Monthly Archives: January 2016
Flyfishing in the snow…
Mousam River at Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
When I got to Roger’s Pond, in search of the elusive Kennebunk Eagles (elusive at least this year so far), this fisherman was just getting out of his car, and beginning to suit up. From the look of his gear, I suspect it was all brand new…Christmas presents even…and from the look of him when he got into the water, I suspect he is freshly outfitted for a new hobby. Then too, the river was unusually high with a flood tide…as high as I have ever seen it at Roger’s Pond which is generally a third of a mile above the tidal effect…and I have serious doubts as to the mood of the fish on this particular morning. And then, of course, it was snowing. Not that a little thing like snow stops the flyfishers on the Mousam.
Sony HX90V in Superior Auto. 62mm equivalent field of view. 1/80th @ ISO 80 @ f4.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Gull in Glory! Happy Sunday!I
Herring Gull, Mousam River at Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
I will admit to having a prejudice when it comes to Herring Gulls. Their behavior makes them hard to love. They are bullies: aggressive egg and chick eating, catch stealing, beach hogging, bullies. And yet I have to remind myself that their “bulliness” is in my eye as much, maybe more than, in their nature. They are what they are. They do what they do to survive, as any creature must. In order to see their beauty, I have to be unusually generous of eye. I have to withhold judgement, especially judgement by my own, very human, standards. And, really, withholding is not enough. To be truly generous I need to bypass judgement at its root…to see them, not with my human eye, but with the eye of the spirit…the creative eye of the creator who creates with love.
This image, taken along the Mousam River in Kennebunk, helps. The gull was standing on a snow covered rock in mid-stream, while the rushing rapids behind him threw sparkling droplets into the air. It is certainly the bird in all its glory, and I am just generous enough to see the beauty.
May the Good God grant us all, somewhere in our lives, such a rock to stand on…that even the least generous might sometimes see our beauty. Happy Sunday!
Drawn in ice…
Mousam River at Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
While looking for ice bells along the Mousam, I could not ignore the sheet ice at the edge of the river. I should say that the Mousam at Roger’s Pond is a long stretch of rapids…the last long stretch before the long slow slide to the sea. The river freezes right up to Roger’s Pond, and above the rapids and the dam in Kennebunk for miles. It is a popular spot for fly-fishermen year round. So the ice at the edge of the river is sculpted…or drawn in this case…by the rapidly moving water. I always find the forms that frozen water can take fascinating. The regularity, and the symmetry of the patterns speaks of an inherent order in the water that is certainly not evident when it is tumbling down the rapids of the river. (There is a poem in that sentence if I can let it out!).
Sony HX90V at 200mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Ice Bells on the Mousam
Along the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
I told the story of finding these ice bells along the Mousam River in yesterday’s Year Poem. (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+StephenIngraham/posts/Ec4WMeWA9xQ) . This set formed off and existing shelf of ice attached to a log just the right height above the stream. Though I understand the physics of the ice bell, I am not at all sure I understand the physics of this shelf and ice bell formation. ?? It is certainly beautiful with the sun shining through it!
In camera HDR. Sony HX90V at 514mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Winter Still Life With Fern
Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
Another shot from my photoprowl to Laudholm Farms in search of winter. I think this is actually Cinnamon Fern…or what winter has left of it. I like the delicate shapes and textures of the fern, especially in contrast to the surface of the snow.
Sony HX90V at 110mm equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/200th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Mockingbird among winter berries
Northern Mockingbird, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
On my last photoprowl down to Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Center at), there was not much bird live in evidence. I was there mostly for the snowy fields and woods, but I was happy to see the few Blue Jays when they made an appearance. Then there was this mocker. Unlike the Blue Jays, the Mockingbird sat long enough and close enough for a portrait. It seemed to be soaking up the last of the late afternoon warmth from the sun, ensconced among the red berries of the winter day.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Buddhist Red
Red Squirrel, The Yard, Kennebunk Maine
The Red Squirrel that lives in our backyard, and visits our deck frequently these days, is clearly a Buddhist monk. He has the pose and the posture down pat. He does not carry a begging bowl so he is evidently a cloistered monk (I think that might be a mixed metaphor, but I am not sure 🙂 A member of a monkestary? Clearly a sage presence.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. A feeder pole cropped out on the right.
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.
A picture about nothing. Happy Sunday!
White Birch, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
On my photoprowl out to the snowy fields and forest a few afternoons ago, I was on the boardwalk at the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms in Wells, looking for whatever spoke to me of winter. It was early afternoon and the light was already almost horizontal, but where, in the days before the snow, it seemed to pick out the warmth and texture of the world…now it cast blue shadows and drew the detail sharp. The contrast between the texture of the bark on this birch, standing a foot from the boardwalk, and the fine grained texture of the snow behind it caught my eye. There was something in the shadows, the way they lay across the snow and behind the birch, that added interest, and the little shattered stump, so pointy, fell in place as an accent. It was the matter of seconds to lift the camera, already set for great depth of field, frame, placing the diagonal just so, and shoot. In-camera HDR and processing in Lightroom brought up the shadows on the trunk and in the snow to make them look natural, subtly molding the surfaces the textures where they fell.
And still it is a picture of nothing in particular. It is a composition about composition…an image about imagery. I could look at it forever. I am tempted to make a really large print of it and hang it where my eye could discover it again, sometimes, in passing, and pause to see what is new in it. It would make a great picture for the wall of a doctor’s office. 🙂
It is, so to speak, a playground for the generous eye…inviting vision…inviting the light inside to come out and play. I think it brings the spirit to the surface, so it fills the eye, brimming like water in a spring. I think it wakes the wonder that is the life of our souls and tempts us to touch what is eternal in us and in the world. Ah, but it is just a picture, you say…a picture of nothing in particular. Yes, I say, and that is what is so wonderful about it! But it takes a generous eye to see. Happy Sunday!
First bird of 2016: Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
On the first day of 2016 I went to look for the Kennebunk eagles at Roger’s Pond. No show. But while I was there I saw a largish bird fly low and into a dead tree just where the creek joins the river, at the turn of the loop around the pond. A while later I heard a knock. Knock! Pileated Woodpecker! This is only my third photo op in Maine, and I have not seen them much more often than that either. They are around…even around my house…and I hear them occasionally, but a good sighting is rare. Rare enough to make this an auspicious first bird for 2016!
This image is not what you might think at first glance. I used Coolage to assemble two images of the same bird, at different points as it circled the trunk, into a single image. Since Coolage blends edges and the trunk is an ideal object for a blend, it certainly looks like two Pileateds. It is not, trust me. I just wanted to give you two views of the bird. 🙂 And it does make a striking image. Or that is what I think.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.