Figure 1 – Iridescent metal, Natick, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a “reassuring moments in physics post.” So I’m offering up today Figure 1. I came upon these beautiful iridescent metal cups and flasks the other morning and fell in love with them photographically. There is something so, so appealing about iridescence – beautiful metallic colors shifts with your eye. The photograph required very minimal work-up. Look for me in the photograph. I am there in olive pants and pink shirt. But I am not the looming specter in the foreground. Whoever he is, he seems fittingly placed as we near Halloween.

Iridescence, a kind of metallic glow can be caused by several phenomena. Here it is the most common, thin film interference, much like the flash of color from an oil slick on a puddle. It is caused by a thin film of metal oxide on the metal surface. It is applied usually with a torch the heats-up and allows the metal to oxidize. A ray of light partially reflects off the film’s surface. The part that penetrates the oxide film reflects off the metal surface and rejoins the original ray, but it is delayed which causes its oscillations to be out of synch. It is said to be phase shifted, which causes it to interfere, like two waves at the beach. Some colors interfere constructively (intensifying them) others destructively (diminishing them) because the index of refraction of the film is wavelength dependent, causing the delay to be wavelength dependent. Remember that the speed of light through a material is the speed of light through a vacuum divided by the index of refraction. And the final part of magic is that as you shift your head and look at different angles the rays coming at you have longer or shorter paths through the film causing the colors to shift. This last part is really what we call the iridescence effect.

There you have it physics at the mall. Physics is everywhere – so reassuring!

Figure 1 – Autumn comes to Dean Park, Shrewsbury, MA a few years back, (c) DE Wolf.

It is October, and you can smell it – apple cider, sugared doughnuts, and pumpkins. I saw a swan gourd yesterday that was quite obscene. There is a certain damp chill to the air, but the sun is making a last glorious display ahead of winter. My favorite holiday is coming fast upon us. Halloween. So it is time to dust off an put up The Hati and Skoll Halloween slide show.

In Massachusetts, we are never far from witches and we have not always treated them so well. So if you run into one on a Halloween’s night, it is best to be deferential and kind. Though still cross about this Salem thing, they mean us no harm. They are not MacBeth’s crones. They delight in the spirit of the world. They speak a very ancient tongue. And seek only to make the world a better place. Give them candy if they utter the incantation, “trick or treat.” And remember what Tibullus (55-19 BCE) said,

“I myself have seen this woman draw the stars from the sky; she diverts the course of a fast-flowing river with her incantations; her voice makes the earth gape, it lures the spirits from the tombs, sends the bones tumbling from the dying pyre. At her behest, the sad clouds scatter; at her behest, snow falls from a summer’s sky.”

Witch # 2, (c) DE Wolf, 2013

The Bride&Groom, DE Wolf, 2013

Frankenstein, DE Wolf, 2013

Ghoul # 1, DE Wolf, 2013

Ghoul # 2, DE Wolf, 2013

Pumpkin, DE Wolf, 2013

Skeleton # 1, DE Wolf, 2013

Skeleton # 2, DE Wolf, 2013

Skeleton # 3, DE Wolf, 2013

Witch # 3, DE Wolf, 2013

Wraith, DE Wolf, 2013

Zombie # 3, DE Wolf, 2013

Zombie # 1, DE Wolf, 2013

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Figure 1 – Heart pendant shattering glass, Natick, MA. (c)DE Wolf 2017.

I continue to be impressed by retail window designers. One of the always delights places is Tiffany’s at our local mall. I took the image of Figure 1 with my IPhone 6 – a heart pendant shattering a plane of glass. I am not quite sure what exactly the symbolism is, broken hearts perhaps, but I found the concept very appealing. I knew immediately that I would need to go high contrast because of all the reflections in the window.However, in the end, I decided that I liked the additional ambiguity of meaning that the high contrast contributes.

