ephemerallife

a little color for a rainy monday morning

 

Monday's are hard enough without having to deal with rainy skies. Here is a splash of color from my weekend. When the gray skies beging to get to you, just stare at these images for a feew minutes and let the color seep into your soul.

 

 

Who new that Monet, Degas, Cassat, and a handful of other impressionist artists were so accessable?

 

 

I know that you are more used to seeing muted colors from me, when you see me post color at all. However, I love great color when I see it. Driving down the street and being surprised made my Saturday morning. I hope it makes your Monday morning a bright and cheerful one. Have a fantastic week.

 

dawn cormorants

 

the summer ball

The middle of June saw the June ball and you know I had no choice, I needed to be there. The gowns and uniforms were gorgeous. So much so that I thought you might want to see the spectacle in color.

That, my dear readers, is the Virginia Reel in full color. Told you that you would want to see the color version. It's almost as if I could read your minds.

 

loading the hay

 

We last left the hay making adventure with a full wagon, heading for home. The farmer and his crew went back for another load, returning to the barn only after they had filled all of the wagons.

 

 

One of the wagons was pulled into the barn and the youngest member of the crew climbed onto the pile of hay to set the claw.

 

 

When he was ready, Charlie set the horses in motion. They were harnessed to a rope that pulled the claw into the air, raising the hay high into the loft.

 

 

Once in the loft, Joe and Jimmy used their pitch forks to move the hay into place.

 

 

What is fascinating is how fast the hay moves once the horses take up the slack. I thought you might like to see a video of the motion. Sorry about rotating the camera 90 degrees, it just fit the scene better. Enjoy.

 

running to the river

 

Thursday morning, I spent half a day hiking along the river in Clifton Gorge. The weather was perfect & as always in the spring, I had the itch go get out and comune with Mother Nature. When it comes to the woods, I am pretty predictable.

 

supervised play

 

I haven't posted any numbers in a long time. I've gotten some nice comments about the light in this image. The light is natural and comes fromt he windows to the right. Notice that I had to bump  up the ISO and crank down on the shutter speed to get these tones. 1/30 is at the limit of my ability to shoot hand held. Any slower and I would have to use a tripod.

Exposure	0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture	f/4.5
Focal Length	28 mm
ISO Speed	1600

 

 

sailing upstream

 

The rock in the center of the river is called Steamboat Rock. I think it looks more like a giant Spanish galleon. This is one of my favorite parts about hiking in the gorge in Clifton, OH. Our area of Ohio is generally pretty flat. However, when you hike down into the gorge, you feel like you are following a river in a valley between two mountain ridges.

 

hiding in plain sight

 

I was shooting early morning on Huffman pond. The reflections of the golden leaves were simply gorgeous & I shot several frames.

 

 

And then I suddenly realized that hidden in plain sight at the edge of the spectacular color was a trio of deer. It was at this moment that I really regretted the fact that I don't have a long lens.

 

silver giant

 

What is the largest tree in North America, west of the Rockies? Why it is my favorite tree, the sycamore. I love the way the bark peels off of the tree as it grows taller. What is left behind is a silver and white, brilliantly smooth trunk. You can see a large sycamore from quite a distance. When you are underneath one, you learn that their leaves are sometimes a foot wide.

Yes, my favorite tree of all time. There is this one very special oak tree in Germany, but that is another story for another time.

 

 

the blue hole

 

This location was the subject of a painting titled "Blue Hole, Little Miami River". Created by Robert Duncanson in 1851, the painting can be seen at the Cincinnati Art Museum. If you don't live in the neighborhood, you can see an image of the painting by following this link:

Painting Image

What do you know? You just experienced a little culture. Didn't hurt as much as you thought it might, did it? I know, I am often shocked my self.

Have a great day folks.