SYNAPTIC CROSSINGS

A runway show…

elegant black dresses

spare shapes

nubby textures

graceful curves

atypical lines

strong statements.

They’re here too – the shapes, textures, lines, and curves.

The statements.

Here

five thousand miles from Paris, at my door.

Seeing it all, I’m inspired

to grasp the magic box made of plastic and metal in my old hands.

To point it at something

just as a complex of sensations hisses

along the intricate pathways of my bodymind, informing a decision

to click.

I’ll pry the smooth little square from the box later.

I’ll sit in front of the computer

eyes fixed on the screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard

images floating in the light.

I’ll pick and choose. In some obscure part of my

thinking/feeling brain I’ll be moved

to make one shape darker, another shape brighter

one part sharper, one softer.

And then the leap over here

to this place where we meet across time and space

entangling our neurons with light.

The place where, when the stars align

you might experience a heightened noticing

a raised eyebrow, a widened pupil, a slight

upturn at the corners of the mouth.

There.

The job is done.

*

1.

2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

7.
8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

***

What are these pictures?

  1. Leaves and bud of a Clasping twisted stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius).
  2. Leaf tip of an unidentified wildflower.
  3. Dead tree; Washington Park, Fidalgo Island.
  4. Buddha statue under a damaged plastic bag.
  5. Reflection of a tall, dead tree; Cranberry Lake, Fidalgo Island.
  6. Round rock under a damaged plastic bag.
  7. Nest that fell on the ground; Deception Pass State Park, Whidbey Island.
  8. Rock patterns; Larrabee State Park, Bellingham, Washington.
  9. Petals of a Dark-throated Shooting star (Primula pauciflora) seen from above.
  10. My shadow with a caustic.
  11. Three California sea lions snuggling on a float, seen from above; Newport, Oregon.
  12. Patterns in the sand; Bowman Bay beach, Deception Pass State Park, Fidalgo Island.

***

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69 comments

  1. Oh wow! Lots of your special sandy light brown and delicate blues as a connecting element. And these fine forms, abstract or just plain real – all breathing perfect harmony. This is Lynn’s Essence, in a way.
    And your very special philosophical poetry with the visual artwork, leading into the pictures to come, opening, preparing the soul to what will come and enter it through the eyes.
    What a miraculous way to start my day!

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    • Ule, thank you. I like imagining you there, enjoying the post, that’s a gift for me. This was fun to do and came together fairly quickly. I’d been wanting to gather some images that weren’t fitting into other posts, and I wanted to show more abstract images together. Suddenly I had an idea for a way to make it work (in fact, it really was after seeing a runway show on TV). Then it was a matter of letting everything marinate for a few days, and making adjustments. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

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  2. Once again, this new gallery prompts me to a few comments, rather than just a “like.”

    2 – One of my two favorites of the series. Monochrome was the right choice, as was your crop. I’m drawn in to the intricate vein patterns in the center and follow them as if in a maze.
    8 – My other favorite: A fascinating abstract in warm earthtones. In the tan structure at top right I see an ear, a shoulder, an elbow, and a forearm at rest and, at lower left, a ghostly visage. Most intriguing!
    9 – Very minimalist and nicely conceived. Did you use a lens baby for this?
    10 – Also an arresting abstract. Are the bright patterns reflections or refractions?
    11 – Good still life study, almost abstractly anatomical.
    12 – Love sand patterns, strongly reminiscent of trees, nerves, blood vessels. I’d like to see this one in monochrome and higher contrast.

    Thanks for another delightful dozen, Lynn.

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    • Thank you for your close attention, Gary. I went back and forth about how dark to make #2. Leaves and their veins are a lifelong fascination. For #8 there was less of a quandary – this treatment, with reduced clarity, seems to bring out the amazing forms in those rocks. I’ve photographed them before – if you google bluebrightly and Larrabee you should find more. I didn’t use a lens baby for the flower – it was a macro lens at f3.2. It’s a good lens, I use it a lot (Oly 60mm macro f2.8). 10. Thanks for correcting me – you’re right – I need to change the text. That photo was taken last year and I happened to see it and realized it was perfect for the post. I can easily see #12 in black and white but I liked the subtle colors. I had to increase contrast in several ways, quite a bit. Your comment speaks to an ongoing push-pull I experience: part of me wants to go soft, delicate and subtle: part of me wants to go strong and high-contrast. I’ll try your suggestion. Thanks again!

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  3. The job is done, and done well. That stalk of celery in #12 is really something; I’d’ve been all over it too (photographically speaking, and with care not to mess up the sand). Speaking of food, in #11 I see a pear and a couple of potatoes; I also could have seen stones, but never the sea lions they actually were. Look at the strange yet apt symbolism of all those neurons firing away in #10’s brain, which is yours as you noticed the interplay and recorded the image. #9 is a good example of form without detail. In #8’s excellent abstraction my eyes go to the sinuous brown curve that’s the border between a light region and a darker one. And speaking of dividing lines, there’s that oh-so-long squiggle down the middle of #5. Regarding #7: if we as humans dropped a nest we couple pick it up and put it back where it back where it belongs, but birds can’t do that.

