What I know...

 ...from Mary Oliver's Poem

What Is There Beyond Knowing

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!
While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable. How wonderful it is 
to follow a thought quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,
in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out. Life so far doesn't have any other name

but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.

I simply go on drifting, in the heaven of grass

     and weeds.

Some Infrared Photography

 Of all the paths you take in life,

make sure some of them are dirt...

John Muir

I love all sorts of photography. Some people can play instruments, some people can sing. Others can draw or paint.

I enjoy the power of the camera's creativity. I started exploring Infrared years ago when I got a filter and stuck it on my camera.

At that time I had no idea what I was doing. The filter made everything so dark and off color. The 720nm filter I purchased created super long exposures with a black and pinkish tint to everything. I soon learned that the way to go Infrared was to have a camera modified.

I found a place where they sold a used pocket camera that was modified. I figured it wouldn't be overly expensive and I could try it out.

For the first several weeks that I had the camera, I carried it everywhere turning it on just to look at the back screen and enjoy the view of seeing everything in a different light spectrum. I didn't understand how it worked really, but it was fascinating to see green turn to white in the camera. Or greens turn blue and skies turn orange.

The Infrared works best on very sunny days with foliage. These are the times when a regular camera in our visible light spectrum doesn't work as well. Suddenly I found myself taking the pocket IR camera everywhere and trying it out on everything I could find.

I admit, shooting in a different light spectrum can be very challenging. The photos come out with a strange color to them. The photographer can choose to edit the photo or leave the strange colors in. No matter what, the photos become an experiment in magical, mystical, and artistic formats.

My first Canon ELPH shots were of everything and anything around the farm.

The grass looked like snow, the sky had some incredible depth to it. 

I read that IR photography was popular only in the spring and summer. Yet I found that I could have fun with it in the winter.
What was a boring mid afternoon photo turned into something a bit different.

Eventually I took my old Olympus camera and had it converted to 'Full Spectrum'. That meant I could use different filters for Infrared on the lens.

The most amazing thing about infrared and its different light spectrums is that sky details are more intense. The shot above was taken in the winter. The trees and some of the dead plants had a tint to them. The spectrum of light picked up clouds I could not see with the naked eye.

Last year, I sort of left my IR camera at home and didn't pick it up very much. I was really focusing on toy photography and macro photography. Besides, with our drought, everything was so dull and uninteresting.

Then this past week, the weather proved remarkable. 

Another foggy morning with sunbeams shining through the light fog. 

A storm approaching...

This was when we had a severe storm warning, with possible gusty winds and hail coming in with the front.

The last shot was done inside on a rainy day. I took a photo of a red geranium. I lit up the geranium with an Infrared Flashlight and got this beautiful ghostly blue tinted flower portrait.

Infrared Photography to me is an outlet for creative art. 
Watch out...I'm finding my groove again in IR.

Chill out

 

Charlie and I took a very different walk yesterday. We went to the ridge and decided to hike the cropland hayfields. This way we avoided slogging through mud. We could have walked along the gravel road but one neighbor choses not to watch their dog.

This dog has attacked but has not yet hurt Charlie and I just don't want to risk it. The last time this dog attempted to get at Charlie, I held him and sprayed her with Pepper spray. She got a snootful and wouldn't leave us alone....
Anyway...

We walked this high ridge and kept to the fields. It was much more interesting for Charlie because of all the critter tracks. So many good smells for a dog.

I left my camera at home and just walked with my cell phone, and was a bit sorry that I did not bring my camera with a long lens. We reached the road across the ridge and stopped to admire the fields for a bit. I heard a chirp that I haven't heard all winter.

And there they were! Bluebirds! [sorry the picture isn't very good!]

We headed back along the fields and came to a patch of trees in the middle of this cropland. It is in a slight dip where water runs. I got to the deer trail and walked in among the trees. I looked back and Charlie was sitting just outside of the trees. He refused to follow me.

More than likely it would have been the fresh scent of a coyote that lingered on the trail that deterred him.

So we detoured and walked up one of the waterways and decided to just sit down and enjoy the warm afternoon sun.

From here we could see the intersection [if you want to call it that] to our dead end road and the other gravel road that crossed the ridge. 

When we got home the two of us sat on the porch bench and listened to the world around us. 

The antique wash table got the addition of some real flowers to mix in with the Lego Wildflower Bouquet.

I'm enjoying the bright colors!

Woke last night...

to the sound of thunder...
how far off,
I sat and wondered...
Started humming a song from
1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves... [Bob Seger]

I love the night sky too much to be afraid of darkness...

