What catches the inner eye
Posted: July 13, 2012 Filed under: 365 Yoga Challenge, Air, Critters, Earth, Fire, home, nature, Photography, pond, Spirit, Summer, Walking, wandering, water, weather | Tags: chipmunk, creative process, flowers, MaidinSun Photography, Meadow, nature, Outdoors, Photography, pond, pony, rain, Summer, water, weather, wildflowers, Yoga Journal 32 Comments
After the rain
We finally got some rain yesterday evening. It was one of those hit-or-miss pop-up showers, and we were lucky enough to be hit. It came down pretty hard for about twenty minutes. I could almost hear the earth sigh with relief. Once the rain moved on, fog developed over the pond and ground. You can see a little of that fogginess in the photo above. My camera didn’t quite capture it (almost) so I used a toned down Orton Effect to enhance it and better reflect what I saw.
Beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful rain!
It wasn’t as much rain as we need, and the ground still looks dry, but it’s better than nothing at all. I am grateful for what we received.
I had a lovely walk around the pond and into the woods this morning. There was a nice breeze blowing which helped to deter some of the deer flies, and it wasn’t nearly as humid as I thought it would be.
The August edition of Yoga Journal, which focuses on meditation, has a short article about walking meditation, and listening while you walk. The idea is to focus on the sounds you hear, really open up your ears and mind to those sounds. This quiets the mind so that you eventually feel as though you are absorbing the sounds. I gave it a try this morning, and found it to be an interesting experience, one I’d like to practice regularly. I’m not going to attempt to explain it too thoroughly as it’s one of those experiences that really can’t be put into words. You have to try it for yourself. Take a walk and listen. Really listen. That’s all there is to it.
Two drops
Looking at some of the images I took yesterday evening and this morning, I got to thinking about why I am drawn to take any given photograph. What is it about that particular frame or scene that caught my attention?
In the first photo, it was the foggy steaminess, and the green glow of the plants after the rain. The pond shot is just a pond shot, to show the rain. Record keeping of sorts. The raindrops on the leaves is similar. A way to demonstrate rain. The Queen Anne’s Lace just above, though, is all about the background. I realized that’s the case for a lot of the photos I take. The light and shadow, and the blur of colors is what captures my inner vision, not the flower I focused on (although that’s nice too, especially with the raindrops).
The neighbor’s pony
The neighbor’s pony captured my attention just by being somewhere I could see her, plus the way the light was glowing in her mane and tail. It helped that she neighed a hello, reminding me that she’s there. With the trees and bushes all leafed out, it’s difficult to see the corral or the pony unless I’m intentionally looking.
Chipmunk in the woods, looking for attention.
I think that’s why I don’t like my vacation photos very much. It’s more about record keeping than creativity. Not all the time, but a goodly amount of the time. Add to that a need to rush, to try to see it all, and it’s not a very creative combination. M is patient with all my stops along the way when we hike and bike, but there are times when his patience wears thin, such as when it’s 48 degrees, raining with strong, gusty winds while we’re walking on a floating boardwalk on Prince Edward Island and the only shelter is made up of the rain ponchos we’re wearing. I don’t feel the cold, but he does.
The creek in the woods
Anyhow. This morning’s walk was a good one. I got most of my 5 miles in, finishing up this afternoon. I was going to hop on the bike for a little while, but I have a bounty of vegetables to deal with this evening. I took a trip to the farmers market, and we got our first box from the CSA this week. We are flush with good-for-you, locally grown foods.
Today’s dragonfly
That’s about it from the Bogs for now. We have nothing planned for the weekend which I happen to think is pretty grand. How about you? Any big plans? Or small plans? Or anything in between?
Thanks for dropping by. Whatever your plans, I hope you have a great weekend!
(More photos from today’s walk can be found here.)
Life in the Bogs 
Great walk. I love the dragonfly! 🙂
Thank you, Ted. 🙂
I like every one of them!
Thank you, Sandy. 🙂
A very pretty walk today.
A lot of my photos during the past year have been about shadow and reflection and colors and not so much the main subject, too. The “artsy” side of photography.
The juror at my art show asked me what I was trying to say with my photo … I just told her I prefer it speak for itself … there was no hidden message. I just try to record what I am lucky enough to see in nature every day (sometimes from a slightly strange perspective) and share it with people who never get to see it. … just like your posts title … it is what catches my inner eye … my minds eye.
Thank you, Bearyweather. 🙂
I love your answer regarding what you were trying to say with your photo. I sometimes think I’m not cut out to be an artist because I can’t come up with answers to questions like that, or “artsy” descriptions of my photos. I looked around at redbubble when I was first setting things up there, and I am amazed at the tomes some people write up about a very simple image. It’s impressive. I wonder if that’s part of the art, being able to ramble on and on about the meaning of an image. I’ve tried making stuff up, but it doesn’t work for me. I prefer to be honest and just state what the image is, and let it speak for itself. Or let the viewer make up their own tome about what the image means to them (which seems much more meaningful to me).
Robin, I had to comment on this and say that just because you can’t (or prefer not to) describe your photos in “artsy” terms doesn’t mean you are not an artist! Many artists are loathe to fall into the “talk trap”, especially because some artists use complicated symbolic language to compensate for a lack of technical/artistic skills! Personally, I believe that art ‘speaks’ to people on a deep, visceral level and does not need to be spoken about in actual words. People are either drawn to the work or they are not. We shouldn’t have to be convinced of artistic merit with words!
