The Odometer Clicks

In my father's day, a car's odometer was a purely analog device. I remember the time he surpassed 99,999 miles on his old Ford, and it rolled over to five zeros just like when the car first arrived from the factory. Anyway, I'm not particularly good about marking each new year with top ten lists of all the great crap I did in the previous twelve months, resolutions about how I can better my crappy self, profound reflections about the meaning of it all. But that doesn't mean I take anything for granted either. I am still happy about each and every one of the new years as they come along, and I hope you are as well. Cheers to 2023!

Your Work In The World

Could it be that this mobile is about trees? Their verticality in the landscape? I'll never know for certain because the artist isn't around for me to ask. Regardless, it does become about the trees for me in this photograph, where it is layered against the out of focus background. The artist may be gone, but the work is still very much alive. 

Hang loose this weekend, fellow traveler. 

An Eye For Every Work

You have the freedom to make any work you feel driven to produce, my friends. I say, get Ye into the studio and and make some stuff. Trust the process and know that there is an eye for every work. Making images for 'likes' or to please others just leads to average work. Social algorithms are designed to converge, baby, and that ain't what you're looking for. Instability and divergence, may prove more interesting in the long run. 

Anyway, that's just me preachin' on this fine Thursday morning. 

Woodpecker Down

One of the risks of being able to fly is periodically crashing into things. Like windows, for instance, which happens a couple of times each year around here. The sound of a crashing bird is a bit dreadful, if I'm honest. This beautiful woodpecker literally knocked itself out, but within a few minutes, was able to gather it's strength and fly off.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Bird's Nest?

Well, kinda, yeah. You see, my wife spotted this beauty in the gutter on the side of the road during a walk and brought it home for me. It must have been dislodged from its perch in a tree by the rain and it is pretty amazing that it held up so well. A real testament to the quality of construction. The skeleton leaves on the sides look like a kind of filigree to me and the oval shape also is quite photogenic. I'm going to have to keep it out of reach of studio cat, but I'm sure I will come back to this subject more than once in 2023.

Amuse Yeux

Naturally, our renovation project overlapped with the coldest cold spell we've had in several decades. There are a couple of spots where the siding had to be removed, such as the place we are going to install the on-demand water heater. The color coded water lines made for an interesting splash of color on an otherwise dull field. A small delight for the eyes.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from Albus & Fergie World Headquarters. Looks like it may get above freezing today. Stay warm and safe, wherever you lay your head, fellow traveler! 

Ice and Shadow

Ice, if it's a good enough subject for the likes of Paul Caponigro, I reckon it's good enough for the rest of us, well me anyway. Look closely and you'll see it is already starting to melt. That's my kind of ice for sure. Keep warm on this cold Christmas Eve.

Flowers To Warm A Frigid Friday

Like most of the country, we are experiencing some unusually cold weather right now. Fact is, it doesn't get into the teens very often down here, and when it does, we are not really set up to cope with it particularly well. I still remember the Thanksgiving my brother came down from NYC and never took off his sweater because he was so damn cold. We had the heat cranked up all the way, but mostly the energy was just flying out the windows.

Taken with my wife's old Canon GX7ii. I was planning to move this thing on until I happened to notice that it was being praised by a few online influencers for its 'filmic' image quality. So I'll hang onto it for a while longer to see if the used prices start going insane. Fingers crossed.

Happy Friday, fellow travelers. Enjoy some photography this weekend with your 'filmic' digicam or some actual film. 

Who Needs A Camera?

In the spirit of reducing my overall carbon footprint, perhaps I should do more recycling, including the recycling of old images. There's plenty of them out there, trust me. I could sell all my cameras on the used market and purchase a few hundred thousand old photographs off of eBay. I could hunt and fish my way through the piles and find the keepers. Here's a nice photograph from what looks like the dessert Southwest United States, a place I am pretty familiar with owing to my numerous drives between Austin and LA back in the day. Does it really matter that I don't know exactly where the photographer was standing? Nah... I could tell all the stories I need to tell about those trips with old found photographs like this one. Who needs AI anyway?

