Spring in the Forest, Part 2

So today's destination was Saint Edward State Park, on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary:

Most of the place is forest, though. I usually avoid forests on sunny days, but I tried Saint Edward today for two reasons: (1) I didn't want to travel too far from home in case I got called in to work, and (2) I though the more open winter/spring forest canopy might afford more possibilities than you'd have later in the spring or in the summer.

Not everything I did was successful, but check these out:

It's hard to get much color diversity in a forest; that's the only problem. Pretty much everything is green, brown, or somewhere in between.

Also, check it out: ferns growing on trees!! So cool!!

It's been good to hit that old trail again, although I'm a bit out of shape and found huffing and puffing back up the hill from the lake a bit of a problem. Hopefully this spring I'll be able to ease myself back into some semblance of physical fitness.

The trail beckons!!!!

The Past Couple Months

Finally some new material! Because let's face it, folks: it's been a crazy winter quarter and, much to my vexation, I haven't had very many opportunities to go out shooting, because of (1) the constant barrage of homework, and (2) frequent cloudiness and rainfall, making photography less worth it given the existence of (1).

Cloudy days certainly are useful, later in the spring or in the fall, and especially in the summer. During the winter, however, I find them pretty disappointing. I can't do very much in open areas because of the whitewashed sky - and more areas qualify as "open" due to the lack of leaves on trees. Forested areas - the cloudy-day highlight of summer - are pretty drab and brown. And more white spots show through because of the bare trees. Finally, there isn't a ton of interesting close-up subject matter.

All that aside, I did get out a few times during winter quarter. First, this from Pacific City, OR, where I went with my housemates over a long weekend (unfortunately for my photography, it was pouring rain for all but about 30 minutes of our stay):

And then a trip to Discovery Park:

The obligatory sunrise trip to Magnuson Park. I don't know what I'd do without this place; it's the early-morning gift that keeps on giving. I took this picture stuck on the side of a hill, barely able to keep my balance. Worth it!

Finally, a trip to Discovery Park this month. Note the different character of the clouds - this was one of the first days this year where the clouds were starting to look like spring clouds. It's hard to describe what exactly that is. I think part of it is the rapid alternation of overcast and sunshine that happens in spring weather. Also I think there tend to be more cumuliform clouds in the spring than in the winter, due to the clash between greater surface-level warming and residual cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere, which encourages convection and thus cumulus-type clouds. I'm not really sure how it all works, but I checked out some cloud books from the library and am trying to learn how the weather around here operates. Anyhow, here are a couple good ones:

I was very fortunate to have this shot. The sun was not out the whole time I was at Discovery. Indeed, it was clouding up as I drove there, and the sun was obscured for the beginning of my visit. I noticed this tree and the clouds behind it, but knew that sunshine would make this picture way more dramatic and cool. When the sun came out, I realized my luck and sprinted over to this tree.

These clouds around the chapel were a lucky little bonus. I almost missed them, but was fortunate enough to turn around at the right time as I was walking away from the chapel and notice them.

Also, spring has sprung in the forest! Some leaves are starting to come out, as you can see in the background of this next one!

I'd better sign off. I think I heard a clap of thunder outside, and want to get off my computer before it zaps me. It's spriiiing!!!

"A Hunger for Desolate Places"

I generally avoid humans and their creations in my photographs. When buildings, and other human-made items appear, however, they often rusty, dilapidated, deteriorating or overgrown. Such as this house upon which I stumbled once outside of Spokane, WA. I don't know who owns the property or what, but this house has been there for as long as I can remember. Looking at this picture reminds me of severe foot pain - it seems that every time I walk down this road, (often in sandals due to the summer heat), the bottoms of my feet get ripped to shreds. It's not as though that always happens when I take long walks in my sandals, so perhaps the road is cursed. Or maybe gravel gets in my sandals.

Interestingly, getting back to the point, this picture is part of a pattern, I just realized. My man-made picture subjects tend to be run-down, overgrown, or otherwise lonely and abandoned-looking (this next one from my grandparents' house in central WA):

Or even this - the natural growth is very lush, but something about the staircase seems abandoned. Not forlorn per se, but consumed by the forest. This one was from Carkeek Park in Seattle, on one of the rare days last June when it didn't rain:

And that's just a few of them. What's going on?? Not all of my pictures of human-made subjects look like this, but many of them do, perhaps even a majority. Certainly a majority of the ones I would consider "good."

I went through trying to see if I had any similar trends in my strictly nature photos. I could not find very good examples; my subject matter in that case is much more seasonally determined, with a preference for alive-looking subjects during the growing season. Most of my dead-looking pictures are either from dry parts of the summer (e.g. dormant grass) or from the winter, and I've been taking less dead-looking pictures lately. Some of my pictures convey a sense of solitude/loneliness, although the theme isn't as strong as it is with human-made objects.

I think this pattern is common to a lot of photographers, taking pictures of rusty, abandoned, and decrepit human creations. Do photographers, especially nature-oriented photographers, take a subliminally pessimistic view of man-made items, focusing on decay?

This doesn't have to be entirely morbid and pessimistic, though. This seems more likely to me: the old and run-down can be intriguing, because it is shrouded in mystery. For instance, what is that old house doing there in that field? What was it in its heyday, why was it abandoned, and why is it still there? In its ambiguity, it stimulates the imagination and stirs insatiable curiosity.