Day 89: Fallen Cedar

 Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project  No Responses »
Mar 302014
 

I have been reading lately about the Miksang way of photography, also known as contemplative photography — an approach inspired by Tibetan Buddhism.  The central premise of Miksang (which means “good eye” in Tibetan) is that photography can emerge out of flashes of pure perception — sudden moments when some aspect of the world around us impinges upon our consciousness in a powerful and immediate way.  When we train ourselves to tune into those experiences, we can use a camera as a way of creating equivalents — visual representations of them.

This is all a long-winded explanation for why I ended up taking this photograph of a single branch of cedar lying in a mud rut along Piney Woods Church Road today.

Fallen Cedar

 

Further Emergence

 Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Native Plants  No Responses »
Mar 272014
 

Along Piney Woods Church Road, some tulip poplar saplings are continuing to burst their buds and fill out with leaves.  I have never noticed the process before — how graceful the unfurling can be.  I could fill my camera’s memory cards with photographs of buds and tiny leaves.

Further Emergence

Look Sharp!

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Mar 252014
 

Over the past three months, I have taken several dozen photographs of the thick, wiry vines of greenbrier, festooned with massive thorns and draping themselves along several of the tree trunks along Piney Woods Church Road.  Today, when I had no intention of trying to do so, I caught an image of them that I find striking.  If a jazz riff could be photographed, perhaps it would look something like this.

Look Sharp!

Day 84: A New Leaf

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Mar 252014
 

I ventured out this afternoon into a brisk north wind, wearing my heavy winter jacket.  Where had spring gone?  The high wind made it considerably more difficult to photograph new growth on the shrubs and trees along Piney Woods Church Road, including this tulip poplar seedling.  When the sun emerged from behind a cloud, though, the late-day lighting was marvelous.  I fear for all these tender leaves, though, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-20s overnight.

A New Leaf

Day 80: In Motion

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Mar 212014
 

Again, I set out to find new wildflowers, to no avail.  The catkins on a couple of trees are nearly in bloom, but not yet.  It is still the time of year when henbit and bluet hold sway.  So I found some more red and brown leaves, instead.  I sat down at the side of the road to photograph a couple of greenbrier leaves; midway through, I looked through the viewfinder toward the space just in front of me, and became entranced by long, thin blades of dry grass, making twirling forms in the breeze.  Not exactly springlike, but still beautiful.

Tomorrow I will go in search of last autumn’s leaves.  Maybe that way I will find a new flower in bloom along Piney Woods Church Road.

In Motion

Day 75: Flotsam

 Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Mar 162014
 

After many hours of heavy rainfall, I set out today along Piney Woods Church Road, stopping at ruts, potholes, and ditches to see what I might discover there.  I took a number of reflection photos, but my favorite is this one, with its bright splashes of color from the fallen leaves that have collected on the water surface.

Flotsam

Day 70: Chlorophyllia

 Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project  No Responses »
Mar 112014
 

Thank you, Karen Reed, for your excellent suggestion of a title for today’s photograph of a greenbrier leaf.  I feel drawn to photographing the fascinating internal structures of leaves, and this is one of the most stunning examples I have yet encountered.

Chlorophyllia

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