Fish crow – Corvus ossifragus

Fifure 1 - Fish crow, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Fifure 1 – Fish crow, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

There are two species of crows in Massachusetts, the Fish crow – Corvus ossifragus – and the American crow – Corvus brachyrhynchos. They are hard to tell apart based purely on appearance. Better identification is achieved from their distinctive calls. My best guess for Figure 1, based on size and the slight brownish tinge, is that this fellow is a Fish crow.

I came upon him along the path sitting low in a tree, and as is often the case with crows he was pretty much unphased by my presence.  Indeed, at one point he cocked his head and looked at me directly.  They are very smart birds and also aggressive. You often see them high in the air harassing and chasing hawks.

There is a lot of mythology associated with crows and ravens. We see in their faces wisdom, knowing, and seeing. Sadly this one has very cloudy eyes. I have seen this before at Fresh Pond in other birds. I suspect that it is not cataracts, but some eye disease and this particular bird almost certainly has trouble seeing.

I am also starting to realize how difficult birds’ eyes are in photograph.  They don’t always have the catch-light that we are familiar with in people. You often wind up with a distant alienating eye. They are often hidden against dark coloration. And I am often amazed both at how the eye makes or breaks the photograph and at how much time an effort I spend trying to accentuate but not exaggerate them.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/1000th sec at f/7.1 with +1 exposure compensation.

 

The world beneath my feet

Figure 1 - Early meadow rue, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Early meadow rue, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

When I go out on my camera-in-hand walks I’m usually looking up at the trees in search of birds to photograph.  As a result I can miss what is going on at my feet. Case in point being the photograph of Figure 1.  This little greenish bell-shaped flower struck me as such a beautiful world in miniature – much like a Japanese garden. It was really just a little weed along the fence, but despite the fact that all I was toting was my 70 to 200 mm zoom. I just had to photograph these delicate little flowers set against a wonderful bokeh of magenta.

I am not a botanist by any means. So I am reluctant to take a guess as to what exactly it is. I am thinking early meadow rue as called quick-silver weed (Thalictrum dioicum). But I am hoping that one of my readers who is more familiar with wild flowers than I will set me straight if I am wrong. But either way, right or wrong, I find the shape and the colors ever so peaceful.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 103 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/3200 sec at f/7.0 with -1 exposure compensation.

Martine Franck “Children on a Spiral Staircase”

It has been brought to my attention by photographer Vincenzo Vitale  that I made an error in attribution in my December 26, 2014 post.  The photograph “Children on a Spiral Staircase” was not taken by Cartier-Besson, but by his second wife photographer Martine Franck. (1938 –  2012). She was a well-known Belgian documentary and portrait photographer and like Cartier-Besson a member of Magnum Photos for over 32 years. She was also co-founder and president of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. It is, of course, embarrassing, and I am very grateful to Mr. Vitale for bringing this to my attention.

If you search the web you will find this photograph attributed to Cartier-Besson, all over the place.  That is not a defense but illustrative of just how pervasive the internet can be in diseminating incorrect information. This is why I have gone back to the original posting and added this correction.  It points very clearly to the need to be vigilant of the quality of information that we get from the web.  Our cell phones are ever with us and whenever a question arises we look it up instantly, but are often oblivious to veracity.

In the present case, I believe that it is very important that this beautifully composed and crafted photograph be properly attributed, especially as it draws our attention back to Ms. Franck’s wonderful work. It seems appropriate to quote Martine Franck on photography:

“A photograph isn’t necessarily a lie, but nor is it the truth. It’s more of a fleeting, subjective impression. What I most like about photography is the moment that you can’t anticipate: you have to be constantly watching for it, ready to welcome the unexpected.”
What follows is the original and uncorrected post.

 

Instead of writing my blog this morning, I find myself endlessly searching the prolific work of Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004).  Cartier-Bresson is often credited with the “invention” of street photography and he was a founding member of Magnum.  Often associated with Cartier-Bresson is the phrase “the decisive moment.”  It is setting up your camera and then waiting patiently for that moment when the photograph is defined and ready to be snapped with a single press of the (Leica) shutter.  So much of his work is in our collective consciousness as defining the twentieth century – and defining the meaning of “candid photography.” To pause for a few moments in the heart of Cartier-Bressons work is to learn to understand the meaning of phorography.

The image that I have chosen for today’s “Favorite Photographs, 2013” is Cartier-Bresson’s classic and well composed image of children on a spiral staircase.  I believe, but am not sure, that this picture was taken in 1932.  Perhaps a reader can inform me of the correct date and whether it has a title that Cartier-Bresson used.

Cartier-Bresson was a master at using lines, such as the spiral, in defining his pictures.  And even in as static a subject matter as children peering down from a staircase, the spiral creates dynamics.  But of course, with spirals there is something more.  This is, of course, the “Golden Proportion,” the perfect division of a rectangle from an aesthetic point of view, and how by repeatedly dividing progressive rectangles by the “Golden Proportion” one obtains the Fibonacci spiral.  This spiral occurs repeatedly in nature: in, for instance in the shell of the chambered nautilus and the horn of the ram.  It creates a sense of natural perfection.  This is the effect that Cartier-Bresson seeks here. He does not center his spiral at the center of the image but rather so as to divide the image by the Golden Proportion. The position is pretty much perfect* and you wouldn’t really have it any other way.  I suppose that it is best stated in Cartier-Bresson’s own words:

“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life.”

