Archive for the ‘Nature Notes’ Category
branches at belle isle
Posted in Branches, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, Inspiration, nature, Photography, salt marsh on December 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »
heron’s feet
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged birds, blue heron, Inspiration, Mystic River, nature, nature photography, Photography, urban landscape on November 27, 2016| 5 Comments »
I did indeed photograph the whole bird as it stood on a log in the Mystic River. I was hoping it might take flight but it didn’t and so I began to focus on the one thing moving — the water rippling as it flowed over the heron’s feet.
the last few leaves
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, Inspiration, nature, Photography, trees, urban landscape on November 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
at the water’s edge
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged abstract, beauty, Charles River, colors, Inspiration, nature, Photography, sun, urban landscape, water on November 17, 2016| 1 Comment »
Several analogies came to mind. The sun like liquid gold spilling over rocks into the sea. The sun in a bucket being dribbled from the heavens into the waters below. Jackson Pollack with a wide paintbrush and blue canvas and working only with shades of gold. In the end as in the beginning it was simply reflections of mostly bare branches and refraction at work in the gentle rolling waves of the Charles River.
reading water
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged books, Inspiration, nature, Photography, physics, Revere Beach, water on October 21, 2016| 2 Comments »
Focusing my camera on rocks and water and sand on the shores of Revere Beach. There’s a story in their interaction but I just don’t know how to read it yet. That’s why yesterday I picked up Tristan Gooley’s How to Read Water. It’s subtitle – Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea – captured me. If I don’t post for a while, it’ll be because I’m lost a darn good book. Meanwhile, have a good weekend, folks. 🙂
the answer is …
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, Copley Square fountain, Inspiration, light, Photography, physics, science, urban landscape, water, wind on October 20, 2016| 1 Comment »
… light, wind, and water in action at the Copley Square fountain in Boston. It was a breezy day with bright sun. I sat by the water’s edge with my camera tucked away, intent upon eating a late lunch. I’m glad I had no expectation because I may not have seen what I did see just by sitting quietly by the water. After a while I could not ignore what I was seeing and so I had to put away my lunch, dig out my camera, and begin to photograph the motion before me.
Autumn leaves floating on the water’s surface first caught my attention, but the brightest of the leaves lay on the bottom. I’m not sure what forces kept them there even as the fountain’s mechanics and nature’s wind erratically churned the water. The sun was bright too, low angled. It dispersed in the waters producing rainbows.
Nearby buildings and surrounding trees were reflected so they appeared to float above the sunken leaves. A friend came over and sat next to me, and while I listened intently, yes I did, my eyes kept sliding back to the water to see what a friend describes as the accidental and casual things water does to light.
Accept for playing around with my ISO settings on the spot, there is minimal post processing of these images. If you chance by the fountain and sit by its side, if the day is sunny and the wind is rippling the water’s surface, this is what you might see too. Or maybe something different. But I think it will all be beautiful.
guess where
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, Inspiration, mystery, nature, Photography, urban landscape, water on October 19, 2016| 1 Comment »
the fig leaf
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged family, figs, green, Inspiration, leaves, nature, Photography, tea, trees on October 19, 2016| 1 Comment »
I finally found the leaf, curled but not crumbled, at the bottom of a bag. It survived the trip from South Carolina through three states before returning to Massachusetts. It came from a tree in my uncle’s yard originally planted by his wife. One day at the kitchen table she mentioned making a cup of fig tea. I’d never heard of such a thing.
She pointed to the tree outside, wide canopied with dark flat leaves, and said it was too bad we hadn’t been visiting when the branches had been weighted down with fruit and the birds were all about. She sometimes made a jam, she said, but this year she just pulled off some leaves to dry and make tea. As I snapped off my leaf, I promised to photograph it as it dried and then its final journey into tea. She laughed.
I think this leaf has a bit more drying to do and until then makes a fun photographic subject.
the water shapes the sand
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, Inspiration, nature, Photography, physics, Revere Beach, sand, stationery, urban landscape, water on October 17, 2016| 3 Comments »
and the sand shapes the water. A view while crouching in the sand at Revere Beach. Available as blank notecard here.
and then there is belle isle
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged autumn colors, beauty, Belle Isle Marsh, Inspiration, nature, Photography, salt marsh, urban landscape on October 17, 2016| 4 Comments »
Walking through Belle Isle Marsh is not a traditional escape into the wild. Logan Airport is nearby so passenger planes fly overhead continuously. Stare into the distance and in one direction, over the marshy land, you see the glittering cityscape of downtown Boston skycrapers. In another direction you see the candy colored houses of residents who live nearby. It is a well-attended, and well-tended, state park located in East Boston. I tend to visit late in the day on a Sunday for about an hour which once led to the creation of this book, One Hour in Belle Isle. After the recent long journey it was a treat to return to this familiar place. To see autumn unfolding in the salt marsh. And yes once again for about an hour.
Words + Images 