Weathered Trees

I know these trees have taken a beating over the years. Luckily they're in a tree friendly neighborhood. I looked at these, and others around, and most had good full limbs of leaves. They were my original target, but I kept turning around and thinking of the ugly flower shot. I then decided to go to work here. They look skeletal, naked, and cold. If I were a bird, I'd be happy to live in the hole in the upper right, until the tree falls over of course.

Autumn Afternoon

I was watching the wind in the tree tops thinking not enough wind and not enough leaves. I'd missed it by hours I think. The digital phenomenon allows me to play, and try things where I normally would have been more reserved with film. No cost to trying something. My first thoughts where I wanted to just look through the camera and see if I could find a shot up there. I liked how the upper leaves shoot across from right to left to break up the dominant vertical lines. The soft back lighting with the bare upper limbs seem to look more distant. I decided to make the image. The imperfect foliage worked out after all.

Early Autumn

I was thinking how much the sun had moved and realized this was one of those "good light for photographers" moments. I bumbed up the look a little with some multi-exposure, mildew lens, and a dirty windshield. In real life I'd consider this a "nothing view". It serves to block the road and some neighbors. I guess every thing was right at this moment to make this.

Autumn Undergrowth

I'd been stopping, turning around, back and forth on a dirt road when I finally stopped and told a walking couple I'd leave them alone and be moving north. They said that unfortunately all the color was gone and I'd missed it by a week. I shot this less than a 5 minutes later. Luckily, I wasn't looking for color.

Foggy Forest

Usually when I see from this spot I feel like you do when you notice distances in the desert. Seems like the trees go on forever. The fog stops the forever feel today, but that's OK. I like how there's one row of trees separated out by the fog. The point of focus is now the these trees. It helps add depth and interest to an otherwise nothing image.

Tree Trunks

This is a nice place to stop unless the bugs are out. A bog on each side of the road, there's usually something to look at. I was looking for color and contrast when I spotted this group of trees. When I aimed down and got rid of the sky, the color popped and the Tree Trunks stood out. The red is bold and demanding but the shot depends on the trunks.

Un-titled #036

Sometimes I wonder what draws me to an image. When you mow the lawn you do it because you have to. Do you have to take a picture, make an image? This image could look like a field, void of any excitement, but not to me. The power lines weren't part of the draw, but when I noticed them it was like icing on the cake. Power lines bothered me until I decided to except them like air. Just let them do their thing. The birds helped but I not sure they needed to be there. I liked the warm field against the otherwise dreary day. I couldn't wait to shoot this and put a sliver of the field at the bottom of the frame. If I'd kept driving this would have been one of those images in my mind that I should have created. They never go away, the moment is gone, it'll never be the same, the feeling is lost. I've proven this to be true.

Eagles Nest

We've watched for this nest every time we went by on rte 5. I get a little help from the moisture of the Connecticut river which is on the other side of this. I had a camera with a fixed lens which wasn't very long. In the old days this would have bothered me. I've learned to work with what I have and not complain. I'm here, the subjects here, what would someone do hundred years ago with a box camera? A long lens or walk would have given me a nice shot of a pile of sticks and branches in the tree. Environment is important to the subject. I'd like this image without the nest (or eagle). What a view though.

French King Bridge

I've always liked this bridge. It's a marker for me when I'm coming or going on a long trip. This view is just a short trip from where I work (a mile or so). On this day, I knew with the snow I'd have just a few colors to work with. No challenge here, just a matter of how am I going to approach the subject. I ended up filling my shoes with snow as I trudged through the snow to find the spot. I aimed around and blew one possibility when I jumped two swans from right where I would have wanted them. Cuss cuss, (really). I like the organic parts of the image and the "people-made" subject. With the crop and the weather, this image ended up with a good representation of the day, quiet and snowy.

