I still have enough winter photographs to post daily until 2009, or perhaps even until 2010, but in honor of Leap Year Day tomorrow, I promise a photo that will soothe all the sun-starved, me included.
Today’s photograph
Owen Conservation Park
Madison, WI
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No man should go through life without once experiencing … solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength. ~Jack Kerouac
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Owen Conservation Park
Madison, WI
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Live a third of your time grounded in the earth;
live a third of your time floating in the clouds;
live a third of your time soaring in the sky. ~ bo mackison
• 4˚F sunny
• 14 mph southerly winds
• drill a 6 inch round hole in ice two and a half feet thick
• every 10 minutes scoop out the ice forming on the surface
• lose all awareness of feet and hands
• no evidence of fish in this bay, but watch the hole much of the day to make certain
• Recipe for fun times in Wisconsin
• Priceless
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Some days, when the fog gets so thick in your head, the best you can do is slug into the kitchen and throw a batch of chili into the crock-pot; consider that chili your day’s accomplishment; and crawl into a dark space to read a novel with no redeeming qualities.
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Welcome to my day.
“The leaves were blackish green and the flower itself was glossy yellow, the yellow of a newly waxed taxi, and it was spattered with hundreds and hundreds of burgundy markings. Staring at the pattern … was dizzying. Staring at it for a long time was hypnotizing.” ~ Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief
I have mined this photo several times – first for a study of composition and contrast, then from a story-telling focus. This third attempt – this third perspective – takes me towards a different place.
I did not think I would try this type of post-processing. I thought it more important to work on very basics, and stubbornly to figure it out on my own. Why I insist on re-inventing the wheel, I’m not quite certain.
When I was faced with one of those ‘life-changing experiences’ last fall, I could no longer do the type of visual arts work I had done for the past 25 years. I tip-toed my way into photography, not willing to entirely delete ‘meaning-making’ from my life. Thus far I’ve been ‘taking pictures’ and creating them by eye. This is a foray into the territory of making a photograph by feel.
I cannot pull myself away from the many textures and layers of this photograph. I feel as if I am taking a class on capturing the nuances of this shot. I once considered doing a 100 photo challenge using a single subject. I don’t think the project’s conceiver meant to take a single photograph and work it a hundred ways, but sometimes I see so many ways I want to experiment with this one image. Not a hundred, but more than one or two.
I have no idea where this leads – I think it’s just another avenue to explore and maybe learn something while enjoying the walk.
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gardengrow.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/green-window/
This time the photo works as a writing prompt with only minor cropping. For me, it opens an imagination bank and makes me want to tell a story. Why is this building “now open” and what is it open for? Do the two men have a part in the story? Why is this building in the center of Nassau’s Main Street, sharing territory with jewelry stores, high-end imports malls and tourist, duty-free liquor stores?
See, it’s definitely a story photo. I have about 5 photos now, both mine and other photographers – from whom I have written permission to use their photos. The photographs are all stored on my private, story-seed blog. I am writing, using the first one and I may post the photo/story combo when it is finished. If nothing else, I think it’s an interesting challenge.
Main Street
Nassau, the Bahamas
January 3, 2008
