Day 46: Prayer Flags

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 152014
 

On several late afternoons this year, I have walked past these grasses rustling in the wind, and have been reminded of Tibetan prayer flags flying.  According to Timothy Clark of Radiant Heart, “Prayer flags are simple devices that, coupled with the natural energy of the wind, quietly harmonize the environment, impartially increasing happiness and good fortune among all living beings.”  Like prayer flags, these golden grasses catch the light of heaven and bring it into my presence along the road.  My joy is greater for encountering them on my journey.

Prayer Flags

Day 44: Overlapping Circles

 Backyard Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 132014
 

As I walked Piney Woods Church Road this morning, in the wake of the ice storm (which continued through the night, turning to snow toward the end), I took quite a few photographs of ice festooning pines and other trees and shrubs.  The ice was already melting, covering my camera and me with water droplets.  The drops also fell into a pothole along the road, forming overlapping circles on the water’s surface.  If I had been asked two months ago if I would ever photograph a pothole as art, I would have laughed.  Of course, since then I have taken numerous photographs of Piney Woods Church Road ruts and drainage gullies….  There is beauty and wonder everywhere.

Overlapping Circles

 

After the Ice Storm

 Backyard Nature, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 132014
 

Since this was my very first ice storm since moving to Georgia 7 1/2 years ago, it seems fitting to post a collection of images from the morning after.  On my walk, I found new animal tracks in the snow, telling stories I did not pause long enough to read.  I also saw ice everywhere, covering loblolly pines and the bare branches of pecan trees.  I took delight in the crystalline landscape, though I mourned for the trees that lost branches and in some cases fell altogether.

Tracks in the Snow

Fallen Pine Branch

Iced Pines #1

Iced Pines #2 Soft Focus

Iced Pines #3 Re-crop

Iced Pines #4

Ice on Pecan Trees

Day 43: Having an Ice Time

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Feb 132014
 

For the first time since this project began, I was unable to make a post yesterday.  Light freezing rain began Tuesday night and continued throughout the day on Wednesday, changing to sleet and back to rain several times before ending as snow.  Casualties included my electricity (out for 30 hours), one pine tree in the backyard, and three cedars in the backyard.  (Ice falling on cedars is far worse than snow falling on cedars, in my experience).  One snapped two-thirds of the way to the top, and the uppermost branches are currently resting on my roof.

I ventured out early in the day.  Beginning a year-long project, I expected I might have a day or two when I would have to be out on the road closer to a thunderstorm than I would like.  But I never anticipated that I would be feeling a bit scared during a winter storm.  But the quarter-inch or so of ice covering the trees made even my Piney Woods Church Road stroll a bit of an adventure.  I heard a couple of limbs fall, and pine branches littered the ground.  But nothing fell close to me during my walk, fortunately.  It was sleeting while I took all my photographs; icy pellets kept landing on the camera lens, adding to the challenge.

In this photo  I am looking southeast, beyond Piney Woods Church Road in the foreground to Rico Road in the background.

Having an Ice Time

Another Abstract: Into the Woods

 Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 112014
 

While sitting at the keyboard monitoring the approaching ice storm on Weather.com radar every five minutes or so, I thought I might post another abstract photograph, this time one from earlier today.  I took this shot looking into the woods near Rico Road.  Using the telephoto zoom and focusing on a nearer object, I managed to bring the rest of the image out of focus.  Keeping my finger halfway down on the exposure button and then moving my camera enabled me to circumvent the auto-focus feature and produce a few intriguing abstract images.  How I ended up with these colors (with minimal post-processing on my part) by shooting a photo looking into a gray-brown forest in winter is not entirely clear.

Into the Woods

Day 42: Upon Further Reflection

 Backyard Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 112014
 

It was a gray, raw day along Piney Woods Church Road, on the afternoon before a storm named Pax (ironically) is slated to hit the Atlanta area with perhaps half an inch of icing and then an inch or two of sleet or snow.  An earlier spell of light rain left a few water droplets scattered on the branches of shrubs and vines.  I took quite a few photographs on my way toward Hutcheson Ferry Road, some abstracts and others close-ups of multi-colored water oak leaves, gray-green lichens, and rusty-orange fungi.   On my way home, I stopped to glance at the ruts near the intersection with Rico Rd.  A leafy vine growing next to the rut was reflected in the silt-laden water.  The result is evocative of Japanese art — a visual haiku lying in a muddy rut on a gravel road in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia.

Upon Further Reflection

Cloudy Day Abstractions

 Backyard Nature, Sense of Place  2 Responses »
Feb 102014
 

A few abstract images gleaned from today’s Piney Woods Church walk.  I am enjoying the possibilities of the blur.  I have opted for spare titles to accompany them.  From top to bottom: Winter Shrub; Robin in the Lawn; Distant Leaf; Budding Tree; and Loblolly Pine.

Winter Shrub

Robin in the Lawn

Distant Leaf

Tree in Bud

Loblolly Pine

Day 41: Blackbird Fly

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 102014
 

Late afternoon today was truly overcast, with a gloom betokening approaching winter weather.  Rain tomorrow, freezing rain on Wednesday.  I spent most of my hour along Piney Woods Church Road looking for splashes of color to photograph, doing a lot of experimental out-of-focus work (Is it possible to be focused on not focusing?).  I took several images reminiscent of abstract watercolors, which may find their way into a separate post.  At the end of my time in the field, on the way back to Rico Road, I took several photographs of red-winged blackbirds silhouetted in the bare upper branches of a distant tree.  To try for some telephoto shots without blur, I used a metal fencepost to steady my camera.  I took only one photo, and then the birds were gone.  By sheer luck, I caught this bird with its wings extended, about to launch itself into space.

Blackbird Fly

Day 40: Red Leaf

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 092014
 

Yesterday evening and earlier today, I spent a couple of hours poring over the work of Kathryn Kolb, a fine art nature photographer living in Atlanta.  She has taken stunning medium-format camera photos of branches and leaves in her backyard, around the city, and across the country.  In her work, there is often no central subject in focus — the entrancement of the image comes from the pattern of forms and the play of light.   Many of them are like impressionistic paintings, venturing below the surface forms to encounter the life energy contained within.  Before I saw her images, I tended to consider pictures with an unfocused subject as mistakes.  Now I know otherwise; blurred images have their own power and allurement.  Today’s offering of a greenbrier leaf from Piney Woods Church Road is in appreciation of Kathryn Kolb.

Red Leaf

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