Day 52: Another Daffodil

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 212014
 

I set out for Piney Woods Church late on a sunny afternoon, with one goal in mind.  A daffodil beside a fence at the road edge was finally in bloom (I had scoped it out on a dog walk a short time before).  My goal was to find a way to photograph it that would make it interesting.  Dandelions and daffodils are much-welcomed signs of spring; they are also ubiquitous, floral equivalents of pigeons in a city square.

I spent half an hour with that daffodil, using my plus four and plus ten macro lenses.  I took over sixty photos.  I am not even sure which one I was using for the one below — the plus ten, I think.  It is my favorite shot — and angle one rarely gets to take in a botanical garden, lying down and gazing upward.

Another Daffodil

Day 51: Grazing into Spring

 Agriculture and Husbandry, Backyard Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Feb 202014
 

On a gray, slightly foggy morning, I arrived at Piney Woods Church Road with the particular intent of photographing a daffodil bud that I had seen (for the first time this year) the previous day.  I quickly got down to work, shooting the leaves and flower bud from various angles, taking over 30 different pictures.  At last, satisfied that there would be something of value to show for my efforts, I stood up and looked into the field beyond the roadside barbed-wire fence.  A dozen feet away from me were two more daffodils, already flowering!  The pasture also contained over a dozen cows, one of which was obligingly grazing beyond where the daffodils grew.  The result is this image, a cow dining among the daffodils.  (Since the cows avoid eating daffodils, the plants have been flourishing here for many years.)

Among the Daffodils

Day 49: Surfacing

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Feb 182014
 

On a mild but overcast afternoon in late winter, I pause at a drainage ditch halfway down Piney Woods Church Road.  In my camera, I capture the peculiar world of the water surface — dappled and silvery, a mysterious looking glass containing tree branches, ripples, and strands of grass, bound together by liquid and light.

Surfacing

Day 47: Angle of Reflection

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Feb 162014
 

The roadside ditches along Piney Woods Church Road are drying up.  Until the next rainfall, there won’t be much possibility of reflection photography after today, so I availed myself of the opportunity by taking dozens of images.  The “first place” winner, in my wife’s keen judgment, is this monochromatic image of grasses and a leaf.  I read somewhere that there are no straight lines in nature; that certainly does not hold for this photograph, where the grasses parallel each other or cross at near-perpendicular.  Looking at this picture, I am reminded of what I know of angles, from geometry and physics.  Vertical angles are equal.  The angles in a triangle sum to 180 degrees.  The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

Angle of Reflection

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 45: Greenbrier Leaf

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project  2 Responses »
Feb 142014
 

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, I found myself seeking out heart images along Piney Woods Church Road.  I found one that was rather intriguing but fell short of beautiful:  a pair of crushed pine cone husks on the gravel road that together formed the shape of a heart.  Elsewhere, though, there were abundant greenbrier leaves still on the vines, many quite heart-shaped indeed.  I settled on this photo, in which the leaf becomes a screen for the shadowy forms behind it.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Greenbrier Leaf

Day 44: Overlapping Circles

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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

 

Day 43: Having an Ice Time

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

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