Two months have passed since this project began, and I am finding joy in every visit to Piney Woods Church Road. Spring is arriving, and every day, new discoveries await.
Feb 282014
Feb 282014
I am continuing to explore the geometries of leaf and background. Water oak leaves this time of year make such entrancing subjects. Only, with this photograph, I find myself drawn, instead, to the light beyond the leaf.
Feb 282014
For weeks I have been trying to photograph robins along Piney Woods Church Road, since they seem to be abundant there this time of year. I picture the American robin as the ultimate suburban bird, equivalent to the urban street pigeon. So while they seem to be everywhere, it has also been difficult to photograph them in a way that does not leave them looking nondescript and, well, uninteresting. Finally, this image of a robin on a wooden fence works for me. Perhaps it is because this particular robin seems to be taking an interest in the photographer, in turn.
Feb 272014
After a marvelous day-long composition workshop with Kathryn Kolb last weekend, I have been thinking a great deal about geometry and nature. I have begun exploring the diverse colors and forms all around me on my Piney Woods Church Road walk. Water oak leaves in winter, with their vibrant splotches of green, orange, red, and brown, make fascinating subjects for the camera lens. Until today, I have always concentrated on entire leaves and clusters of leaves. This time, I zoomed the lens a bit further; The result is this image.
Feb 262014
After the overnight rain, water had collected in the ruts, potholes, and drainage ditches along Piney Woods Church Road. There was even a thin layer of water on the underside of a giant plastic stock tank just beyond a roadside fence. The water offered opportunities for all sorts of otherworldly photographs, three of which are below. The first one was taken in a ditch at the side of the road at the junction with Hutcheson Ferry. The second is a view of the overturned stock tank. And the third is a close-up of a pothole colored by Georgia clay.
Feb 262014
Late in the winter here in Chattahoochee Hills, henbit bursts into bloom, peppering the grassy verges with flecks of pinkish-purple. A member of the mint family whose original habitat is in Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, henbit has become common to roadsides across the United States. It seems ubiquitous on the untreated lawn, but its reign is short-lived. It appears as a harbinger of spring here in Georgia, then slowly fades away after the first day of spring.
Feb 252014
As sunset approaches on a late-winter day, a distant sweetgum stands silhouetted against a mountain made of clouds.
Feb 252014
Three red greenbrier leaves stand out vibrantly against the forest background on Piney Woods Church Road. After a cloudy spell, the late-day sun shone magnificently through the trees. Much though I eagerly embrace the spring, there is much beauty to the bare branches and lingering leaves of these late winter days.
Feb 242014
In the woods along Piney Woods Church Road, the red maple trees are in bloom; gazing through the forest, I can see the red haze that marks their presence. A couple of young maples happen to grow along the road edge near Hutcheson Ferry Road, and their open blossoms betoken spring’s arrival, though the calendar (and the current weather forecast) would argue otherwise.
Feb 232014
It is a frenetic time of year along Piney Woods Church Road. Blink, and buds open, trees burst into flower, spring arrives….
