Figure 1 – Flowers through a window, Highfield Hall and Gardens, Falmouth, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I took the image of Figure 1 earlier this summer and have been studying it since. I really liked the geometry of the window and the intense colors of the flowers outside. The subtle lack of squareness the slight angle of the window frame appeals to me. I am even willing to dismiss my general prejudice against flower pictures on the basis that “they are too easy.” They allow you to seize and dominate by sheer force of color. Indeed, the fact that I took only a single frame or shot at this subject is not so much a testimony to my compositional skills as it is an expression of a slight bit of embarrassment at the simplicity of the subject. I don’t want to be caught photographing flowers!

But, of course, flower photographs are nothing of the sort. They still require a demanding eye for not only color but composition. The autochrome days, where color alone was sufficient to intrigue, are long past. But, but, but the issue for me here was whether to just work-up the picture as a pure, sharpflower image or to painterize it, to saturate beyond the normal, or to add noise to the point where it becomes photo-pictorialist or impressionist. In the end I have decided on the purer form. And also, in the intense, drought-laden days of August I can remember the gentler days of July, when even rain was a possibility. The image was taken at Highfield Hall and Gardens this past July in Falmouth, MA.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 94 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/1250th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Parallel lines meet at infinity. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

The photograph of Figure 1 is another example of how well the wide angle capabilities of the IPhone 6 camera copes with huge depth of field. Here is an image of simple bricks painted white – a tone-on-tone. And the fun part is that, at least in the world of the lens’ focal plane, parallel lines do indeed meet at infinity. My geometry teacher was right!

Figure 1 – And there are more good things to come… (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I am always looking for cool geometrics to photograph with my IPhone and yesterday I ran into this simple sign. It was my favorite kind of sign, namely translucent white. It bore a very simple message “And there are more good things to come…” Literally in this particular store, as the arrow indicates, these are upstairs. But that aside, I am taking this as a deeper, more existential message. Don’t despair AND there are more good things to come.

Obviously, I have dramatized the typographical geometric elements and emphasized the contrast. All of this to emphasize the simple elegance of the ampersand and its cheerful message to a world dominated by the @ symbol.

Figure 1 – Dragon in the Olympic National Park, August 19, 2016, IPhone photograph, (c) AB & DE Wolf 2016.

Dragons – we know them as mythical creatures, and I learned from the Wikipedia that there are two mythic traditions:

• European dragons, typically depicted as reptilian creatures with animal-level intelligence,. four legs, and a detached set of wings.
• Asian dragon, more serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence, four legs, and wingless.

And it is an important point that someone is always headed off to slay the dragon. In our cultures dragons have major great  spiritual significance. They are “revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity.” And, of course, they often possess some form of magic or other supernatural power. There is, after all, this ability to breath fire. Oh, and, many can talk! Pete’s Dragon, Puff the Magic Dragon, The Reluctant Dragon …

I remember as a boy being disappointed that dragons do not really exist. Somehow it seemed that the world was less without them, having loss a major force of magic. Magic was not real. So I abandoned it for science, and found the magic again.

Still “anything can happen in the woods.” And yesterday my son was hiking along the Klahhane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, when he came along this fine fellow, whom he photographed with his IPhone. I’ve “worked the image up;” so it is a father-son collaboration.

Figure 1 – Workers on the roof, IPhone photograph using “Noir” filter. Willmington, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Last night I went back and looked at the date of Hati and Skoll’s first posting, and it was August 19, 2012. So today is officially our fourth anniversary! That boy, Wolf, sure has a lot to say!!! So I really want to begin today by thanking all of my readers for your continued interest and support. Please keep the comments coming. You make it all worthwhile.

Regular readers of this blog will recognize my infatuations with black and white photography and with testing the limits of my IPhone 6 as a black and white camera. Recently, I started “playing” with the automatic filters available with the IPhone and I became enthralled with the “Noir” filter and its ability to really emphasize clouds. It is ever so reminiscent of film days with a deep red Wratten A filter. The “Noir” filter by surprising blues and favoring reds creates the illusion that you are doing infrared photography. It is, of course, nothing of the sort. But it does result in some very dramatic photographs.

Hence, the other afternoon, I was taking a walk around the building at work and noticed some workers on the roof with some beautiful clouds in the background. The result is Figure 1. I achieved the effect that I wanted even though I had to deal with the usual problem of not being able to see the image on the screen because of the intense sunlight. I much prefer looking through the viewfinder of my DSLR. I know, I know, such a techno-dino!

Figure 1 – A water tank with shades of the ritual of Chud, IPhone photograph, Wilmington, MA.

Yesterday I was out walking and came upon the water tank of Figure1. It is industry-proper orange.  It may even be that traditional triplumbic tetroxide, or red lead, finish that we used to see on park benches. It immediately reminded me of the outlet from the Derry sewer system in Stephan King’s novel “It,” wherein the creature Chud dwells. Chud is a giant evil spider that lives(?) underground, It can only be be defeated by the Ritual of Chud. This scary fellow harkens back to two classical horror fantasy elements: the arachnid character Mordred in J. R. R. Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings” and H. P. Lovecraft’s “Cthulhu Mythos of dark evil creatures beneath the Earth”

I offer all of this ominous foreboding from a lunchtime stroll and a simple IPhone photograph. But the great power of Stephan King as a horror writer lies in his realization that you do not have to be in Transylvania to be bitten by a vampire. They are all around us, even at McDonald’s.