A fool for a sunbeam

I've always had a weak spot for sunbeams, and lately have had a lot to work with.

The lace curtains in the sunroom.

The Christmas cactus just to the right on the table.

The leather boxes in the living room. If I ever decide to get into large format pinhole, this would be kind of a classy way to do it.

After she painted an oak forest in the dining room, Sarah gilded a couple leaves to complete the theme.

Two tulips against the shaded side of the hedge.

And a closeup of the right hand blossom.

All with the Populist. .15mm pinhole 24mm from 24x36mm frame.

Mid May at Mosquito HIll.

This flowering crab is in a large field where they hold outdoor events just behind the interpretive building.

Just as we got started on the path up the hill, we encountered this fox snake stretched across the path.

A cluster of jack-in-the-pulpits just getting going by the switch back

This year has been the most spectacular display of trilliums. They were all over above the north path.

If you look around you can usually find one protected from the wind for a closeup.

The greening of the hill shot looking up.

and looking down.

There was a rather dramatic view looking over the Wolf River valley.

There were even Trilliums among the Mayapples on top the hill.

A new maple leaf just opening looking as red as will in the fall.

I just couldn't pass up this solitary wood violet nestled in the tree roots.

Just as we started down the hill again, we encountered another fox snake.

In the oxbow, the grass that was just under the surface two weeks ago has now emerged.

At the frog pond, a big frog held absolutely still for me right next to the platform, but between the wide angle of the Populist and its natural camouflage, you can barely see it.

All with the Populist. .15mm pinhole 24mm from 24x36mm frame.

Late start at Mosquito Hill

Between my knee surgery and some weather issues, we didn't get up to Mosquito Hill until quite late and spring was already well underway.

For several years, I've picked a spot or two and tried to take a photo from exactly the same viewpoint as the seasons progressed. This year it's a shot I've done numerous times of this two-trunked birch half-way up the north path, but from a little farther back than I usually portray it, with a good bit of the slope above the path.

The other view I'll be following is just up the path about 10 yards, looking down the path, this time including the slope below the path.

Just about the first wild flowers to appear are the bloodroots (There are others but they flutter too much in the wind.).

I'm always amazed to find at least one chunk of rock that's broken off the sandstone and gotten caught in some unlikely corner created between the rocks and the trees.

When rock and other debris falls, is washed down natural cracks, and gets deposited between two mountains it's called an alluvial fan, but when it's a pile this small, it's called talus (I checked with a geologist).

At the top of the hill, the mayapples are just emerging and unfolding.

After the record high levels of the oxbow pond last December, it was kind of a surprise to find it quite normal, and sprouting some of what will be wild rice stalks still under the surface.

The frog pond with it's normal spring collection of various types of floating scum.

All with the Populist. .15mm pinhole 24mm from 24x36mm frame.

Pinhole Day: insurance and the rest of the roll.

I wanted to use one of the older 120 cameras to do something special for Pinhole Day, but because I have been very painfully stung by light leaks, I made a point to shoot at least a couple shots with the Populist on Pinhole Day.

I'm part of the coordinating team and have to review images, so a robust internet connection is necessary.  We have occasional periods when our wireless router doesn't behave so politely with Time-Warner's modem, so for a while the only thing I had to work with was my iPhone on my cell plan. (The Worldwide Pinhole Photography web site is pretty portable friendly.)

The old MacBook Pro downstairs with the trashed monitor and the cheap Vizio TV connected as an external screen, which I use to scan all these negatives, is connected to the internet by an actual Cat 5 cable so that stays up almost all the time.

I did one of the 120 Populist shots of the magnolia because I wanted to capture the magnolia petals lying among the violet blossoms.  Including the cane in a shot seemed to place it in the right temporal context, and I think i've given away my fondness for footography.

I took two exposures, and can't really tell which I like better.  Taking the uncertain blogger's prerogative to use as much of Google's server space as i want,  I'll just post both of them.

It turns out I was happy with one of the shots from the Glenlivet Vertical Populist, so the insurance shots weren't necessary.

At the end of the day, I still had four frames left in the Glenlivet and I wanted to process it as soon as possible.

One was supposed to be a sunbeam shining on the sea chest in the living room, but the sun moved away about the time I opened the shutter and it was extremely under exposed.

The other three turned out to also be of that most convenient and cooperative model.

One issue with my enforced bed rest earlier this spring, from sitting up in bed in an odd position, was explicitly a pain in the ass. It was worse than the knee and the Vicodin didn't touch it.  Soaking in a hot tub would have felt really good,  but the recovery protocol banned hot baths which were likely to exacerbate the swelling in the surgical knee.  By Pinhole Day that danger was mostly gone, and Monday morning, I had a long soak.  You'll note the only sharp body part is the surgical knee which I kept out of the hot water, just in case.

Monday was as nice a day as Sunday was cold and rainy. I read Sky & Telescope on the porch while I waited for my hair to dry.

