Figure 1 – Great black-backed gull, Crane Beach, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous trip to Crane Beach. Crane Beach is spectacular anytime of year, but particularly gorgeous in October, when the crowds of beach goers are gone for the season and you can more quietly reflect on the sea, the surf, and the birds. I took figure 1 of a great black-backed gull, Larus marinus. The great part refers to the fact that this is the largest species of gull in the world. Typical wingspans are five to five and a half feet! The black-backed part is, well, that is kind of obvious.

This fellow is delighted to have grabbed a tasty clam from the receding tidewaters. Now to crack it open, simply done by flying high and dropping it on a rock.

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm Lf/4 USM lens at mm, ISO 400, AE Priority Mode 1/1000th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation, and I got away with pattern focusing.

Figure 1 – Stylized iPhone Image “The Wizard on Front Street,” Salem, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

I was very taken by the bright and shiny wizard or warlock costume going down Salem’s Front Street during last Thursday’s Halloween Parade. I took the photograph that is the basis of Figure1 with my iPhone XS but, as with the gossamer dancer, the lack of facial detail and the pixelation of the night photograph troubled me. Also some of the people and objects in the background were distracting. So again, as with the gossamer dancer, I resorted to stylization in PRISMA and was quite happy with the final result of fantasy that Figure 1 reveals. It all seems like a book illustration, perhaps this is the wizard Gandalf from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings!

Figure 1 – Windaersheek Beach, Gloucester, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

Figure 1 – is another image from last Sunday, a gloomy day, at Windaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA. It shows Avalon terrain granite boulders rising from the sand. Avalonia was a microcontinent in the Paleozoic Its remaining lithospheric fragments underlie the eastern coast of North America.  It bears its name from the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland.When you sit on a windy day and look out at the sea, such geological formations seem to call out to cousin boulders across the sea, these in Africa. It is a reminder of the age of the Earth and the physical forces that drive its evolution. 

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm f/4L USM Lens at 98 mm, ISO 400, Aperture Priority AF Mode 1/100th sec at f/16 with no exposure compensation. 

Figure 1 – Lone Cypress at Windaersheek Beach, Gloucester, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

I took the photograph of Figure 1 at Windaersheek Beach on Cape Ann in Gloucester, MA this past Sunday with my iPhone XS. It was a gloomy and wonderful day. You may be interested in the origin of the name “Windaersheek.” According to the USGS the name is a corruption of the earlier Dutch name “Wyngaerts Hoeck”, which was derived from “Wyngaerton” (meaning “Vineland”). The image shows a lone cypress at a cut in the dune line. Whatever mother or erotic elements the image has, it is meant to emphasize the grayness of the day and the end of September light. Nature moves seamlessly into autumn now. The fall color are glorious, but absent here. Instead, we have a lone tree that has for many years withstood the Atlantic winds. It isn’t quite thriving, not is it failing. It is a sentinel, a kind of witness.

Figure 1 – Nosferatu on the streets of Salem, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

Well, Halloween and Halloween costumes can get outright scary. Case in point is this fellow, Nosferatu, that I met on Essex Street in Salem the other day. Really creepy, and I have endeavored to make the image even creepier! 

Nosferatu refers to a magnificent silent horror film, Nosferatu the Vampire, in which the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). And you can guess where it all goes from there!

The story, of course, sounds very familiar and parallels Brahm Stoker’s Dracula. Which begs the question of why not call him Dracula and be done with it. This appears to be because of conflicts with the Stoker estate. Vampire stories continue to excite and titillate to this day. “Titillate?” you might ask. It is, in fact, the case that to sexually repressed Victorian society vampire seduction was a thinly veiled substitute for the other kind. Nowhere is this more true than in Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla – The first lesbian vampire.

The origin of vampire myths are in many cases not so pleasant. But as fictional and mythic characters they represent a perversion of the holy. The transubstantiated wine is returned to its base literal manifestation of blood letting and human sacrifice. This is getting way too deep. Fortunately, you know that my photograph is not of a true vampire, because the camera captures his visage.

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm F/4.0 USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 400, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/80th at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Creature on the streets of Sale, Salem, MA. )c) DE Wolf 2019.

You run into all sorts of creatures, things, and odd people on the streets of Salem in these pre-Halloween days! This creature of Figure 1 reminded me of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but he referred to himself as being an alien, something about a planet near Uranus. Sir John Herschel beware! He seems, point in fact, to resemble more a blender accident than an alien being, but I will take him at his word. I photographed him with my DSLR while holding a baguette in my hand and he chided me for blocking the lens with my bread. Then there is the question of what is happening or being said with his middle finger. Hmm, never been flipped the bird by an alien before!

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm F/4.0 USM lens at 73 mm, ISO 400, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/80th at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation.

Figure1 – Gossamer dancer, Salem Halloween Parade 2019. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

One of the most beautiful sights at last week’s Salem Halloween Parade was a group of dancers in gossamer dresses, who twirled dramatically and magically in the darkness, their dresses capturing and reflecting the streetlights. The image was relatively tough to get, even with the iPhone XS’ wonderful night photography capabilities. The swirls of light captured the sense of motion beautifully. But what bothered me most was the pixelation of the dancers’ faces. I tried various “tricks” to eliminate this. But in the end, I hit upon stylizing in PRISMA, which perfectly accomplished what I was trying to achieve and I am quite happy with the final result shown in Figure 1.

Ultimately the word “gossamer” refers to delicate sheets of spider silk, released by spiderlings in an often suicidal leap into the air currents, called “kiting,” that can carry them thousands of miles away even out to sea. It is appropriate to this October time of year and to our association of spiders with Halloween. It is in autumn, when days become noticeably shorter and the fall frosts begin to occur that this phenomenon happens. 

Figure 1 – The elephant, the bat, and the quid pro quo. Salem, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2019.

The image of Figure 1 is another from last Thursday’s Salem Halloween parade. The blue elephant man with his striped sweater is what attracted me to this group. An elephant, a bat, and a cookie. Not sure what to make of this last figure. Perhaps he is dressed as a quid pro quo! This particular image was shot in front of the well-lit Peabody Essex Museum, and so there was little problem with the exposure. I was most attracted by the variety and intensity of color. I had thought to take the image into PRISMA and stylize it, but decided in the end that it was incongruous enough due to its composition – almost like a comic book. 

Figure 1 – The Bride of Frankenstein, her hubby, and her mummy, Salem Halloween Parade 2019. (c) DE Wolf 2019.

As I said, almost all of the photographs that I took of this year’s Salem Halloween Parade were taken with my iPhone XS. Photography is one great learning experience, and available light night photography can be so humbling. In Figure 1 I was interested in the green tones, the lighting of The Bride of Frankenstein’s dress, and the artificial fog on this float. Successful? The parade was great fun, and this truly gives the flavor.