* I have measured this approximately.  If you divide the vertical length of the image by the longer distance between the center of the spiral and the top of the image, you get a ratio of ~1.68, which is close enough for government work to the Golden Proportion of 1.62.  The actual size of the photograph is 1.5, which, of course bows to the artistic approximation of the Golden Proportion namely the Golden Rule of Thirds.

On being rewarded

Figure 1 - Tree swallow chicks in the nest, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Tree swallow chicks in the nest, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

When you photograph birds, you never know what you are going to get. Some days it’s nothing and some days it can be really exciting. Yesterday I was rewarded for my efforts.  I was walking along the path at Fresh Pond. Because of the need to protect both the vegetation and the water supply a lot of the trees are behind fences.  I spotted a pair of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor ) visiting a hole (haven’t figured out whether these are natural or man-made) in one of these trees about ten feet above me, and then was amazed to see the chicks peeping away with mouths open.  I was delighted to get these photographs, Figure 1 being an example.  I was trebled by the intense white sky in the background; so I did two things.  First, I maximized the tree in the frame and second I used the in-camera flash to provide fill-flash for the image. Yes I know that this is a cute cuddly animal photograph.  But I am allowed when they are my own!

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 168 mm, on-camera flash metering, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/200th sec at f/9.0 with no exposure compensation.

Baltimore oriole – Icterus galbula

Figure 1 - Baltimore Oriole (male) - Icterus galbula, Black's Nook, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA.

Figure 1 – Baltimore Oriole (male) – Icterus galbula, Black’s Nook, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA.

One of the most dramatic of New England birds is the Baltimore oriole – Icterus galbula – especially the males. The vivid orange contrasted with black and white is simply spectacular. In my walks this spring at Fresh Pond Reservation I have come upon two mating pair one in Black’s Nook and the other at Little Fresh Pond by the “dog beach.” The male shown in Figure 1 is from the Black’s Nook pair. He actually posed for several shots and this was the best in terms of composition and background. I am not quite satisfied by the sharpness, probably because the exposure was just one over the ISO.  But, I seldom am.

He’s got a little caterpillar in his mouth. This means that there are baby birds somewhere. I really need to go back and see if I can spot the woven hanging nest.

Why are they called Baltimore Orioles and does this have anything to do with baseball. They got their name because their orange and black colorations is reminiscint fo the heraldic crest of England’s Baltimore family, The City of Baltimore is named after this family (who also gave their name to Maryland’s largest city). The baseball team is, of course, named after the bird.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 140 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode 1/160 th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Summer time and the living is easy

 

GlassesFb

Figure 1 – Summertime. (c) DE Wolf 2015

Well, it is June, and June is clearly part of summer. So we have arrived and “the living is easy.”  Smug readers who live in America’s desert Southwest, in Arizona and Nevada, have stopped asking me how I can possibly stand living in Massachusetts. They have all retreated from the terrible and scorching heat into their homes in search of drinking water.  In New England it is gentley warm and breezy, just perfect. We have successfully endured our one cruel season. It is time then to ponder weightier issues than the state of the weather – conundrums like the state of the language.

This past Sunday my wife and I went out for brunch – or as they say nowadays “we went brunching.” Is “brunch” a legitimate verb?  I have opened up the Funk and Wagnall “Standard College Dictionary,” that my friend Shari Benson gave me for my 13th birthday.  It has served me for a long while now, all through high school, college, and graduate school.  There is no “brunching” in Funk and Wagnalls. It served me all the way through the nineties, when the tyranny of the word processor began.  Microsoft Word says yes to “brunching.” I guess that it must be so.

Everyday when I blog or when I write papers at work I see Microsoft take incorrect stands on points of grammar. And eventually a general abhorrence of squiggly green or red underlining gives way to better sense and I accept Bill Gates’ spellings and grammar rules. It seems a bit sad, but I recently found myself surrendering to my greatest pet peeve the transformation of a verb into a noun and then into a totally different verb. Venus transits the Sun. It is a transition of, or really by, Venus. But Venus is not transitioning. It is still transiting – no matter what

You know I am going to leave this big gap here in appreciation of the fact that my computer took a unrequested ten minute break to shut down and update Windows. More cyber-tyranny and just the point that I am making!

anyone in Redmond, WA or Cupertino, CA, for that matter, thinks.

Still I capitulate! We have discussed these crossroads before. Digital vs. analog photography. Drones vs. mail-people. Transit vs. transition. Photography, communications, and language all evolve. Just as sexual reproduction functioned as an accelerator of biological evolution, the internet functions as an accelerator of language evolution. So right does not ultimately lie in a yellowing dictionary on my bookshelf, but rather somewhere in cyberspace which I visit now so much more often.

We are quick, too quick in fact, to make the transition. We plunge care-free and carelessly over the abyss forgetting the role that language plays in our shared identity. But in the end it is inevitable.

