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.

    

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy Day Mondays, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

It is raining and cold again. Last night it actually hailed here. It was so bad that we ran outside to check the cars for damage! It sounded like rocks were being thrown at our windows.  The plants have really taken a beating too from all the rain.  It is so ironic that a few years back we were struggling with drought conditions and now we have had so much snow and rain in the last six months.



This morning I woke up with "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters on my mind. The only problem was that I couldn't remember the tune. Thanks to You Tube, I got the full video version.



Then I thought of Karen Carpenter and what a beautiful voice she had. It was so pure and perfect.

Puddle Ducking

More Puddle Ducking, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"Jemima Puddle-duck became quite desperate. She determined to make a nest
right away from the farm.

She set off on a fine spring afternoon along the cart-road that leads over
the hill.

She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet.

When she reached the top of the hill, she saw a wood in the distance.

She thought that it looked a safe quiet spot."

Beatrix Potter, "THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK"

We have had a cool spring and everyone, people and animals have been enjoying the beautiful weather. Last week, I spotted these little ducks crossing the road as I headed back in to Still Pond after a long day's work. I pulled over and grabbed for my camera. I wanted to get them crossing the street but I wasn't fast enough.

By the time I had my camera ready the threesome had crossed a big puddle and were heading off into the field toward the forest.  They really looked like they were off on some big adventure.

When I looked at the images I had captured, I was reminded of Beatrix Potter and the wonderful personalities of all of her characters.  Jemima Puddle-duck came to mind.  I was so glad that I took the time to stop so that I could capture these images.  This is why I always have my camera with me - even on my days commuting to and from work.  You never know when the opportunity will present itself and you will have the perfect photo opt in front of you!

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!"

c o x s w a i n

c o x s w a i n, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

Coxswain

Noun

1. The helmsman of a ship's boat or a racing crew.

Coxswain Kog is Norwegian for a cockboat; Welsh, cwch; Italian, cocca, etc.; and swain, Anglo-Saxon for a servant, superintendent, or bailiff. (See Cockboat.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Spring sports have started, and this year I have the pleasure of having each of my three sons participating in a sport. My goal is to try and document their involvement with photography that is purposefully artistic. Like many parents, I bring my camera to most events and try to get some good photographs.  I have multitudes of images from hundreds of competitions.  Now that I have learned some new photographic techniques, have a pretty good lens (Canon 55 - 250 mm) that lets me zoom in a little closer, and have some great post-processing software (Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6), I want to try and make the average sports shot into something special.

The photo above was taken at my son's crew regatta this weekend.  He is the coxswain for his boat.  The challenges I faced in trying to get a good photograph were many.  First, I was positioned up above the pond where the race occurs.  The course is a long distance, so the starting point is far up the water.  Since I didn't have a schedule of the races, I had to use my lens to try and figure out if my son's boat was in the race.  Once  I determined that he was racing, I had the choice of zooming in as far as I could go, to get a better view of him, or staying out and getting a more panoramic view of the entire field of boats.  The choice was made for me, because I was zoomed in to try and confirm it was my son, and by that time the boats were under me and I had to shoot.  Thus, the next challenge involves time.  In races like this, or like track events, you only have a few seconds to get the shot before the race/event is over.  Many of the newer EOS cameras have a setting that takes continuous photographs.  I didn't use it here, but in the past I have, and it works really well as long as the light conditions are sufficient.

The processing stage of the photo entailed my normal procedure:

1. Photo is taken in RAW format
2. Upload to Lightroom
3. Work on Tones
4. Export to Photoshop
5. Play with Image (Working on Lighting, Color Saturation, Applying Effects like Textures, Blur, Gradients)
6. Presentation

In the top photo, I used sepia tones in lightroom, while keeping the red school color and the greens in my son's sweatshirt.  Once in photoshop, I added a fake tilt-shift effect.  I did it the easy way by just using a Gaussian Blur of around 4.6 and then erasing out the center.  There is a tutorial for a better looking, but more complicated way to do it  here.  I also added a subtle texture to the top one.  In the one below, all I really did was blur the top and bottom, to draw your eyes to the boat.

My other two sons are playing lacrosse this season. Since you have a full game of playing time to catch photos, the time limits aren't as pressing. However, when looking back at some of the photographs I took, I am finding that composing a good shot takes a bit of thought in terms of getting the timing right and making the photograph interesting.

This photo is one I took last week of my son who is the Goalie of his team. It is a little easier getting him, because much of the action surrounds him.  One handy feature in lightroom is the crop setting. I often pull that up because it has a nice grid for the rule of thirds. That way I can crop my photo and make sure it is properly balanced. I did that in this one, making the goalie line up right at the 2/3 line.

The last photograph is of my oldest son.  He is #22 in this shot.  Unfortunately, most of the photos I took of his games involved him running up the field, with other players in front or behind and they were all pretty boring.  This one seemed a little more interesting as it showed multiple players (full body) the Referee and the Score.  Unfortunately, it was a little blurry.  I worked on it in lightroom - using a lightroom preset that simulates hdr.  Then I moved it to photoshop and added a motion blur on the edges (at about 18%) and a texture.  Basically, I decided to make the blur work for me instead of against me.  It turned out okay (not great) but the main thing was that I learned I probable needed a higher iso ( I was shooting at 200 ISO) level to help out with that blur.  I will make that correction at the next game!

