Day 59: On the Fence

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Feb 282014
 

For weeks I have been trying to photograph robins along Piney Woods Church Road, since they seem to be abundant there this time of year.  I picture the American robin as the ultimate suburban bird, equivalent to the urban street pigeon.  So while they seem to be everywhere, it has also been difficult to photograph them in a way that does not leave them looking nondescript and, well, uninteresting.  Finally, this image of a robin on a wooden fence works for me.  Perhaps it is because this particular robin seems to be taking an interest in the photographer, in turn.

On the Fence

Day 41: Blackbird Fly

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Feb 102014
 

Late afternoon today was truly overcast, with a gloom betokening approaching winter weather.  Rain tomorrow, freezing rain on Wednesday.  I spent most of my hour along Piney Woods Church Road looking for splashes of color to photograph, doing a lot of experimental out-of-focus work (Is it possible to be focused on not focusing?).  I took several images reminiscent of abstract watercolors, which may find their way into a separate post.  At the end of my time in the field, on the way back to Rico Road, I took several photographs of red-winged blackbirds silhouetted in the bare upper branches of a distant tree.  To try for some telephoto shots without blur, I used a metal fencepost to steady my camera.  I took only one photo, and then the birds were gone.  By sheer luck, I caught this bird with its wings extended, about to launch itself into space.

Blackbird Fly

Day 40: Red Leaf

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Feb 092014
 

Yesterday evening and earlier today, I spent a couple of hours poring over the work of Kathryn Kolb, a fine art nature photographer living in Atlanta.  She has taken stunning medium-format camera photos of branches and leaves in her backyard, around the city, and across the country.  In her work, there is often no central subject in focus — the entrancement of the image comes from the pattern of forms and the play of light.   Many of them are like impressionistic paintings, venturing below the surface forms to encounter the life energy contained within.  Before I saw her images, I tended to consider pictures with an unfocused subject as mistakes.  Now I know otherwise; blurred images have their own power and allurement.  Today’s offering of a greenbrier leaf from Piney Woods Church Road is in appreciation of Kathryn Kolb.

Red Leaf

Day 39: Dandelion

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Feb 082014
 

A few days ago, I began adding to my Piney Woods Church Road walk a few furtive glances for signs of spring.  I have been watching, in particular, for daffodils to emerge from the soil — there are quite a few clusters of them growing in and alongside a pasture about halfway on my walk.  Alas, no luck yet.  Imagine my surprise today when I discovered a dandelion — not a budding flower stalk, or even an open flower, but a seed head, waiting for the wind.  It is a marvelous reminder of all that I have missed this year.  Somehow, the flower stalk emerged and bloomed and produced seeds during January and early February, all without my noticing.  But today I paused to take this photograph.  After snapping half a dozen shots, as I was about to stop and be on my way home, the sun emerged from a cloud.  A lovely moment on a Saturday afternoon in not-yet-springtime.

Dandelion

Day 36: After the Storm

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Feb 052014
 

After the overnight rainstorm, the ditches along Piney Woods Church Road had filled with water once again.  In one of them, I saw this oak leaf floating, the edges of the leaf slowly taking on water.   The stillness of the scene offers no hint of the raw winter’s day on which I took this photograph.

After the Storm

Prologue: Before the Storm

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Feb 052014
 

I set out late this afternoon, on the 5th of February, with a specific goal:  to locate a certain water oak tree branch with a solitary leaf at the tip which I had photographed yesterday.  It had rained heavily overnight, and the air had turned colder, with a raw edge to it.  The wind was blowing considerably, at speeds up to fifteen miles per hour.  Needless to say, the leaf was long gone — probably pulled off the branch by a passing gust and carried off.  What was it Bobby Burns said?  “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”  So I am posting yesterday’s shot here instead, as an extra blog post by way of a prologue to today’s photo (which I will post later this evening).

Prologue

Day 31: Nunataks

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Jan 312014
 

At last, today brought clear skies and much warmer weather  (into the 40s), which also brought the demise of the recent snow.  I took this afternoon’s photograph when much of the snow had already melted along Piney Woods Church Road, with vestiges remaining in the most wooded areas. One such bit of snow still covered the edge of an old loblolly pine stump.  The stump’s interior has rotted away, leaving behind bark layers around the edges.  These layers have flaked apart, producing something that evokes a rock outcrop in miniature, with metamorphic layers of slate or schist that have been tilted upward by tectonic forces.  Nunataks are isolated rocky areas, rising above the surrounding glaciers, found in polar regions such as Greenland and Antarctica.  The term popped into my head as fitting this image well, perhaps because I was remembering back to how cold it was yesterday morning.  As a geologist who loves the stark rocky landscapes of the West (especially the Colorado Plateau), I rarely encounter anything similar in the Georgia Piedmont.  Except, maybe, for this.

Nunataks

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