landscapes

The fog comes

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Yesterday I awoke to a rare treat — a cool, foggy morning.    For me, there is a special stillness and quietness that settles over the landscape when everything is shrouded with a soft blanket of fog .  I found myself walking quietly so as not to disturb the air and the peacefulness that surrounded me.  And because it was an early Saturday morning, the usual hustle and bustle of work  routines were non-existent with few people out and about.  Since moving to Minnesota I’ve realized that fog is one of the atmospheric conditions of the Pacific Northwest that I miss.   As I was photographing this scene, I was reminded of the beginning of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Fog” where he writes “The fog comes on little cat feet.”  It moves in quietly, settles, and then travels on.   And as was the case yesterday, the sun and heat of summer eventually broke through the fog and we returned to blue sky and bright sunshine.

Looking out through the rain

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Our summer has been one of rain, heat, and humidity.  This past week I was on my way to the YMCA for yoga class.  As luck would have it, it started to rain, or more correctly, it started to pour.  The rain came down in buckets.  I arrived at the Y, parked my car, and it was still pouring so I decided to sit it out for a while and wait.  I sat in my car looking out through the windshield, across the street, to the tree on the other side.  Granted, the tree wasn’t anything spectacular, but as I changed my focus from the tree to the windshield I saw something beautiful and fluid.  As the rain was pouring down the glass, there was a gorgeous effect on the subjects across the street.  They too became fluid and took on a “watercolor” effect.  I pulled out my camera and spent the next three minutes photographing this watery scene until the rain stopped, the sun came out, and I walked into my yoga class without getting wet.

Summer sunset reflection

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For the past week we’ve been treated to some spectacular sunsets.  Part of this has been due to residual smoke from fires burning in Canada that has swept into Minnesota, and part has been due to the weather conditions here.  The other night while we were out enjoying an ice cream cone, I noticed that the western sky was setting up for what looked like a great sunset.  I scurried home to get my camera, then headed out to find a choice spot with a great foreground to make my photographic image of the setting sun.  As would happen, the conditions were changing rapidly.  I pulled into the parking lot of a commercial building that overlooks the interstate; mind you, not the “choice” spot for a great image.  But although what I saw looking to the west was not photogenic, what I saw as a reflection in the building behind me caught my eye.  With the curves in the glass and its separate panels, the sunset took on a look that reminded me of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”  The colors of the sky seemed to swirl about in the reflection, yet were anchored by the lamp and its post.  So although I didn’t find what I was expecting, I was delighted at what was presented to me by chance.

Summer in the Windy City

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We got away this past summer’s weekend to the big city of Chicago — my first visit in about 30 years (yikes!).  It was a wonderful and fascinating time, filled to the brim with new sights and experiences.  One of the lasting impressions I came away with is the city’s appreciation for art and architecture.  Art and sculpture is found everywhere, with people experiencing it firsthand.  Whether young or old there was a fascination with the Cloud Gate at Millennium Park (shown here in the photo) or the Crown Fountain, which afforded a chance to cool off on a hot summer’s day.  We took in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, where the neighborhood lives and breathes baseball and history, and we enjoyed a river cruise by the Chicago Architecture Foundation.  What a perfect way to learn about the history of Chicago, the building and rebuilding of the city, and the pride that permeates nearly every city block.  The weekend renewed my belief in the importance of art and its ability to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds.  No matter what verbal language is spoken, what ethnic background, what age, there is no better way to communicate than with a visual work of art, a true universal language all its own.

Exhibits, awards and publications

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This past Friday night was the opening reception for the 4th annual Horizontal Grandeur fine art exhibition at the Stevens County Historical Museum in Morris, Minnesota.  The exhibit brought together artists from across the country, all living in states with prairies.  Inspired by Bill Holm’s essay, “Horizontal Grandeur,” there were inspiring and wonderful interpretations of  the prairie theme.  I was honored to have two of my photographs juried into this show.  This image, “Dawn’s first light on the prairie” was photographed while I was an artist-in-residence at  the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa.  My second photograph in the exhibit is the image from my April 11, 2010 blog entry “Pasque flower welcome to spring.”  For a complete viewing of the pieces in the exhibit, please visit the website for the Stevens County Historical Museum at www.stevenshistorymuseum.com.

Here in the Twin Cities I’m a member of the Minneapolis Photographic Society — a group of wonderfully talented photographers with diverse interests.  Each year there is one image that is selected as Color Print of the Year and one that is selected as Monochrome Print of the Year.  This year I was awarded the Color Print of the Year for my image “Through the red barn window.”    To see more of the award-winning images from the group, please visit the website:  http://www.mplsphoto.com/mps/site/a28yearend.php

And lastly, I am excited to have a photograph published in the July/August issue of  “The Iowan Magazine.”  This image “Swept into the center” is the opening spread of the portfolio section titled “red.white.blue.”

It’s been a busy and exciting few months, and I feel honored with these exhibits, awards, and publications.