[Let me qualify that by saying that I live in a very rural area so any life I'd run into at night would be wildlife and not humans]

I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk across the ridge top and through the corn fields before the corn got too tall.

I brought a tripod and thought it would be fun to try some Milky Way shots. I am always experimenting and learning. I may even improve a little as I keep going!

Lightening Bugs and stars 

Walking on the road

Headed across the open fields

An attempt at a panorama shot that didn't quite work. Two shots.

I ended up a mile from home on a ridge and I wanted to try another shot where it was sort of a selfie shot with my head lamp shining into the Milky Way. 

The swirls in my light are moths

 that came to dance for me. 

I spent about two hours on the ridge walking and admiring the skies.

My night moves included watching a 'possum watch me. Deer eyes glowing in the woods and further off in the field. Unseen creatures moving about in the underbrush.
No coyote noises. 
No sounds of traffic.

I thought I'd try something different on my way home. My photos of fireflies were sort of bleh and dark so I thought I'd try some 'light' painting with my headlamp.

What felt so amazing is that I'm sure the fireflies danced just for me. I could have stayed all night.

Nothing is more amazing than a clear night sky full of stars and the Milky Way.

Exploring ICM and IR

I couldn't decide on which colors I liked

best for this shot. Nothing spectacular but

as least you can see that 

there are some neat choices.

These shots were with my Infrared Full Spectrum camera. And the colors I picked with this filter allowed me to have fun. I love watching the sun and fog mix here. It takes a bit longer for the sun to appear over the trees since we are in a 'hollow'.

Next photo. I was having a rather boring afternoon and really felt the need to 'create' something. I took my tiny dried lavender out and Bang! An idea came to mind.

I put my tiny bears to work sorting and putting dried lavender that I'd sprayed with fixative into a tiny vial I had found in a thrift shop.

They were very cooperative.

Later on I watched a video by Olympus UK regarding something kind of bizarre and interesting. It is called ICM. Intentional Camera Movement. 

You know me, I had to try it.

My goal was to create visually pleasing images and in this case not necessarily realism in the way that traditional straight photography is done. More abstracts of color and motion.

Done with an Infrared Camera at dawn...

I tried this next with my little pocket camera.

And wow...I really like it.

Memories of self

I put was able to get the pocket camera to have a 30th of a second shot with a short delay. I pressed the button and dangled it by its strap for the above photo.

Now...

back to my regularily scheduled program...

Strange times

So no yard mowing today due to heavy particles of smoke in the air. That put the kabash on the Big Plan for the day. 

I guess if the grass really got out of hand, I'd do what I did in 2008 and again in 2016. Put a hot wire around parts of the yard and let my critters do the mowing.

Instead I picked berries this morning then closed up the house for the A/C to hopefully keep hubby feeling healthier.

Cell phone shots of the berries. 

The top photo is from the top of the ridge and the unripe ones are midway down into the valley. There are micro climates in our woods and I am beginning to understand that certain areas will produce berries in different stages.

Since I couldn't mow due to how wet it was and how bad the air was, I collected some flowers to try 'pressing' and drying. I dyed some Queen Anne's Lace with food coloring and some Fleabane.

Here is my sample of flowers I am pressing between two boards:

There is also Chicory, wild Vervain, Cosmos, Bee Balm, and Marigold. This method is supposed to take about a week or more.
I have to change the paper every few days to draw the moisture out. I used some rocks from my garden as weight for the top board.

Now I have some ideas of trying to put some of the flowers on handmade greeting cards so I will watch some videos of that. Another option is to place the pressed flowers into a picture frame and use it as a decoration?

It all started because I wanted some Queen Anne's Lace to use for some Still Life photos and perhaps dry some for a bouquet in the winter. 

What strange times we live in, when the midday sun is but an orange orb in the sky.

I almost feel like I am living in a science fiction novel.

A secondary smoke plume will then be
transported southward across the state Saturday afternoon into early
Sunday morning. Elevated fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
concentrations are anticipated to result in air quality index (AQI)
values in the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS level over this period.
Sensitive groups include children, elderly people, individuals with
respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous
outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time.