"If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for a moment." — Georgia O'Keeffe

"If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for a moment." — Georgia O'Keeffe, originally uploaded by poketypatch.


I have always liked the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe, and often think of her when I am shooting flowers up close.  I don't have a macro lens, so another way to get  up close and personal with your subject is to use the "reverse lens technique".  For this "poor man's macro", you take your lens off the camera, invert it and hold it up to the camera, focus and shoot.  It takes a little practice, and you have to be careful hold tight so no dust gets into the camera.  There are good tutorials for this technique online  here and here.

These woods are lovely, dark and deep...

These woods are lovely, dark and deep..., originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"These woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

~Robert Frost

Last summer, I started visiting Turner's Creek Park, a county park near my home, and began a series of photographs.  The property is surrounded by Turner's Creek, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, and there are trails through the forest where most of my photos have been captured. On Flickr, I have a set of photos - Into the Woods - consisting of some of the images I have taken on my hikes in the woods.  The photos in the two previous posts are from my most recent visit to the park.  This one, was from a visit in November. My plan is to try and get photos from all the seasons, and then put together a little exhibit.  Also, a former Congressional Representative from my county is trying to lobby for funding to establish the park as an educational site for local school children.  I would like to offer these images as proof of what a magical place Turner's Creek Park is!  Here are a sampling of some of my photos from the park:

flare

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows ", originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows "

— St Francis of Assisi

One of my favorite things to photograph is white tulips. The simple beauty that they exude is a dream for me. I bought a bunch at Trader Joes last week for the bargain price of $4.99. By placing them on the dining room table, they caught the light from our windows perfectly. One of the tulips lost a petal, which gave an interesting view to the inside of the flower. The subtle flare of the sunlight (late day) coming in and hitting the tulips was too good to pass up.



I used my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens because it works so well in low light. It was definitely the right choice for this group of shots.



I really love to use monochrome with white tulips and tend to process them in sepia or black and white. I actually thought about throwing on a texture in Photoshop Elements (and tried it on the top version), but felt that this was one of those situations where "less is more". Sometimes subtle restraint takes a photo to the next level....

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!

Secret Gate

secret gate, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun."
— J.R.R. Tolkien

I had a few extra minutes to kill today, so I decided to drive around looking for something interesting to photograph. I passed a country church with old iron fencing that was buried in the snow. The photo above was taken from inside the car, through the front window glass. I took a couple of shots with the window rolled down, but thought that the glass added a dreamlike quality to the image.

Taking photos from behind glass, give a photograph a new feel. Some people use windows that are wet with rain, or are dirty, to add such texture to their photography. Another way to get this result is to use photoshop processing and add a new textural layer on top of the original image.

In contrast, here is an image that I took outside, focusing on the gate. It is SOOC (straight out of the camera - which means no post-processing.) Even though it is a photograph of the same gate, taken at the same time of day, it has a completely different look to it. My focus is set on the gate and in turn gives a nice blurred background of trees and sky.

In the next shot, I moved around a bit and used the red church door as my background. The red contrasts nicely with the green vine growing on the gate. I like this angle zooming in on the gate. You really get a feel for the curves of the fence.

These shots (and some others of the actual fence) were taken in about 5 minutes. They illustrate how just moving around, changing your angle, or adding unexpected elements (like shooting through glass) can make an ordinary object come to life in many different ways!

Sitting on My Front Porch...

Sitting on My Front Porch..., originally uploaded by poketypatch.

No, it's not really me
it was
created for the Textures Only ~ Competition #43
on flickr

I am really starting to get the hang
of photoshop
it only took me
about
one year...

chives in my herb garden

chives in my herb garden, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

What will I do with them? How about some
Creamy Chive Salad Dressing
175 ml (3/4 cup) non-fat buttermilk
50 ml ( 1/4 cup) reduced-fat mayonnaise
75 ml (1/3 cup) finely chopped fresh chives
15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh parsley
15 ml (1 tbsp) lemon juice
15 ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
In a bowl, whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, chives, parsley, lemon juice and mustard. Season with salt and pepper.
Full article found here.
How did I process this photo? I used a photoshop cross-processing action found here.

look what flew in this weekend...

look what flew in this weekend..., originally uploaded by poketypatch.

This guy decided to fly into our kitchen this weekend. It took 3 of us to get him out the kitchen window. I swear at one point (the first shot in the collage) the bird was catatonic - we thought that he was paralyzed with fear. But really, he was just waiting to go for my dh...it reminded me of a scene in THE BIRDS...and thus we got the broom out. It was quite an experience!

This is him afterwards - I think that he enjoyed driving us crazy!

The best thing about a good spring rain...

The best thing about a good spring rain..., originally uploaded by poketypatch.

...is diamond droplets on baby columbine leaves!