LONELY LOOKING SKY

THE NINE-O-NINE, ARCATA, JUNE 2012

In my continuing theme on impermenance, I feel that I must acknowledge that there are varriables in the notion of what is perment and what is fleeting. Within a relatively short period of time this aircraft will no longer exist. Perhaps at that time ACV will no longer exist as an airport.

Whether the airport is gone then or not, the fog that develops there will still be forming, and the basic geography will be mostly the same. Add a thousand years to our timeline, and by then the geography will (by odds) have experienced at least one major earthquake. Depending on which nearby faults shift and when, the cross runway will have been split, the altitude of the airport will have changed, and a tsunami will have affected the local area with affects similar to that of the one that devastated Japan last year.

If we add a million years to our timeline we may see that the North Pacific Current would have shifted. If and when that happens the local geography will have radically changed because of the movement along the San Andreas Fault. The climate at what is now ACV will likely be different. I wonder if there would be life as we know it. Would there still be aircraft, and would there be anyone or any record of the events of WWII.

CONTINUING ON THE THEME OF IMPERMANANCE

INTERIOR OF BURNED OUT SNAG, ARCATA, 2007

This image was taken from inside a burned out old-growth redwood snag not far from our place. I first photographed this particular snag in the mid nineteen-eighties. Back then I used my old four-by-five view camera, and shot it all in black and white. When I took this image the snag was still fairly massive in its size. When they logged out back two years ago a tree was dropped on top of this snag, and most of it was beaten back into the earth.

SNAG, ARCATA COMMUNITY FOREST, 2011

I think that this validates my point about the impermanence of all thing great and small. I do not have much else to say about the subject today. I am very content in the knowledge that my experience with this snag provides me.

FIRETRUCK REPOSE

FIRETRUCK AT SAMOA, 2010

I am still pondering the notion of sharing one's history. I think most of us that live lives of relative comfort have the time to reflect. I think it is especially true of those of us in my age group. We, for the most part, have raised our families, had our careers, and in general have more opportunities to ponder our life's stories.

I think that some of us value our past endeavors enough so that we become part of the type of historical groups that reflect our earlier lives or dreams. I am certain that those WWII bombers still fly because of the passion of those whose intent was to preserve the aircraft. I associate with a group that maintains old railroad artifacts, rolling stock and buildings. Those folks invest a lot of time and energy into the maintenance and restoration of their railroad related relics.

I am pondering the notion that my participation with these artifacts somehow bring to life a somewhat idealized concept of my youth and my dreams of my youth. When I photograph historic buildings, structures, aircraft, and heavy equipment I do experience a sort of time travel. I place my attention on a subject that in some manner takes me back in time to the haunts and desires of my youthful years. In essence I build a shrine to my dreams, visions, history, and adventures each time I complete a photograph, and exhibit it in a gallery.

I think it goes beyond "living in my past". I think too that I am validating who it is that I have become. Yes, my history includes the fact that I worked on the railroad, served in the army, raised a family, built a house and so on, but it also reflects who it is that I am now. I take the common thread that runs through my story. I almost always photographed in the style that I photograph today. It is with that thread of photography that I may tell my story. I acknowledge that that is what I am doing. I am sharing my passions, and my story as best as I can through my photographs.

CHANGING HISTORY

THE LIBERATOR AT ACV, JUNE 2012

I suppose that all of us have at least considered what it would be like to go back in time an make some alterations. I have, and I wish I could. There are memories that I have that I hold dear. Some of these memories that I treasure are ones that I did not fully appreciate when they occurred. It was only after the passage of time that I started remembering certain events in my life with new-found affection. In my mind's eye I paint over the trials and tribulations of certain events, and see them with a completely different set of emotions.

I think of many of the midnight shifts where I spent the nights switching out railroad cars in the Southern Pacific rail yard in Bakersfield. Most of those nights I would have preferred to be home in bed, but instead I was working in the dark amongst dangerous moving objects. What I did in those days was to go out and earn an income for my family. I worked hard at my job, and was well paid. I moved on and worked in train service, and eventually in engine service. I worked on the road all over southern California. In those days I seldom took time to appreciate that I was working with classic locomotives in an historical and important place. I just knew the day-to-day issues of employment.

It was only after I left the employment of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and a decade or two passed, that I started to see those shifts in the yard, and those runs over the Tehachapi Mountains as being somewhat romantic. In my mind's eye I realized that what I did then now seems like it would be fun.

The same is true for my military service. I cursed my luck and the Army during my time spent in South Korea. I was freezing on a missile base in the dead of winter and I would rather have been anywhere else. Now I wax nostalgic, thinking of the many adventures I had while there.

