Mud Season

The opportunity to capture this image came with the walk in search of landscape shots. The sun reflected heavily off of the water, as it sunk into tire tracks of the sodden country road. The play of line with shadow appealed to me from the bridge and ruts, both travelling in opposite directions.

This is a typical March day, with the wet dog to dry out alongside the muddy boots and smell of wet dirt.

Labor and Leisure

This landscape includes a rusting work tool, looking over a field in waiting, in the foreground. The background includes Mount Mansfield's ski trails. It struck me that time can be used for labor and leisure.

I took several shots of the garden tool in the foreground, and found that this one told the story the best.

Rules

With the rules of thirds, the idea is that the eye finds the subject in a portion of the image that is represented by a grid of 9 equal parts. I attempted to illustrate the rule by photographing my walking partner on a country road.

Composition and Aesthetics

Composition separates a snapshot from an artful image. There is thought and vision involved with composing. The medium might be film or sensor, paint, pencil, musical scores, words, smells, or other materials that tell our story.

The vision is the beginning. What the artist is trying to express can be created in a number of ways. This takes knowledge, experience, wisdom, and luck. Like any other art form, photography has a history. Seeing what expert photographic artists have recorded is one tool that the aspiring artist is wise to aspire to.

The lovely colors of my hen's eggs are contrasted by the black shiny granite surface. The elements are all natural: copper wire basket, eggs from a variety of hens, and polished granite. The color themes in this image include analagous (eggs) and contrast (black surface beneath eggs).

This blanket, constructed of a variety of yarn end pieces, was made lovingly by my 80 year old mother. I appreciate it for many reasons. The pattern of colors is complementary, and vibrant, while being warm and soothing, providing shelter from chilly evenings.

I was fortunate to capture the final throws of the vestiges of sunlight. You might feel the cool temperature descend.