Figure 1 – Burberry dolphin, Natick, MA (c) DE Wolf 2017

Figure 1 today is that of a fanciful dolphin on a Burberry handbag. It is another mall/IPhone shot that I took. Dolphins always bring a smile to our faces. I remember vividly going to the Everglades National Park and when the boat took us through the mangrove swamps and into the Gulf of Mexico, they gunned the motor and the dolphins joyful road our boat’s wake. They are magical in two ways. First, we believe them to be of superior intelligence rivaling, perhaps surpassing our own. Dolphins do not kill one another, nor do they threaten us with nuclear war. We long to communicate with them and wonder what they might tell us of their world. Second, they are deeply rooted in human mythology. They adorn the frescoes of the Minoan Palace of Knossos from the second millennium BCE. To the Greeks they were sacred to both Aphrodite and Apollo, although they were most closely associated with the god Poseidon, who is often depicted surrounded by them. To Greek mariners they were considered a good omen. Perhaps most significantly, the ancient Romans placed dolphins in charge of carrying the souls of the dead to the Blessed Isles. At a deeper level this role associates them with the fundamental mystical processes of life, death, and resurrection.

Figure 1 – Pottery, Natick, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

I was in a good mood on Saturday when I went for my walk at the mall; so I spent the time exploring what can be done artistically with my IPhone 6. I was happy with several of my “shots.” The first one was the image of the macarons from yesterday. Not too far from the macarons, I found this window full of pottery. You’re almost always shooting through glass and have to pay close attention to all the reflections. But one nice point is that the window display designers tend to use nice highlight lighting Here you see highlights even in the dull grey pot in the foreground. I imagined it as a black and white, but in the end found that I liked to subtle green, blue, and grey tones of the original scene.

Figure 1 – Macaron Tower of Yum, Natick, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

I am a firm believer that in New England fall colors are not confined to leaves. So I captured this “Tower of Yum” at our local macaronerie in the mall with my IPhone 6 needless-to-say. Macarons never fail to delight the eye with their gorgeous pastel shades. It may be heresy to say this, but for me they are more beautiful to see than to eat!

Figure 1 – Freshly broken, Maynard, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

The northern forest is dynamic. It changes with the seasons, with the winds, and with the storms. At the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge the woods are very brittle. Trees are always breaking, and I admire the efforts of the rangers at keeping the paths safe. Today i came upon a newly cracked tree. Some wind had snapped it off its base. The color and the smell of the freshly broken wood was evident. I took a picture (Figure 1) first with my cellphone and then with my Canon. It is curious how the different formats demand different perspectives. Here I chose the Canon’s image as preferable. Despite the big lens, I think the image worked, meaning nice and sharp, nice and close-up.  It reminds me of a mineral rather than a botanical specimen. And I also think of the monolith rising in “2001, a Space Odyssey.”

Figure 1 – The first September light, Late summer’s grass, Sept. 1, 2017, Sudbury, MA. 9c) DE Wolf 2017.

So, it is officially September, and I am taking a day off ahead of the Labor Day Weekend. Always sad to see summer officially go; always nice to see and feel the coming of the September light. For the first time in a very long time, and I emphasize the very long time, I went this morning to the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge and was struck, so immediately, by the glow of grass seeds in the September morning light. It was glorious, and I took the photograph of Figure 1 to try and capture the moment. I used my big lens close-up, not the best but what was on the camera, and spot focused on the seeds in the middle foreground. The result, I hope, is successful in its simplicity. The sunlight on the grass is nature’s simple gift for a late summer morning, and, of course, the woods beckon.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM len at 100 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/80th sec at f/22 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – An August Sky, Westborough, MA August 20, 2017. IPhone photograph. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

I so want to be in Idaho today. Ah well. But I am going to share the image of an August Sky as Figure 1. In the Northeast the Dogs Days are resplendent with dramatic fair weather skies.

I remember August in summer camp. Did I ever mention how much I hated summer camp? But August brought with it warm breezes and dramatic clouds. As a youth, I remember and staring up contemplatively at the August sky. Everything was calm, but there was the promise of the coming of September, which meant another school year. And each new school year was like a rebirth. A sense that lasted perhaps until Halloween, when it all became routine again.

It is strange that even in adulthood we subliminally measure time according to an academic calendar. So soon I will be talking to you about the magnificence of September light. But as we ascend to that, please take a moment to look up and, of course, to take a few images that capture your thoughts. It is not a waste of time.

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

John Lubbock (1834-1913)