BEEN AWHILE!

I've been neglecting my blog this month because I have been getting the hang of Face Book and that has taken a lot of time cause I'm a slow learner. Many of these shots are posted on Face Book but I doubt the two venues, Blog and Face Book, will conflict with one and other.  I do notice, however, that Face Book reproduces the photos in a more exact form whereas the blog enlarges too much and takes away from the quality.  Oh well.....

I've mostly been shooting pictures of thing that are common sights that most folks just overlook.  The wildlife opportunities associated with Cherokee and Douglas Lakes are slim.  They do occur but not frequently and so I focus (no pun) on rustic, scenic pictures which have proven to be challenging.  One of the biggest rustic, photographic assists in the winter time is soft light. Winter brings on brown and gray colors and  Soft light can take a mundane subject and transform it into a picture on an artist's canvas.  You'll see as we move along.

The shot below is attributable to soft light.  Without the soft light the subject matter would be drab greens and browns but the soft light has made the base colors vibrate.

A water pond is transformed from muddy colored water and a bank covered by brown grass and mud into a magical spot at the edge of the woods.

A simple drab, gray tree standing back in the forest is transformed into a point of interest as the soft light of late afternoon strikes and reflects off its bark.

I think a camera is a tool for those creative souls who lack the talent to sketch, draw or paint and to transfer what goes on behind their eyes to canvas.  The camera, I think, is an digital device that can be manipulated through adjustment to deliver an image to a viewer that has been created in one's mind - a painting without brush strokes if you will.  I also think there are two types of creative talent when it comes to image renditions.  I say rendition because images already exist for the camera and are "sometimes" bent and altered to portray what the photographer (brush-less artist) wishes to present.  The second type creative talent manufactures their image and decides the emotional impact desired in their mind and transfers their mental vision onto canvas with brush and water or oil colors.  That is something I've admired all my life.

And so, lacking the talent to drive an artist's brush or to scratch meaningful lines on canvas - I'll continue on in my meager way with a camera to try and gather images that portray the emotions that lay behind my eyes and present them for the world at large on the internet canvas to be accepted or denied.  

I've also heard that photographers see the world differently.  They really don't.  They see the everyday things the same as everyone else does including the artist who paint with brushes and oils.  The photographers and artists, I think, have their minds adjusted to kaleidoscopic mode most of the time and associate the emotions they feel to images they see and are compelled to capture the moment on canvas or digitally for others to enjoy and in doing so gain personal satisfaction at the accomplishment.

 Above is a "Sun Dog" that occurred at 3:30 PM yesterday.  They occur frequently in these parts.

As for the old truck above, well, one man's junk is another man's treasure.

My first passion with a camera is wildlife but I'm getting to understand and like photographing the rural, scenic countryside of Tennessee.   It is there that one can translate emotion into his photography.  But then, wildlife has its emotional side too.

 Juvenile Bald Eagle