on a bridge over the Santa Fe river channel. You can just see the snow caps on the Sangre de Cristos far back under the mountain effect clouds. They are expecting 2-4 inches of snow out of the storm today, so this landscape will look considerably different by tomorrow. 🙂
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR at 24mm equivalent. I really enjoy the subtle HDR effect of the Sony, which makes landscape portraits like this very pleasing. Nominal exposure 1/1600th @ ISO 80 @ f3.5.
Cape Porpoise Chowder House: Happy Sunday!
Cape Porpoise Harbor, Cape Porpoise Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus.
I went out yesterday in search of falling water and fallen leaves. I wanted to photograph the small falls along the Batson River in Emmon’s Preserve with the autumn accumulation of leaves covering the rocks and lining the water channels. I did that, and some of the pics will be featured in today’s Love of landscape (on Facebook and Google+). However, since I was out that way, and the sun was breaking through high clouds in interesting ways, I decided to swing out to Cape Porpoise to see how the harbor looked. I knew it might be chancy getting a parking place on the Cape on a Saturday morning, but slid into the last place in the public parking. The cloud bank off-shore was blocking direct sun on the harbor, but since I was parked I decided to wait it out. I could see sun on the point to the south, and on the water behind the lighthouse, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the clouds slid far enough out to sea for the harbor and the foliage behind it to be in full sun.
When the couple in the corner of the image brought their cups of chowder out on the deck that just about decided it, but then the sun finally broke though and I hustled over to get this shot. Okay! Then I did go into the Chowder House for my bowl, brought it out to the deck, and sat and enjoyed the play of the light over the water, the boats, the village and the autumn colors behind.
While I was eating and watching, a group of three people joined me on the deck. Two were sporting cameras. I overheard the third say, “It is so pretty. Thank you for forcing me to play tourist in my own town today. I never get out here.” I assume she was showing off the sights to weekend visitors in her home. And I thought, there it is. We need to play tourist in our own towns. We need to visit the lighthouse and the harbor at Cape Porpoise often. We need to sit in the autumn sun (or summer, or spring) on the deck of the Chowder House, eating some of the best clam chowder I have ever had, and enjoying the play of light on the harbor and the village. We need to turn a generous eye on the places where we live…as though they were new to us…as though we were just visiting. What wonders we might find.
I have had the privilege these past few years to do just that. To be out as often as I like and really enjoy the place where I live. To play tourist in my own town…and to share much of what I find with a growing group of friends. When you turn a generous eye on the place where you live you find that it is, indeed, full of light…full of wonder…full of joy. What a gift! What a God! Happy Sunday!
Fall Fatigue? Happy Sunday!
Along Route 9 in Kennebunk ME
“If your eye is generous then your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
Are you getting tired of fall color yet? Buck up! In Maine we have two fall color seasons. Right now the color is mostly maple and a little birch. Just about when the last maple leaves fall to the ground, the oaks will turn a brief red, and than shade to deep cooper. We have weeks to go 🙂 This is a favorite stop for photography. While I was there, for 10 minutes on a Saturday morning, at least 3 other cars stopped. They did not all have out of state plates either. This pond is not on the main route through southern Maine. You have to know it is there, or have taken the scenic route to Kennebunkport from Wells. Once you see it during any decent fall, though, you will very likely be back for more! I check back often (it is only a few miles from the front door) just to see the changes in color day to day and what the sky is doing. What is happening here is a narrow front passing through, pushing out a film of cloud ahead of it. I like this scene best with clouds in the sky to balance the landscape. I have toyed with the placement of that single tall pine on the right. For this shot, I angled the camera up to get the full height in…sometimes I keep the shot level and lop the top of the pine off…that keeps the angles more natural…but then you have to deal with the truncated pine. Dilemma. The color is the star of the show anyway. I will probably go back a few more times this week, so you may see other pine variations…and certainly the color will change, as trees loose their leaves and others turn. And I can always hope for new skies.
The generous eye…the eye that sees the light and beauty…the spirit…in everything and everyone, can look at the same scene day after day and always find something new. No such thing as fall fatigue. You can never have too much fall color, anymore than you can have too much beauty. We are full of light in the way a bucket under a flowing tap is full, water splashing over the edge and always making room for more. If I catch a splash and share it in this image…well, that is just what I do. That is generosity in my eye. Praise be to the Creator, the one light, infinitely generous. Happy Sunday!
Somewhere high plains Kansas
Somewhere in southwest Kansas.
My daughter picked me up at the Airport car rental counter in Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. We drove into the City to pack the van, and then headed out across country on her move to Santa Fe NM. She drove the interstates until just after mid-night to just short of Topeka Kansas, then we tried, without much success, to get a couple of hours of sleep at a rest stop. By 4 I was driving, and dawn found us out on the back roads of Kansas cutting down across the southwest corner headed for the narrow slice of Oklahoma and then on into New Mexico to hit the Interstate again about 200 miles from Santa Fe. Since we were on a tight schedule (having to do with the rented van), we did not stop very often, and I developed my technique of rolling down the window and shooting off an in-camera HDR of the passing prairie. It should not have worked, since were generally traveling over 60mph when I did it…but the Sony managed to make sense of the three exposures and, most of the time, pull them together into an acceptable image. Amazing technology.
