Still pouring rain all morning from a snarling storm roar of the day before. It suited my brooding mood lacking all motivation to move. I get no respite when there’s a nudging inside to either do, or not do something until I submit. Sometimes there’s a bit of negotiation in this dialogue, especially when what I want most is to resist.
No peace with constant internal shoves to get a move on. Discussion inside. Get out the door. Take photography equipment with me, but the deal is, I don’t have to take photos if I don’t want to, if I don’t feel that energy moving in me. Resistance and resentment at submitting in order to bring the nudging roar inside to a halt. I am so not feeling it. I am in the clutches of despair about the state of humanity. This comes and goes ever more so now than previous days of old.
FALLING LEAVES
At my favourite haunt. This cemetery and I have a twenty plus year relationship I can’t describe in one post. Suffice to say, I’ve shot thousands of photos here, done countless hand drawings, and carved sculptures from cut down trees. I was given permission to remove cut down wood I wished to carve. Many people have been kind in giving me materials to carve over the years.
Sunlight was out in full force flinging it's lusty beams everywhere by the time I arrived at the cemetery. Colourful dancing displays of leaves continuously falling from hardwood trees. Water droplet decadence on a dewy bedspread of leaves. It was almost surreal. Camera out, click, click, click, can’t stop, totally mesmerized by what I see. Mood, what was that? Instant evaporation and transportation into another world, one full of light.
It was hard to narrow down images to include here. I don’t typically ever have a problem with deciding what to axe out of a post. This is a first. I kind of gave up with several, solving that only by making gifs in Photoshop. It’s taken me longer to put all of this together than I originally intended.
For the first gif with leaves falling, I took a continuous series of photos standing in the same spot. I was entranced by the amount of falling leaves. I thought I’d attempt taking enough still shots to create a gif. I’ve attempted this before with other subjects and failed. I don’t carry a tripod with me because I’m tripod lazy, even at home. I have my reasons for that.
After that, I switched to the macro lens to home in on all these water droplets patterning the bed of leaves. Shadows from midafternoon sun gave more possibilities.
When I know I’m going to shoot macro photos outside, particularly in sunlight, I take some extra tools with me. I had a cd and the broken magnification lens with me. In the above photo, I used the cd to reflect light into part of the shadow area, beginning in the bottom centre and angled left.
In this photo, the blades of grass behind the leaf create these soft greenish lines in the leaf. No use of extra tools for this photo.
The next two photos are typical of what I saw all around me for several metres. Water droplets everywhere. Sunlight lighting them up to white gold reflected all around. Unreal. I’m dazzled, slightly dazed and drunk on the entire scene. First time I’ve ever experienced this kind of vision.
I had to remind myself not to go kicking up leaves in each area before taking photos. Out comes the cd again in another spot. First one I caught a miniature rainbow across the leaf. In the next, caught sunlight playing green in the shadows. I find a cd is very useful in sunlight painting, so it’s one of my favourite tools.
The following two images are where I ran into a wall the finger axe blade couldn’t slice through. In both, I used the cd to create the light effects across the leaves. Since I couldn’t select one image for either of these, I made two gifs showing the sequence of light play on each leaf. Differences in light are a result of angle of the cd and position of the camera.
GOLDEN BEAM
LEAF LIGHT PLAY
Found a carcass hanging in a spider’s web on a tombstone. Looked quite fresh but gave up the ghost before the spider comes back to feast. Sometimes I take photos of insects. Not the focus here. The earwig’s shadow shifting in the breeze caught my eye, looking like a miniature dragon type creature.
Switched out the macro for my standard lens and continued my slow stroll. Wet means puddles. Puddles mean reflections. A fascination since I was a teenager. Add that to my list of favourite subjects. I have so many; more than I ever have time for.
Sometimes I see reflections as a window into another world.
Sometimes I like the reflections to be hazy, rippled, indistinct, or abstracted.
Sometimes it’s more about what’s on the surface with the reflection itself obscured. The contrast between the two.
Sometimes there are landscapes I feel like I could fall into forever.
Sometimes there are bright splashes of leaves colour wash reflected across water.
Sometimes a car cruises through creating a temporary chaos of bubbles and water ripples shattering plant matter.
The last gif I created from a single photo immediately after said car unexpectedly parted the puddle where I was taking photos. I almost didn’t take this shot until I saw the white spots of the foam making snow in the watery reflection. Another reminder to not allow whatever mood I’m experiencing direct the course of my day. Instead, shift it all and move it away.
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron macro lens. All digital art created in Photoshop using my own photos.
