JUST LOOKING 2

The photos may seem random but, not quite. It’s hard to put into words what connects them, but in my mind, it’s more than color, texture, or tone. It has to do with a sensibility that tries to find beauty everywhere.

Just Looking 1, from February 2021, is here.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

16.

*

  1. A drainage ditch connecting Fidalgo and Similk Bays. Fidalgo Island, Washington.
  2. Sidewalk shadows. Anacortes, Washington.
  3. Five looks at my old teapot.
  4. South March Point Road railroad crossing. Fidalgo Island.
  5. Bigleaf maple leaves (Acer macrophylla) on a frosty morning.
  6. Closeup of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) leaves.
  7. Reflections on the door of a cabinet with an antique blown-glass vessel inside.
  8. Detail of a drawing by Grace Knowlton (1932-2020) seen in 2008 at a show in Garrison, New York. Looking at drawing, painting and sculpture informs my work and life.
  9. A plastic bag found on the side of the road, with Bigleaf maple leaves.
  10. A foggy afternoon on March Point, Fidalgo Island.
  11. Cattle in the fog on March Point.
  12. After a dispute among four Bald eagles, the victor flies off with the spoils: a freshly-killed rabbit. March Point.
  13. Weathered boards on a shack that was torn down. Fidalgo Island.
  14. A mixed media ceramic sculpture at San Juan Islands Art Museum. Friday Harbor, Washington.
  15. Low tide on a foggy day at Similk Bay, Fidalgo Island.
  16. Flooded fields on Bayview-Edison Road, Bow, Washington.

*

“Is it possible to celebrate the innate wild beauty of the indifferent universe while acknowledging one’s inevitable disappearance?”

John Yau. From a review in The Democracy of Abstraction

***

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72 comments

  5. Dear Lynn
    here are some remarlks about your collection.
    Done without using a translator

    1
    A widening rupture
    2
    Glazing clay means always to have dirfferent results depending on the sort of clay u use
    3
    Seemingly RAKU
    4
    There are no strict vertical lines in reality
    5
    Beautiful, 2 different structures together
    6
    This reminds me on many things. For example Fassinder who led people talk in his early films without being able to understand each and every word. Or he filmed a scene where you could only see parts of because of thimngs standing in the way.
    7
    Art. The re were first painters of photorealism in the sixties in the Us.
    8
    Reminds me of a german artist, Nolde, who was a Nazi. Known only later.
    9
    Art again. I call such things “Outside culture” 😉
    10
    Two paths
    11
    Shelter
    12
    Black dominates grey
    13
    Two olds supporting each other
    14
    Ruptures are often intentional parts of sculptures
    15
    Magnificent, like a study
    16
    As clear as it can be

    I like to describe each and every pic because…you deserve that. 🙂
    Great works.
    Have a nice day.
    Gerhard

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  9. Another beautifully crafted and curated collection, Lynn.

    The forms and textures of #5 hold a special appeal for me this time.

    “a sensibility that tries to find beauty everywhere” – excellent

    ✨🙏🕉🌱🌿🌳🌻💚🕊☯🐉✨

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  10. your title gathers an assortment that have no rhyme and reason to be together other than for just looking at – which is what we photographers should always do! Thank you for sharing these – I like how you have put both natural and manmade things into the mix and love especially the cattle under the tree – whilst the fennel leaves are sublime!
    p.s. am soon due to publish a post about Fragment poetry – these have inspired me!

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    • It’s so gratifying to hear that you appreciated the mix of human-made and nature scenes. After all, that’s our life, right? I look forward to your poem. Fragments are always interesting – they seem to say something about modern life and I don’t think it’s necessarily negative. Thanks, Laura!

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  11. “…it’s more than color, texture, or tone. It has to do with a sensibility that tries to find beauty everywhere.” — Yes. Your words and images go hand in hand. I found them very moving this evening, Lynn. Thank you.

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    • Exactly. The temptation to make images more intense to compete for attention is hard for many people to resist. Me too, sometimes, but then I remember the photographers that I admire and how subtle their work is. An invitation to explore the soul inherent in something is a good way to put it. Thank you!

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  14. Such an evocative view of the world, Lynn. B&W + color, a spectrum of neutrals that emphasize texture and form. I was especially entranced with #13, which reminds me of the B&W photos I did of our old springhouse on the farm, and #16 which reminds me of the worlds of which I dream and long for.

