15_the_circle | cold and clear

[OT from cottage renovations]

today was one of those wonderfully cold and clear winter days. the absence of snow might have made things look warmer than they were, but it didn't take much exposure to clarify the situation.

though afternoon light is usually what lures me out, I made an effort to step outside that habit and look into the morning light. it was almost like a mirror image: with the lighting reversed, many of the places and items that normally capture my attention seemed unfamiliar in a backwards sort of way.

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

this sycamore stands along Grove Road at the lower end of the ball field. I have always found its nuances of shading and texture very appealing. the way in which these trees can dispense with bark in the upper regions strikes me as odd and is a reminder of eucalyptus trees in California -- but this one doesn't have any butterflies wintering over in it.

sycamore detail

Q415 is a daily manifest from Cucumberland MD to Richmond VA. today's instance of it was completely unremarkable -- your typical CSX drag freight, over tonnage and under powered; barely able to make the summit of Parr's Ridge before finally coming down this side of the hill, sliding through the Grove on its way to lower elevations and a chance to do it all over again at Franconia Hill on the RF&P Subdivision.

I had seen this train on the model board and despite dawdling on the way down to the tracks it was still 25-30 minutes before he showed up. I had gone out insufficiently bundled up for ambient conditions, so when the cold and its good friend the wind ganged up on me it was my own damn fault.

Q415 passes under our historic bridge

near the middle of the train a cut of nine molten sulphur loads made for a pleasing composition in the morning light: open rectangular railings above shaded round tanks and the neatly arrayed springs and wheelsets atop the railhead.

Q415 going

but enough was enough: after heading back home to warm up on hearing a westbound K800 (Baldwin FL to Chicago IL empties of the same commodity) calling signals on the radio I passed up the opportunity to head back out to try for an image of a whole trainload of empties. surely it could have made for an interesting image but sometimes it makes sense to quit while ahead -- I had only recently restored communications with extremities such as fingertips.

maple leaf
along 3rd Avenue

you're going to have to decide for yourself about the composition of this image, taken of a Japanese maple along 3^rd Avenue: the dark branch in the foreground either makes it or ruins it. on first starting to manipulate the image I was inclined toward the former view but ended up taking the latter (obviously, else it wouldn't be on this page). what do you think?
use the comment link below.

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you have a gift with words both in writing and in speaking. Your descriptions and metaphors are as beautiful as your photographs. The camera and lens you play with may be a great advantage but the photos you select to post have a magical light in them. Your aesthetic eye has genius. These photos are exactly the kind that I relate to and I love gazing at them. Your camera examines and relishes the same things that I get silly about - the smooth, muscular trunks of sycamores, translucent leaves, dead flower heads. I don't look at trains quite the same way, but whatever... But you should take bug pictures too and you should talk louder so I can hear you better.
That's what I think, since you asked... :>)

> ...
> But you should take bug pictures too ...
>

well, actually, I did try. Saturday afternoon some lovely low-to-the-ground yellow flowers were blooming in (of course) the Horans' garden, and some bees -- perhaps yours? -- were busily pollinating them. I took several images but wasn't satisfied with any of them so nothing appeared in this space. on Sunday there was plenty of light but the bottom had dropped out of the thermometer, so the next attempt will have to await more favourable conditions.

> ...
> and you should talk louder so I can hear you better.
>

unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) my spoken voice just doesn't produce much amplitude. it's always a problem, particularly in, say, meetings in the Town Hall, but even in smaller venues such as the grove writers' group I am quite aware that it doesn't exactly fill the room. to compensate for this limitation I find myself making greater use of other media for communication: by going online with email, the Grove listserv and this blog page I can convey with images and the written word what's harder to express verbally.

and thank you for your kind words and enthusiasm for the images in this space. I'm never quite sure how, or how well, they are received, so comments are always welcome (and favourable ones even more so, of course).
but your reponse didn't directly address the question about the leaf image, as to whether the dark stick in the foreground makes a positive or a negative contribution to the composition. I am still curious as to what you, and any others, might think about that.

thank you.

I like the image. I don't particularly like or dislike the stick in the foreground although when I imagine the image without it, it somehow seems too perfect and somehow less interesting. So maybe it adds that bit of oddity that keeps the image from seeming too common.

I'm delighted to hear there may be bug pics in the future. I like bugs EVEN BETTER than leaves, tree trunks and dead flower heads.

Regardless of whether it was intentional (I like to think of it as unintentional), I absolutely love the word "Cucumberland"!

cold and clear

What do I think? I think

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