The longer I spend in small-town life, the more alien a view down the tree-lined streets of Seattle becomes. If the warm towers are a rare sight, the man crossing the street with his dog is a more normal image for me to concentrate on.
Tag: trees
Autumn in the American Backyard
In most of North American, a lawn of short grass has no business being near enormous, deciduous trees; this particular image matches an afternoon of improbably sunlight with that preposterous botanical mix.
Guest Post: Blue Ridge Landscape
Today’s post comes courtesy of @STEMFemme from our recent hike on the Grayson Highlands section of the Appalachian trail!
Fall in the Enchanted Forest
St. Lawrence University’s Enchanted Forest has a tree planted by each graduating class (though they’ve run out of space!), and amongst the bright yellow leaves and the gnarled bark is Herring-Cole Hall (they say it’s haunted!). The narrow depth of field (I was photographing a wedding!) completes the 3-D feel of standing between the trees.
Tower in the Rain
This domed building, poking above the trees and through a sudden rainstorm outside Columbus, Ohio, reminds me of nothing more than a mage’s tower. I bet there’s treasure at the top!
Smooth Water
When the water is too high the trail (pictured!) is impassible and it is necessary to take the high water trail. The trail is not impassible in this shot.
Vuitton Seattle
The streets of Seattle are almost empty, early on a Saturday morning in August. The retro lettering and style of the Louis Vuitton display and the science-fictional curve of Rainier Tower above it make me think of 1970s-era film. A car chase must be just around the corner. (I suspect I’ve thought this about a post before, but as this is apparently my 600th Decaseconds post, that should be forgivable.)
Wetland Bridge
The tranquility of the lake in Bays Mountain park just blows me away.
Smell the Hydrangeas
I visited Seattle’s Kubota Garden for the first time during a recent trip and I was pleasantly surprised. It is quite a pretty public park.
Scattered throughout the park were these vibrant hydrangeas.
Lightning Over Carl Sagan’s House
As a scientist and educator in the 21st century, it’s difficult to overstate the role that Carl Sagan played in shaping my worldview. When I traveled to Ithaca, NY for the first time this week (for a chemistry conference, naturally), I wasn’t planning on any kind of specific pilgrimage. Nonetheless, I found myself standing on a tall bridge above a gorge, watching the lights of Ithaca and the flashes of lightning in the distant clouds.
I didn’t have my normal Nikon with me. I didn’t have my tripod with me. I made do. How often do you get to photograph lightning over Carl Sagan’s house?
(It’s the house on the right, by the way.)
Edge of the Big Forest
In this particular corner of Connecticut in early spring, the rain and snow combined to make the perfect storybook fog. This image is so quaint and charming, I could swear I’d seen it somewhere before.
But this brings me to another idea: those particular locations in landscape photography so scenic that they are literally ubiquitous. Take the tunnel view in Yosemite, or shots of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands, or downtown Manhattan as seen from the top of Rockafeller Center as examples: is it even possible to make an original composition from such a photographically saturated place? But these places are also photographically saturated for a reason: they’re really, really pretty. Where does that trade-off between originality and beauty fall?
Hydroelectric on a Blackwater River
There are few natural features that look colder than a rushing blackwater river when the air temperature is below 0ºF. The convergence of this little reservoir to the far-off (and equally miniature) hydroelectric station neatly contrasts the frigid setting with the optimism of twentieth-century technocrats. (The Adirondacks are dotted with an improbable number of tiny hydroelectric stations.)
Fallfire
When red leaves are backlit, they seem to glow so unbelievably. HDR photography can turn this setting from charming to almost overwhelming.
Kayaks in Autumn II
In the past week, I’ve explored the Adirondacks in autumn. This particular setting (just across the street from last week’s sea plane) is another irreducible representation of the glassy water, expansive sky, and intimate beaches of the region. Though we’re officially into fall, I’m pretty confident that these canoes and kayaks are going to see at least a few more weeks’ use. (Will they be dodging icebergs eventually?)
Kayaks in Autumn I
Ready to launch those kayaks and disturb the chilly mirror of a fall river in the Adirondacks? Me, neither. (Too cold and too placid.)
Decaseconds 