Arlington

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Figure 1 - Union soldiers on the lawn of Arlington House, June 28, 1864. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

Figure 1 – Union soldiers on the lawn of Arlington House, June 28, 1864. In the collection of the United States National Archives. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

It is Memorial Day weekend in the United States, and our thoughts run to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in what seems like countless wars. Our news media abounds with images of thousands of flag being planted.Then too we think of the Arlington National Cemetery, a national symbol, where so many of these dead are buried.

It has an interesting history. In 1802 George Washington Parke Custis, a  grandson of Martha Washington, acquired the land where the cemetery now stands and began construction of Arlington House. The estate passed to Custis’ daughter, Mary Anna, who was married to United States Army officer Robert E. Lee.   Lee resigned his commission on April 20, 1861 and took command of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia, later becoming commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. On May 7, the Virginia militia occupied Arlington and Arlington House thus threatening Washington, DC. . General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to clear Arlington and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, of the confederates   He occupied Arlington without opposition on May 24. In 1862 the grounds of Arlington House became the site of the National Cemetery.  The snub at Lee was an obvious one.  He would have to look out at the dead of the Civil War for the rest of his life. The first burial at Arlington, that of William Henry Christman, was made on May 13, 1864.

The United States National archives has an intriguing photograph, reproduced here as Figure 1.  It was taken on June 28, 1864 and shows Union troops occupying the lawn of Arlington House. There is a certain timelessness of marble contrasted against the soldiers now gone with the wind.  I keep being drawn to the delicate beauty of the stone. And there is that strange similarity evoked by the all too familiar poses.  It could be any of us.  Then too the windows thrown open wide speaks to the Washington heat and humidity that those soldiers must have felt.

Of age and anonymity

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End of week and the long Memorial Day weekend lies in front of us.  I have been culling the various websites for photo enjoyable – something light ahead of the coming minivacation.  I found two photographs that I really like on the “NBC best of the week series.”

The first is a photo by Vadim Ghirda  for the AP showing an elderly woman, in cliché elderly woman garb, walking in front of a fashion billboard in the shopping district of Bucharest, Roumania.  The contrast is obvious, itself a cliché.  But it is always a thought provoking one.  What is in the woman’s thoughts?  She appears to be on a cell phone, but isn’t. What is? What was was? What might have been?

The second is an image of a busy rush hour street in Tokyo by Kimimas Mayama for the EPA.  Again this scene of motion where only the center figures approach being in focus is something that we have seen many times before.  Here it is masterfully executed and creates a true sense of both intense motion and the isolation in a crowd that defines modern urban centers.

Freedom of speech

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“First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petitition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

September 25, 1789

Those are the words of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, it “guarantees” to citizens of the United States freedom of speech. In an age where demagogues and entertainers disguise themselves as news commentators and journalists, we find ourselves biting our tongues a lot.  In 1992 Caroline Kennedy and Ellen Alderman wrote a profound book explaining just how much we have to bear In Our Defense. Freedom of speech does not come easily.

Every university and major metropolitan area in every democracy has a square or other location where people stand up on soap boxes, literal or figurative, and exercise this fundamental right.  I very vividly remember visiting Berkeley in my twenties and watching the perennial speakers.  It is a hugely important element of social history.

My mind was taken back to that afternoon in Berkeley, California this afternoon when I was reading a piece by Phil Coomes on the BBC about  a photographic study of the “Speakers’ Corner” in London’s Hyde Park, where anyone can get on their soapbox and make their voice heard.  Photographer Philip Wolmuth has been documenting the corner for 35 years, and has just published a book of the work. An insightful point made by Mr. Wolmuth is that “the subjects under discussion were then, and still are, almost entirely unrelated to day-to-day news headlines.” And yet the rhetoric and debate is pure democracy at work.

When you recognize the importance of the subject matter you instantly recognize the importance of photography in capturing this social history.  Otherwise it would be gone completely, and Philip Wolmuth’s photographs are so vivid that you can imagine the words; you can hear them.  Also to the point, anyone, any photographer can contribute to the important act of social documentation.  Society is all around us and changing at lightening speed. It is not difficult to recognize what will be gone soon – drones to deliver packages, robots replacing waiters.

Take a look at some of these photographs. If you are of my generation they will take you back. And pause for a moment and consider the words of Thomas Jefferson in his second inaugural address:

“…every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”

March the Fourth, 1801

Cardinal in flight

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Figure 1 - Cardinal in flight, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Cardinal in flight, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

The other day I spoke about how humans envy birds their flight.  It is a dance and elegant ballet.  The other day I caught the male cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis ) of Figure 1 in flight through the trees.  I would have preferred a more complete and overall sharpness.  But the wings are beautifully in focus, and I love their translucence and their downward gesture.  I also like the contrasting green  of the canopy, which provides the backlight that gives the transparency to the wings.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 180 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/800 sec at f/7.1 with +1 exposure compensation.

 

Peeling bark

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Figure 1 - Peeling Bark at Black' Nook, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Peeling Bark at Black’ Nook, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Last Friday I took a break from photographing birds to capture the texture of peeling bark on the trunk of a venerable tree at Fresh Pond.  Actually, this particular tree is long gone and reduced to being the post that holds a birdhouse high above the ground by Black’s Nook. For me this is the defining black and white subject – contrasting texture between the bark and the smooth wood, which in turn creates a contrast between a diffuse and a specular reflection.

Taking this photograph actually screwed me up.  I find that when photographing birds it is important to have your camera preset, just in case.  That means ISO set to 1600, spot center metering, and F/7.1 (for this lens).  A short while later I came upon a beautiful pair of Baltimore orioles and started taking pictures.  I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t coming out in focus and only after realized that I was set on the distributed metering appropriate to the tree.  Arg!! another of lifes little lessons.

