Close to Home 2
April 12, 2020
Since the post of March 29, I have taken many more walks around the grounds where I live. It’s getting a little harder to find something new to photograph. I’ll need to focus on new ways to photograph familiar things. The last two photos—the very last is a close crop of the previous image—were taken out our back window.
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Romancing Reality 
So many beautiful ones I can’t chose my favorite.
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April 12, 2020 at 9:19 PM
Thanks, Lynda. I didn’t notice all the little trees in the raindrops until just before I created the post.
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April 12, 2020 at 9:33 PM
Hi, Linda,
You’re not going to run out of new views, and it’s good to be reminded that that’s true for the rest of us, also.
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April 12, 2020 at 10:08 PM
We might have to look a little harder, but that won’t be all bad. Here’s what a sister blogger in Dorset, England, wrote along those lines: https://natureinfocus.blog/2020/04/11/daily-walk-in-difficult-times-16/.
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April 13, 2020 at 8:19 AM
Nature has so much to offer. But you select such compatible images of the things nature presents by way of lines and organic shapes. It never gets old and you photograph the ordinary in a way that makes it extraordinary.
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April 12, 2020 at 10:15 PM
Thank you, Anonymous. I’ll try to keep it fresh. That’s always a challenge; it’s just a bigger one now.
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April 13, 2020 at 8:21 AM
#6 is mysterious, and that subdued green frieze across the bottom anchors what would otherwise be a monochromatic image. The enlargement showing upside down trees in the irregularly shaped drops transforms the overall view into that of another world that was hiding in plain sight.
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April 13, 2020 at 5:13 AM
I love this tree and have photographed it many times but never before noticed its image repeated in raindrops. Thanks for your comment, Steve.
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April 13, 2020 at 8:30 AM
Love’m all. 🙂
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April 13, 2020 at 7:04 AM
Thanks, Harrie. 😉
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April 13, 2020 at 8:31 AM
My favorite is #6. It shows you don’t have to go too far to find good subjects. But it requires a vision that we need to cultivate. You have obviously done that. Nice work, Linda.
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April 13, 2020 at 11:05 AM
Thank you, Ken. I thought I’d remembered a raindroppy photograph on your blog not too long ago, but I went back all the way to August 26, 2019, and didn’t see one. I sure found a whole lot of stunning photographs, though! Boy, you do good stuff.
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April 13, 2020 at 4:53 PM
Thanks so much, Linda. That means a lot!
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April 13, 2020 at 6:52 PM
Harrie’s comment made me smile. The progression of images from the elegant, deeply colored pussy willows (Oh, the way that blue background fades!) to the black and white rain-spattered window is done so carefully. The spread on that tree in sepia feels wonderful. The triangular tangle of blackberry vines is the kind of detail most people miss but you can be depended on to find and celebrate. My favorites are the first and last – in the last one, what fun to have the tree outside suggested softly in the background and then reflected upside-down in detail, in every raindrop. Black and white is perfect for it. Finding more within the radius you’re restricted to is a great challenge. I am looking forward to seeing what’s next!
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April 13, 2020 at 2:28 PM
The blue background on the pussywillows is a pond. I don’t understand why the shallower part is darker, but then I don’t understand a lot of what light does. I’m glad you noticed the order of the photos. I first ordered them differently, then rethought. You mention the blackberry canes. It’s amazing what I can see when I’m focussed on hunting for photographs and what I do not see when I’m not. I make this same walk around the property with a friend (and without a camera) and never see a thing. Actually, the penultimate image and its crop are in color. That’s what passes for color in northeast Ohio these days. What’s next will be more from the archives, this time from 2004. It will take two weeks to find more photos on the grounds here. I hope we get at least one day of sunshine, but it won’t be this week, according to the forecast. Thanks for your comments, Lynn.
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April 13, 2020 at 5:05 PM
I like “I don’t understand why the shallower part is darker, but then I don’t understand a lot of what light does.” I come up against that all the time. 😉 What passes for color in your area is probably the same as I experienced growing up in Syracuse. I think you’re getting more cold weather now, sorry! It will come, it will! Console yourself with the knowledge that the downside of a warm spring day in the TIme of COVID is that people go nuts and forget to be safe. I’ve seen it.
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April 20, 2020 at 2:58 PM
When I went out with the camera the other day, I looked carefully at Rock Pond. I think the lighter part at the top of my photo is because the sun was reflecting off the water there, and it was shooting down through shallow water to the dark pond bottom at the photo’s bottom edge. There’s still not a lot of color or warmth here now (we woke to 29F degrees), but at least the color is coming, little by little, even during our all-too-common cloudy days. Thanks for the warning about people becoming careless in warm weather. I’ll wear my mask.
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April 22, 2020 at 1:34 PM
Lovely pictures, my friend, particularly 5, 6 and 7. Re looking for new images in your compound, changing light conditions will be a great help, differing weather conditions and times of day for example. And differing focal lengths too. 🙂
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April 14, 2020 at 4:13 AM
Thank you, Adrian. As it stays light longer, and if the weather ever warms up, it might be instructive to go out after dinner. I almost always go out in the morning (but not as early as you do). Thanks for suggesting different times of day. If I had a longer lens 🙂 , I’d be more inclined to use differing focal lengths. Mine only goes out to 85mm, and I really want more. It does go down to 24mm, though, and I might try taking more photographs at that focal length. The other thing I want to do more of is apertures other than ƒ13, which is where I tend to park it. Also, I think it’s time to try some more intentional camera movement. Just talking about these options makes me want to go out right now and try some, even though it’s early afternoon, not my favorite time. Maybe I will.
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April 14, 2020 at 2:24 PM
Yes, definitely apertures other than f13!!! Wide open and close in at 85mm? And get stuck onto 24mm too, again wide open! 🙂
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April 15, 2020 at 3:27 AM
Had a great walk this morning (in sunshine!) using various ƒ stops and zooms. Haven’t downloaded yet. If I did get something good, you’ll see it here.
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April 15, 2020 at 12:04 PM
Those little trees in the drops are amazing!!! I also love the lighting on the first image with the blue gradient background.
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April 16, 2020 at 10:20 AM
Lots of people, including me, have photographed dew on plants or spider webs and seen the world beyond in the dew drops, but we (or I) have taken those photos precisely because we saw the effect. In this case, I was totally surprised. As for the lighting in the first photo, I wish I could place more of my subjects in front of that pond with the sun shining just that way. Thanks for your comments, Mark.
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April 16, 2020 at 11:31 AM
And what a great surprise!
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April 16, 2020 at 11:42 AM