The story behind the view.. 

 

Film maker Richard Leacock spoke at the Full Frame documentary film festival, Sat. April 8. Information on Leacock can be found here: http://www.richardleacock.com/. 

 

The softness of the flower and the boldness of the color needed to be captured. 

  
Capturing light at the right moment is what I enjoy about photography. Of course the right moment is different for everyone. In this case the clear late evening with the bright clear sky behind the old water tower, with the flowing man made stream in the foreground caught my eye. Years ago this was an industrial site. Today it's been brought back to life with restaurants, offices and retail stores. The location is The Tobacco Company, Durham, N.C.

It was my first visit to Vancouver, BC. We checked into a nice hotel downtown in the late afternoon and had walked around the city that evening after dinner. It was a beautiful summer evening. I'd heard friends say how much they enjoyed the beauty of Vancouver.

The hotel room had a large window that went from floor to ceiling. The next morning the sun came up from the opposite side of the hotel and bathed the city in light. Rolling over in bed and looking out the window, I'd left the curtains open because we'd enjoyed the lights of the city the evening before I enjoyed the view of the city from 10 stories up. It was nice to sit in the desk chair in the room and just enjoy the view.

It took a moment to appreciate the work done here..the image on the horse captures the landscape in the background. It's beautiful country in New Mexico..an unusual painting in unusual terrain.

Then a plane came by...

Lake Union, a la Seattle's Lake Union, is an interesting place in the summer time. Cruising along in a boat, it's not uncommon to be passed by a float plane coming or going. To see a plane approaching for a landing from the distance and feel it's headed right for you, is an interesting experience.

Quiet and imposing, a loss for words

I wasn't quite ready for the monument. I had wondered how the site might be recognized and as we drove through Normandy towards the coast, there had been several indicators that we were approaching a special place. Periodically, we'd pass a cemetary in the open country side. Some of them were surrounded by low, brick walls. Walking through these smaller cemetaries, the markers bore the names of British or American soldiers.
Back in the car, we would drive further, passing villages and I kept wondering what it had been like on the day of the invasion, on the days following the invasion and the weeks afterward.
At Couleville, the American cemetary is an insprising site. Driving into the grounds, silence is all around, it felt like the spirits of the dead were watching over the entire area. On the beach with it's wide expanse stood the monument above . It's an imposing figure, not especially tall but words inscribed cause one to pause, listen to the waves and feel the sense of what took place there, those many years ago.

Hearing the beauty

It was a slightly overcast day, the temperature was comfortable, a light jacket kept the breeze away. The island had a sense of peace about it, just large enough that a car helped with travel but wasn't totally necessary.

Sitting on a bench by the field of lilac, if you shut your eyes it helped to hear the breeze blowing through the plants, the scent was in the air. Watching the lilac, the stems swayed with the breeze brushing against one another, like a light sound of a broom as mother would sweep the front porch in summer. It was a bit mesmerizing, watching the stems sway with the wind.

The quiet of sunset in the southwest. 

Simplicity, just hang them out the window, let mother nature do the drying and in France, go out for a leisurely lunch and a nice bottle of wine. You don't have to worry about getting them out of the dryer before they wrinkle, there isn't another wash load to push into the dryer. I'll get to that second load, tomorrow. 

Sometimes, you just put your chair in a good place, dab on a bit of suntan lotion, pop a brew and watch the world around you. 

Concentration is important in a number of endeavors... 

What's the saying? The picture says it all... 

Oh My... 

The photo below and this one concentrate on catching intensity of motion and concentration, at a moment in time. I like to study the form of movement.

I like the anticipation of this shot, it would be nice if "life" could be frozen like this sometimes so we could think clearly about the action we're about to take. 

Beauty in motion

I love a one handed backhand. I know the two hander is more popular today but when I see a good one hander, I can just sit and watch..and be jealous! This sequence goes from bottom to top. Unfortunately I don't have the players name to give them credit, it was captured at a USTA women's pro-tournament last Spring. For the past few years a women's tournament has come to town, players in the top 100 (some from 50 to 100) and 100 to 300 in the rankings mostly. This young lady was "smacking" her backhands.

 

 

 

There's something calming about the simple look of a cat, looking directly at you. The simple curiosity, the response when you pet them and fill their bowl with food. That's exactly what they want, no complexity, a simple act, a simple response.

 

The sounds, lights and movement are what I like about this photo. It's posted on a photo hosting site I use and after almost a year, it's become the most popular photo of the ones I have posted, of several hundred on the site. 

While visiting New Mexico for the first time, I came upon this skull on the side of an adobe building on the Ghost Ranch, near the village of Abique. In color, the color of the building as a backdrop to the skull is striking but I also like the stark contrast of the b&w, the variation of the gray tones as the light changes on the building and the starkness of the skull itself. The flowers below are actually husks, not flowers. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the plant from which the husks were extracted.

Monaco

I visited France for the second time in 2004, but for the first time the visit was to the south of France on the Riviera. We had a house for two weeks close to the village of Vence. To say it was a great trip would be a bit of an understatement. One day trip was to Monaco. Monaco is such a visual place, the beauty and contrasts are striking. The boats were everywhere in the harbor, these are just a sample.

Are they flowers? No, they're formed from the husks of other plants (unfortunately I don't know what type.) Wandering through Santa Fe, NM a few months ago, I came upon these husks in a small shop off the main square.

The natural colors of New Mexico

Ghost Ranch, in New Mexico, over 20,000 acres of wide open spaces, the inspiration for Georgia O'Keefe.