Thinking about Trees

What’s the best season to look at trees?

I would vote for Winter.  Others might choose Spring when buds and then leaves appear according to some timeless timetable.  Probably most would say Fall – when Mother Nature paints from her palette of reds, yellows and golds.

But in Winter you really get to see the shape of trees, their limbs and branches so often camouflaged by leaves in the other seasons.  I’ve overexposed this Winter Trees image below, increased the contrast and done a few other tricks to really show off their detailed shapes.

Which of course begs the question: why do trees have shapes they have?  Why are some tall and conical and others are pyramids?  Why are some round and others flat?  (Another big question is why there are so many shapes of leaves – but that’s maybe something to explore another day.)

Well, a little Internet research suggests a very good reason for the overall shape of a tree.  And it seems a bit obvious after the fact.  Tree shapes are all about balancing various survival needs: to get enough light, the right amount of heat, and enough water, and not get too big so as to fall over.  Your average tree in our area has got a lot to consider: shedding snow, worrying about high winds and poor soil, not to mention pollination and sending out its seeds.  And survival also depends on how a tree gets along with its neighbors, either interacting with its own kind or competing with a completely different nearby species.  As one writer put it, the shape of a tree is a compromise to achieve all these sometimes-conflicting goals.

So all this got me thinking – if trees in their wisdom are able to get things done and survive by adapting and compromising, maybe we should elect some trees to Congress?  Start a new party.  Call it the Tree Party?

Trick or Treat

This full moon image backlighting a spooky winged silhouette on a cool, cloudless October night captures some of the scary fun of Halloween that I remember as a kid.  Hope it provides a pleasurable spine tingle down memory lane for you as well. 

Several folks who've seen this image have asked me if it's "real" or if it's been "photoshopped."

Many think such questions are new to the digital age of photography.  Not true.  Did you know that one of the most famous images of president Abraham Lincoln from the 1860s is actually his head perched on the body of another politician, John Calhoun?  Or that in the 1930s Stalin and Chairman Mao routinely had comrades removed from photos after they had been otherwise removed from history?  Even the famous Mathew Brady sometimes played tricks with his images, once by later adding a missing member of General Sherman’s officers to a group picture.  

Today most people agree that such manipulation of images in the realm of photojournalism is a no-no.   But there are other areas of photography where the answers aren’t so clear, at least to me. Say for snapshots, what about overriding the camera’s limitations?  Or correcting for the casual photographer’s composition mistakes? Depending on the sophistication of the camera, or the settings selected, a lot of decisions about the image get made inside the box.  For example, broadly speaking, the camera likes to see everything as medium grey.  Ever notice in a winter snapshot, the snow is not quite as white as what you saw?  After taking a gorgeous shot of toddler Michelle’s angelic smile, is it immoral to remove a few Cheerio crumbs from her chin?  And isn’t it ok to crop out a distraction in the backrouond from an otherwise perfect portrait of Aunt Polly?  I think most would say if you’ve got the means, go for it.

The more interesting debate involves photography as art.  Sometimes, as with snapshots, you have to make adjustments to bring the capture closer to what you witnessed in the field.  For example, a landscape with a bright cloud filled sky and a dark shadowy foreground could, because of the camera’s calculations, lose the detail in both areas that originally attracted the photographer’s eye.  That’s easily fixed with today’s software and actually, while an adjustment to the image, is not a manipulation of the subject that “improves” it.  Going a step further, the master himself, Ansel Adams, was known to make post capture adjustments in the darkroom, darkening and lightening key elements of a scene for visual drama, known as dodging and burning.  He is reputed to have said that these techniques were “steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.”  Manipulations or an artist sharing his vision of jaw dropping visual beauty using the tools at hand? 

Going even further, some modern photographers move us by producing powerful abstract images using pre-, peri- and post capture manipulations of their subjects.  So, in the end, if photographic art is creative skill and imagination provoking strong emotional reaction to visual images, it’s hard to come up with a set of hard and fast rules on how it must be achieved.

Is Night Flyer a Trick or a Treat?  You be the judge. 

Black and White Spider Awards Press Release

I'm pleased to share this Black and White Photo Spider Awards press release with you.  You can view this nominated photograph and the other nominees at
 
http://www.thespiderawards.com/gala8th/nominations.php?x=a&cid=232   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER CHARLES DAVIET FROM USA.

LONDON October 19, 2013 - Photographer CHARLES DAVIET of USA was presented with the 8th Annual Black and White Spider Awards Nominee in the category of WILDLIFE at a prestigious Nomination & Winners PhotoShow. The live online ceremony webcast Saturday, October 19, 2013 was attended by photography fans in 75 countries who logged on to see the climax of the industry's most important event for black and white photography.

