From the Archives of 2004
April 19, 2020
1 In July 2004 I took a two-week embroidery workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from the renowned Renie Breskin Adams. If the word embroidery conjures stuffiness for you, be sure to click on Renie’s name. On the weekend between the two weeks of workshop, I wandered around with my brand-new DSLR, a Nikon D80.
2 I took this photograph in the women’s restroom of a restaurant somewhere.
3 This still-life arrangement was in a display window of an interior design firm in downtown Sarasota, Florida.
4 My friend Britt and I were driving home from downtown Cleveland again when we came across a collection of burned-up cars that we thought were the remains of a used-car dealership.
5
6
7 Haystack is on Deer Isle, Maine. The ocean there is nothing like the Gulf of Mexico at Sarasota, a sea location I’m more familiar with.
8 There is a lot more visible life on the Deer Isle coasts.
9 The seaweed is different . . .
10 . . . and so are the rocks.
11 Maine rocks are unlike the rocks (like this one, covered in silt) along Ohio’s Vermilion River, too.
12 I have made many photographs of the Back Pond at Schoepfle Garden, most of reflections.
13 The Vermilion River’s bedrock is shale.
14 Vermilion River shale includes iron, mostly microscopic. Benign iron bacteria love it.
15 The iridescent iron bacterium Leptothrix discophora sometimes coats the precipitate of other iron bacteria.
16 Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) are edible. It was very tempting, but I didn’t pick this one in Schoepfle Garden.
17 People in Oberlin are used to seeing white squirrels on the town square, but we don’t often see a white one and a grey one arranged (with contrasting backgrounds, even) on the same tree.
Romancing Reality 
I love them all, but then there’s the mushroom.
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April 19, 2020 at 10:11 PM
Thanks, Michael. That mushroom was quite a specimen. That it was on a tree branch at eye level was a gift.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:06 PM
2004 seems like ancient times now. It’s clear your fascination with oxidation is nothing new. Two years ago in Maine I was fascinated by the same kinds of rock patterns and seaweed as you.
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April 19, 2020 at 10:40 PM
As I recall photographs I took in the ‘70s, the subjects that interest me have not changed that much. I think my first roll of film in an adjustable camera (a Zeiss Ikon Rangefinder) included photographs of the hoses in my yard. I’m still fascinated by hoses. I don’t remember when I became interested in iron oxide of all kinds, including that produced by my favorite bacterium, Leptothrix discophora. Would love another look at Maine’s rocks and seaweed. Glad you unwittingly stood in for me two years ago.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:09 PM
I guess that makes me a vicar. I’d like another crack at the Maine coast, too.
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April 22, 2020 at 2:08 PM
I see at Wikipedia that a vicar is “a representative, deputy or substitute.” I didn’t know it meant that!
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April 22, 2020 at 2:20 PM
English got vicar from Old French vicaire, which developed from the same Latin vicarius that English has borrowed as vicarious. If you know Spanish, I can point out another interesting connection.
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April 22, 2020 at 2:29 PM
Cool! I’m sorry to say that I don’t know Spanish, only a little French and a little German. And English.
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April 22, 2020 at 4:10 PM
Fine set, Linda!
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April 20, 2020 at 4:32 AM
Thanks as always, Harrie.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:09 PM
Thank you for taking me to the coast of Maine. I love it there and was hoping to get there this summer. We’ll see……
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April 20, 2020 at 7:22 AM
I’ll hold out hope that you get to Maine this summer, Lynda. Until then, I know you will keep shooting in Florida.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:10 PM
Thanks for the pictures from Haystack. It brought back a lot of good memories. I loved every minute of my time in nature at Haystack. It was so nice to be reminded of my time there and that place.
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April 20, 2020 at 8:44 AM
You’re welcome, Clare. Isn’t Haystack wonderful. Would love to go back. Glad I could kindle your memories.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:10 PM
Linda, I loved seeing Renie’s work. I was not familiar with her. Great whimsical embroidery—so intimate.
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April 20, 2020 at 8:49 AM
Not only is Renie’s work enchanting (and often funny), but she is a wonderful teacher. Glad I was able to introduce you to her.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:11 PM
Such a great set of images I can’t pick a favorite. My first DSLR was a D80 and I still have it. It’s sitting on my bookcase as I write. I don’t use it much these days but I’m giving some thought to having it converted to IR. Stay tuned.
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April 20, 2020 at 2:00 PM
Thank you, Ken. I think I started seeing the physical world differently when I got the D80. Maybe it was just that I felt the need to justify having it, or maybe it was the flexibility of the camera that allowed more experimentation. I will stay tuned for your IR photos.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:11 PM
I really laughed at the transition between the Sarasota bouquet and the wrecked car. I like the detail from Deer Isle; it’s interesting. Then to continue in that vein is very rewarding – #8 is gorgeous and the seaweed in #9 looks a lot like what we have on the rocks here, except ours isn’t as slender. #11 is a knock-out – the rock covered in silt with that one, slightly twisted leaf. Oh, I love it. I like looking into the water in #13 – there’s something a tiny bit transgressive, or secret about it. Again a sculptural, graceful leaf in #15. Beautiful on the iron bacteria. In that photo, the water looks positively thick, like pudding! The oyster mushroom shot is beautifully done. The squirrels makes a nice coda. Did we talk about white squirrels already? The town my parents retired to in western NC is full of them. Another enjoyable run through the archives, Linda. 🙂
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April 20, 2020 at 3:09 PM
Well, yes, that transition was a bit abrupt. But they both had orange color . . . Photo #s 1 through 6 are the built environment, the rest are nature. Deer Isle is so photogenic. It would have been great to stay longer. Number 8 is one of my all-time favorites. I’ve made prints of it and #s 11 and 13. It’s interesting that you find #13 transgressive. I always think that photographing a dry riverbed is transgressive: you aren’t supposed to see the riverbed dry; it’s supposed to have water over it. Maybe your seeing #13 as transgressive is similar: you can see the bottom so clearly. I think the leaves in #11 and #15 are from the same kind of tree, but I couldn’t tell you what tree that is. As I told Michael, I was really lucky that the mushroom was at eye level and that I could get so close to it. In 2004, though, I might have been able to lie on my belly if the shroom were closer to the ground. Well, this way I didn’t have to get muddy. We’re still a bit surprised by our white squirrels in Oberlin, though I think they are increasing in number. Thanks for your thoughts, Lynn.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:13 PM
Oh I like the archive – esp 2 and 12 – you should post more from the archive. 🙂
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April 21, 2020 at 3:07 AM
Thanks, Adrian. You will see more from the archives. Next up, after more recent photographs taken close to home, will be archived photos from 2005.
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April 22, 2020 at 12:14 PM
That’s a lovely throwback, Linda. Wow, 2004 – that’s long ago. 🙂
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May 9, 2020 at 7:58 AM
Thank you, Dina. Yes, in these times when things that happened six months ago seem like ancient history, 2004 is indeed a long time ago.
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May 9, 2020 at 11:54 AM