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    • Ah, Steve, thank you! Sand patterns are great, aren’t they? Around here they tend to be very shallow and subtle but LR helps bring them out. I can see pears in those Sea lions, too – they were so much fun to photograph. A restaurant in Newport has a short pier behind it from which you can view them resting on floats in the water so you get a great close-up view. 🙂 You understood the idea behind including #10 – and maybe you can help me sort out whether the “neuron” part is a reflection or refraction, as Gary suggests. It was sunlight bouncing off a shiny object, then hitting the wall where my shadow was cast. The squiggle in #5 comes from a really tall tree stump without any branches in a shallow lake. Joe saw that nest when he stepped back in the woods to perform a certain task. We imagine the nest fell down in a winter storm, long after it performed its task. 🙂 Thank you for your thoughts, Steve, I appreciate it.

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  6. Definitely all of the above – raised eyebrow, widened pupil, and upturned mouth, in fact, a big smile. Fascinating, and also very fun!!
    I’m with Steve S. on #11, I’d decided it was three rocks cuddling together, bless their stony hearts. There isn’t one shot here, that doesn’t invite curiosity and study, the plastic bag shots were fun to puzzle over.
    Last week, I learned a new word from Linda Leinen (Shoreacres/Lagniappe) “stabilimentum” = the zigzag on a spiderweb, and now there’s a similar zigzag on #5, which we’ll have to invent a new term like “instabilimentum” or “variabilimentum”. It’s a very cool shot. #10 is clearly showing a flash of wonderful creativity, taking place in your head, I love the writing here, too, what a great runway show!

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    • Fascinating and fun are fabulous. 😉 That tongue-twister is a new world for me, too. Your riffs on it are good…instabilimentum could describe my typically non-linear activity on a daily basis. Grammarly thinks it’s an unknown word but we know better, right? We’re ahead of the curve. I’m glad you get the idea of #10 and am pleased that you mentioned the writing, too. Thanks for the comment! Enjoy the rest of the week! (I’ve been wondering how your job must have changed in the last few months.)

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  7. Beautifully shot, edited, processed, curated, presented. This is a gallery exhibition and I’m so glad to have the opportunity to take time to explore. If I have to choose favorites I would choose 1, 2, 9, and 10. Specifically it’s the tone our treatments twice manage one. If I had to pick just one, it would be number 2. A wonderful runway show indeed — but unlike fashion, which comes and goes, your images will last a long time.

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    • So wonderful to read your comment, Michael. It’s satisfying to come up with something you think is good and then to have that reinforced, right? 🙂 I think Siri was playing games with you here and there…but I get the general idea. 😉 Enjoy the rest of your week, and thank you!

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      • Siri was playing games with me and apparently I didn’t catch everything. The impression I want to leave is that I am seriously impressed with all of the work and some of them stand out even above that. A wonderful post.

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    • Ouch! Sorry to say it’s not, but that’s a good guess and it got a laugh…and a groan. 😉 It’s a small Buddha statue under a beat-up old plastic bag. I have an interest in looking at things behind or through fogged windows, fences, whatever. Thanks, Graham!

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    • Maybe because it leans over to the poetic/metaphoric side of things, you find it appealing? I’m thinking that Tarot is a metaphorical language, so you’d naturally be attracted to that side of life. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I hope you’ve been able to get out to enjoy the lush spring we’re having. Thanks so much for your comment. 🙂

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  11. Wonderful images and structures! A real nice job, but that is an understatement 🙂 A Buddha through a plastic bag – what an idea, but you did it very well. I am curious what comes next 🙂

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    • I’m curious too. 😉 Thank you, Almuth…by the way, we had a visit from another small, reddish-brown squirrel – the one that lives here and looks similar to the one we fed at the park. He (she?) ate peanuts from Joe’s hand. He ran up Joe’s leg (he had jeans on) while Joe was sitting in a chair outside, and sat there to eat the nuts! So cute! I’ll have to send you pictures. Have a good week and thank you again.

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  12. Hi Lynn, I loved reading your fitting analogy to creativity and photography. And your images, each one artfully shot and processed. Your entire series stands out as a whole and the single images, the graceful monochrome leaves, the marvelous rippling water with tree reflection, the shooting star, your reflection 🙂 and the clever seal shot, all made me pause, look and appreciate. Thank you!

