Nikon

beyond the entanglement of perception

 

pondwalkwayweb

Nikon D750  f/7.1   1/400s  28mm   

Sometimes Providence interferes and saves the beginner from all trouble with his stops. It did so with me. I had a dog which took a great interest in my first camera from the very beginning. There is, perhaps, something about morocco leather which reminds a dog of the Elysian fields. It was a lens-cap, morocco bound outside, velvet inside, which Charlie devoured first. A cork out of a pyro bottle fortunately fitted the lens-hood exactly. Then, after eating the cap, while my head was under the focusing cloth, Charlie devoured the leather case, with all the stops in it. This was an insurmountable difficulty. I know I wrote to the maker of the lens to ask what a new set would cost, but as the amount was more than I possessed, I determined to do without. That is why I was saved from under-exposure, with I should surely have been led into with a multitude of stops.

~Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (cited: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, The History of Photography Series, p.6)

xdrive photography learning – 18 – golden hour

In this xdrive photography lesson, Raj  notes that for about an hour during sunrise and again at sunset, photographers are gifted with what is known as the “golden hour” or “magic light.”  Generally the sun’s light is diffused and soft during these two time periods.

In the image below, I chose to combine Raj’s golden hour lesson with a personal study of  the rule of odds.  This image was created about 40 minutes before sunset with what I identified as cirrostratus clouds to the west of my home.  In the past, I have found that the quality of light during the hour before and after sunset is often times influenced by both western clouds as well as the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

 

goldenhourweb

Nikon D750   f/7.1   .5 s   35 mm (prime)   ISO 100   neutral density lens

truth & strength…together

geesetwo-3web

…we were determined to speak the truth. Now I understand that truth and virtue must be joined by strength. When I first read the French author La Fontaine many years ago, I was disturbed by this statement: ‘The argument of the strongest party is always the best.’ …life has taught me more than once that his statement is at least partly true. Truth without strength cannot stand firm. Strength does not have to mean tyranny or violence, but one must be strong. Without strength, how could those with no more than a pen challenge powerful authorities? 

~Thich Nhat Hanh (Fragrant Palm Leaves)

 

 

the sound of loneliness

orchidweb12217

Nikon D750    f/6.3    1/50s   35 mm   I00 ISO

Let me introduce you to Hu Ge, one of the top actors in China who has an amazing singing voice.  His role in a series entitled, Nirvana in Fire, has been noted by fans to parallel the leading character’s rise from a tragedy.  In 2006, a serious car accident that took the life of his friend and assistant, resulted in major surgeries which included over a hundred sutures on his face and neck.  It would take him nearly a year to recover.

orchid

orchidweb

The poetry of Japan has its seeds in the human heart and mind and grows into the myriad leaves of words. Because people experience many different phenomena in this world, they express that which they think and feel in their hearts in terms of all that they see and hear. A nightingale singing among the blossoms, the voice of a pond-dwelling frog–listening to these, what living being would not respond with his own poem? It is poetry which effortlessly moves the heavens and earth, awakens the world of invisible spirits to deep feeling, softens the relationship between men and women, and consoles the hearts of fierce warriors.

~Ki no Tsurayuki, (preface Kosinsbū, ca. 905)

Concern…for others

leavesweb

Nikon D750   f/1.8   1/1000 s   35 mm   100 ISO

In the first legend of the Grail, it is said the Grail . . . belongs to the first comer who asks the guardian of the vessel, a king three quarters paralyzed by the most painful wound, ‘What are you going through?’ It is in our concern for others that we find the Grail.

cited: Robert Aitken, A Zen Wave