Figure 1 – The meat of Valentine’s Day. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Hati and Skoll to all lovers young and old. I was settling in on a pretty cold New England afternoon to my usual thoughts of Valentine’s Day and its relationship to the Roman Wolf Festival, The Lupercalia, when I was struck by a display of heart shaped cuts of beef at the local grocery store.  This is captured in Figure 1. Shut your eyes and apologies, vegetarian and vegan readers. This is pretty gross stuff and likely to make vegans of us all – especially since I have a friend on Facebook who keeps posting the most amazing vegan recipes.

There may be a connection yet with Roman rituals. I learned this afternoon from an NPR article called the “The Dark Origins of Valentine’s Day,” that some pretty unsavory things happened on that day in the Roman past. It seems that during the feast of the Lupercalia. the men would sacrifice a goat and a dog. After seeing the movie Jurassic Park and hearing phrases like “scapegoat” and “Judas goat,” I have come to the realization that the world is not always kind to goats. But poor cuddly puppies are another thing! What the heck? And the real kicker is that the men would then whip the women with the hides of these victim animals. Most weirdly, the women were delighted because the ritual was thought to promote fertility.  So I am left with an image in my mind that is much like that of Figure 1 and with the realization that women have certainly changed since Roman times.

But I cannot leave you, dear reader, with this image burned onto your retinas on Valentines Day. So let us enjoy instead the postcard image of Figure 2, “The Big Pink Heart” from the early twentieth century around 1910, which is when my grandmother and grandfather met and became Valentines. Don’t think about the expression “when in Rome do as the Romans do.”* Think love everyone, not cuts of beef, and then share it. The world could use a lot more than it has.

*”si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; si fueris alibī, vīvitō sicut ibi” ‎(“if you should be in Rome, live in the Roman manner; if you should be elsewhere, live as they do there”). Attributed to St Ambrose.

Figure 2 – The Big Pink Heart – postcard from c. 1910 and in the public domain.

Snow covered pines at sunset, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Well, one day before the work week and the next February snow storm; so I had better get my last image from the decisive sunset moment from Friday.  This is Figure 1 and it shows the tops of four snow covered towering pines illuminated by a golden setting sun.  This might be deep in the woods but was, in fact, taken from the small park across from my house. Again I like the drama the color and the dynamic range. I think the composition could be better, somehow adhering to the Golden Rule of Thirds. However, I do like the sense of motion created by the treetops leaning to the left in the picture. All and all I am pretty happy with it and was very happy that my camera was on hand for nature’s fireworks.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Prioty AE mode, 1/1000-th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Snow covered treetops illuminated at sunset, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

The decisive light that I spoke about yesterday illuminated the tree tops against a dark, looming, almost night-like sky. The second image from this short but gorgeous moment is shown in Figure 1.  What really appeals to me, beyond the drama, is the dynamic range – that is how the eye pulls out the features of the trees and snow in shadow. It is unusual for snow photographs to have a golden tone. The blue tone of Rayleigh scattering is much more common.  And in this context it is unusual to compensate down in exposure, so as not to saturate, as opposed to up in exposure to drive the dynamic range towards saturation.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm , ISO 800, Aperture priority AE mode, 1/1600 th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Sunset after the snow historic center of Sudbury, Massachusetts. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

El Niño has given New Englanders a welcome respite from snow and cold this winter. But today we had our first real snow storm at least in Boston and it’s western suburbs. Still the signature of El Niño was there, in that it was a heavy wet slushy snow, the kind that sticks to every tree limb and power-line. So it was all pretty magical,

and the there was “the decisive moment” actually about ten minutes fo decisive moments. The sky was dense and dark when the sunset broke through from the west bathing the snowy treetops in a golden light. I have a few pictures to share with you from the decisive moment. Today I’ll start with Figure 1 that shows the historic center of Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Why do I live in New England?  ’nuff said?

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/2000th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Close and very close: contrasting pair #3. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Last Sunday as I was walking down a corridor into the local mall I came upon a sign on the wall that promised that I was close. It’s arrow pointed right. I walked a little further and there was a second sign with even greater promise. I was very close. It’s arrow pointed left. They form a contrasting pair and also together form a minimalist tribute to the great American pop artist Robert Indiana.