fourpointedstar

A Good Story
I always love a good story; stories are what binds friendships and culture, and stories are what draw us to interesting people. As I walk through the woods on a new trail, I wonder where the trail will take me; what story will it tell?

The streams and rivers that I hike to are similar; they wander through the landscape carving out a path that meanders and reveals the area around it, much like a good story or a good trail. As you explore their journey, you find out so much about their story – the hills and valleys, the ancient stone and rock, the detours – much like life.

I absolutely loved this scene of the small stand of birch covered in moss. The fog was low that morning, and the grass was damp from an overnight rain. As our group walked through the woods, it felt like a forest in Washington State; damp air, big trees, uneven terrain – and then we encountered this neighborhood of white bark.

In between the large trees, the path was wide and somewhat straight; the path through the birch wandered almost lazily. I’ve taken photos of paths in woods many times, but many times the photo never gets shared. But this was a wonderful photo, and it pushed me to start looking for other paths on that three day trip.

Notice the Little Scenes:

One of the most difficult parts of a nature walk for me is not focusing on the destination. Often, I get so carried away with hiking that I forget to notice the beauty surrounding me; things like tiny mushrooms, plants, small scenes escape me because I am focussed on getting “there”.

When I’m hiking with a group, a different pressure comes up – I don’t want to hold the group back; of course, this isn’t as bad if I’m with a group of photographers. Then there is laziness; I don’t want to switch lenses, put on the filter, or move my camera bag so that I can squat down.

Often for me, photography is about putting the rest of life aside – the final goal, pressure from others, and my own bad habits – to actually focus on what’s around me. The beauty of a stream, a tiny new plant or ladybug, or even a overgrown, but still maintained cemetery.

I love the little highway scenes; the ones that make you do a U-turn. This little stream is probably only visible during the spring, when the grasses are short and the stream is flowing well. If you looked at a satellite view, the curves aren’t that dramatic, but by using a longer lens the distance compression really works in my favor.

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There is something mystical about this scene; the small light green leaves remind me of spring cherry blossoms, and the path leading through the forest reminds me of forests of the north west.

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Cynthia found this little ladybug (or ladybug like beetle) in the flotsam from Lake Superior’s waves; besides being cute, I wondered how it was already so active. That morning was chilly, around 45, and he was very close to the waves rolling on the beach, perhaps he’s a surfer?

Lastly, this cemetery is unlike any other gravesite that I’ve come across. The graves were mostly from the 1920-1950’s, and since then, the birch forest has grown in around the graves. But someone has continued to maintain the graves, and that feeling of “cemetery in the forest” is both comforting and creepy.

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I do like these photos, but … (see previous post)

I don’t click the shutter button nearly as often as I used to; it’s not that I don’t take my camera out as much, it’s that I take fewer photos overall but have a higher percentage of photos that I like. Most often, I know before I click if the photo will be worthwhile, and I’m much more willing to wait for the right shot, scene, or composition. In short, I’m much less “spray and pray” with the shutter button that I used to be.

But barns? I found it very difficult to find inspiration and compositions with the barns and other abandoned structures on our trip. It’s not that the buildings weren’t interesting; it’s that I haven’t developed the mind’s eye for it. Once I brought the images into Lightroom, I couldn’t “see” why I took the photo to begin with – or worse – I could see and now I thought it was weak or absent.

Perhaps I need more practice (I do), but as I mentioned before; there’s only so much time to take pictures, and maybe I’d rather spend it with the subjects and scenes that I already love.

At some point in life, most of us realize that we don’t have time for everything that we’re interested in – we’re forced to drop a hobby because we don’t have time.

Photography reached that point for me a few years back; I used to photograph anything, but I discovered that I wouldn’t edit certain photoshoots or would be annoyed at editing certain shoots. I enjoy certain subject matter and certain photo topics and would like to spend more time with those.

Old, abandoned buildings is one of those topics; it’s not that I don’t like the photos that I come up with, it’s that I’d rather be photographing something else. This was true on our trip to Southern Illinois with Keith French; on two days, we visited abandoned churches and barns, and I found myself wanting to wander through the woods instead.

