Finn River FarmAll

Day 26: It was a blustery, chill day, so even if I hadn't been up to my eyeballs in meetings and paperwork, I wouldn't have gone out in the snow to search for a fresh science lesson for my readers. As a matter of fact, I wasn't much inclined to do anything today, and told Kevin that I'd seriously considered "calling in worthless" as a more honest statement than "calling in sick." Consequently, here I am, home at last, without a blog shot for the day and feeling much like just going to bed and pulling the blankies up over my head. Some days are just like that, but the day I took this photo wasn't one of them. We were dancing the Morris at Finn River Cidery, and during the break between sets, I discovered a FarmAll, a real tractor, the kind my daddy used to drive. Right there, Finn River won me over. I've been looking for an excuse to post the image. Vile weather tipped the scales.

Rainy-Day Guests

Day 96: Winter is somber anywhere, but especially so in the Pacific Northwe't where dreary grey skies mute every hint of color. It is a time when black-and-white photography can be put to good advantage by virtue of allowing us to focus on detail rather than the palette. Where greens and browns muddy in the eye, monochrome separates subtle differences in light and shadow, bringing out features we might otherwise overlook. I have a particular fondness for the treatment called "platinum," a digital recreation of a process used in the late 1800s and early 1900s, having a slightly warm color cast in the mid-range. I've used it here to highlight one of the many guests who came to my feeders on this stormy day. The birds seem to know bad weather is moving in.

Treasure In The Mist

Day 297: Back in the Good Old Days when cameras used film or plates coated in emulsions, photographers created special effects both in and out of the darkroom. One of my favorite techiques was the use of filters, specifically what I call "creative filters," i.e., homemade devices placed between the lens and the subject. These creative filters could be anything from a piece of window screen, sheer fabric, cellophane to glass coated with a thin film of petroleum jelly or other oily substance. The latter was often used to give a soft, romantic atmosphere to wedding photos. Nowadays, of course, special effects are something many of us add during post-processing, however I have yet to find any program which can duplicate the unique appearance created by shooting through a piece of Vaselined glass.