These are the last of my black and white images from fall and winter, 2020. In what has been an extraordinary year in so many ways, I’ll look back at this time and will be grateful for my love of nature and photography. Being separated from so many people I love and from so many activities I enjoy, being able to take hikes out in nature with my camera helped to keep me from some emotionally dark places. I feel no shame in saying that no one could possibly appreciate and enjoy my images more than me. I shoot what I like and I know what I like. Learning how to work these images is an ongoing process. There is an art to this process and learning it is worth every minute of effort, because getting this right opens the door to a tremendous amount of creativity.
If I had a better vocabulary for describing artistic expression, I might be able to better explain what it is about black and white images that make them so compelling. Unfortunately, in this regard, I spent 14 years in college immersed in anthropological vocabulary. Thus, I can readily describe avunculocal residence patterns, swidden horticulture, matrilineal kinship and the berdache. Art? Not so much. Could color be distracting?
The end of fall and the beginning of winter in central Ohio can look like the same season. In some winters we don’t get very much snow and the seasons look the same until spring. Plants go to seed and leaves either shrivel up and fall onto the ground or they hang on for dear life and perform some amazing feats of withering. The shapes and textures are interesting to capture. As in a portrait, I try to focus in on a single subject and search for a way to separate it from an interesting background.
A reminder, per Nancy's concern, please look for the arrows on the sides of the photographs. By clicking on them, you will be able to see a slide show of images. Nancy and I thank you.
Grasses also lose their color in the late fall and winter. The tangled and twisted shapes are wonderful fodder for finding abstracts.
The one time I saw my Cleveland grandchildren during the covid was on a trip they made to Columbus. We met on the playground near the dam at Alum Creek. It was beyond wonderful to be able to spend some time with them. I was amazed at how much they had grown and saddened by the amount of time of our separation. While I was waiting for them, I walked down to the water and was immediately immersed in the abstracts. These were black and white images before I converted them to black and white images.
Two of the great atmospheric joys that attend fall and early winter in central Ohio are fog and heavy morning dew. Ask any nature photographer, they will tell you that shooting in fog can be both a thrill and a challenge. There are times when my yard offers some great and convenient options for capturing nature in these conditions. Everything in my yard is covered in spider webs. You might think that it would be impossible for a single insect of any size to make its way into my home as it is encased in these webs. To Pauline’s great unhappiness, this was not so. And while Pauline suffered from a not very well understood neurological and immunological condition, she required that I spray the entire outside of our home in neurotoxins.
There are just some days that are best suited for black and white capture. This was a cloudy day in early winter at Highbanks. There is a meadow at the bottom of the park just before you reach the Olentangy River. The metro parks cut the fields down every few years to preserve the meadows. If they didn’t do this cutting, the seedlings would expand the woodlands into these fields in a relatively short time.
This past year has offered lots of time for reflection if one is open to that kind of thing. I was raised by a father who was viscerally impacted by injustice. He was for the underdog. I inherited this quality from my father and all the emotional issues that go with this sense of advocacy. Our social and political environment over the past years has set off my emotional booster rockets. It has been draining for our country. It has been draining for me. I need to back away for my own peace of mind. Pauline accomplished this by turning off the news. I’m trying to emulate her resolve. I only need to see some black kid shot in the back once to feel horrible and in great need to fix all our nation’s problems. Watching the same video 47 times over a three-day period only makes me mentally ill. Pauline was a voracious reader. I’m going to try that … mostly fiction. La la la la la.
Will I soon not be shooting in the covid?
Please get vaccinated. Please continue to social distance. Please wear a mask. Our cases in Ohio are going up. We’re back into the danger zone in my county. You might not value your life. That is your right. Please self actualize your need for unfettered liberty until the cows come home. I’m asking you to please not kill your grandma and grandpa. Thank you.
My blogs are going to become more about my photography and about life and much less about social and political advocacy. I am going to leave it up to all of us in America to do the right thing. We are ultimately going to get precisely what we deserve. Please be kind to each other.
Over and out.
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