Figure 1 – Abstract #2 – Earth, sky, and water, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

After my weekend in Ohio, it was good to get back to Cambridge and the Fresh Pond Reservation. I took this image at Black’s Nook. It is an Abstract derived not of man-made items but from natural ones. What struck me was the beauty of the clouds and the powder-blue sky reflected in the water of the pond. If you look closely you will see some delicate reds in the clouds.

The branches provide a minimalist division of the space and my eye struggles to find details like the peeling bark on the branches.
Water and sky are mirrors of one another and at first glance you might ask whether we are looking at branches silhouetted against the sky or against the sky reflected in the water. But if you look very closely you will see the phantom shadows of fish beneath the water and multiple bubbles causing little bright specters of the sun on the surface. So the little mystery is solved.
Can T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 145 mm, ISO 1600 Aperture Priority AE mode 1/1250th sec at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Windmill blades, Springfield, OH. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Last weekend I was in Springfield and Columbus, Ohio.  I took the image of Figure 1 at the at the Clark County Heritage Center in Springfield. As an abstract it begs the question: What is it? The features of the photograph to make it abstract are straight forward: high grain, tight close up, a slightly awkward and puzzling perspective, and a concentration on the shadows. It is an object that was once familiar in the fields of the American Midwest – indeed one which still can be found.

I like to take abstracts. The reason is that they evoke an innate sense of the geometric – something coded deeply in our psyche. Perhaps this appeals to a sense of the spiritual and the objects seem to become almost animated. In a way abstract art is contradictory.  It contradicts the fundamental definition of the word “abstract” as something existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.

It might seem to be a work by Picasso or the like.  But it is in fact a pair of windmill blades mounted on a wall.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 6400, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/30 th sec at f/6.3 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – IPhone photograph, “The espresso cup,” (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Bill Clinton used to end his jogs at MacDonald’s. It was a nightmare for the Secret Service and the basis of one of the best SNL skits of all time.  I’m not that bad. On weekends I tend to trade my long walks around Fresh Pond for a short walk around the mall that ends with espresso at the Nordstrom’s Ebar.  And boy is it good.

Espresso, by definition,  is, of course,  coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods and has a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids. Yum! The notable part, other than its incredible rich taste and ability to blast you into a caffeine frenzy is the foamy “crema“on top.  These also result in the characteristic residue on the classic porcelain espresso cup, which I have made the subject of Figure 1. In a fantasy world we might imagine reading the future in the espresso lees as is done with tea leaves. Curious how pattern and message is associated with randomness.  In the real world all that we can do is enjoy the flavor and the intense contemplation that it affords us.

The history of espresso is capsulized in the Wikipedia article about it.  The precurser to espresso appears to lie in Angelo Moriondo’s 1884 Italian patent for a steam-driven “instantaneous” coffee beverage making device.  This however was designed to produce coffee in bulk not on an individual-by-individual basis.  In 1901, Milanese Luigi Bezzera came up with a number of improvements to the espresso machine. A patent was granted in 1902 entitled “Innovations in the machinery to prepare and immediately serve coffee beverage.”

As I said, espresso is classically served in a little porcelain cup with saucer and miniature spoon. In the photograph I have tried to capture the patterns of the residue on such a cup. And I’ll give a little derivative nod, since I certainly had it in mind when I took this IPhone image, to André Kertész‘s “The Fork, 1928.”

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.

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.