The fledgling – black-capped chickadee – Poecile atricapillus

Figure 1 - Fledgling black-capped chickadee preparing to fly, Black's Nook, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Fledgling black-capped chickadee preparing to fly, Black’s Nook, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Last week I was along the path at Black’s Nook when I noticed activity around a hole in the trunk of a tree. Two black-capped chickadees were carrying goodies (by bird definition) caterpillars and the like, to this hole. The pair was anxious that I chase them through the woods, but I remained, maintaining a social distance. I noticed that little bird heads kept popping up to the front of the hole. These were fledglings that were ready to test their wings, but a bit wary of the big guy with the camera. Every once in a while they would give out a baby bird, open mouthed peep.  I took a number of photographs of one of these fledglings in rapid succession, but then departed not wanting to draw attention to the nest to some less benign figure.

I reached the gate of Black’s Nook when I heard a flutter. Turning I saw the very uncertain flight of this little bird across the path onto a branch. He seemed very proud of himself. And sitting on that branch with his mouth closed the young fledgling seemed very adult indeed.

Having walked along this same path a few months ago when the temperatures were frigid and the snow covered walk precarious, I have a great appreciation of the struggle that these birds face each day trying to survive – to survive with the biological emphasis of species preservation. Their behavior is so marvelously instinctual, literally programed in their DNA. Baby chicks in the nest are terribly vulnerable, and this flight across the path is an important step towards independence and survival, ultimately to carry the program to its logical end of producing the next generation. And as precarious as their little lives may seem to us, it is significant and humbling to realize that birds appear to have evolved from the theropod dinosaurs over 200 million years ago.  I even get the privilege of quoting Sir T. H. Huxley here:

We have had to stretch the definition of the class of birds so as to include birds with teeth and birds with paw-like fore limbs and long tails. There is no evidence that Compsognathus possessed feathers; but, if it did, it would be hard indeed to say whether it should be called a reptilian bird or an avian reptile.”[4]

On Earth the birds are remarkably successful species, and we have to wonder whether they will be tweeting long after we and our cell phones are gone.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 1600, 1/80th sec at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation.

“Mutacion Frozada” – Forced Mutation

Honestly, I love to search the web for wonderful images, and one of the great points about modern media is that they abound. You have merely to look.  they are everywhere.  So every week I look through the “Best Photographs of the Week” sections on the various news outlets.  I discovered that CBS news promises not just “The Best …” but “The Very best…” That sounded promising to me and this week I was not disappointed.  I quickly discovered this simply stunning image by Alexandre Meneghini for Reuters showing nineteen year old actress Aimee Perez posing after having her body painted to perform as part of the creation “Mutacion Forzada”, or Forced Mutation, by Cuban Artist Alberto Lescay during the 12th Havana Biennial on May 31.This image appeals to me in that it is almost black and white, so it has all of the glorious tonality of a monochrome, but at the same time it has just enough accentuating color to draw us irrevocably to Ms. Perez’ beautiful eyes. To my mind it is magnificent.

 

Memento mori

Figure 1 - Memento mori, detail on a eighteenth century gravestone Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Memento mori, detail on a eighteenth century gravestone, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Memento mori is reflection on death.  A couple of weeks ago I spoke about photographing everyday things that are becoming obsolete.  Then I read this past week that the British government was selling its remaining 20 % share in the Royal Mail.  This is a nod to modernism if ever I heard one.  The establishment of the Royal Mail was an important part, in the nineteenth century, of what historian Paul Johnson has referred to as “the birth of the modern.” So really shouldn’t be a surprise to find ourselves a century and a half later redefining the modern.  The drones are coming, and you can look at your local postal person, mail boxes, and mail delivery trucks with a certain sense of nostalgia.

It all came home to me this week, when I had to mail a letter at work.  We are a very technology-forward office and I grumbled a bit at how difficult it was to produce the letter in the first place. The use of paper at the office is eschewed with a certain modernistic, almost religious, zeal – much like the crusades of the Middle Ages. But after resorting to bringing in printable labels from home and figuring out just how to position them correctly in the printer, I did accomplish the task at hand.. Yes, I found the printer under a layer of neglectful dust.  I did not however find an admin to do this for me. He/she is also rapidly become an anachronism in the modern office. There it was in my hand a beautifully printed letter in a properly labelled envelope.

Stamps?  You want stamps?

So now to hoof it to the Post Office, where I found two talkative clerks. I was the only patron in there, and I was presented with a host of stamp options. These were not the beautifully engraved stamps of my youth, but much lesser objects that reflect the general trend to appeal to collectors, who need turn over to create elusive and false rarity. The general concept being that if people aren’t going to mail letters with stamps maybe someone wants to collect them.

It all, as I said, got me thinking – grumble, grumble, grumble. But then I it all dawned on me. I have been at my job for almost a year now, and this was the first time in a year that I actually needed to mail a letter. Bring on the drones. The epitaph, after all, is written on the eighteenth century gravestones all over New England: “Memento mori,” reflect on death.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 73 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/200th sec at f/8.0 2ith no exposure compensation.