Marty's Hawk

Sunday morning. Standing at the kitchen sink, absorbed in the mindfulness of washing dishes, I glanced out the window and knew immediately what it was.

Click to enlarge

How utterly unexpected and delightful to be presented with such a curious vision! A sign, an omen, perhaps? Good fortune? Something that Marty, our first winter guest, brought with her? Who can explain such things? 

Did this Harrier Hawk come to pray with us? for us?

There is something in the brain of modern, urban man that demands a logical, cause-and-effect answer to every curiosity. We shuffled through Google seeking the reasonable answer for this creature's prayerful posture on the electric power line.

A half-hour passed for the inverted hawk with very little movement, a slight relaxing of wings, a few wind-rustled tail feathers. 

Petersons Field Guide identified this creature as a female Harrier (marsh) Hawk. Google told us, furthermore, that sometimes young birds attempting to grasp a branch (or electric power line) will over- or under-compensate, lose balance, and fall like the hanged man of the Tarot clinging onto their perch. 

This beautiful creature finally uprighted herself and, unseen, flew away. Marty and her Jim left this morning for their home in the frozen tundra of Ohio. It's Monday. Another marvelous weekend is behind us, leaving only an expectation of more beautiful moments during the week to come.

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Composition Two

This multiple-exposure image might have been titled Dancing Potatoes, but it became Composition Two so I could find it again.

Composition Two

These potato exposures were made closer to the subjects than in Composition One, and accomplished primarily by introducing a bit of "pitch and yaw" to the focal axis of the camera lens. The magenta in the potatoes begged for more color saturation. What else could a Zen photographer do but yield to the little beggars?

So, what does this image prove? 
1. Dancing potatoes may induce dizziness or sea sickness, 
2. Dancing potatoes might seem to advertize Dramamine TM, and 
3. Visual tensions between potatoes suggest faux 3-D. 
4. This, two, was fun and They were delicious after their portraits were made.
5. When I am alone in the kitchen I am easy to amuse and capable of entertaining myself.

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Composition One

I usually grab the little Kodak hanging on my belt whenever I see something that stirs my aesthetic sensitivities. As a student of Zen photography I strive to articulate what attracts my senses through pictures. Most of the time this tendency leads to composition exercises and a closely related series of digital photos.

The subject matter is viewed at numerous points of view. I ask myself questions about the pictorial forms and light. I seek to gather picture elements that strike an emotional chord of recognition when I view the print.

Composition One, below, is a different exercise for me. While cutting onions I decided it might prove interesting to test my range of aesthetic convergence.

Composition One

After making the initial composition and exposure, I walked a great circle arc around the kitchen through the living room and back into the kitchen. I made return trips for compositions and exposures 2, 3, and 4. The full-frame photos were combined in Photoshop Layers and their opacity was adjusted to demonstrate the compositional variance between shots.

What does the image prove? 1. There is a relatively small range of my preferable framings for this composition, 2. Time-motion studies are a breeze while practicing Zen photography, and 3. the visual tensions between framings almost bring this multiple exposure scene into faux 3-D.  And 4. It was fun.

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Sarasota Stereo Triptychs

A local self-promotion project from the early 90's that

 examined downtown Sarasota, Florida architecture.

This project evolved from a simple consideration of an old stereo camera I had just bought. The camera features two lenses. Each half frame lens of the stereo camera is separated by an interpupilary distance that renders three dimensionality in a stereo viewer.

click to enlarge.

The first and the third half frame pictures are exposed during the same instant that the shutter release is tripped. It's a wide angle view.

The simple photo objective: present architecture in interesting combinations of light and form. And make in-camera compositions into triptychs of continuous film (no cut and paste).

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Noname Creek ~ Addendum

Poppi as she may appear to passing fruit rats, racoons, and possum.

Poppi at Night

We may well live in a universe of parallel worlds. Addendum worlds, so to speak. Parallel worlds do exist right next to us, just beyond range of our senses at this moment. The invisible life existing right on top of our skin as well as inside our bodies confirms these possibilities. Our worlds are interlocking.

Thusly, this feline portrait cannot exist in a world of its own. 

Any Photoshop-born vision is easily accessible by millions, if not billions, of eyes each day. This image will make its debut on the viewing stages of at least hundreds of human beings. Each viewing will give it a new life and extend its possibilities. 

The very appearance of Addendum Vision represents only a minor shift in the bandwidth of human vision. Yet, photo-technology dramatically extends our sensations and our imaginations; it presents us with views of otherwise invisible worlds. Addendum Vision allows us to witness Poppi, the huntress, in this way. 

Parallel worlds may be colliding these days. So how do we measure realities outside of the hologram?

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Noname Creek

It's almost year's end and I still have file cases full of photographic negatives and transparencies to edit. This morning I finally awoke to discover my desk and desktop were also buried in photo cds. Then there are all the electronic files in my former workroom.

This photo management project has not been an easy nut to crack. I've been avoiding the job for 50 years. The problem? I only seem to understand creative naming and filing. And I'm lazy. So, who knows where specific pictures are located and what are they named?

Poppi Popsalotaus

I have long recognized file management as a major life problem without a hint or hope for resolution. Until today...  Today I decided to think differently about this problem and any need of a firm hand to control. 

This problem has now been renamed Noname Creek, a tributary of the Photographic River. And I have decided to jump into the creek only to recreate and then only where most convenient and when it feels best. Solution attained.

I love my cat like Egyptian Pharaohs loved the feline protectors of their souls.

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Left Coast of Florida

The Gulf of Mexico is a shallow, warm and placid sea that draws millions of Yankee tourists and retirees to Southwest Florida. The tourist industry counts on warm winters and placid waters. Tourists from all over the world imagine they will soak up the sun on sand white beaches when they make their Florida reservations. 

Left Coast of Florida

But perception is not always reality. This month the weather is cool enough (near freezing at night) to send residents into their bottom drawers for long sleeved shirts and sweaters. Only shivering tourists run around in short pants and shirts these days.

Still Yankee tourists laugh at annual residents for our thin blood and December sweaters. But I've spent a lifetime shivering in Minnesota's cold and I contend that Florida summers are a real test for true grit. If you can make it through hurricanes and heat and humidity for a few Florida summers, you will keep your sweaters handy and you will be welcomed by the rest of us wearing long pants in December.

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