Monthly Archives: August 2007
It Was Bound To Happen
While riding the train to work this morning, I was adding a couple of pictures over at racphoto.com.
After getting the second picture ready, I looked out the window and realized I had stumbled into a rift in the space-time continuum. Out the right window was a lush forest, which I don’t normally see on the ride in. A quick glance out the left showed a train platform, which would explain why we were stopped.
It slowly dawned on me that I had actually missed my stop and gone one train station too far. It was too late to get out so I waited until the next station before hopping on the next train back towards work. Fortunately I didn’t have any urgent appointments, I’ll have to be more on my toes tomorrow.
It’s the first time it’s happened since we moved here years ago. I’ve come close before when I fall asleep, but I was wide awake this morning, but apparently too in awe of my own photography.
The Genius Of Swarms
There was a fascinating article in the July 2007 issue of National Geographic called the Genius of Swarms, describing new understanding of how some social creatures like ants that form large colonies can be rather ignorant on its own but the collective intelligence of the colony can be quite smart.
I think the opposite applies to photographers. At least to those on the internet forums.
Evolution
One of the fun things about photography is the ability to start with a vision and see it evolve over time. This is especially true of situations that you don’t get to photograph very often. One example for me is alligators, a personal favorite but also a creature that we don’t have here in Oregon.
A couple of years ago while visiting South Carolina, I took the picture below, which was one of my favorites from that trip. I love the way an alligator will be almost completely submerged, but sometimes the tip of their tail arches up out of the water, the angled ridges echoing back to the age of the terrible lizards and hinting at a primeval danger hidden just below the surface.
The picture at the top is an evolution of the idea taken during a trip to South Carolina this summer. In general I think it’s a much better image, I like the graphical flow and the softness of the colors. However those same colors together with the stillness of the water detracts from the primeval danger aspect of the image, so I don’t think it’s a better picture in every respect.
Still one of my favorite alligator images and a theme I hope to explore more in the future.
Here’s To The Next 15
Happy Birthday to Templeton! He turns 15 today.
I tried to get a nice picture of him but he wouldn’t pose for me, so I settled for a picture of both him and Scout sitting in our smaller picture window. I’ll try for a better picture later.
He’s been hanging out in my office a lot lately, this weekend we’ve spent a lot of time cuddled up and purring. Well one of us was purring, the other was wishing he could.