Stormy evening skies

This was a big late-spring storm last week.



And this was just before raining, last night at Alexis'.



I love this time of year! It's about to rain again right now, too. We're up in Hesperia for the weekend, helping to put up a fence. Thank god they have high speed wireless now!

Spring Morning, Hesperia

What a beautiful day Saturday was. In the park.


Come the Fourth of July (like the song) they use this for tractor and horse pulls. Quite a blast when you're sippin' on special lemonade.


This is the neighbor's house down the street. Not sure whose though.


These are the neighbor's trees. The willow is finally blooming.


These are the neighbors' cherry (or is it apple?) trees. Quite spectacular!


Morning on the water.


I can't wait to go kayaking! You can't see in this picture but there are tons of birds out there.

Michigan in The Spring, Pt. 4

I'm stretching myself to enjoy it at this point: there are just certain weeks of the year that I am made to suffer due to my severe allergies. I was prescribed two inhalers last week because of my damned immune system.

I took this shot yesterday at Liz' old apartment. I didn't even really look at it; I just put the camera close to the ground at full zoom and max aperture and took a single photograph.



I'm not sure how many more of these I'll do; I guess I haven't looked at the changes that take place this time of year in such close detail before, so I don't know what is left that might be different from what I've already documented.



Today was sunny and in the 70s. Quite awesome weather, although you can tell the sun is not quite overhead yet. The light is just different, a little more diffused, than it is in the middle of the summer.



After Qdoba on Friday, Brian, Shane and I went for a walk in the marsh area behind the Alticor complex. I took some photos there before, and I wanted to go back to see how things had changed (since I had an inkling I might do another spring post). Much more colorful, indeed, and I didn't even have to crank up the saturation (like I did last time, unfortunately).



We saw some turtles on a log! I'm not sure what kind they are. The spreading ripples in the water are from the skittish one of the bunch, who didn't quite like the look of me.



This I took in the parking lot at Bagel Beanery. I mean, I strode through the deep, old woods, and happened upon Aphrodite's nymphs as they caressed the cold sapling branches. Embarrassed, the young shoots began to blush.

On the Way Home

The beauty of the G9 is that I have it with me pretty much all the time. Work, home, walks, trips, you name it. This was, as I recall, the first real spring rain. Do not try this at home, kids, these shots were taken when both photographer and camera were moving at high speeds.



Wow, "how do you get that artsy effect?" you may ask of this image. I just turned my wipers off. Brilliant?



I love the way the rain and mist diffuse and soften what little light is available.



More headlights in the rain.



I'm proud of this one because of the technical difficulty. I really had to look forward to drive, so the timing and levelness were a lot of luck and a stiff arm, and I had to set up the exposure before-hand.



I promise I'm a very good driver.

Michigan in The Spring, Pt. 2

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

-T.S. Eliot

Buds throb red.

Cold raindrops cling
to bare branches
after the first
April storm.

My fingertips swelling,
my body pulses:

the center
of this old wound,
still fresh.

Still, I don’t
pull off my gloves--

There are no leaves
opening
from this tree.

-Justine Nicholas

my backyard is honey
and a bumblebee sweeper
broccoli wood, memory of a previous year

chilled wet grass
almost Eden

it’s spring, a celebration
that will pass too fast

-Margaret James

I don't mean interspersing sublime poetry with my mediocre photographs as any attempt to strengthen the latter. These verses simply portray the feelings exhumed by a warm spring storm.

Michigan in The Spring, Pt. 1

I've never been a fan of this season. Despite the obviously improved temperatures, the weather can still be pretty miserable. Instead of snow and frozen ground, we have almost-ice-cold rain and mud everywhere. You decide which is better, but I'll hold off being really happy about the weather until the end of May.



Yes, things are starting to bud! For a few weeks there without much snow there was really one color that dominated everything: brown.



I took these photos on Sunday, shooting with my dad. The area is kind of rural with a touch of urban sprawl (I mean, they have a well paved walking path through the woods and also through what are essentially people's back yards).

I think this looks a lot like a bass clef.



Here's another shot of the log. This is just enjoyment of pure texture.



I like the telephoto lens adapter I got for my birthday! It took this:



There is a big marsh on the path. If you're not from the region, marshes are actually different from swamps. Obviously they're cold most of the year, and have fewer trees and more grasses and reeds (which means less shade, so they can get pretty hot in the summer if you're hiking through one).



I liked the way these reeds stood out from the red background. Nice bokeh too.



This was my favorite shot of the day. Nothing too complex about the framing but I think I nailed it.



It reminds me of a cathedral! I want to return to this spot to shoot it in different seasons.

Part two will be some shots of around the apartment complex and neighborhood. I'm trying to change up my photo style a bit after looking at photos by Walker Evans, Robert Adams, and Robert Frank. I'm trying to give my subjects a little more room, so having to construct an image with more things in it (due to a wider angle) is a difficult adjustment.