Monday, December 27, 2010

reflection

The end of a year.  The end of a decade.  There were varying states of panic within the human race when the first decade of the 21st century opened.  Now a new decade is about to open before us and it gives one pause.  The final days of 2010 give us time for reflection.

Here are some of my favorite photographic reflections.  The intersection of water and stone has always fascinated me.  It presents endless photographic possibilities.

Williams Lake beneath Wheeler Peak, Taos County, New Mexico


Tinaja, El Malpais, New Mexico



Bridge, Hilo, Hawaii


Grand Teton Reflection


Reflection on the past is a way of pondering the future.  For me, it is a way of embracing, respecting, and photographing Planet Earth.

Happy New Year!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image



Sunday, December 19, 2010

silence of snow

Carl Sandburg wrote "The fog comes on little cat feet."  As does snow.  It finally arrived softly on our parched landscape this week.  Some of you are having far too much of it or far too many buckets of rain.

Moisture alters the land and our beings.












as we make our way through the Solstice, and the sun sets over the snowy landscape,  I wish you all a good night!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image



 

Monday, December 13, 2010

season of magic

Regardless of a person's beliefs, this season holds great mystery and magic.  21 December will be packed with it this year.  It is not only the winter solstice, but there will be a full lunar eclipse as well as a full moon! Sweet moments will no doubt be there for the taking as well.  Below are three photographs from Amsterdam that make me feel warm inside and bring forth the magic.












until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Studying white

Perhaps because snow has been so much a part of life in much of the country this week or possibly because things become somewhat monochromatic during winter, I have been pondering white.  Anyone who has painted a room "white" knows that there are thousands of variations on the theme of white and it can drive a person mad deciding which is best.

The adjective white is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "of the color of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of all visible rays of light."  Further explanation from Wikipedia continues "White light is the effect of combining the visible colors of light in suitable proportions (the same present in solar light)."  "Since the impression of white is obtained by three summations of light intensity across the visible spectrum, the number of combinations of light wavelengths that produce the sensation of white is practically infinite."

In the past, there was debate about whether white was the absence of color but in actuality (thanks to Newton), we now know it is comprised of all the colors in the spectrum in varying amounts.  Because of the reflective power of white, of minerals and other naturally occurring materials, "pure"white (except light) is difficult to find in nature.

The photograph below captures a white created by humans and painted on a stucco wall.




New Mexico's White Sands - the world's largest gypsum dune field - is another tone of white.  But if you are lucky enough to see snow at White Sand's you will see how much bluer in tone the snow is than the sand which at first glance is startlingly white.  I have yet to see that event.



This snow detail also shows not only a slightly cooler tone of white but its own reflective power.



I tend to think of shells as being white compared to their ocean and beach surroundings.  Below is a shell photographed on a cool white copy paper.  If I digitally desaturate the shell, removing the natural pigments, the paper and shell become uniform in color.

  

The study of white as a color, with its endless variants, is as important a subject to a photographer as is light.  Once again, I wish I had taken physics in college.  Now it is catch up time!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image