Photo Page 1003

The month of October, 2003 brightened up considerably from previous months, though still some overcast on days I could get out to photograph. Generally, I will follow the order of the taking of these images on this page. There are so many images to show from October, to keep this web page to a reasonable size, I have placed some of them on a second October photo page: Photo Page 1003-B.

	Here begins a series of images from a brief trip to the "Little Finger" area of the western part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This, the Day Farm, must be the largest farm in the area, with a building design I have not seen in Pennsylvania.





	I hadn't had much luck with taking pictures of turkeys in central Pennsylvania, so I leapt from the car, which had, fortunately, stopped, to take some shots. The turkeys walk with a deliberate and stately motion, seem not to want to feel rushed at all, and so stepped slowly and gracefully across this road.





	Using telephoto, then cropping, shrinking, and compressing this shot, lost a lot of image quality. Still it is the only shot among several taken that shows the manner of the hunting style of the gull -- hovering in thirty mph gusts is routine. They fling themselves after edibles into the cold turmoil of the waves as needed until full.





	Now something, as Monty Python used to say, completely different. We stopped at Interlochen, a famous Michigan academy for talented students, for a concert. And a high-energy performance it was. These horn players caught my eye, and I'll let this image represent that evening.





	Gray squirrels are quick to adopt bird feeders as a handy source of food and here a hefty Michigan resident squirrel is nosing under such a feeder in case something important got dropped. The metal pole of the bird feeder did not slow this squirrel down much as it climbed up for its bi-hourly check of the food status.





	Sitting out at the edge of the lake, I watched this Monarch butterfly making its irregular way to the beach. I was faintly surprised to see the butterfly along the water in cool, moderately windy, weather. But living things do as they please, regardless of our thoughts on the matter. The Monarch settled into a footprint on the beach and sat there for a while, maybe to rest in the slight recess, or to re-check an internal compass. Then it flew straight out over the water toward the far shore five miles away. No timid skulking or short flights through the bushes for this insect..





	The darkness was more advanced than this picture shows when I took this image. I used a time-exposure and was pleased it caught the delicate coloring and the range of tones of sunset at the lake. The little lights on the far shore are miles away.





	Traveling back through Canada, we stopped at the McMichael Gallery to see the works of the Group of Seven who are important to the evolution of Canadian art and Canadian sense of identity (the latter a topic of endless interest to our northern friends). The seminal member of the Group was Lawren Harris whose work evolved toward a more abstract treatment of natural themes. This is one of his paintings.





	This is the last shot from the Michigan trip. Stopping to look at the Niagara River, a half-mile above the Falls, we met this gull, who, whether young and trusting, or just good-natured, seemed in its pleasant way to be a special bird among his raucous kind.





	I have been thinking of writing a book, to be titled "How to Sleep". This would be one of the illustrations for sure. It would be an inspirational book, like the example approach so often seen: Bob made a million dollars and married well doing it like such and such, and so can you. Mallards are adept at catching a few zees whenever it seems appropriate, and it often seems so.





	If anything, this hen is even more inspiring. Her technique is flawless, a virtuoso performance. I am beginning to nod off even as I write this. She isn't just tucked in to a nice nap, this is power napping. And, kidding aside, I have an image of a sleeping pair of Mallards by my bed, and a glance at it is enough to put me in the mood for a relaxing bout of sleep.





	While I have been kidded a bit for showing the south end of ducks, the fact is, they are dabbling ducks -- tipping up and browsing underwater is the main way they make a living. I like this shot for the clear way it shows the burrowing action into the water. Also, water itself is an endlessly interesting subject of photography -- the particular curls, textures, and waves, the play of light...





	This wasp worked for quite a while, extracting something from the surface of a picnic table, whether wood fibers or food, I don't know. I indulged a growing desire to take macro photographs of our smaller cousins as they go about their affairs. My camera, while good and adaptable, isn't the best at close photography because the viewfinder gives a digital view, rather than an optical one, and that makes it impossible to sure of a sharp focus. Anyway, I feel that smaller does not mean less interesting, so there will be more of this sort of image. As I watched the wasp, I was struck by the economy of motion, the purposefulness of action. We humans may spend too much time concerned with questions of instinct as compared with self-controlled action, and too little time seeing what is there.





	For example, the nice yellow fur coat of the bumblebee isn't just for fashion -- this "cold-blooded" insect needs to keep those flight muscles warm. Furthermore, the bee doesn't bumble much, rather it moves accurately and effectively in a complex, responsive flight path that would make a helicopter pilot gulp a nerve tonic even to think about.





	There is a fascination about round barns, even for people who don't think much about farming. No doubt they represent an efficient use of materials, as well as being esthetic to view. Perhaps their rarity is due to a greater skill being required to design and build. This is the only one I know of that is not far from us. I hope to be able to take and show more images of barns on this site in months to come.





	It is pleasant to visit little Boalsburg, not far from our home. It has comfortable old homes set among great trees, and is especially beautiful in the fall of the year. This image is not dramatic, but the play of light and shade on white clapboard reminds me of a thousand memories of the peace and richness of old neighborhoods where generations of decent people played as children, and lived their years.





	Such are the surprises of existence. Shortly after taking the previous image, I nearly trod on a Ukranian Tortoise. One may not expect to find such a being browsing away in the fall sunlight just off the sidewalk in a Pennsylvania town, but, as the tortoise can attest, there are strange dislocations sometimes in life. It turned out the tortoise's owner was sitting on a nearby porch watching his pet graze. The owner said that in a few weeks, the tortoise would be put in a box and the box placed in the cool dark basement in preparation for hibernation. Eventually the tortoise would be popped into the refrigerator to sleep through the winter.





	Boalsburg also gave me the best summary of fall foliage. This has been generally a poor year for fall color, but this maple made up for a lot.





	In time, a few days later than the above image, I took this shot of a single oak leaf among the millions in Black Moshannon Park. It seems to say "Fall" just as clearly as the brilliant maple tree.





	After publishing "How To Sleep", I may follow up with "How To Meditate". Of course cats will be prominently featured therein. This large cat and his equally large companion live in a nearby shop. They spend much of their time contemplating the passing scene from the vantage of the front window of the shop.





	I'll let this image, in its simplicity, be the final one for this web page. Sometimes the photographer simply sees, raises the camera, and presses the shutter. So it was with this leaf as it caught a slant of late afternoon light.


	More October, 2003 images on Photo Page 1003-B...