Slow Squirreling

I was reading a book review about 'slow birding' in the NYTimes recently -- a non-competitive version of birdwatching modeled on the slow food movement. The crappy little sparrows that populate your yard are sufficient, that kind of thing. Sounded like my kind of birding, and I thought, 'you know, I really ought to give this a try'. So I headed into the yard armed with my biggest ass lens. But of course it is the middle of winter and the birds are mostly out of town for the next couple of months. I did, however, observe some of the local tree rodents doing their thing. Which was climbing up to the sunniest spot they could find, spreading out and trying to keep warm in the 30 degree weather. In my version of slow birding, observing non-birds is totally allowed since noticing nature is what it's all about. And it was kinda fun, to be honest.

What Wild Looks Like

You might have to hike a ways, but thankfully, it is still possible to find wild places in America. You might have to risk getting scratched by the brambles or falling on your ass as you slosh through cold water, but you can get there. These places can be on public or private land, and sometimes you have to hear about the exact location from another person. But you can find them. They are characterized by chaos, untidiness and diversity and can be a challenge to photograph. Your images of these places, ironically, may not be your most popular either. For some, I guess, the idea of the wild is what is captivating.

Camellia Season

This is the time of year when the camellias are in bloom. While most of the country is gray and leafless, here in the South we still have color to celebrate, even when the temperatures dip below freezing as they have recently. It's all good: the cold will kill off some of the cockroaches and other vermin, while the flowers remind us that warmth will return in a few days. These camellias have been bred to flower and it never ceases to amaze me to see a plant in full bloom with a carpet of fallen petals.

Pile O' Tires

That's thousands of dollars worth of rubber, my friend, just stacked up along a wall. Like the bags of potato chips lined up near the cash register in your local Buc-ees. I reckon they must either chain 'em up at the end of the day or someone has to roll 'em inside for safe keeping. 

Entropy is Photogenic

What is it about decay, rust, dilapidation that attracts our attention? Maybe it is just the formal and material aspects that we find interesting. Entropy at work, that kind of thing... Then again, perhaps it is because we all get tossed over the fence if we stick around long enough, or too long. I've heard it said that it is better to retire five years too early than five minutes too late.

Reflections

Inflation has impacted the cost of food and fuel, for sure, but if you keep an eye open, there are certainly still good deals to be found in 2022, such as dresses for twenty bucks. And reflections are always a good opportunity for us photographers, never impacted by the economy. 

Good light to you this weekend, fellow traveler.

Thanks, Jackass!

One fine morning a couple of days ago, I was greeted by the sight of a partially eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread. It was perched just outside the living room window. Someone had chucked it over the hedges after taking only three bites. It looked perfectly fine to me, far more appetizing, in fact, than the spaghetti sandwiches my mother used to pack in my school lunch box back in the day. Though sorely tempted, I did not snack on the sandwich, preferring instead to heave it back over the hedge. Here's hoping the owner saw it in the gutter on their return trip.

Traveling Light

About a decade ago, we had the opportunity to purchase a little condo from which we could easily walk to the Appalachian Trail. It is obviously a beautiful place to chill, hike, and take photographs, but the sweet little home away from home was kind of in the middle of nowhere. Super, super boring in other words. Likewise, we've often discussed owning a travel trailer, but if you aren't careful, you can end up with a real millstone around your neck. Plus, neither one of us wants to be in charge of emptying the poop. Cameras, backpacks and hiking poles turn out to be more our style, I guess.

Poetics of Place

The late afternoon Autumn sun certainly brought out the texture in the wall. In reality, the surface of the plaster is pretty nuanced, but the glancing illumination turned it into a kind of checkerboard as rendered by the camera's analytical eyeball. These are the sorts of observations and experiences that turn a house into a home, I think. 

Another Kind of Sun Salutation

What I like about this image is the majestic magnolia, of course, that fills the frame, but also how it looks like I am doffing my bowler hat rather than holding a camera up to my face. G'Day!

Before 2020

I am not usually a huge fan of cross processed film, but this lone roll of E-6 film was just sitting undeveloped on a shelf staring me in the face, so I impulsively chucked it into the developing tank along with a roll of regular C-41 color film. I was using the venerable Summicron R 35 mm f/2. It is a terrific lens, but flares pretty easily and has just the right amount of distortion. Looking back, the past often seems like a more innocent time. That is frequently down to nostalgia, of course, but for most of us alive today, it's probably an accurate assessment of our experiences prior to 2020.

