Line Drawing on Water, 2006

I love going back through my archives. I took this image just after acquiring my Sony R1 in early 2006. I still miss the articulating LCD that was so handy for compositions like this.

MY MORNING RIDE UP FICKLE HILL

Greeting the Sun While Heading East, 2013

I went for a bike ride first thing this morning. I am not riding the thirty-five and fifty mile rides that I did ten years ago,  but I still can make it up Fickle Hill. The hill forces me to get into an aerobic exercise zone. If I did not I would be going so slow that I would just fall over like the guy (Arte Johnson) on Laugh In used to do.

IT IS ALL ABOUT LIGHT

The Illuminated Tree, 2012

I worked for years attempting to capture this particular quality of light. In the past, I often saw the glowing sunlight in these smaller trees. The lit branches and needles were in contrast with the darker trunks of the surrounding giants, and the shaft of sunlight usually was limited to a very narrow corridor.

I think that this type of lighting within the deep forest is very similar to that of stage lighting. It is as if there is a solo performer on the stage, and that performer is illuminated with a high-key light from behind and from above and off to one side. The angles provide the opportunity for the needles, lichen, and branches to glow. The illusion is that the tree seems to glow from within. Or is it an illusion?

I took this image last November while on an outing with David Mast somewhere up Lost Man Creek. I am very pleased with this interpretation of the lighting. This is what I see when I am in the forest and come upon such a scene. Until last night, I never was able to create an image that carried this particular essence of a back lit tree.

DEEPER INTO THE FOREST

Redwood Bark, 2013

Fortunately, there are places still where one may retire to the deeper recesses of the forest. We have numerous places where to do so is possible, and many are within a one-hour drive from where I live.

I live in a redwood forest. Our property borders the Arcata Community Forest. It is mostly a second-growth forest, and ours is too. I go out there at least twice a week when I walk the dog. I go out there to photograph as well, and sometimes I go there just because I like being there.

As nice as our woods are, they pale in comparison to the old-growth forests. The differences are somewhat easy to grasp if one only considers scale. There is more to it than that. The old growth forest and its individual member trees give a sense of presence that colors one's mood. Loud voices hush to whispers, and a feeling of deep joy may arise within one's soul. At least that is what happens to me.

I hope that some of that comes through with these images that I share here.

SECRETS OF THE FOREST

Secrets of the Forest, 2013

I am compiling a body of work that is thematically based on the revelations of the deep redwood forest. This work includes the subsets that I named The Spirit Tree Series, and Sacred Snag Shrines. It also includes my newest subset that includes the forest floor. The above image is from the latter set as was the image that I posted yesterday.

A BLACK AND WHITE WORK IN PROGRESS

Illuminated Snag, 2013

One of the things that gives the ancient redwood forest a sense of timelessness is that the monuments to the ancestors remain for a very long time. In this old-growth grove, most of the trees are mature, and it is these that capture the attention. There are younger trees, but I do not notice them as much. The sheer size and mass of the giants tend to overwhelm my senses, and rightly so.

The forest that we live in on Fickle Hill, is comprised of mostly second, third, and perhaps fourth -growth redwoods. We know of a few old growth trees in the community forest, but they are very rare, and are with one exception, living snags.

That is why I love going to the protected forests. It is there that I can get a sense of what these environments were really like two hundred years ago. I am grateful for those who fought to save what  they could, and it does not get any better than at Prairie Creek State Park.

LOOKING UP INTO THE TREE TOPS

Among the Giants, Looking Skyward, 2013

Here is another photograph from yesterday's outing. 

EMERGENCE

Emergence, Variation One, 2013

This image stirs up things in me that I cannot put into words. I know that there are many mysteries in the deep forest, and I think that this is the portal to one of those mysteries.

I feel that to be a successful as a fine artist that one must break through ordinary reality. This image does so for me.

Emergence, Variation Two, 2013

By the way, I took these photographs this afternoon while on an outing with Hal and Pam at Prairie Creek State Park. We had the trail to ourselves.

WINTER'S SUN AND SKY

Rustic Fence and Rough Road, 2012

I took this image a year ago while out on an outing with my brother Dan. I was sharing some of our back country roads with him. This one is Snow Camp Road off of Butler Valley Road above Korbel. As I recall, this was mid day, but because of the time of the year, the angle of the light gave that nice frontal angle. I used the 17mm tilt/shift lens for this composition.

About fifteen years ago I road this on my bicycle with a large group of riders. That was back when a fifty mile ride was fairly common for me.

A VERY SPECIAL PLACE

Taylor's Peak, Humboldt County, 2012

I often saw this view from one of the facilities where I worked. Almost every time I went to the site, I was treated to a frequently changing view of the mountain. Sometimes it was wrapped in fog or brushed with clouds. Occasionally it was blanketed with snow, but always it emitted an aura of the sacred.

One time about fifteen years ago, I think the breeze whispered the true name of the mountain. That was about the time when protesters were attempting to stop the logging of the remaning old growth Douglas Firs on its and the surrounding hills slopes. This is near the headwaters of the north fork of the Mattole.

ALTERNATIVE REALITIES

Industrial Switching in a Make Believe World

I do not think that I shared this photo yet. It reminds me of the many safe places that I created in my youth. I created safe places so that I could escape into a place of my fantasies, and leave reality behind. I was often accused of being a day-dreamer, and I know now that I was indeed.

I was not given the tools that would have helped me make my way among my peers in school. I was not encouraged in sports, and did not know how to hold my own with other kids. I did figure out how to escape by imersing myself in books and in play.

This photograph is my creation. The scenery is not. This layout is part of a model train layout that others built. I was invited to create some compelling images of the layout, and this is one example.

This takes me back to when I was a boy of ten and as an adult in my twenties. I dreamed of railroading as a ten-year old and I became one when I was eighteen. 

LET THE SUNSHINE IN

Cool Meets Warm or Night Greets Dawn at Fernbridge, 2012

I suppose that this image may be interperted in any manner of ways. My immediate thought is that no matter what we say, think, or do, the light follows the dark in an endless cycle of life and balance.