It continues to be a great spring in Cambridge.  On Thursday I saw my first green heron high in a tree survey they nook.  I took a couple of images but these are almost certain to be too distant for a decent shot.  Then on Friday I spooked one of the herons when I stepped onto the observation deck on Black’s Nook and this sent him flying in that characteristic pterodactyl style that makes you think “welcome to Jurassic Park.” I stood a while to admire his flight.”  It is oh so humbling when you realize for just how many years birds have been flying like this.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 94 mm, ISO 200, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/125th sec at f/6.3 with no exposure compensation.

Gray catbird – Dumetella carolinensis

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Figure 1 - Gray catbird, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Gray catbird, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Arguably – all right very arguable-  for the cat lover the ultimate bird is the gray catbird, which fills the forest and urban parks with it meowing sound.  Actually, you would never fool either me or my cat with this, but let’s pretend.  The name catbird seems an oxymoron for someone brought up with the world view of Sylvester and Tweetie Pie – “I  taut I saw a puddy cat.”   Well, all that I can say to this is “Sufferin succotash.”  In the canine world the order of things is preserved.  There are not dogbirds, no woods filled with avian barking.  There are however, as there should be, bird dogs.

I will confess that I have always had a certain fondness for this unpretentious gray bird. And I have always been pleasantly amused by their feline screeching. Last Friday I sought out a group that was inhabiting the woods between Fresh Pond and the golf course.  I took several photographs, but in the end was most please by the photograph of Figure 1 which shows a chirping, or is it meowing, catbird from below looking up into a pleasing early spring canopy.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 200 mm, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/1250th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

A room with a view

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Figure 1 - Baby window cage of the 1930's.

Figure 1 – Baby window cage of the 1930’s.

When I was young part of a boy’s childhood was reading “Ripley’s Believe it of Not.” I suspect that early exposure to that sort of imagery, as well as whatever primal instincts of curiosity for the bizarre it arises from, is manifest today in all of these websites that promise us x number of images of truly weird events.  I didn’t escape it this afternoon, when promised 116 photographs of our human history that would amaze me.  Some of them did, although many even most were more like examples of inhumanity than humanity.

But I found myself looking for the most bizarre of all 116 and finally settled on Figure 1 from around 1937 showing a baby in a baby window cage, a solution to the problem of how to make sure that baby gets fresh air and sunshine while living in densely-packed  tenements or apartments.  Seemed pretty bizarre to me.  But it followed pretty closely on my watching on the “Today Show” this morning a story from Kentucky about a family whose children have been taken away from them because of their minimalist lifestyle.

Now I’m not going to comment about that case.  But the point is that norms change generation to generation.  My mother was a firm believer in the power of sunshine, and would take me out in my pram on a cold January day. It was essential that baby-Davie got his daily dose of vitamin D, that despite the fact that I was fed fortified milk – not to mention “Sugar Pops.”  But baby window cages make the heart stop and I am glad that these never really caught on.

American robin – Turdus migratorius

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Figure 1 - American robin, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – American robin, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

he Shakers taught us that there is, or can be, beauty in simple, everyday things.  In the United States there is no bird, save perhaps the sparrow, that is more common than the American robin.  They are everywhere, paying quintessential homage to the saying that “the early bird catches the worm.”  And everywhere that you go the air is filled with their call.  Still if you stop and think about it the American robin, despite its inauspicious genus name of “Turdus,” is quite a beautiful bird.  Indeed, its orange breast can be so brilliant that it often is mistaken for a Baltimore oriole, of one our most dramatic birds.

I have been holding off photographing one. But yesterday I came upon this most handsome example on the path at Fresh Pond.  He struck a most characteristic pose, breast pushed forward regally like a soldier stnding at attention and he exposed the dramatic pattern around his eye. As the Shaker song goes: “‘Tis the gift to be simple,” and certainly “‘Tis the gift to be free, ’tis the gift to come down where we ought to be…” And if you analyze it, isn’t this why we photograph birds.  We admire their simplicity.  We admire their Darwinian resilience against a benign and often malignant nature. We admire their species specificity and complex instinctual behavior. Andm of course, we most of all admire them their freedom to fly.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 180mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode at 1/400th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

 

Farthest galaxy

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Figure 1 - Hubble Space Telescope image of the farthest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy (inset). (Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope also observed the galaxy. The W. M. Keck Observatory was used to obtain a spectroscopic redshift (z=7.7), extending the previous redshift record.P. Oesch / I. Momcheva / Yale / NASA / ESA / 3D-HST / HUDF09 / XDF

Figure 1 – Hubble Space Telescope image of the farthest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy, EGS-zs8-1, (inset).P. Oesch / I. Momcheva / Yale / NASA / ESA / 3D-HST / HUDF09 / XDF public domain.

I haven’t done one of these astronomy blogs in a while, but today I came upon the latest Hubble Space Telescope image and frankly, it takes my breath away. Astronomers have identified a galaxy (EGS-zs8-1) that is 13 billion light-years away, which makes it the most distant galaxy ever measured with the precise spectroscopic method known as red shift.

If you detect hemming and hawing in my voice, you are right.  The suspicion is that there are further objects, but this hasn’t been proven yet spectroscopically. And in science proof is what it’s about, especially in a case like this where the distance means that it was around within a hundred million years or so of the birth of the universe.  I’ll give you that the birthdate number may be ultimately revised as farther still objects are found.  But the point is that this is about as early and as far as it gets.

Think about it this way.  The earliest photograph was 1826. But you may view taking a photograph as a cooperation between subject properly ordered, posed and set, and the snapping of the shutter. If you take a photograph of the sun the process light from sun to camera takes about eight minutes to complete.  Here the whole process took about 13 billion years.  The start way predated Niépce.  The end was almost 200 years after him.