Thank you, Dana! I agree, especially with your last sentence. Anything (including but not limited to art) that requires convincing, usually isn’t genuine.
So true! That’s why I love my job so much. I don’t actually “sell” the artwork– it literally sells itself. There is no sense trying to force or pry somebody into buying artwork if it doesn’t speak to them, and if it *does* speak to them… well, they usually buy it on their own accord. 😉
Love your morning reflections robin, the rain photo are marvelous, and if I listen I can hear that drumming rain 🙂
Thank you, Christine. 🙂
All the photos are wonderful….but ahhh….the creek in the woods…stunning….I had to catch my breath after looking at the stillness, color, reflection and depth of that beauty. (and in the flicker photos too)
Thank you, Kathy (PP). The creek is very beautiful in the summertime, but it’s something I don’t see as often as I like since the insects guard the way into the woods.
Sweet, sweet rain…hope we get some next. The pond is down a good 2 feet.
I miss my early morning walks with the camera. Sharing yours is almost as good!
Thank you, Marie. 🙂
Our pond is the lowest I’ve ever seen it. 2 feet sounds about right. We did a draw-down over the winter in hopes of raising the levels in the spring and summer to kill off the weeds, but we haven’t had enough rain (or snow melt in the spring) to bring it up to normal levels, much less the high level we needed.
Lovely photos, Robin, I hope we get your rain. I know what you mean about the difference between travel photos and those you take on your pond rambles. I feel that way about photographing my garden – it speaks to me and I try to pay attention in a different way. That said, some of my best travel photos are when I go out by myself, unencumbered by anything other than the camera in my hands, spend hours walking around and allow my camera to record what catches my attention – it is rarely the obvious tourist sight, but more about little details. I loved your thermometer shot – it had some of that same feel as your pond shots. And today’s pony shot – it glowed! Lovely 🙂
Thank you, Lynn. 🙂
Your garden photos are gorgeous, and reflect your love of it. I don’t often get to go off on my own when vacationing, unless I tag along when M is attending a conference of some kind (as I’ve done in San Diego and Chicago). You’re right about that. It does make a difference in the quality of photos when I have the freedom to meander wherever and whenever.
Love the photo of the rain on the pond. We’ve finally gotten some here, as well, thank God. We’ve desperately needed it! Hope you’ve having a wonderful weekend, Robin!
Hugs,
Kathy
Thank you, Kathy. 🙂
I was hoping we’d see more rain today, but no luck so far. Just heat and humidity. Pffft.
Robin, I have a photo which I will be including in my next blog post, (next week) because it amused me…it’s too hard to explain here, so I hope you’ll have time to see it when it’s added. The point of focus ended up being the blurred background! You’ll see what I mean when you see the photo.
The blurring is a wonderful aspect of photography, and one that I’m still working on (obviously!) I do admire the arty photos you take and add here, but the journal accounts, such as your holiday photos, are great also. I get to see places that I have only to date been dreaming about! 🙂
Thank you so much, Joanne. I look forward to seeing what you’ve done with depth of field (that blurring in the background). 🙂
Enjoyed this walk with you, Robin. Like you, have been listening to sounds a lot lately. And really feeling like the sounds–the birds, the chainsaw–are really all one, rising and falling. It’s good. Glad you got some rain. P.S. Loved the pony shot especially. the light was lovely!
Thank you, Kathy. Aren’t sounds marvelous? 🙂
Gorgeous colours Robin and that first photo is something else. Beautiful.
Thank you, David. 🙂
Love the dragonfly – and love using hearing to bring on wordlessness during walking meditation. It’s lovely to do, isn’t it?
Very lovely. Thanks, Carla. 🙂
Interesting thoughts on your photos again, Robin. I never really thought about vacation photos in terms of just record-taking (vs. engaging in creative moments). Marty is our resident photographer when we travel for the most part, and I think a lot of the hiking shots end up falling in the ‘meh’ category. (You can’t really capture a breathtaking mountaintop vista on a point and shoot!) The inner-city photos when we travel, though, still end up saturated with creativity. I notice the same thing about your Cleveland photos from a while back– the architecture seems to hold up well as both a record and a creative composition. 🙂
Thanks, Dana. 🙂
Well, you CAN capture a breathtaking mountaintop vista with a point and shoot (that’s what I use), but even with a good camera, it really doesn’t capture it. I think there are some things that just don’t translate well into a photograph. A good photograph comes close at times, but there is nothing like being there (especially when it comes to breathtaking mountain vistas!). I suspect that’s what a lot of post-processing is all about — bringing the photographer’s vision to the photograph.
Yes, for some reason, the macro shots always seem to turn out more captivating than the scenic panoramas. Maybe it’s because I “see” more of a flower or leaf when I look at it via a super-crisp photo but notice way more with my own eyes in a scenic panorama than a camera can possibly capture.
I know exactly what you mean about record photographing, my holiday photos are to help my memory to keep hold of the holiday so when I look at them they make me smile. But I smile just as much at a picture of some daisies I carefully frame in the back garden. 🙂
I have to remember it’s Hubby’s holiday too and not use up all of his patience with my camera. Although he likes to look through the photos too, sometimes he dispairs at some of the ones I’ve taken. 🙂
Oh gosh, I know just what you mean, Sallyann! My poor husband must tire of all the stops I make to capture a scene or a moment. I do the same — try not to use up all his patience. Sometimes I think the man is a saint. lol!