“Try thinking of a color that doesn’t exist.”
Kevin Molesworth
―
No AI today, just Nature. Amazing what water and air can create. All I had to do was look at my feet.
Tag Archives: B&W
Like a Tree
Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop
Rumi
I used a step stool to get some elevation 🙂
Should have used a ladder…
Anyways, what do you think?
You see, I have nothing to say tonight, so I’ll leave you with a wise quote by wise man.
Arctic Light
“You only get one sunrise
and one sunset a day,and you only get
so many days on the planet. “Galen Rowell
Thinking back about my summer in the Arctic I am dearly reminded that we only get so many days on the planet, although for months the sun would not set nor rise.
When days and nights unite in the Arctic summer time seems to stand still for a while. Nothing tells us that it is midnight and we should be asleep, or midday and we should have lunch. Without access to daily news, TV episodes, shopping days, release dates, and scheduled appointmements it is possible to forget about time…
Until summer changes to winter. Then, time stands still, or at least moves very slowly, so it feels during long, dark nights.
Summer or winter, the light up North feels special. Like a gift of Nature. Food for the soul when it’s abundant. And like an essential vitamin, when it’s sparse?
It feels like an eternity that I have left the Arctic, although it’s just been a few weeks. That must mean I miss it…
Brooks Range: Horizons
“I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.”
Summer 2018 seems to go into the record books as a relatively cool and wet one, quite in contrast to the rest of the nation. Nevertheless, there were clear, warm, breezy, and calm days sprinkled into the mix. The constantly changing weather patterns made for great photo opportunities, I think. Rainy days were used for sorting through my images, making pastry, doing laundry, roughly in that order.
On my blueberry and mushroom expeditions, I ended frequently on ridge tops, which offered the best views of the immensity of the Brooks Range, short of being in a bush plane. Haven’t seen a single paraglider, although these hills are just calling for it. Gentle slopes in all directions, no powerlines, no fences… Once in a while a golden eagle or a pair of ravens are cruising along the ridge lines, showing me where the upwinds are. The same hills should make for amazing backcountry skiing, sans the cold… Maybe I will come back in March or April, when the winter temperatures may be bearable, and come to think of it, when there is also sufficient daylight for this activity. At night, I could watch the northern lights.
Endicott Mountains, Brooks Range, Alaska
The oldtimers say September brings cooler, clear days. We shall see. The North Slope has already been blanketed several times with a couple inches of snow.
The Essence of Things
Many moons ago I was fascinated by the adventures of Everett Ruess, a young man, who traveled isolated deserts and canyons of the West about hundred years ago and then disappeared. Much has been written about him, including some biographies by W. L. Rusho and David Roberts and more recently a more fictional account of the young man by Robert Louis DeMayo: “Pledge to the Wind, the Legend of Everett Ruess”. That one is high on my “to read” list.
I have seen almost more beauty
than I can bear.”Everett Ruess
Everett was an artist and he managed to support his journeys in part by painting. He also wrote a daily letter to his parents and kept a diary. I have not seen any of his watercolor work, but I have seen reproductions of his woodcuts. They are amazing. Woodcuts are a god’s end for minimalists. They capture the essence of a scene with a minimum of detail. Everett was a master at that.
I became interested in the technique. Since we are living in the 21st century, I decided to make my first woodcut on a computer. That’s not art, you say? You are right. It’s just a fun way to concentrate on the essence of an object. There is a wonderful tutorial by Cheryl Graham on the web and the robin in it has been treated and mistreated hundreds of times. Here is my version.
Since the nights here are getting shorter by around 6 minutes every day, there will be less chance for working on my woodcut skills, but the prints remind me to focus on the essence of things.
Note to Self
“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be.”
Groucho Marx
Some days it is difficult to remember that happiness is a choice.
Wishing you and me the ability to remember that.
That and great views.
Rain, Mist, and Clouds – № 3
“So fine was the morning
except for a streak of wind here and there
that the sea and sky looked all one fabric,
as if sails were stuck high up in the sky,
or the clouds had dropped down into the sea.”Virginia Woolf
Another beautiful morning in the Taiya Inlet. Despite the gloomy forecast we had some amazing days. Not all visitors may appreciate the mist and fog providing a mysterious backdrop to our mountains. I have never been to Misty Fjords, but I imagine that’s what this place could look like.
Misty morning in the Taiya Inlet, Alaska
The rainy weather has brought out the mushrooms in droves. More about that later.
World Photography Day
“The Earth is Art.
The Photographer is the Witness.”
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
It was 177 years ago that Louis Daguerre, originally a painter, found a way to fix images obtained with a camera obscura: Photography was born.
Did this change the world? You bet.
Do images today change the world? I am not sure.
I don’t want go into it today…
Let’s celebrate a great invention and hope that it will serve humanity well.
Tutshi Lake, Yukon
Rain, Mist, and Clouds – № 2
“The rain is falling all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.”Robert Louis Stevenson
Normally cruise ships arrive quietly early in the morning, as to not wake up their passengers. Not so on days like this, when dense fog covers the Lynn Canal. Despite modern electronics, the captains still use the traditional fog horn to make their presence known.
They may sound like wounded animal searching for a safe harbor, but when the ships appear out of nowhere, they seem to find their dock with great precision and ease.
Robert Stevenson, a Scottish poet, writer, and traveler. His journey finally led him to Samoa, where he built a farm and bonded with the locals.
Roots
“True morality consists not
in following the beaten track,
but in finding the true path for ourselves,
and fearlessly following it.”Mahatma Gandhi
Dyea, Alaska
One benefit of age is that you can look back, not to regret, just to reminisce. There were obstacles, detours, and dead ends. Did it matter? Not really. Life went on.
I hope that our future leaders choose paths of morality and ethics, not short term gains and fame.
Bearly 