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  17. Well it’s just beautiful and makes me think and I agree it has a poetic feeling running through the compositions…reads well for me…I enjoy the changes of colours and patterns in the various spaces
    Cool and beauty Lynn … smiles from the north ☺️🕊

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  18. All of life, in its gritty reality, Lynn. Fragments of time and place. Love the mood of the first, and I was fascinated by 7. The abandoned plastic bag on the leaves reminded me somehow of all the cast off masks I see on the curbside. And the last 2 are simply beautiful.

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    • I bet there are artists doing interesting things with the cast-off masks that one sees these days. I couldn’t bring myself to do that yet, they’re still too depressing to me, especially when they’re thrown away. The plastic bag seems a little more abstract. I like your characterization of this as fragments of time and place, and the gritty reality of life. It’s nice to hear that #7 didn’t get too weird – thank you for your time, Jo! Have a good week.

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  19. ​Is sepia a color? 😉
    11. a distinct favorite… got snarled up in those wild branches and settled on the cows.
    outdone by 16. Bet you just knew I was gonna love ’em clouds! 🥰​

    ​Happy December! and then we get to start a brand new year. May it be a good one.​

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    • That tree in #11 is an odd one. I don’t know what it is – I’m not climbing that fence! Thanks for the good wishes and positive thoughts, which are needed as the latest variant threatens to cloud the horizons – as if they weren’t cloudy enough already! But we’ll get through. 🙂

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  20. The opening shot is beautiful, it really draws you in, and I love the collage of #3. #7 is intriguing, and the final shot of course. I think there’s something about reflections that we’re all drawn to. There are others I enjoy but these are the standouts for me.
    Alison

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    • Reflections are riveting, aren’t they? That was a beautiful drive through the agricultural fields, made even prettier by all the flooding. But let’s hope it calms down! Thanks for your thoughts, Alison, and stay warm and dry!

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    • That’s good to hear, Howard, because there’s always the nagging question of “Is this OK?” alongside the desire to mix it up. 😉 Thanks for stopping by…I hope all’s well with you.

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  22. A nice medley of pictures, to peer into. The subtle frost in #5 really enriches the scene, doesn’t it, the pleasure of understated touches, subtle and elegant. My favorite is #4, I am unable to resist the personification of that RR crossing arm, the steadfast tin soldier, with its goggle eyes & standing to attention, even if the telephone pole has come to slouch a bit over the years. And I really enjoy that great mysterious, spellbound window in #7. Gracias y saludos.

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  23. Very inspiring post Lynn. Many many wonderful pictures! The landscapes are beautiful shots, the teapot is almost mystic, I love the lines and structures of railroad and telephone masts, the minimalistic style of the teapot with stems, very cool (in these days I rather prefer minimalism) and the creative photos #7-9. The maple leaf with the plastic bag is a funny picture inside the picture. Typical Lynn 🙂 – Wow, the eagle must have been a moment with goosebumps! I can find something in every image, they are all nourishing for my soul! I am glad you “just looked” again. Thank you!

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    • How nice! I like the idea of my old, well-used teapot looking a little mystical. And I’m glad you like all the lines in the railroad crossing photo.
      #8 is a detail of a drawing by an artist I like. I liked the look of it with these photos. Some of the drawings in that exhibit were of big piles of dirt but she made them look important and powerful. It was very interesting. I was very lucky to see the eagle incident. There were 4 of them flying over the road so I quickly pulled over – you don’t normally see that many at one time. Then two flew away and the other two were kind of fighting over the rabbit. Then this one picked it up but the eagle had a hard time flying. It tried again and flew away easily, to a tall tree with a nest in it. They use the nest every year and I think it becomes a familair place to them so sometimes they might eat what they killed there, even when there are no little ones to feed. The other eagle just stood on the ground. Its expression was hard to understand but it must have been mad. 😉 Even to see eagles on the ground is unusual – they spend most of their time high in the trees. Thanks so much for your comment, Almuth, I enjoy sharing posts with you.