Took a close-up to show off my clean hair. I don't really need to use the cane anymore to support the surgical knee, but on long walks it helps me go farther on the other knee. And I kind of like the image of the gentleman with a walking stick.  I put this up as my new profile photo on Facebook.

My Pinhole Day

I loaded up two older 120 cameras. It was a cold, dark, rainy and windy day, but that's no excuse.

I hadn't shot anything with the 120 populist since I originally posted the plans in 2008. I've mentioned before that I just didn't get the extra kick from the larger film format.  Maybe Pinhole Day will bring out the charm in this format for me.

For Pinhole Day, I like to find pictures that both feature the conditions that day, and feature my Wisconsin location.

I started in the garden with a long shot.  It definitely identifies the time of year with just the beds of daffodils providing color, but it's kind of a boring shot.

I did get this extreme close up of a daffodil, which is certainly an indicator of the time of year. This is 6x9cm film so this is at least one to one magnification.  The somewhat low contrast doesn't do it any favors in this case, and the house in the background in the upper right hand corner bugs me a little bit.

Sarah recently got these silver candelabras for a song, so that kind of pinpointed the moment in time for me. It was pretty dark, so when we left to go out for brunch, I set the camera up and left it for about two hours until we got back. This is a close contender for the WPPD gallery.

I went around to the front of the house to capture how plantings on the north side of front door, which gets a little more sun, are more advanced than the south side which gets shaded by the pine tree.  We should do something about straightening out  those few concrete steps.  I never notice it except in a photographs, and then it drives me crazy.

Here's another finalist for submission, the magnolia in full blossom.  This has been a great year for it. We had a few warm days which made it blossom, but it's been kinda cold ever since so it's persisted in this state for almost two weeks now.  With the flowers blowing around it's pretty pinholey and I love the petals on the ground among the wood violets (which drew me to this composition) .  I hate the truck parked across the street. Wish I'd noticed it at the time.

We went for a walk in Menomonie Park.  The custom whittled winder fell out in the back yard earlier and totally vanished among the rest of the twigs etc, so I covered the hole with black tape and ducked into dim light to wind it after that.  I couldn't really do that in the park, so only took this one shot of the giant marble globe, which  I thought a pretty appropriate subject for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.

In the evening I still had one frame left, so I set the camera on the kitchen table pointed at the stove and refrigerator for about two hours while we watched Masterpiece Theatre.

So it's on to the Glenlivet Vertical Populist.  I built it shortly after Sarah gave me the Scotch for Christmas in 2008, got it out again for Pinhole Day in 2012, and shot a roll with it last fall.

The thing that captured my eye in  Menomonie Park were the still leafless trees on the already green grass that grow along the shore of Lake Winnebago.

If anybody saw my images of the total lunar eclipse last September, this is where I took them from. This shot could be a contender.

The rocks along the shore placed to prevent erosion and the curve of the shoreline make for some compositional interest.

This S curve of the path as it winds under the trees is another classic compositional element.

There was supposed to be a full moon and thinking of Gregg Kemp, I was inspired by his moon photos to try this with the streak of the moon rising through the magnolia blossoms. Unfortunately it remained cloudy all night, and the two hours I left it out there was only enough to make a very thin negative.

So this portrait of a single tree bent by the near constant wind coming off Lake Winnebago is now my leading choice, primarily because of the composition and it kinda captures the mood of the day.

I still have three exposures I took on Pinhole Day in the Populist, but I really want to feature one of these cameras, so I'll probably pick one of these.  Go to the 2016 Pinhole Day exhibition and search for me to find out.

Springiness

I have no defenses against flowers at the best of times, so I can't help myself photographing the appearance of Spring's first blossoms. Following my recent confinement, Spring has an extra dimension this year.  (It was really only about two weeks.  I should make a terrible pun about spring in my step here, but....)

The crocuses always win by about two weeks. They got snowed on three or four times, but by the time I got out for this picture, someone had snacked on it a little bit.

The little scilla's are next by the corner of the back porch.

Way out in the back under the crabapple are the lungworts.

There were lots of daffodils just getting ready to blossom.

But a few were already busted out. Fluttering in the wind on even the most mild days is always a problem this close up, so it was nice of this one to lean up against an old stalk that got missed in the fall cleanup.

 A backlit yellow flower is about the shortest exposure you could ask for though.

The magnolia in front of the house was just about in the same state.  Lot's of buds...

But already had numerous blossoms also.  It's fully open now and pretty spectacular.  Pedestrians stop to photograph it and smell the fragrance, and comment how nice it is.

I always describe our lawn as a diverse ecosystem.  A sentimental favorite, which even occupies the more chemically manicured lawn next door, is the state flower, the wood violet.

As you might expect from a wood violet, they are particularly profuse under the pine tree.

Have a great Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day everybody!

All with the Populist. .15mm pinhole 24mm from 24x36mm frame.