Thursday, June 21, 2007

While the Sun Shines


This image was taken 60 minutes and 37 seconds after the previous blogged image. With such precision our cameras plot our every shot. It was, I had hoped, with similar precision that I observed what I thought was the approaching thunderhead. I have no burning desire to be bacon, and at such moments I am aware of a god's presence. I'm also aware of the potential for a good photograph. Yes, precision is crucial.

So the sudden, fat drops of rain were unexpected. The storm was still far off. I dismissed them and kept shooting, waiting longer than normal before stowing and waterproofing my gear. I finally turned around when I heard the rattle of the cow shed's tin roof. Behind me cats, dogs, whole cows were ricocheting tin. The thunderhead I had been watching was in retreat.

So it is that I can tell you with absolute precision when the first rain drops hit my lens, and I packed and fled past the newly planted corn, past the out-to-pasture cow, past the giant silo, and into a tractor shed. It was a splendid, if somewhat smelly, window on the storm.

At the top of Rabbit Hill where one can watch the weather pass, I forgot to look the other way.

4 comments:

Ginnie Hart said...

THAT'S exactly the kind of sky I love to see/capture! I love it!

Emery Roth said...

I'll have to plan some like this for when you come to visit.

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

i will love to capture hay bales in all their glory some day ...i am hyet to see any in the parts of Florida i live.....:(

And I'm curious as to why did u swear off Florida for ever. It may not be rich in pastoral beauty..something i realized what I am missing when I was visiting Ohio a few days back ..but it has its own unique beauty tempered with really long and hot summers, which i hate !!!!

Emery Roth said...

I've hardly covered all of Florida, so I'm no expert, and my comment was a bit of hyperbole. My experience is limited to the Anaheim and Palm Beach areas. While there I did drive down to through the Everglades to the tip and made a circuit of Lake Ocichobi. The trip through the Everglades only made me aware of how polluted and unhealthy it was due to development further north, very disappointing. The truth is, I love the excitement of urban life and the quiet of rural life, but I'm very disturbed by the sprawl that is overwhelming our country almost everywhere. Even where i live, still fairly rural, old farmland is sprouting new cookie cutter houses like weeds. there are better architectural solutions to the way we house ourselves, but they require imagination.