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      • So do I 🙂 Yes, eagles on the ground must be exceptional. You were really lucky to get so much to see of all this happening! A rare incident. I am curious what you will discover next! As it seems there is always something exceptional in your surroundings 🙂

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  25. Hi Lynn, what a great treasure chest of photos again! Number 8 is a painting, isn’t it? And number 3 was a riddle for me until I saw its titlde. There’s a unity somehow. Nature, yes. Colours, too. No people.And? Do you plan the order or does your aesthetic instinct just lead you? What fascinates me, too, is the play with very distinct photos and more foggy ones. That makes it like a wave for me, coming out and drawing back. Take care, Petra

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    • Hi Petra, #8 is a detail of a drawing that I saw at an exhibit, years ago. The artist is Grace Knowlton. I like her work.
      https://ppawlo.com/2021/11/26/zundstoff-hoffnung-mein-bild-1-fuel-hope-my-painting-1/
      Do I plan the order? No, I begin with an idea that can change a lot as I work. I choose photos from my Lightroom files, where I have lots of tags (like labels) that help me find certain kinds of pictures. I export them to a separate folder, then I pick one for the first photo. What comes next is whatever seems to look good. It keeps going like that but often at the end the order doesn’t work as well, so I might make lots of changes. I think you would be correct to say it’s aesthetic instinct that leads me.
      I love what you said about waves of images, some clear and some foggy – wow, that’s great! It’s nice to have a rhythm but I am not always sure the rhythm works. 😉
      Thank you so much!

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  27. A thoughtful collection that flows really well, Lynn. The details of the ceramics are interesting. The amazing tree in the fog is a stunner as is the eagle in flight. Also, love the weathered shed boards…sad that it’s gone. Great set!

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    • Thank you, Jane…there are probably plenty of other weathered boards to photograph around here since we have so much rain. That one was a mess and was on Swinomish land. The tribe chose to tear it down and it was actually an improvement. I’m wondering if they’re going to put anything else up but it doesn’t look like it, which is fine by me 😉

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    • It’s partly the randomness that’s a reflection of day-to-day life – there are interesting things to see wherever we are, at home, along the road, anywhere. Maybe it’s more about the act of looking than the product. In any case, I thank you for an honest reaction and for not just absent-mindedly hitting the “like” button and moving on. 🙂

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  29. Recognizing the artistic potential in everyday situations is an essential part of your work anyway, but here you emphasize this by choosing images and elevating it to a program.
    And yet everyday situations cease to be such as soon as you point your camera at those: on the one hand, because you give them so much of your concentrated and precious attention, on the other hand, because your images transform them. And also because we, your guests, arrive here with the expectation that we will again be shown extraordinary photographs. So much for “just looking”.
    I especially love what you’ve done with your old teapot and the fennel. And – oh – the reflections in the old closet door! Prosaic description for poetic beauty.
    Thank you for this enchanting series of pictures, dear Lynn!

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    • Yes, it’s what I do but I thought I would put it “front and center” this time. You made me chuckle with “So much for ‘Just Looking.”
      That teapot has many tiny cracks and some really big ones, too. I’m attached to it. Joe is afraid it’s going to break (he’s right!) so he bought another one but the new one sits unused in the cupboard. I prefer the old friend. I’m glad you liked the reflections, too. THank you, Ule. 🙂

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    • Thank you! A few of these may have been made with an iPhone but most were made with an Olympus OM-D EM-1 mark iii camera, the camera I use most often. My favorite lens for the camera is a 60mm f2.8 macro. I use it for lots of things, not just macros at all. I don’t like tripods or big, heavy cameras and I want great image stabilization and great lenses so Olympus works for me. Happy Holidays!

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        • 🙂 As they say, the best camera is the one you have with you…and I would add, the one you’re comfortable using. Camera gear is a dizzying world. I hope all’s well in KL. I’ve never even been to Asia, though I still hope to someday. We had a trip to Vietnam planned for Feb. 2020, then the pandemic came and the rest is history. Take care!

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  31. Oh! So interesting to view posts in backwards order sometimes. It so happens that what I was trying to explain in comments on your next chronological post, about the emotion/perspective/poetry in your images and collections, was put into your own eloquent words in the introduction to this post: “It has to do with a sensibility that tries to find beauty everywhere.” So while your sciency self is documenting, I see this personal POV and artistic expression come through wonderfully too. 🙂

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