Dear Reader (2020-07-24),
In the previous and first post in this sequence I talked about cows and expansive spaces on my drive south. As April says, sometimes I don’t start early, I start in the middle of the night. That was the case the morning of July 9th. My initial intent was to be south of Chain Lakes by sunrise. I had missed the sunrise by the time I started wandering west on dead end dirt roads that end up against the Livingstone Range (01a). The dew was still on the ground when I was stopped more than once by cows (02) that really didn’t give a damn I was interrupting their meanders.
One dead-end road led me to the Bob Creek Staging Area which is a parking area used primarily by equestrians and off highway vehicles to access Bob Creek Wildland. I went for a short walk up a longer than expected rise (09). Looking back roughly towards the Porcupine Hills, the sky rolled like the ground (08). As I made my way towards Lundbreck there were multiple distractions including a new addition (05) to the Thin Line Series. These additions don’t happen often, and when they do I smile.
Updated 2020-07-24 17:08 – Photo display issue fixed.
Cheers, Sean
All rights for all material on any media reserved – © Sean P Drysdale 2020
Photo #1 Great light and engaging composition. You might darken the sky to add more drama to the image. Photo #6 It is an interesting contrast between the lush green fields surrounding the ranch and the distant mountains. Photo #9 interesting perspective as I’m drawn up the steep road. You might enhance this experience by dramatically darkening the sky as there are interesting clouds in this scene. Also you could convert this image to black&white just for the fun of it.
Photo numbers! Love it.
1 is a total wow! The sky, the gently rolling field, the lines, the 21 bales, the 3 fence posts. That one made the trip worth it.
5 I have to ask, having the telephone or power pole in the photo, there, in all the empty thereness, was a choice. Why? I love the sky and the field, and the fence posts, and the road is a nice framing device. Sometimes the pole is inescapable, or it’s part of the landscape, but it doesn’t seem to be here, unless there’s other stuff nearby the viewer can’t see. Maybe it’s a see the rule break the rule thing.
6 could easily be a documentary roadside photo, and yet it’s somehow more. Maybe the 3 layers of green, a layer of mountain, and a layer of sky lead you in, and the bright structures stand out, but look like they belong.
7 An odd number of cows, that’s good. A prime number even. Does this make them prime ribs? I’m sure you planned it, but didn’t make it too obvious. The one cow giving it’s best stink eye at you amuses me.
8 I love me a wide panorama. The road leading in, and the clouds arcing over lead the eye around and around.
Thank you for visiting and commenting.
~ Yes, I figured out how to display captions.
~ The funny thing about 01 is that it was one of the first images captured on the trip, and it is by far the best image of the drive. I am getting even fussier about my fives. The last one took me nearly a month to see if it had staying power. 01 is in the running. I’m still undecided on whether cutting off some of the hay bales is a good or a bad thing.
~ Up until know “Thin Line” images have been structured as a stack of horizontal elements. As I was framing 05 it struck me that I could break the structure and still stay true to the idea of exploring the way, in the midst of all this expanse, we are surrounded by signs and symbols of control.
~ Prime rib – clever! Oh yes of course I counted the cows and waited until the right number of cows were in the frame 😊, or perhaps I was just drawn to the inverted triangle and the cow that was obviously pissed at me for interrupting its morning saunter.
~ I also like 08 because it captures the sense of expanse but the clouds weren’t quite like that. Their forms are in part the result of the stitching software trying to make lines align. The feeling is correct but as a depiction of reality it is not. Cheers