The awards international Jury included captains of the industry from the Tate in London, Heffel Fine Art, FoMu Fotomuseum, FTM Advisory, Camera Work, Art Stage Singapore, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris, to Fratelli Alinari in Florence who honored Spider Fellows with 246 coveted title awards and 938 nominees in 14 categories.

"It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 9,456 entries we received this year," said Basil O'Brien, the awards Creative Director. CHARLES DAVIET'S WINGS and AVIAN ARMY, exceptional images entered in the WILDLIFE category, represent black and white photography at its finest, and we're pleased to present him with the title of Nominee."

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography.

Contact: CHARLES DAVIET
Telephone: 914-656-0354
Email: me@charlesdaviet.com
Website: www.charlesdaviet.com

Your Vicarious Maine Vacation

We didn’t get to take our annual Maine adventure this year so I was a little bummed.  To ease the loss of this periodic dose of pristine peace I took a pictorial hike through “Acadia’s Light,” a gallery of images I’ve captured over the years.

 This one image of Jordan Pond, taken 4 years ago this week, is a good example:

The body of water is technically a Tarn, or a mountain lake formed by a glacier during the last Ice Age.  Jordon Pond is comprised of 187 acres of some the cleanest and clearest water you’ll ever come across -- they say you can see the bottom at 50 feet. Maximum depth of 150 feet.  3.6 miles of shoreline (and a gorgeous, fairly easy hike, the west side along cleverly hewn cedar planking raised to protect the lakeside ecosystem).

 You’re looking north to the Bubbles -- obvious name and a good climbing hike as well.  At the top you’ll see striations and other glacial evidence, in particular Bubble Rock, a precariously positioned huge boulder, called an “erratic” by geologists.  And that’s Pemetic Mtn on the east side at 1248 feet.  Wonderful views from there.

There, I feel better already.  Hope you do too – you can make an extended trip through the 34 images in Acadia’s Light here:

Acadia's Light

Photographs of the timeless beauty of the Maine coast, the lakes and mountains define Acadia, this jewel of the East coast.

American Alligator

In a brief visit to the Sea Pines Wildlife Preserve on Hilton Head Island last week I chanced upon this 10 foot alligator who, needless to say, made quite an impression on me with his cold stare and bony skin spikes (called scutes).  I’m unable to demonstrate the difference between alligators and crocodiles to you since the best way is to look closely in their mouths.  More about their dental capabilities below.

 I felt quite safe on a raised dock with 15 feet between us but he showed me this menacing glare for almost twenty minutes – either just posing for his picture or, more likely, hoping I was going to try and cool off in the lake with a swim.  You wouldn’t want to get that close on land because they’re known to be incredibly fast in one direction.  In Florida where alligators are most common, Smithsonian says 5 people became their dinner in the last 20 years (the same institution says Spanish sailors visiting the New World thought the unfamiliar alligator was a huge lizard. In Spanish, el lagarto means the lizard. English sailors took the name as allagarter and in time it has become alligator.)

American alligators that make it past 4 feet, at this point having few predators except man, who likes to envision them as shoes or pocketbooks, live to about 50 years.  Seems they don’t need regular dental care, since they can regenerate their six dozen teeth as they wear down, for a total of several thousand over a lifetime. 

Probably should have kept this scary fellow for the October image but leave a comment on his creepy countenance if you wish at the end of this blog.

Thinking about Bees

While meandering about in our garden the other day I was surprised to see how many bees were buzzing about.  Then I remembered that the Phlox had never been so tall or so vibrant.  So splendid.  The bees seemed to favor the white flowers over the pink?

Bee in the Phlox

Then I recalled that Sandy had blown down almost all of our 150 feet of gorgeously greyed out cedar fence last October.  And having replaced the fence with chain link (who can afford cedar again), I could see how much more sunlight was hitting the flower beds.  Amazing how many more flowers, how many more bees, how many other more pollinating creatures filled our yard.  Come to think of it, how many more times both us got stung this year!
 
Talk about how interconnected things are.  Did anyone perchance have the pleasure of reading Ray Bradbury's short story about the time traveler (A Sound of Thunder, 1952)?  Stepping on a butterfly years in the past produces unpredictable changes in the future, ranging from the outcome of a presidential election to the way certain words are spelled.   A bit off topic but a great read.
 
Did you know that there are almost 20 thousand species of bees?  I didn't either but that's what Wikipedia says.  Here's one of them below from my backyard, sucking up phlox nectar and, via carrying an electrostatic charge, having the pollen adhere to their bodies.
 
Getting back to how so many things are interconnected, apparently starting in 2006, bees have been dying off at an alarming rate.  Something called colony collapse disorder among feral bees as well as those managed by beekeepers.  And if you are a fan of any the bounty of crops ranging from avocado to watermelon, you might want to worry some.  In the grand scheme it seems like there are many unanticipated effects when stuff happens.  And sometimes at a level that we all hardly ever notice in our busy as bee lives.
 
Something to put a bee in your bonnet about?