I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand.
Why thunder lasts longer than that which causes it, and why immediately on its creation
the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel.
– Leonardo da Vinci
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Squint a little and imagine your feet on other ground in other places west. Look off over the horizon with the mountains under your eye. Things grander, things greater lie in front of you. Sense them, know they are there, believe they are there.
Know they are there, believe they are there.
Know they are there, believe they are there.
Know they are there, believe they are there.
Know they are there, believe they are there as they turn to clouds and slowly disappear.
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This photo really took off today – it was featured on •portalwisconsin.org, had 1,500 views on the blog and last I checked, was still holding on to an Explore spot on Flickr. Out of all those people, I wonder how many look at clouds like this and imagine they are mountains…
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
When you figure it right down,
none of us are in a really essential business but the farmer,
and he raises so much that even his business is partly non-essential.
– Will Rogers
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
I prefer winter and fall,
when you feel the bone structure of the landscape –
the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.
– Andrew Wyeth
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind.
– Alan Bergman “Windmills of My Mind”
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
You never really know
your friends from your enemies
until the ice breaks
– Eskimo proverb
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This was one of those times when the “yoga for photographers” would have come in handy. For those of you not familiar with Wisconsin’s Merrimac Ferry, imagine a loading platform that sits about 4 feet above the water surface. Between the platform and the water, there is a single line of rocks… that’s where I took this shot. Laying on my side across the rocks, I got as close to the water / ice surface as I could.
People in the cars waiting to board the ferry were looking at me weird and I knew if the rocks moved, or I lost my balance, I was going to get wet. Had that happened, I probably would have laid there on the rocks until the cars left, then ran to the car in my wet clothes.
Freezing is better than embarrassment – another viewfinder life lesson.
This photo is currently featured in the Isthmus Daily Page Madison Snaps section.
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Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
A maple leaf falls from its tree and becomes entangled in a spider web before it can reach the ground. Twirling in the wind, the leaf is suspended in air and in time – a purgatory somewhere between captivity and freedom, life and death, summer and winter. Maybe there is hope in the leaf’s struggle, though, for surely summer cannot pass if the leaves never fall.
Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Scientists still don’t have an answer for why honeybees are disappearing… North American honeybee populations have dropped by as much as 70% in the past few years. Whole hives vanish over night and no trace of the missing bees are ever found. No living bees, no honeybee bodies – they’re just gone. It’s the stuff of science fiction – it’s bizarre and it’s unnerving. In the U.S., 90 different crops depend upon pollination by honeybees. As the honeybees decline, so does food production.
There have been many theories as to the cause of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder);
• Chemicals – increased pesticide and fertilizer use leads to increased ingestion by the bees.
• Genetically Engineered Crops – such crops produce pollen which is less nutritional for the bees.
• Radiation – caused by increased use of cell phones and wireless communication, the increased atmospheric electromagnetic radiation pushes the honeybees off course, prohibiting them from returning to the hive.
• Global Warming – leading to increased fungal and mite growth or more erratic temperature fluctuations, which the bees are not accustomed to.
Most scientists agree that CCD is likely caused by a combination of factors. With the situation growing more and more desperate as honeybees continue to disappear, leading bee biologists are working hard to find a cure for CCD. The federal government has also stepped in, allocating $80 million for research.
It is thought provoking to get so close to these bees, watching them work, wondering if they know what is going on – is there any sense of danger or fear – a buzz among the hives, if you will? Regardless of the human impact, a 70% decline in any species is a tragedy. Hopefully, the cause is discovered soon and it’s something we’ll be able to fix.
Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Loren Zemlicka Photography 