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    • And thank YOU for such a nice comment. Working as single images and a series isn’t easily achieved…usually I think my series, which are admittedly long, include a number of images that work more to support the whole than to stand alone, so it was nice to read what you said. I’m sure you’ve seen those seals many times – their shapes are wonderful, aren’t they? Again, I’m happy to read your comment, Jane, thank you. 🙂

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    • It’s really good to read your comment on the words as well as the images, Otto. Getting nice bokeh in photos of flowers was what I wanted to do for years but couldn’t until I had a decent camera instead of a point and shoot. I’m happy to hear your thoughts about that one. 🙂

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    • It’s great to hear someone say they have looked more than once, Robert. 🙂 The places where Took the photo of the reflection and the rock (#5 & #8) are places I’ve gone back to again and again because they reward me every time with wonderful sights. I hope you’re enjoying the same kind of visual pleasure these days, one way or another. Thanks!

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  21. I don’t know how to say what I feel when I look at this set of images.
    They are poetry … they are dance for my eyes … they are mystery for what they do not reveal … they are harmony in balance … they are works of art … and they are sensitivity and knowledge sculpted by your eyes.
    And I like the details, I like the graphics, I like the textures, I like the simplicity … and so on …
    Congratulations on such a lovely set of images. Words are a beautiful complement.

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    • A dance for your eyes, I love that, Dulce. I thought it was time to do something a little different, to show a group of images that aren’t from the same place but can be tied together for other reasons. Thank you very much, and enjoy your weekend.

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    • What a pleasant comment to read, Klaus. Another artist that I have always liked, who did some work that has a similar feeling as Moore’s work, is Jean Arp. 🙂 I’m very drawn to simplicity and minimalism but where I live, it isn’t easy to find that feeling in nature. In the desert, for example, it’s much easier to focus on basic shapes. I also enjoy the busy chaos of nature, but I thought it was time to gather together some minimalist images. It’s good to hear from you and I’m glad you enjoyed the post…enjoy the weekend!

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      • Dear Lynn,
        Arp’s sculptures are especially elegant. Seeing his work we associate perfection.
        With our huge beaches and lots of sky we quite often see minimalistic landscapes here. Although yesterday we drove around to look for places to taken minimalistic pictures, we noticed that nearly only at the sea we have this designer landscapes. Inland it’s more cluttered 😉
        Thank you and enjoy the weekend as well
        The Fab Four of Cley
        🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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    • Very good! I’m happy to hear from you and I think I can see what you mean. But strangely enough, watching a fashion show on TV sparked something that got this post off the ground. You never know, right? Enjoy the weekend!

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  24. This is just what I needed to see this morning, Lynn. The stars aligned, the corners of my mouth turned up, more and more as I scrolled down the page. I noted my favorites, which I am really trying to stop doing. In the end it was alright since the list included most of the images. 🙂 But your shadowy self-portrait intrigued me the most, conveying very much what you described in the poetic text. The light reflected there is also a great addition…check the definition of ‘caustic’ related to optics. I think that is the term for the complex patterns you see.

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    • Your comment is great to hear, Mic. It was serendipity when I happened to scroll through files and saw that photo, taken last year. I realized it worked well with what I had just written. And wow, I think you hit the nail on the head with that term, which I’ve never seen in that context. The examples in the Wikipedia article seem just right. Those photos really appeal to me (and there’s no way I’ll ever plow through the science behind caustic, unfortunately). I’ve been fascinated by shadows, reflections, and other light effects since childhood. Back in the early 70s, I made a sculpture that I think incorporated caustic networks. It was a glass tube that I made depressions in by melting it. The idea was to display the tube flush to a wall and shine a bright light on one side of it. That made complex marks on the wall, like the ones in the photo above and in the article. So thanks very much for introducing me to that term!

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  25. Wow, Lynn. So much creativity. So many things I’d never notice. I think my favorite is number 8, but 1,2 and 12 also. The Buddha under a plastic bag? Amazing. And the tree reflection in number 5 too. You put such wonderful collections together.

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    • It was time to gather this group together and figure out a common thread. I think you’d notice most of these scenes and phenomena, save for the objects under plastic. That’s something I like to do, view things behind different kinds of glass, plastic or other semi-transparent barriers. Thank you, Steve, it’s good to hear that you enjoyed it. Have a good weekend!

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  28. Lovely stream of consciousness conjuring up images in this readers mind! I liked 4 and thought is was a rock that looked like a seated figure under ice. And sea lions … oh my gosh … I thought it was smooth rocks that fit so wonderfully together. A favorite is the birds nest and all the wonderful woodland texture.

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    • I’m glad I got you wondering. 🙂 I was telling someone above that the Sea lions are really fun to zero in on at that location because you’re pretty close, and above them. A restaurant in Newport, OR has a short pier behind it from which you can view them resting on floats in the water below. Thank you, Denise, and enjoy your week!

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  29. You do more with textures and shapes than anyone I know. It seems like a lot of photographers just use textures as a fancy-dancy semi-transparent layer to do edits, with you the textures stand alone.

    Having said all that, the abstract in #5 is my fav.

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    • I’ve been aware of textures pretty much all my life and I always liked looking at details, so there you go. What you said about other photographers made me laugh though. Thanks so much, Dave, enjoy your week.

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