ku # 1101 ~ scraggy beauty

In the herb bed ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt should also come as no surprise that I am not a fan of flora pictures, Cliche Division. You know the ones - a single blossom or two pictured with a wide open aperture / small DOF on a overcast day (or with a crap load of light diffusers, scrims, and fill cards). Add a bug / insect and you've got a fine camera club competition winner.

No, those pictures are not for me. They tell us little we don't already know.

I'm much more attuned to nature's messy ways. Complexity and diversity of shapes, textures, and color which combine to create a boatload of busy visual energy. A Jackson Pollock kind of visual energy minus the "abstraction" because, after all, the medium of photography is intrinsically and inexorably linked to the real.

civilized ku # 1135 ~ lincoln memorial(s)

Scattered grave memorials ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 1134 ~ busted

Flood damage - wrecked canoe ~ near Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 1129-33 ~ it's a fine mess

Stream erosion repair ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Stream erosion repair ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Stream erosion repair ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Streamside debris ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Stream erosion ~ Keene, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenSimilar in fashion to what happened on our street, a very small stream in Keene jammed up with debris when the high waters encountered a bridge, resulting in a tremendous amount of damage. Although we did not sustain the extreme damage they did in Keene.

In the aftermath, county work crews are filling in eroded river/stream/brook banks with earth and boulders in an attempt to stem the next water event which will arrive during the spring rain and thaw. However, since they are doing so without any kind of river-dynamics plan or oversight, several environmental groups have sued the towns and counties in order to obtain cease and desist orders.

The groups' concerns are based around the fact that there is absolutely no supervision over the crews doing the work. Individual bulldozer and excavator drivers are making on-the-spot decisions without any regard to river dynamics and fish habitat* amongst other concerns. There is also the very distinct probability their river "sculpting" may actually allow the rivers and streams to flow faster with the result of increased flooding downstream.

Our neighboring town supervisor readily admits that neither he nor anyone else involved in the work are "experts" on the subject. Add to that factor, the fact that his town highway superintendent is being pressured by local residents to do things in the rivers they think are "good" - hey, everybody's an expert, right? - and what you have is a recipe for future disasters.

The situation calls for demands supervision and control by "big government". That is to say, government above and beyond the expertise and abilities of local government. As much as many of my big government hating neighbors might be unable to admit, this situation is well beyond their and their locally elected officials ability to do the right thing.

*fish habitat - there are lots of people and enterprises in the Adirondacks deriving large parts of their income from there being fish in the waters.

ku # 1096-1100 ~ in the rain

Apple tree and pumpkin in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Pumpkin in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Apples in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Swing in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Flood debris in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPreviously, I have mentioned how much I like to make pictures in the rain. There are number of reasons for this picturing MO prominent amongst them are the color saturation, the light, and the murky atmospheric quality of the air.

Early yesterday evening while I was out and about in a very fine rain a large pumpkin caught my eye. The light was rather unusual inasmuch as it had a very yellow/warm cast, unlike most rainy conditions wherein the light is rather gray. The pumpkin was a fair distance from the road and, to be honest, I didn't really notice the apple tree which was close by the pumpkin.

However, after parking the car along the road and venturing back to the pumpkin, I began to notice a number of picturing possibilities to include the apple tree and a swing hanging from another tree. As it turned out the location was ripe with picturing opportunities, including the flood debris around a tree which was on the other side of the road.

Is there anyone else out there who likes to picture in the rain?

PS - the house around which these pictures were made was damaged in our recent flood caused by Tropical Storm Irene. You might notice the mud (in the Pumpkin in the rain picture) left behind by the flood waters. The house was not occupied and it may have been damaged beyond repair or, as is the case with a number of houses, too expensive to repair. That would be a shame because the house is a beautiful old Greek Revival style one and half story farmhouse which the owner has been slowing rehabing over the past few years.

Update on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 02:14PM by gravitas et nugalis

• click to embiggenFYI, here's a picture of the above mentioned Greek Revival farmhouse. It is worth noting that the small guest house to the left of the main house used to (pre-Irene) face the road. Flood waters swept it off its foundation and deposited it askew.

In addition, Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Is there are reason why you prefer the term "picturing" over "photographing"? I guess both work, but the second term is used by most."

my response: the reason I use "picturing" over "photographing" is precisely because, as you stated, the second term is used by most.