I do like these photos, but …

Back in November 2023, Side Street Studio Arts hosted a photo walk; each participant was supposed to pick a “challenge” for the day, so I took every photo at 200mm. I’ve already posted several of my photos, so make sure to check those photos out too.

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>other images<
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I’d passed this scene for a few mornings; the singular shaft of sunlight spilling through the forest skylight; however, there was no where to park along this stretch of Winfield Road (and the road has a curb too).  Instead I pulled up Google Maps to find the nearest spot and decided to walk to the scene.

I love the mystical feeling and wonder if you could find a sacred sword in that spotlight?

I took quite a few photos of this sunrise before the sun peeked above the clouds, and they’re great photos, but they simply don’t hold a candle to the all encompassing orange as the light crested the foggy horizon.  The scene was simply incredible.

I pass by quite a few nature preserves and parks on my normal commute to work – or I can, if I drive a bit off of the beaten path. Last year, I discovered that there is a month or more than the fog hangs thick in the autumn mornings. Stearns Road is a four lane highway, but as it passes between Highway 31 and 59, there are so many beautiful spots.

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A few years back, I attended a camera club meeting about street photography. One of the attendees asked about the privacy of those that you photograph, and the speaker responded “as long as they are in public, there should be no expectation of privacy.” A drone blurs this line even further; while a photo taken 300 feet away will to show fantastic resolution, you can easily see my neighbors back yards in this photo. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed trying to create an interesting composition with my own neighborhood, I won’t fly the drone over residential property any longer.

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Now this is exactly why I wanted a drone. I hovered over this particular creek as it enters the Fox River for at least 5 minutes, flying the drone to different compositions and then taking a photo. I love the colors, textures, and the winding creek at it flows through the center of the image.

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It can often be difficult to convey a sense of scale, and while I love the pattern of this image, you can’t really tell the scale … until you notice the canoe in the lower right. And once you see the canoe, you can feel the power of a river that carried those logs downstream.

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You can easily create a strong image by composing in a way that highlights a strong central focus, and when I thought of this image, my intent was to capture the unique roof of the Elgin Transportation Center. However, once overhead, the tilt of Chicago and Highland became the obvious centers of the image; I simply love how the railroad tracks, row buildings, and the transportation center give the basis for the roads to “lean” against.

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I’m new to this – drone photography; but I already love it, I can make shapes and abstracts out of our surroundings. Since I have a small drone, there are limitations to height, so my original vision of a photo of all of Walton Island taken from directly overhead didn’t work out, but that’s part of photography; adapting to your limitations to capture a new scene.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

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As I climbed up the hill, I found this fallen tree. I love that the branches appear to reach out into the forest. But as I stared at the downed tree, I realized that it may be a wonderful black & white image. I’ll let you decide.

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In today’s language, this house belongs to a one-percent-er, but I have a hard time feeling jealous of them. After all, if I had millions (or billions), I’d want a home in that exact spot as well.

The tiny streams that pass through the canyons communicate a powerful message – little actions over and over for a long time yield huge results. The daily trickle of water combined with the spring floods are a lot like our daily lives … for better or worse.

In my mind, traveling before 1830 would have been absolutely terrifying. In the past 200 years, transportation across country has progressed from walking and horseback to paved roads, trains, and even aircraft. This view upstream near the Vermillion River reminds me of all of those dangers.

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When you go on vacation there are typically photos that you know about before hand, but this photo, I don’t think I could have anticipated even if someone had mentioned it before our trip.
If you stand on the loading platform for the Bainbridge Ferry you can see this one tree that is missing in the treelike along Wing Point. But the windows along the platform are highly reflective; all of them except for the one window that allows you to line up the Space Needle with the empty spot in the treeline.

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I drive past these wide open fields every morning, and in the winter they are typically very boring. But on Friday morning, the fog was perfect; just dense enough to conceal the horizon, and just thin enough to show the small patches of forest in the middle of the flat fields.

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Cynthia and I share the same birth month and when she was younger, we would plan trips for our birthdays. This was a hiking trip to Matthiessen State Park; evidently I never posted all of the photos. You can see the other images here.

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It’s the end of the year; the time to consider your past year and to strive for a “new you” this coming year. I resolve to take more photos… and probably do other stuff too.

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…view older images with the thumbnails below…