Category: Natural World

Fallen bloom

The morning of the anniversary of my birth I walked out onto the porch and noticed this tiny (30 mm) birthday cake.

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Leica R8/DMR, 15 mm Super Elmar

The shamrock dropped a bloom on the rotting cedar. It appeared as both a beautiful object and appropriate seasonal event. Attempting to capture, in a photograph, my thoughts and feelings upon encountering this tiny specimen proved elusive (as it so often does). The light changing by the minute. Which lens? How close? What’s the subject trying to say? Which point of view reveals the poem? Why can’t I find the message? These questions did not come consciously to mind; they rather occur non verbally while looking, focusing, moving, changing cameras and lenses, and points of view.

For me these transitional events, summer to fall, water becoming solid, aging, ice becoming liquid, hyper awareness of life in the process of change, hold magical potential; yet this idea seems difficult to express in a still photograph. 3 lenses, 2 cameras; and I don’t know if I’ve achieved anything near what I saw, thought or felt.

Leica M8, 65 mm Elmar on Visoflex

Leica R8/DMR, 100 mm Apo Macro Elmarit

Lovers at the edge

how differently
we each perceive moments which
modify our lives

9/11

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Leica M8, 65 mm Elmar, Visoflex III with Right Angle Finder

Right angle viewfinders, on both the Visoflex and R8, present me with both a fresh point of view and an unobtrusive, candid approach. And we all need fresh points of view.

When the light, lines, forms and tones beckon

When a photographer sits down with a cup of coffee, and sees light, lines, forms and tones come together in harmony with the focal length of the lens on the camera, and distance from the subject, it’s awfully difficult not to raise the courage and the camera to capture the image.

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Even when caught by the stranger’s eyes; I attempt, with my own expression, to communicate, “Oh well. I simply had to because I knew the scene would look so very beautiful as a photograph. Trust me.”

Leica M8, 50 mm Summilux asph

Visitor at the front door

We couldn’t hear his knock. The crane fly simply clung to the window waiting for me to notice that he had interest in a portrait session. After a few shots I took the SD card to the computer to review the proofs. When I returned (for possible reshoots) the visitor had vanished; leaving no forwarding contact information. Wikipedia says, “…most crane fly species exist as adults only to mate and die.” Perhaps this one wanted to be remembered.

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Leica R8/DMR, 100 Apo Macro Elmarit