Back in Ohio
January 15, 2023
My neighborhood has seen a few sunny days, a few snowy days, and a few rainy–foggy days days since I have been home. They all beat blah overcast days, which is what we’ve been seeing the most of. Here are some photos taken on the good days.
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Romancing Reality 
Beautiful photographs.
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January 15, 2023 at 1:33 AM
Thank you, Jessica.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:23 PM
Ah yes, the look of winter on the land. The bottom half of the first photograph could stand on its own as an abstract, patterned way to fill the frame. All that peeling bark in the last picture also fills the frame well, as do the brown leaves (and some pebbles) in # 11. In #9 the most prominent plant reminds me of a crab.
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January 15, 2023 at 6:39 AM
You, too, eh? I thought those leaves looked crab-like, also. Thanks for your observations and comments, Steve.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:28 PM
Pure poetry! And painting and composition and….
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January 15, 2023 at 7:55 AM
Friedrich, thank you.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:29 PM
I agree with your assessment of our days. And you did a nice job of capturing our subtle winter beauty.
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January 15, 2023 at 7:55 AM
Thanks, Leslie. It’s hard not to notice that most of our days are gloomy—at least on the outside.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:31 PM
I particularly like the pale grasses against the blue…water? Sky?
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January 15, 2023 at 7:58 AM
Both! The grass is in front of one of our ponds, and, this being one of those rare sunny days, the pond was reflecting the blue sky.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:33 PM
Beautiful. I am especially touched by the pictures of bark and leaves decomposing. The light you captured.
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January 15, 2023 at 9:42 AM
Thank you, Caroline. Decomposing hosta leaves are one of my favorite subjects. I’d never before photographed them is a misty rain, though. The bark also benefitted from the rain, which made the colors more vibrant.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:35 PM
You’ve made good use of the variety of weather conditions, Linda. These shots are all excellent and it’s hard to pick favorites. Although I particularly like #5 and #8. I will say that I do have a fondness for overcast days since we have so many of them and I learned to appreciate the soft, even light.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:05 PM
Thank you, Ken. The photos you particularly like were taken with my iPhone 6. I did process them in Lightroom, but I am always amazed at the quality that little phone camera can achieve even before I put them through Lightroom. I shot #8 (and all the snow pictures) through windows. I told Lynn (bluebrightly) a while ago that I would try to make peace with overcast days, so the prod is mounting. Maybe it’s just that I don’t like to go anywhere when it’s gloomy, camera around my neck or not. I should remember that having the camera around my neck always improves my mood.
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January 15, 2023 at 12:51 PM
The magical birch bark is my favorite, Linda. :-))
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January 15, 2023 at 12:21 PM
Thanks, Marjorie. You’re welcome to come and see it anytime. It’s right outside our front door. That tree is not so magical (though I guess that depends on your idea of magic) in the fall, when it dumps all its leaves in front of the door, where they get tracked in the house. Spoken like a housewife, eh?
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January 15, 2023 at 12:54 PM
I know, I know! I Loved the five birch clumps (and evergreen shrubs) that surrounded a patio in front of my house on Eberwhite in Ann Arbor–but not the mess they made!
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January 15, 2023 at 1:04 PM
O, and I love the birch tree you photographed, and have no bother with the mess at all!
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January 15, 2023 at 1:05 PM
Yeah, well, I think the mess doesn’t travel as far as your place. 😉
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January 15, 2023 at 2:08 PM
That’s a beautiful set! We have snow but I’d like some nice light to go with it.
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January 16, 2023 at 11:06 AM
Thank you, Joe. Light is such an enhancer for me. When it’s sunny, I want to get out there with the camera. When I mentioned that desire (which I was unable to follow up on) to my lunch companion, she said, “It’s cold.” That was beside the point, I thought. I wish I could get excited about diffuse even light, but I want spotlights and shadows and the ability to see clearly so much of what is in front of me. Ah, well.
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January 16, 2023 at 9:09 PM
It’s a real pleasure to accompany you on your local walk and see where your eyes land and what they do with the places they like. Your weather description is admirably straightforward, to the point, and uncomplaining. Except for the snow, it’s a lot like that here.
To me, #1 is special. It’s like something by Bach – economical but also complicated, merging the details into beautifully repeating rhythms. And I like the positive upward feeling. I like what’s happening with the “weeds” in #4, the way they barely mask the tree trunks. Beautiful composition. #5 is a favorite – the sheer elegance in the tangle of detritus, the barely visible remnants of snow. Seeing the clean lines of #6 after that is refreshing and that one is sensitively composed, too.
I think I saw scoops of snow like the ones in #7 when we had our big snowstorm way back in early December but they were smaller. #8 is another well-balanced composition, so is #9. Those look like Hosta leaves in #10 & 11, such strange translucency. Or something. #12 carries the sensibility of a classic Japanese garden, the kind with only sand and stones. I love all the lines going every which way in #14. Tree and cattails, each with its own story, working together. #15 is like the cleansing sherbet between courses. 😉
You’ve been inspired! I won’t wish for it to stay wintery because I know you were equally inspired in Florida.
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January 16, 2023 at 8:54 PM
Lynn, I just looked at your latest (but haven’t commented yet), then piggybacked on your comment at Mic.’s Landscapes and Other Abstractions. And now you have given me the gift of your comments on this blog. All within a few minutes. I love your comparison of my #1 to something by Bach. I’m glad you like #4; it’s another one of those photos I wasn’t sure anyone except me would like. Yes, #10 and #11 are hosta leaves. I just cannot pass them up. The strange translucency is from the rain and mist that were falling on them while I shot from beneath a covered walkway. It’s funny, but I don’t think I felt as sure of myself or as inspired when I was taking photos in Florida on that last trip as I did shooting in my own neighborhood—especially for the photos numbered 9 through 15. Still, I’d like another chance at the Florida landscape. Thanks for all your dear comments.
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January 16, 2023 at 9:38 PM
I can see how you’d feel more confident and freer on home ground, especially with all the fraught energy around the Florida place over the last few years. Even so, who wouldn’t like the chance to photograph in Florida again? But repeated studies of the same subjects can yield nice things – I know I don’t have to tell you that.
The hostas – they do look wet, too, so now I get it. Working from a covered walkway, I love it! 🙂
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January 17, 2023 at 12:18 PM
Your reply to Joseph – sunlight just plain makes us happy, I think. That equates with inspiration and wanting to go out. But even light can often be better – if only we’d go out into it! 😉 I have the same problem. And then there’s the issue of overcast skies not providing enough light to photograph…
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January 17, 2023 at 12:20 PM
I’m looking out the window right now. Yuch. But I need more photographs. Maybe I’ll try a foray this afternoon. I’ll have to crank up the ISO for sure.
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January 18, 2023 at 12:20 PM
A beautiful collection of images, Linda. I like the hosta leaves, especially #5, with the twisted leaf and pockets of snow.
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January 16, 2023 at 10:12 PM
Thanks. I’m glad you like the hosta leaves, Mic., because I will undoubtedly show more of them.
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January 17, 2023 at 10:51 AM
Our weather has been more like your blah days than sunny ones. I’ve hardly been out with the camera at all. My favorites here are the dried leaves, (hostas?) The grasses in the snow are nice also as is the windblown snow in #’s 7 & 8.
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January 23, 2023 at 2:57 PM
Thanks, Steve. Yes, the dried leaves are hostas—maybe my favorite dead things. We had a beautiful dumping of snow the other day. I couldn’t get out to it with my camera until today. There was still enough beauty to it. There’s not much sun out today, but with all that whiteness, it doesn’t seem dreary.
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January 23, 2023 at 4:19 PM