Ice sheets beneath my feet, Lake St. Clair, Michigan Image # WI-9556
It is that time of year when I start thinking about photographing on the ice. However, with the extremely mild temperatures this year, I am doubtful I will be able to walk out on the ice like I did in this shot a couple of years ago.
This lake, Lake St. Clair, is about a half hour drive from where I live. This spot reminds me of the unique gems we all have quite close to home. However, it is interesting that this “gem” really isn’t much photography-wise any other time of the year. I have visited here spring, summer, winter, and fall time – and really it is only when it is frozen over in winter that it draws me to photograph. (more…)
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Winter pathways, Clinton River Park, Michigan Image # WI-9553
An interesting thought popped into my head during this day walking in the woods and approaching this area. The woods around my home are pretty much a jumbled mess. Vines, scrubby bushes and snags, thorny plants everywhere. Long time readers may recall me mentioning this a few times in the past. I think most would agree that the simpler a photograph can be, the stronger it becomes. Eliminate distracting elements that will confuse the eye and our brains is a fundamental of composition. So doing landscape type work in my woods can be quite difficult. (more…)
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Clinton River in snow, image #WI-9552
I shall be snowy, no, wait, I will be warm, no, maybe some ice, no, bitter cold, no, how about some rain? We have been on a roller coaster ride in our temperatures here for months. This is turning into the craziest winter in my recent memory. I have only had to shovel twice since November (not that I am complaining on that part).
This snowy scene was just last Sunday with snow we basically received that day. The day before, we had nothing. I had a couple of hours to do an evening hike in the woods. This river is about a 10-15 minute walk from my house. The woods were beautifully covered in snow.
Yesterday, it was 55 deg F – and all gone. Michigan’s Winter is having an identity crisis. How many personalities have we yet to see? Blink and you might just miss something. I must say I am somewhat liking the unpredictability, instead of day in and day out of cold weather.
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Tangerine Tango Sky, Denali National Park, Alaska
For a few years now, I have been casually following Pantone’s Color of the Year. These colors are the trends Pantone’s color experts see in the markets of design, art, and fashion combined with an outlook of where the world and society are headed the upcoming year. Since nature doesn’t really follow the trends of the year, I always found it an interesting exercise if I could find images of mine that resembled the color that is being placed on a pedestal at the time.
The Color of the Year for 2012 is Tangerine Tango, Pantone #17-1463. It is a “spirited reddish-orange” to signify the desire for bold steps in moving forward. No doubt there is some relation to world economic times and the anxiousness to see things pick up. Times yearning for encouraging signs.
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Lake Superior beach rocks, Vermillion Point, Michigan
The winter thus far has me spending much more time indoors than out. My one time in the field photographing this winter resulted in images that I didn’t quite connect with. So when I am not outside, I find myself wandering somewhat aimlessly through my archives. This is a bit where some of my ADD kicks in. I have so many images I have simply abandoned only to be stumbled upon much later after I have forgotten about them. I find I can only work on a certain group of images for so long before I just have to walk away and do something else. Yet, when I am away too long, I find them pulling me back to explore once again. Ideas for posts here drift in and out before ever gelling into something coherent. It can be a real hinderance to actually getting things done.
This push-pull process creates a bit of creative restlessness for lack of any better words for it. A lot of half finished projects, ideas, and processing hoping to be picked up at a later point in time. But sometimes a photograph catches my eye and captures my attention long enough to work it to completion. Acknowledging it, I suppose, is one step in the direction of attempting to control it and deal with it, if that is even possible.
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Yellow Aspens and Alaskan hillsides, Cantwell, Alaska
The new year has found me keeping to myself inside for these first couple of weeks, doing some reading, playing some games, and not a lot of new photography to contribute. It has me sometimes perusing some of my archives in search of trying something new, something different, something to inspire me. I suppose I have entered 2012 taking a breather before charging ahead.
Selective coloring on images really hasn’t been my cup of tea in the digital age, and it certainly isn’t anything new and adventurous. I actually enjoyed doing this in the “old days” with a set of Marshall’s Oils and a black and white print. Since then, I have read people call it irritating and trite. For some, I tend to agree. The black and white kid photo with a red strawberry, the urban street scene with a neon sign, or any number of things that have been done ad nauseam.
The labels and stigmas that we put on things seem to demotivate people from actually trying something that actually might work. Thou shalt be damned if you actually enjoy it. Then if you do cross that line, you are left with wondering if people are going to judge it solely because you have wandered into this forbidden territory. Well, let it be known I have wandered.
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This particular image I blended...
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