The above photograph makes me think of these things. If you look at yesterday's posting, you will see the same image. In today's version of this photograph, I "paint" a slightly rosier picture of the scene. I removed some elements that I think distract from the essence of what I wish to convey visually in this image, and like some elements of my history, I chose to look at what I want to see for myself, and to share with you.

WARBIRDS REVISITED

I LIKE THE SKY, ARCATA, JUNE 2012

I think the sky in this photograph is the important element. It is, after all, what supports the aircraft. The sky is the constant. This aircraft is about seventy years old, and there will  come a time when it will no longer fly in these skies. Perhaps it is important to understand these things about impermanence.  I am about the same age as this bomber, and I can see that the time is coming where I will not soar as I once did, and I think I am all right with that.

We all realize that there are different time-lines for various creations. There are insects that only live a few short days. Some birds and small mammals live short lives. We outlive our dogs and cats. Mechanical devices by-and-large, can be kept in working condition as long as someone maintains them, but once they are abandoned they become trash, and rapidly decompose. Fernbridge has the potential to last centuries, but like the great temples of Greece and Rome, it too will sucumb to wind, rain, acid rain, floods, and perhaps intentional destruction.

All I am saying is that there are lessons in all this, and these exercises are for me a way to keep my awareness of the passage of my time.

WARBIRDS IN THE FOG

A B-17 AND A B-24, ON THE RAMP AT ACV, 2006

I was attempting to capture the foggy morning essence of the dawn. I would have liked it to be a bit denser, but that only happens when you do not want fog at the airport. I shot these shots in jpg, and I am paying the price in that there is limited workability to these digital negatives.

OLD BIRDS

NINE-0-NINE, ARCATA, 2006

I took this as part of a series one foggy morning six years ago. This is the plane that I got to fly in about twenty years ago - a flight of a lifetime.

This aircraft and a B-24 are at ACV through Friday morning. They are worth seeing.

MINUS 2.3 FOOT TIDE AT TRINIDAD THIS MORNING

A COUPLE OF EXPOSED CRITTERS NEAR GRANDMOTHER ROCK, TRINIDAD, 2012

Lisa and I went to Trinidad Beach to experience the very low tide this morning at seven. It was a treat to be able to walk out on to the beach farther then we ever had before. There were a lot of stranded critters on the sand and the rocks. I do not know if ones like the sun star above were stressed or not.

THE LAST OF THIS SERIES ON FERNBRIDGE (I THINK)

REFLECTIONS OF FERNBRIDGE, FERNBRIDGE, MAY 2012

I worked on this image several times. Each time that I do, I think that I am finished, but when I come back, as I did just a few minutes ago, I see more to do. I will confess that I thought I had it right a couple of days ago, and I printed a black and white variation of this photograph.

I will be taking a short break from this blog, and should post again come Sunday.

DEALING WITH FORM AND COLOR

HAVING FUN WITH FORM AND COLOR, FERNBRIDGE, MAY 2012

This particular image is one of those that needed a few days to simmer before I was willing to consider it as a part of this body of work (the actual print looks much better then this low-end jpg). I used the 17mm TS lens, and had the rise up all the way. I used "live view" with this shot (I almost always use live view with this lens). Live view helps me compose the shot, but the main reason for using it is that the I can magnify the image on the LCD for critical focusing. I also check the depth-of-field in the magnify mode, and by using my new poor-man's Hoodman.

I am not yet sure how this image conveys the essence of Fernbridge. Since it is an unnatural view that does not mimic the normal human vision, and I cannot come up with a description of how it affects me, I think then, that it  is a successful  visual statement.

CONTINUING ON A THEME

FEELING THE STRENGTH AND STAMINA, BUTTRESS DETAIL, FERNBRIDGE, MAY 2012

 

 

I am beginning to acquire some emotional sense of what it is that this structure is capable of evoking in my consciousness. Its mass gives it a presence, its form gives it beauty, and its design gives it grace. All of these elements work together creating aspects that tickle my senses and give to me a sense that defies my abilities as a writer. All I can do is attempt to interperet my feelings and preceptions via my visual medium with these photographs.

This leads me to the conclusion that, at least for now, I am incapable of creating a single image that fully conveys what I experience with this bridge. I think that to convey the message that I must consider this as a body of work.

The above image is a composite of three images. I used the 17mm TS lens at ASA 50.

STILL WORKING ON IT

THE BRIDGE OVER CALM WATERS, FERNBRIDGE, MAY 2012

This is another one of those images that will require some time to simmer on the back burner. It was challenging in that I took the shot right into the brightest part of the foggy sky. I wish for more detail in the clouds. This exposure was the darkest of the three (I normally shoot a bracket of three images - one at one stop under; another at the camera's recommended exposure, and one at one stop over exposed). With this type of sky, I find that the under exposed negative gives me the best sky detail, and that there is enough detail in the shadows that can be brought out. My buddy Hal taught me that!