Blue Trees

This was one of those great winter days when nobody should be on the road. Seemed it would blizzard and then let up completely. Sometimes it's nice just to be out enjoying the snow so photography isn't important if you don't find anything. As it turned out, the images were all over the place. What drew me to this, was the line of swamp grass and the tree line. With the cloud cover, I knew it would be easy to get the blue to pop and the grass to stay warm. Warm on cool, helps strengthen an otherwise dull image. I've tried this image in B/W and like it equally. I thought the subtle color was what made this image relevant.

Green

Green is my least favorite color to photograph, but I'm glad I tried this image. I knew there was something here, and normally on a day like this there is, but I didn't have a dog walker, fall colors, a complete silhouette, the usual bump up. I almost tried this in B/W but it seemed usual. I had green and a lot of it, "lets give it a try". I didn't see the real beauty here until I looked through lens. I like the clean, quiet, this is summer look to it.

Snowy Hill

The steep field of snow is what first caught my eye. I wasn't overly excited but had this idea for composition. My surprise was when I noticed a reflection through my car side window. Now I had an illusion. I played with my distance, angle, and even rolled the window down partially and finally had it. The image only makes sense when you know about the window. Now I was excited!

Snow Storm

This was a great day if you didn't have to get anywhere. There was only the worry of driving in winter (and the other guy driving in winter). I've always thought these pines were a picture. But what to do? You could hear the icy snow falling, it was winter at it's best. My shoes were loaded with snow and it was falling down my neck. Boots and a scarf would have ruined the moment. It was time to shoot, I was "one" with nature!

Night Time

This was an early spring image I made in the Bj's parking lot. I saw the moon (everyone thinks a full moon is neat), and thought I'd try to come up with something interesting. My fear was I was either going to get the moon correct (exposure) and everything else dark, or a good everything else and a moon that looked blown out. Here's the problem(s), I didn't have the usual battery of lenses, just the built on one, the moon was setting, so time was important, and the dam trees were getting in the way. Perfect!

Flower Tree

We were at a friends house and this place is loaded with cool stuff to make images of. I never know what to shoot. Sometimes you have to be selective if everything looks easy. Flowers are relatively easy. Lets face it, people like them as though they were innocent babies. The normal view would have been just another pretty flower. I think with this up view, we might see what an ant might. Think of the aroma the ant enjoys, and what a view!

Pasture Trees

It strikes me how day to day things change. These trees just sit here, day to day. They were noticed the day before when they were covered in ice, and times like summer when the cows use them for shade. There were crews doing their thing, clearing roads of limbs and trees, homeowners still worrying about power for their Christmas lights, and photographers looking for an opportunity. I wasn't excited about the destruction, and making images of plight. These trees "weathered" the storm, and sat quietly while I exploited them.

Late Day

We were out late in the day and I needed an image fix. It was overcast, dreary, wet, and chilly. It was Spring. I wasn't desperate, but odds were working against me as it got later. This shot was over my shoulder from some other attempt at success. This tree was going to explode with leaves if the sun came out later in the week. Any other time of day, I don't know if the tree would look so bold and showy. In sports I'd call this a last second shot (a buzzer beater).

Wrinkled Sky

What was going on in the sky? I hadn't seen cloud cover like this before. I had to think and shoot fast, it was the end of the day and the luminance was fading. If I had just aimed up, one might think it was an image of wrinkled up paper someone tried to flatten out. So I added the tree tops to help convey this message.

Tsunami

It looked like a giant wave coming ashore. The two trees looked so vulnerable. It was a good day, right after a snowstorm. Not many people out. There seemed to be images everywhere. This was shot right by the spot my previous post was made. Aimed ninety degrees to the left, and obviously at a different time of the year. No bugs this time!

Trees

This is a quite spot on a country road in western mass. Although the limbs are only slightly moving in the wind, they looked like arms splayed in tandem as a pose. What to do? The ferns were a different shade of green (perfect), seemed like a shag carpet. By the rules the shot should have been a vertical. This would have reduced the trees in size. I like the uniformity and simpleness of the image.