Beyond Day SixMy sometimes-daily blog of a photograph or two with a few words, celebrating all the days of life that flow through creation into perspiration, inspiration, reflection, sabbath, and resurrection. On the Wrong RoadOur friends were trying to find a road that they had been on before that they thought was exceptionally scenic for this part of Washington State. After several miles of driving, they began to say to one another that they thought this was the wrong road. So we turned around. I had noticed this barn and field of yellow flowers when we drove past it the first time, so when we approached from the other direction I encourage them to stop so that I could take pictures. It's always challenging for me to take photos when other people are patiently waiting (or I hope they are patiently waiting). But I try to be quick, identifying the best composition and taking a bunch of photos. This times there was a barbed fence in the way, so I leaned down and stuck the camera through the strands of wire, trying to emphasize the flowers with a low angle. Now if the cows had been walking toward the barn...
Adding Color to MusicSince 2010, the Bohemian Foundation in Fort Collins, Colorado has solicited the community for the donation of pianos. 65 have been received and painted by local artists and placed in various locations around town (6 during the winter and 20 during the summer) and musicians are welcome to play them I suspect they don't fare too well in a Colorado winter and I wonder about how long they stay in tune, if ever. But they are eye- and ear-catching.
Starting PointI shot this photo in northern Minnesota 10 years ago with my first digital SLR, Konica-Minolta, with 6 megapixels. This was the only model that the Konica-Minolta merger produced when it came to DSLRs. Sony bought the company after that. I have "upgraded" four times since then with new Sony models. Fortunately all of the lenses I own fit these cameras. Yes, it's likely more than I need.
After the RainThe Great Smoky Mountains frequently have a mist rising from the trees, especially after a rain shower. The fog creates a depth in the scene. I shot this from the porch of the cabin where we were staying with our friends, Gerry and Christie Saunders. I used my 150-600mm zoom lens to be able to zero in and compress the scene so that the fog could be enhanced.
Built By a CommitteeI don't know how to explain this barn. Some of the boards run parallel to the ground, while others are vertical, sort of. None of them are trimmed square to match nearby boards. They are different sizes. There's even a large area that seems to have no siding or structure at all. How is this thing still standing? Did one group want vertical siding while another opted for horizontal? At first I was caught by the color on the boards and how that mimicked the dandelions, and then I noticed the haphazard way this building was constructed. Or maybe somebody was in a hurry. And it's lasted more than a few years. Hope it wasn't a model barn that served as an example for others. Possibly, it was an exercise in creativity. Ah, yes, that's it.
WinnersI remember playing baseball when we didn't have teams. A half dozen or so of would show up at the diamond at the neighborhood school. One would bat and the rest of would be in the field, guarding the bases and roaming the outfield. Usually there wasn't a catcher. The batter would just go back to the backdrop and pick up the ball and throw it back to the pitcher. And we would rotate through all of the positions. Funny thing, we all won that way. I thought for the longest time that was how baseball was played. We all were winners.
Tools of an ArtistDuring our recent trip to Lasqueti Island, we had the opportunity to visit the home and studio of Eve Llyndorah. She is a sculptor, jewelry maker, and painter. She showed us one of the paintings that she was working on and I couldn't help noticing her brushes that were on the floor at my feet. These must be her secret to her great art.
Old PaintOld paint is fascinating to me. I have a print above my fireplace of old paint on a steel bridge girder. I love the texture of that image. My son, Michael, appreciates my photography, but he objects to some of the close-ups of peeling paint. It just feels wrong to him. This image is the side of an old truck at Old Car City where I intentionally blurred the exposure to emphasize the colors rather than the texture. Hope it feels right. Image data: Sony a77ii, 24-70 lens at 45mm, f/8 at 1/5 second, iso 160.
Sugar CookiesWithin the restored farmstead at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was this young park employee who had the hottest job of the day. She was tending the fire in The Davis House and placing hot coals on the top of cast iron pots. (The Davis House is unique in that it was built with chestnut logs, a tree that has virtually vanished from the US landscape.) She was baking sugar cookies in those pots and the kids that had helped make them judged them as delicious. A little later I saw the same young woman stoking the fire in the blacksmith's shed, a hotter job than this one of baking cookies. I told her that she had obviously drawn the short straw that day to spend it with two hot fires.
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