Carnicke Farm II

At the photo club I attend occasionally they would complain, "What's the subject." I'm not sure that's a relevant question. We're off to the Cape tomorrow. this was a difficult photo to take as I was trying to control the white horizontals and verticals. Move slightly left right, forward or backward and the composition changed drastically. I'm not sure it's entirely successful, but I've decided to live wiht it a bit and see how I feel in a month. Comments appreciated.

Carnicke Farm I - Reverie

Old snow is worse than no snow. Today the clouds moved out and the sky was deep blue, but everywhere I turned the melted remains of snow made shooting difficult. Even where the snow was white and not melted, the high contrast made photography difficult. I went trespassing on the Carnicke Farm. Jeannie can you tell me where this was shot? It's not heavily processed.

Carnicke Farm is for sale, and I was glad to see they had put a new coat of paint on the house. That suggests they may not tear it down. The project I've been working on for NERG has reached a milestone, so I had no guilt about being out all day. In spite of the snow I shot over 300 images and got home at 6:30, just before Jane got back from grandchild sitting.

Summer

This photo keeps returning to my attention. It was the result of some photo processing I was experimenting with a year ago or more. As my daughter and I have been passing thoughts on highly processed images, I thought it might make an interesting Today's, especially since it seems we are about to get a few more inches of snow. In any case, I liked this experiment enough to keep it around. Each time it pops in view I like it more.

Kallstrom Farm through Blizzard

Life knows few pleasures that surpass standing in a pasture in the middle of a blizzard. I'm particularly pleased that the driving snow and sleet cast its texture across this image. I'm eager to see how it reads on a print. Shortly after snapping this, all of the snow slid off the roof left of center exposing the new green tin roof. I'm glad I caught this first. What a glorious farmstead this is!

Swallow

Today's Today's is a print from last summer that I just reworked for a monthly photo contast I enter.

Kallstrom Geometries

Yesterday I discovered a new farmstead to photograph, and today I discovered that the owners were both former students of mine and that they manage several more farms in Kent Hollow. I spent 3 hours shooting there this morning and have an open invitation to shoot there and at the other farms they manage any time. Brent Kallstrom was my student in fiction writing during his only year in my school, but he told me he's been writing in a daily diary ever since.

Recomposing Rabbit Hill

Back at Rabbit Hill on Thursday and in a new spot, more distant from the barns, the geometries become more complex and the barnyard begins to unfold. So many photos taken yet so many ways yet to explore to compose the planes. Barely any icicles, though my toes did not unfreeze until after dinner.

Sadly, the wind was such that it was hard to steady my long lens. I will definitely want to try this shot again when the sunset is clear and wind is gone.

Thanks to all those who have reported continuing bounces in my eshtooter mail account.

Queens Quest #5

There is no accounting for the changes produced by time.

Queens Quest #4

Mt. Hebron Cemetery is part of a vast belt of cemeteries in Queens that were opened in the latter half of the 19th century when burials in Manhattan were banned. At the time, they were in, "the country." Since then they have been enveloped by the expanding city. In the case of Mt. Hebron, the remians of the 1964 New York City World's Fair makes an especially surprising juxtaposition.

Queens Quest #3

I'll ignore associations evoked by the image below. Photographically, concentration is everything; time pressures often cause loss of mental focus. Also, it's not always easy to fully evaluate a highly detailed image when viewing through the tiny view finder. When I shot this I was cold and had wandered far from my shooting companion. Had my concentration been all I would like, the sphere on the left would not have been clipped. In any case, for me, the pattern of those spheres is essential to the effect of this image. I look forward to trying again on a future visit.

Queens Quest #2

Yesterday, friend Richard Wanderman introduced me to Zion Cemetery in Queens, a remarkable place. We spent the day divided between Zion and Mt. Hebron Cemeteries and shots from Mt. Hebron will follow in the future. However, had I known how much I would like the juxtaposition of the shot below, I would have tried many more. The key to the success is the detail visible in the large structure which hugs Mt. Zion's edge. The slopes of the landscape offer many option, and I'm looking forward to opportunities to improve on first results. In the meantime, this was too surprising to hold back.

Queens Quest #1

Pass through this gate and enter a world apart, a quiet world in the midst of the noise and bustle of New York City. From almost any position in the great belt of cemeteries that stretches through the center of Queens and one will find surprises. Welcome to Zion Cemetery.

Angevine Farm

Angevine sits in an unusually broad, flat area. The buildings suggest it may have been a poultry farm once, but it is now known primarily for pumpkins and Christmas trees. It is not especially photogenic, but when I came down off of Rabbit Hill in the last snow storm it was spectacular. I didn't dare to leave footprints in order to remove the big stick, and as I thought about removing it digitally later, I decided it filled a space that would appear to empty. Comments appreciated.

A Winter Garden

I'm not certain I noticed the window when I took this. For me it makes the image work. Of course, it is the tree which gives it power. I was advised to crop the gray concrete block. Not a chance.

Moonrise 2

As I was shooting the moon (so to speak) the hole in the silo suddenly came serendipitously into view, a new, crisp graphic element. To me it's still a shot about that silo and an excuse to shoot at the dramatic angle.

Moonrise 1

CONFESSION: It took me until adulthood to learn that the night on which moonrise and sunset most closely coincide is also the date of the full moon. Yeah, makes sense when you think about it. I will always be a city boy, I fear.

Tanner Farm

Tanner Farm is very much a working dairy farm. One of the things I love about old farms is the way farm buildings and housing cluster. For me, the American flag waving on the farmhouse makes this work.