Posts Tagged ‘nature’
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.
revisiting edmands park
Posted in Inspiration, Publication Updates, tagged beauty, books, edmands park, Inspiration, libraries, nature, photobooks, Photography, self-publishing, urban landscape on November 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »
scenes from edmands park
Walking into Edmands Park was an escape for me. I was working at a small nonprofit located at Boston College’s Newton Campus researching and writing grants. On occasion I needed to rise from the computer and walk around to collect my thoughts, free my brain from jargon, and so on. I’m not the most adventurous person – really! – but when I start walking I sometimes get lost in the motion. Luckily my job was free form enough, so long as I met deliverables and deadlines, that it was okay if my legs kept me going past the stone walls of the campus and into the neighboring woods. It became ritual and coincided with my deepening exploration of photography. At times it seemed a magical place, strangely isolated, though it was adjacent to an active college campus. I’m not sure how many of the students knew what beauty lay around them. Over time, I would collect photos from across the seasons. I couldn’t wait to make my way into the woods after a heavy rain or snowfall to see how the landscape had been transformed.
Eventually I compiled those images and paired them with a few words about my experiences in Edmands Park into a book and published it independently. I shared the book with friends but I didn’t really know what else to do at the time. Anulfo Baez of The Evolving Critic suggested I check out the Indie Photobook Library (iPL) founded by Larissa LeClair. Her library featured the work of emerging and established photographers who were self-publishing their work. I did reach out to Ms. LeClair and she did indeed accept my submission of In Edmands Park for her library.
Five years later her library collection has been placed at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. In a recent press release she stated that while the iPL is now closed to submissions, she “will continue to advocate on behalf of self-publishers from around the world by directly consulting with libraries and museums on their acquisitions.” I am thankful for that early support and recognition of my work and honored to now have one of my books figuratively if not literally sitting on a library shelf at Yale University.
Sources & Additional Reading
iPL collection adds to Beinecke’s strengths in photobooks and modern trends in self-publishing – http://news.yale.edu/2016/11/16/ipl-collection-adds-beinecke-s-strengths-photobooks-and-modern-trends-self-publishing
See more images here: http://www.newtonconservators.org/art_staples.htm
sticks and stones on my path
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, tagged beauty, Charles River, colors, Inspiration, light, nature, Photography, poetry, urban landscape, water on November 9, 2016| 2 Comments »
One day I went wandering by the river because I felt a little lost. I thought I might find focus on the leaves fallen in the water but the sun was at such an angle that I could not get the right shot. I kept wandering by the river, in hope, still focusing my camera on the leaves.
A leaf or two I did find but they were not exactly what I sought and so I continued my journey by the river, in hope, seeking something, though I knew not exactly what.
I grew cold and frustrated. There I stood on the banks of the Charles River knowing I had to give up. As I paused, undecided of my direction, my eyes rested on the waters — you see, the sun was so low it was hard for me to look up.
Waters lapped upon the shore, cascaded over the rocks and swirled small broken branches about. A lovely sight especially when I realized in the water the blinding light was subdued. It was a delight.
No doubt there was beauty behind me and there would be beauty before me but on this particular journey I found the beauty right in front of me. And that’s what I chose to photograph.
a somerville sunset
Posted in Inspiration, tagged cityscape, colors, Inspiration, nature, Photography, sunset, urban landscape on November 3, 2016| 3 Comments »
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. 🙂
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 