Inspiration and a Push

This Wednesday and the Wednesday before that, I took lessons from John Lopinot--professional photographer--and dad of the young woman who makes my one acre look like  million bucks.  The reality of his coming--like a deadline in a college class--made me dig back through the boat-load of photographs I've taken over the last seven years. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Nathan spotted these ducklings near the edge of the lake.  I love the spikes of green, the ripples coming away from them as they move--and the focus of light on the lead duckling.

This was one of my first photos of the barn my sister managed in Minnesota.  If I were a painter, I would have painted a sky like this, the diagonals of grass cut lines with the road, and the red square above the round steel bin.

I was visiting my daughter and her family near D.C. and we went to the Smithsonian.  I caught her as she walked from the window and across the hall through the frame of a modern sculpture.  This is such a good portrait of her--she is an artist herself, utterly unconcerned with fashion trends. When we were planning her wedding, she wanted to wear white overalls . . .

Were I to prep this for a print, I would crop off the left, emptier side where the scissors are.  I like the movement of the burnished kitchen faucet handle, meeting the line of the leaves at a 90 degree angle--leading the eye from the top rose to spiral around under the two red roses--and then back to the center rose, tipped with red from the low lighting and long exposure.

This is technically not a good photograph.  I am shooting from dark to dark, lit behind by bright sunlight.  The details of the cranes' eyes, beaks and feathers are difficult to make out.  I do like the story of the picture, though--male watches over the pregnant female while she rests during the heat of the day.

I know that many people do not like squirrels.  My own husband has a violent dislike for them ever since they tried to eat the wood shingle roof of our Kansas City, MO home.  Unfortunately for him, I quite like them--they are quick and curious and will come close to me if they trust . . . and I have raw peanuts to offer.  For this shot, I laid down on the sidewalk in front of the subject.  It was late afternoon and the shadows in the photograph make it one of my favorites.

For some reason I cannot fathom, this wild marsh rabbit (native to Florida) came to live in our yard one summer and would sit still and watch me as I sat still and photographed him.  I have miniature rabbits in the house as pets--they are sweet, but not the same as this wild gift of tolerance.

Mushrooms pop up all over our yard--it is wet here and the wind blows in some pretty amazing fungi.  This group reminded me of standing in line--everyone crushing forward to find out what they were standing in line to see.