Calling a Distant Animal

Calling a Distant Animal, originally uploaded by poketypatch ~ Still Pond Photography.

Here it is once again this one note
from a string of longing

tightened suddenly from both ends
and held for plucking

tone torn out of one birdsong
though that bird

by now may be
where a call cannot

follow it
the same note goes on calling

across space and is heard now
in the old night and known there

a silence recognized
by the silence it calls to

~W.S. Merwin

The photograph above was taken during an outing I made alone to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.  Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, located 12 miles south of Cambridge, Maryland, was established in 1933 as a refuge for migratory waterfowl. The refuge includes more than 27,000 acres, composed mainly of rich tidal marsh characterized by fluctuating water levels and variable salinity. Other habitat types include freshwater ponds, mixed evergreen and deciduous forests, and small amounts of cropland and managed impoundments that are seasonally flooded for waterfowl use. The Refuge has walking and driving trails.  I was lucky enough to capture this blue heron, as well as some ospreys.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Birdhouse - Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge - Still Pond Photography

Marsh - Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge - Still Pond Photography

The photos have been sitting on my hard drive for several months.  I don't have a telephoto lens and this makes getting good photos of wildlife very difficult.  I used my 55-250mm lens for these photos; however, it still doesn't capture the details very well.  For the blue heron at the top, I played around with layers in photoshop adding a little motion blur at the edges and throwing on a couple of textures.  I feel that it gives the photo a painterly effect - which makes it a more "artsy" type of photo rather than a good wildlife shot.  

Osprey feeding baby - Still Pond Photography

I have been reading The Shadow of Sirius by the Library of Congress's seventeenth Poet Laureate, W. S. Merwin.  It is a wonderful collection of a multitude of poems which explore the mysteries of light, darkness, temporality and eternity.  The words are so meaningful and thought provoking. I enjoy thinking about the

words when paired with my photography.  I have always been a "challenged" writer, so to have these remarkable words coupled with image is another form of interpretation.

    

b l o o m

 
b l o o m, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"Let all of life be an unfettered howl. 

                          Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. 

  Don't stop to think, don't interrupt the scream, exhale, release life's rapture. 


                                                                        Everything is blooming. 

Everything is flying.

                     Everything is screaming, choking on its screams. 

                                                                                                     Laughter. 

Running. 


               Let-down hair. 


                                          That is all there is to life. " 

                                                                                     — Vladimir Nabokov

T O A D

T O A D, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"The world has held great Heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!"
- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ch. 10

As I was taking a stroll in my side garden, this little guy surprised me as he hopped amid the new plants.  He looked a little grumpy at first, but patiently posed for this little photo shoot.  He even turned towards me at one point so that I could get a better view!

He reminded me of "Toad" in The Wind in the Willows.  Kenneth Grahame wrote:  "It's never the wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!"

w e e p i n g w i l l o w

w e e p i n g w i l l o w, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"But what Tyler longed for was to have The Feeling arrive; when every flicker of light that touched the dipping branches of a weeping willow, every breath of breeze that bent the grass towards the row of apple trees, every shower of yellow ginko leaves dropping to the ground with such direct and tender sweetness, would fill the minister with profound and irreducible knowledge that God was right there."
— Elizabeth Strout, Abide with Me



I braved the inches of snow to take a walk in Turner's Creek Park yesterday. I have been trying to photograph this little forest in all the seasons, and I had yet to get any winter, snowy shots. It is amazing how barren the forest is in winter. The views that you have are so different than during the lusher seasons when trees are full of leaves and the brush makes you feel like you are hidden away!

The photo above is of a willow tree that stands on the outskirts of the forest. It is a massive tree, and I have often thought it would make a great spot for photographing someone's portrait. Yesterday, the draping, naked branches were stunning - even in the mid-day light. I combined some of the shots into a tryptich - a set of three photos shown together. Unfortunately, it looks like a diptych here, but if you click on the photo and go to my flickr you will see the true triptych! Here are the originals before processing...







What about the quote? I am currently reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This quote, from another of her works, just seemed to epitomize the essence of how it is to look at the weeping willow with it's grace and with the light shining through its branches. I love finding quotes to go with my photography. Writing has always been very difficult for me, so I seem to gravitate to letting the "experts" do it for me. The trick is finding just the right meaning. The way I usually go about it is to look at the photo and think of one word that describes how it makes me feel. I then go to (this is my secret source!) GoodReads and search that one word in the quote section. Usually, something will come up by a favorite author of mine - many times I will have read the book! It makes it more meaningful to me if it is a quote of someone I respect or from a book that I feel is a classic or was just a great read!