14 April

See Ya Tuesday: Devices

by Jon Katz
Devices
Devices

See Ya Tuesday- Device Report

Electronic devices shape every trip. What to bring? What to leave? Our relationship with technology is getting ever more complicated. I am going away for a short trip. Taking the Iphone, taking the Canon and one extra lens. Taking the Kindle for emergency book buying. Leaving the Ipad. Plus cables. I have to check e-mail, otherwise there will be hundreds. I cannot read my Facebook messages and notifications, there are thousands, I have no need of being notified everytime someone likes a photo or links or shares. This is noise, not signal. Bringing two books to finish. See you Tuesday.

14 April

Changing Landscape

by Jon Katz
Changing Landscape
Changing Landscape

Two weeks ago, we removed my farm art, the pile of tires. Today, my friend Jack Macmillan is coming by in his tractor to take the winter’s stockpile of manure – we shoveled it out of the Pole Barn every day to keep it clean – and scatter it over the pasture. So the landscape will change again. In a couple of weeks, Todd Mason is coming to open up the pasture down below and to the left and fence it. It is where the donkeys will spend much of the summer, happily crunching through brush. We are off to Vermont this morning and when we return, our landscape will have changed again

14 April

Still Life: Two Things That Belonged To Florence Walrath

by Jon Katz
Two Things Of Florence's
Two Things Of Florence’s

There was an auction last year at which many of Florence Walrath’s belongings were sold. We bought very few of these things, we didn’t want our home to be a museum to someone else, and Florence’s spirit is quite strong all over the farm. I did buy these two things, a piece of her blue glass, an old bottle that was in her basement. Photographing them was challenging, as they are in a windowsill – part of Maria’s windowsill art project – and there was little space for me to get behind. I waited until the sun was on the white clapboard and got them at an angle with a 100 mm macro lens – good for detail.  They are delicate and graceful, they evoke her spirit in a way that is not overwhelming.

14 April

The Fabric Of Life. Through The Viewfinder. Composing a Picture.

by Jon Katz
Fabric Of Life
Fabric Of Life

Photography is about the fabric of life. I think quite a bit about composition, which, oddly, is the most natural part of photography for me. Looking through the view finder, I saw some things right away. I love seeing Red there, watching the sheep, I liked the tree leaning over him and towards him. And then, these other elements of the fabric – the brown patch of mud, the grass down below beginning to turn green, and then, the sunlight hitting the grass and making it brighter. So a number of different elements. The eye is drawn to the dog, of course, and he is framed by the tree and backlit by the sun, which brings Red into sharp focus. I waited for the sun. The mud for contrast. The fabric of life. Maria and I are heading off to our Vermont Inn, returning Tuesday morning.

I’m taking the camera, going to really focus on my 50 mm. Hope to bring some nice photos back to you.

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