And the prairie sky put on an irresistible show for us…with huge clouds in the morning and then something of interest all the way across Kansas and Oklahoma. I saw this cluster of trees on the horizon and the plume of cloud above it just in time to get the window down and grab the shot. In Lightroom processing, I cropped out the motion blurred foreground, which left me with, I think, a very satisfying image. (We did stop several times for more studied photography. I will post a link to my trip album when I get home.)
Back Creek. Happy Sunday!
Back Creek, Kennebunk ME
We have had occasional moments this week when I could believe in Spring in Southern Maine. Yesterday, after a day of off-and-on snow, heavy at times, the sun crept out through thinning clouds and for an hour and it actually felt like spring might happen. I went to the beach 🙂 Today we are back in the teens, though there is no denying the growing strength of the sun.
This is Back Creek about two miles from our house, where it comes into the Mousam River behind the dunes at our closest beach. I have photographed this hundreds of times. The sky, of course, is never the same twice, and yesterday’s was irresistible.
Nikon P900 at 24mm equivalent field of view. f2.8 @ 1/1600th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
The Nikon is a new camera for me. I have not had it a week yet, and I am still in the learning and exploring mode…trying to determine how to get the best out if…and indeed, what its best might be. It is a process I have been through many times before of course. Cameras are complex machines, these days driven by complex programming, and no camera ever made was perfect…especially not perfect for the particular kind of photography I do…for the vision I am trying to catch and share. It always comes down to working with the strengths of the machine, and working around its weaknesses. Every so often you decide there is a new feature, or a combination of features, whether hardware or software, that your current camera does not have…or a job it is just not up to…and you begin to look at what has come out since. Or occasionally, a maker will leap out in front of the pack with a new feature or new programming that just has to be tried. That is what keeps camera companies in business, and photographers always saving up for the next purchase 🙂 For many photographers, the vision inside them wants out…and will work its way out…no matter what camera they have in their hands…but we are always looking for the camera that makes that easiest…and always aware of the limitations of our current tools. It is a perfect metaphor (well, “perfect” is always a stretch) for the way the spirit in us wants out…and is always working its way out through this machine we call our body and the programming that is our personality. God has a vision to express in each of us…a job or series of jobs to do. I have a feeling that God works with our strengths and around our weaknesses to get the job done, every day. The spirit will out. My will is that I would be a good enough tool so that the vision is clearly expressed…the job done…every day. Happy Sunday.
The Land of Enchantment. Happy Sunday!
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, NM
We are back in Maine, “The Pine Tree State”, from New Mexico, “The Land Of Enchantment.” On the whole I have to say that whoever came up with the New Mexico nickname did a better job of capturing the essence of the state than whoever came up with Maine’s. I mean, you can market “enchantment”…”pine trees” just does not have the same effect. Don’t get me wrong, Maine is home and I am happy to be home…but New Mexico was home for 12 years, and I can still appreciate the enchantment of the landscape, the culture, and the history. This is certainly an enchanted landscape from an enchanted place. We are back at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and here we see two of the three land forms that meet at the Monument. The eroded tuff cliffs in the foreground, and ancient volcanic mountains in the back. The third would be the open valley of the Rio Grande River which is out of the frame well to the left. And storm clouds…life-givers…moving in over all. Enchantment!
Sony WX220 at 25mm equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f8. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Of course, enchantment is a state of mind. All around you in New Mexico is the evidence of how fragile and wonderful life can be. For thousands of years…from pit dwellers to pueblos, to Navajo and Apache hunters, to the Spanish invaders, to the hunters turned shepherds and silversmiths, to the trading post merchants, cowboys, miners, farmers, and outlaws, to the atom chasers at Los Alamos and the artists of Santa Fe…humans have tried to make a life in this fantastic, wonderfully weathered, landscape…always poised on the edge…boom followed by bust…never quite waking from the dream. And the landscape weathers on, patient, ever changing and yet unchanged, rolling over and engulfing every change made by man. It is much the same everywhere, if you look behind the current facade, but some landscapes have almost been tamed. New Mexico, despite every effort of humanity, has not. The struggle and delicate balance…and the beauty of life on the edge…of the waking dream…is still very evident. Enchantment.
My spiritual forefathers lived in just such a landscape. The tribes of Israel herded sheep between the farming towns along the rivers. Jesus was born and lived his life among us in a place that shares this particular enchantment. For me, part of the magic of New Mexico is that I can feel something of the mindset that shaped the scriptures, that gave the words and images in which my spiritual reality was first expressed. Being there, in places like Tent Rocks, puts me into a spiritual perspective, and makes it easier to believe. This is good. Happy Sunday!
Kasha-Katuwe Pano Panel
Three panoramas from Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, NM
The fast sensors and processors in today’s digital cameras make panoramas both easy and fun. There is no need to take overlapping frames or to align and blend them after the fact. You simply sweep the camera smoothly across the landscape and the panorama is recorded as one long strip. And I love being able to capture the sweep of the landscape. I generally hold the camera vertically, so the pano is not as wide as it would be otherwise, but it makes for a more natural perspective.
However, I have never figured out what to do with the panoramas once I have captured them. Display on a standard computer or laptop monitor, no matter how large, simply does not do them justice…and you would need a very large open wall to display a print…even if you could make one. This panel of three panoramas is somewhat of a compromise. I like the amount of detail captured and it still maintains the feeling of sweep, while being, somehow, easier on the eye than the individual shots. Or that is what I think.
All three are from our visit to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument near the Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico.
Sony WX220 pocket camera. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic Pro on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.