Telescope Macro-ish Photography

Mirror lenses have an easy tell, the so-called donut shaped boke pattern they produce in the out of focus highlights of an image. Of all the catadioptric lenses I have ever had the opportunity to use, the old mirror Nikkor 500 mm f/8 (close focus version) is possibly the most unique. That is down to its ability to focus to just under 5 feet (1.5 m). In other words, the lens is basically a close-focusing telescope. On a camera with a micro-four thirds sensor, the field is reduced by a factor of two compared to a piece of 35 mm film. Using a tripod, I was able to get a few molecules of the orchid petals in sharp focus.

Wide Angle Macro

One fine morning my son stopped by with some super fresh eggs -- I mean straight out of the hen fresh. Before turning them into an omelet for our breakfast, of course I wanted to photograph them. The natural light entering the house from a large north-facing window was absolutely perfect that day, as it typically is. I used the Leica Q, a camera I had recently picked up for a 'bargain' price. Turns out the 28 mm perspective is not really my cup of kombucha, but I sure loved the wide angle macros I was able to get with that lens! Alas, I couldn't really justify owning such an expensive macro camera; fortunately, the previous owner was feeling a little seller's remorse and was happy to buy it back from me.

Good light to you this weekend, fellow traveler.

 

Ho Ho Hum...

Some of the neighbors pay a decoration service for over-the-top holiday displays; others take a more subdued approach. With temperatures in the mid 70's, I'm not really in the Christmas spirit yet.

Nailed It!

Sorry about that. Actually, not really. I've made a decision. I'm no longer apologizing for my stupid dad jokes, they're part of who I am. It's a coping mechanism, ya know, humor. If I didn't tell 'em, I'd have to cut you off in traffic. So, deal. Along the same lines, the ability to tell a joke should be a requirement for being considered an adult. I knew a person who was born in the 1920s, gone now, but he could tell a joke, mix a proper cocktail, hold his liquor, play at least one song on the piano. Maybe we need to bring back finishing school (j/k). 

Idle Moments

Sometimes it is worthwhile to do photographic exercises — just to get the juices flowing, so to speak. For instance, put the camera in the most automatic mode possible and just shoot B&W jpegs. On this outing, my goal was to make an exposure every ten seconds during a short walk. Two years later, and a few of the frames still interest me.

Thick As A Brick

Here's an exercise for you. Look at one of your photographs and write down your stream of consciousness thoughts....

I never much cared for the music of Jethro Tull to be honest, but for some reason, the word 'brick' triggers memories of prog rock. Go figure. My brother and I grew up in a household filled with piped in Muzak, at one point we could both sing along with the arrangements heard in any department store in America. It amazes me that we ever discovered a wider world of culture. Thank god for Tower Records, how music was discovered before the internet. 

I'm Old Fashioned

Inevitably, it seems, as soon as the maples reach 'peak color' the rain comes along and pummels the delicate leaves to the ground. You gotta be ready to enjoy the display because it ain't gonna stick around for long. I don't usually mess with the aspect ratio in the camera, but for this shot, I thought 16:9 matched the scene.

The Rock

I encounter this little tableau of rock and fence from time to time, depending on which route I take on my walk through the neighborhood. To me it says a lot about pragmatism, compromise, getting things done. Served up with a dollop of Kafka on the side. It seems counter intuitive, but perhaps that's truly the best solution, building the fence over the top of the rock. 

Homogenized

I still remember the first time I took the train through the Bronx and saw buildings covered in graffiti. It was pretty wild stuff, a bit like being on the set of a dystopian movie, as corny as that might sound. At any rate, these days, you no longer have to travel very far to get a similar experience. This photograph was made in the Deep South. Could it be that Professor Baudrillard was right after all? 

Good light to you, fellow traveller.

Leaf Catcher

I have a theory that folks with a visual bent tend to notice similar things. For example, my wife and I both commented on the leaf-catching pumpkin shown here. A corollary to my theory is that most people would just walk past without noticing. After all, it is just a silly pumpkin. But what about those crazy few who would remove the leaves in order to have a more perfect and tidy pumpkin?