There is nothing to be
captured,
really.
There is a moment,
color,
a sparkle inside my head – then,
the black box talks in my hands
of the unity of time
and its loss.
Of moments present
and past.
Of pretty things;
of love.
Having no idea what will come of it,
I wander home
to translate light.
Light that was
and is
and will be
free.
***
Red Osier 1
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Red Osier 2
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Red Osier 3
Red Osier 4
Red Osier 5
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Red Osier 6
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Red Osier 7
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Red Osier 8
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Red Osier 9
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Red Osier 10
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Red Osier 11
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Red Osier 12
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Red Osier 13
I saw a bed of red osier dogwood planted in front of tall evergreens at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle the other day. The deep blue-green gloom of the evergreens was a perfect foil for the warm colors of the stems.
(Also known as red twig dogwood, or Cornus siricea, the shrubby plant is an American native, used extensively in landscaping for its “winter interest.” Its slender stems can be various shades of red, magenta, pink, and in some cultivars, yellow-green. It’s known as Cornus stolonifera, too, just to keep things complicated.)
The haze of warm color was inviting in the drab winter landscape. I remembered a photograph I took last year of a stand of red osier in another Seattle park. I had the camera on shutter priority and set a long exposure, then moved the camera up and down, following the growth pattern of the branches. It resulted in a brilliantly colored curtain of softly blended vertical streaks, included here in a previous post about Color.
So I tried that again and experimented with different ways of moving the camera while the shutter was open – up and down, right and left, in arcs, forward and back, while walking around the plants…it’s a pleasure to get your body into camera work once in while! Then I returned home and got to work, to play. I processed the images with a variety of adjustments and effects in Lightroom and OnOne Perfect Effects, in a few very enjoyable hours…
There was freedom in it, and pleasure.
***
bluebrightly 
Wow!!! Beautiful words and images!
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Thank you Anne! Maybe that’s what your little guy sees when he bounds up and down the hills.
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: )))))
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Great work Lynn! Love the colour and movement. Well done!
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Thank you very much Ken – I don’t remember if you have any of this around your pond – that’s where it would want to be, somewhere wet. And I’m pretty sure it’s native well into Canada.
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We don’t have any but I have seen plantings of it in the area. It does do well here.
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Splendid photos! And it was interesting to hear how you worked (and played) with them!
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I’m glad you thought so – thanks for letting me know. Work and play, that’s it!
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I can sense how much you’ve loved playing and transforming light here BB 🙂
My imagination has been stirred along ethereal watery scenes … sgraffito … dense networked cobweb forests … time indistinct ..
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One of these days we’re going to have to collaborate! 🙂 Thank you for your thoughts!
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Beautiful! It seems to speak from an innate graceful knowing….
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What a generous comment; thank you Hanne!
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It came easy, it wrote itself. your words called it out.
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Beautiful words, extraordinary abstracts!
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Thank you!
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Hi Lynn! Remember me? These images made me think of how my brain has felt for many months now – illuminated yet happily out of focus with colorful synapses just firing away because, well, that’s what synapses do. I am trying now to focus beyond the internal where I have been tucked away and take all my colorful energy and apply it externally. Hard to get back in shape when one hasn’t exercised their external side for so long! 🙂 Don’t know if that made sense, so more simply put your images sure did connect with me as they so often do. Thanks.
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Do I REMEMBER you?? Of course my friend! You do make sense – here’s a thought – don’t think of internal/external as a dichotomy. Maybe that will help. I’m so glad you liked the images and hope to hear from you more – whenever! 🙂 Be well!
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I have been pondering your suggestion of not seeing a dichotomy because I do. Neither rather than either/or. Hmmm. Very interesting and possibly very perspective changing. I like that! Thanks! 🙂
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Or both/and…. 🙂
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brilliant… in a softly ambient sort of way of brilliance
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Hi Liana, I love that idea – thank you!.
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Wonderful post, Lynn. The words and images make me think of synapses lighting up in your mind, creative sparks. ‘Translating light’ is perfect.
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Thank you – I was thinking of you with this post so I’m really glad you stopped here and left a note. Synapses and sparks – I like it!
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You and your black box have a good thing going on! All so absolutely beautiful Lyn!
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Thanks Patti – and I’d say yours works quite a few minor miracles! 🙂
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So soft and pretty, Lynne. I particularly enjoyed the poem.
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I’m glad you like is George – I guess it’s a photographer’s poem.
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Such fun. 🙂
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