So... I was out doing garden work and dead heading the petunias when something very odd happened. I noticed I had a splotch of brown paint or maybe bug goo on my glasses. It was in sharp focus and moved when I stood up. Totally freaky! 
So I grabbed my glassed off and it was still there.
I brushed my face because, just well, because.
It moved and then swirled. I dropped my crap right then and there and headed to the house. 
Visit to Urgent Care sent me to the ED. After some testing I was given the diagnosis.
Vitreous Hemmorrhage. 
Vitreous is the clear gel in the center of your eye. Mine had blood in it. 
I will see an Ophthalmologist on Monday.
No bending. No lifting. No straining. No exercise. Damn, they should have included NO cooking too.
I get to sleep sitting up.  
I am not in pain but apparently this needs to be figured out and I don't need more blood seeping around in my eye. It sort of looked like this, but brown:

I still see stuff floating about and coming into my visual field. Hmmm. Mmmm.
Strange Times indeed.
Have a great weekend. 

It is IR Season

So many photographers that experiment with Infrared Photography literally put their cameras away once late fall arrives. 

One of the reasons I've become fascinated with it, is because it is sometimes very difficult. Many times the shots turn out like crap.

I do try to find shots I can take in the winter when there is no foliage to reflect the classic white leaves and grass. But IR is so much more than that.

There are certain elements that really make IR pop and other elements that simply make IR nothing but a HUGE dud.
Here is a winter shot of Weister Creek in infrared with the elements that work in my opinion.

Water
Sky
Clouds [oops, no clouds! Just bright skies!]

Sunlight

Water

Ice

Reflections

Green Pines

I tried this very same shot with my regular camera and it didn't impress me at all.

Shot with a Canon ELPH 180

Other winter photos can be found here: In all things of nature

Now I have to laugh because the standard rule for interesting IR photography is those things I mentioned. Water, sky, clouds, leaves. None of those were in that winter walk. It was overcast, cold, with a gunmetal sky at times. I used my pocket camera that I stuffed inside my winter coat to keep it from freezing. 

I read an article by PetaPixel I think in which the photographer they interviewed said that 90 percent of his photos were tossed when he used IR. He didn't shoot unless it was summer, he didn't shoot unless he had sun, clouds, water, and sometimes a building. He went for reflections in the water too.

Let's note here that this fella was a pro. He sold his photos. 

Me? I'm not a pro and don't want to be. I just want to experiment and explore.

A shot from my adventure last week...shot from the Beaver Dam.

Original File below:

When the clouds moved in  and I tried other shots, they just ended up being total duds.

I just reviewed them and tossed them. Nothing here folks! 

Here is one I would have tossed, but I just had to mess with it a bit.

It was the sky that fascinated me. Without the IR filter, the clouds were nearly invisible. The nice thing about IR is that no one expects certain things to be a certain color.

Just some fun here while I was checking fences. Fence line above the creek in the Wooded Pasture. Yep, I did a channel swap and played a bit. Pink leaves and Turquoise sky? 

Then there are those moments in which elements present themselves and you just have to go for it.

I'll keep experimenting because that is so much fun. 

Time to get back to work. I hear the critters calling my name. 

Black and White

I was challenged by a fellow photography friend to post a week's worth of black and white photos on Facebook. I do like black and white and that is partially why I decided to jump into Infrared Photography.
If the colors don't always trip your trigger, you can always convert it to a stunning black and white photo. Well, that is, if you have a decent photo to begin with.

I hiked earlier this week and took only my converted camera. I used an 850nm filter on it which will only produce IR photos in black and white. In the summer, leaves would appear pure white as would the grass. The clouds would stand out much better in a blue sky that appears black.

Well, here are some of those results with snow!

The bark of the trees are reflecting in a lighter color than a standard black and white shot. The old leaves of the oak tree are reflecting as white! The original photo in camera and when I bring it up at first is really a shocker. It is dull and listless.
So editing with a heavy hand is a must.

Here is a sample of this shot as it came off the camera:

Pretty dismal looking right?

With infrared photography, there is always editing involved.

I find that the infrared in the winter is not always a bonus, but that doesn't keep me from experimenting anyway.

I did use my little pocket IR camera to take this shot of pine trees. This was with a 665nm filter. Here is what it looks like straight out of the camera.

Kind of cool. The pines are a bluish white and the clouds show up pretty well.

Channel Swap:

The colors are pretty wild. Sky is a bluish color and some of the green pines are pinkish.
I could brighten it up some, but thought I'd see what it looked like in black and white.

I liked it!

And then I decided to blend it with a layer of Topaz Glow which sort of emulates a brush stroke.

Well, this final version tickled me. Just enough pizzazz to make it something I'd put on my walls. Not perfectly realistic, but in an artsy sort of sense, dreamy...

I've always thought that winter was perfect for black and white because the colors are so often muted and dismal looking.


I think I should work on some Still Life next....

Oh and the Fairy house?
It is coming along!

Still ugly, but...

It has potential!