Willow Leaves, autumn, Ahwahnee, California 2012
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1.0 sec at f / 4.0__ISO 100
Last night, I had a flash of memory about an early influence in my photography – the book The Zen of Seeing by Frederick Franck. I picked it up at a used book store during my college years at CU Boulder. The book discusses the concept of seeing and in the author’s case drawing, as a discipline by which the world may be rediscovered, a way of experiencing Zen. I realized how engrained this practice is in my life for the past 30+ years. Now I’ll have to dig though my office to find it, and read it again!My photograph here was made across the street from my home. It is a small piece of woods that I can see from here and watch every day. During this autumn, I’ve watched these willows slow turn color and thin out as leaves fall. Saturday morning, I noticed that just a few leaves were left, and NOW was the time to capture their beauty. They hung gracefully, looking like bamboo. I exposed dozens of frames, playing with shutter speeds and camera motion. I have many favs, but like this the most…
Enjoy ! And let me know what books have inspired your photography!
December 9, 2012 at 8:59 AM
Lovely! I like the delicacy, and the soft purple in the background. I’m a voracious reader by nature, so have found lots of inspiration in books. To name a few: anything by Freeman Patterson, especially “Odysseys”; “In Wildness…” (Eliot Porter, Thoreau); Brandenburg’s “Chased by the Light”; I also find it inspirational, when traveling, to read something that gives a deeper sense of place. For instance, during a recent fall trip to the Northwest I re-read Annie Dillard’s “The Living.” Will definitely check out The Zen of Seeing!
December 6, 2012 at 9:21 AM
Thanks for your comment. I like the lighting in my portrait, and it is plenty bright on my calibrated monitor. If you are not seeing the image in the same way, perhaps your monitor is not calibrated properly.
December 6, 2012 at 1:51 AM
Really beautiful. Movement abstracts are so hit-and-miss, aren’t they? But when they work, they’re so exciting.
By the way, I’ve just noticed your self-portrait at the top right of this page. I’m afraid it really doesn’t work for me: sorry to teach my grandfather to suck eggs, but you need to brighten your figure so it stands out against the background. (This may very well be a problem in translating the image on to the web: I’m viewing on an iMac, via Safari.) As it is, I just find it frustrating – I’m squinting to try and see what you look like!