Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Generous

So I don’t really like fairs and carnivals ( though I worked at one for a week once ) and we were in Alaska, land of grizzly bear and moose and mountains and… a state fair. I went reluctantly. And it was better than I thought it would be and not good enough to ever want to go to another one. What I did like were the photographs and the crafts. In one craft area were wood turners, a club actually. There was a man talking about the craft while a younger fellow demonstrated. I was amazed by the transformation of the wood and asked a couple of questions. Okay, a lot of questions. At one point the man - either because he wanted rid of me or, as I choose to believe, he was impressed by my insightful questions, handed me a pen he had made that morning. This pen. The wood is a beautifully grained Alaksan hardwood, therefore birch. It writes smoothly and better than I deserve with my awful handwriting.

Did you know I was the only student in the 5th grade who failed to get a Palmer Method Writing Certificate. Still hurts.

Anyway. the Alaskan people we met were usually like this man, a delight and generous with their time and treasures.

Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Custodian

Bob Martin owned this very interesting mid-century Kodak Signet 35 camera. I didn’t know Bob liked or pursued photography. (He also had a nice Olympus OE 1.) To be clear I am simply the temporary custodian of this camera until a suitable home is found. The camera, designed in early 1950, had five variants. This one, the 35, was first a military model with a more rugged machined aluminum frame instead of plastic. Other details from this Wiki article: “The Signet 35 has a coupled coincident image rangefinder,[1] an excellent Ektar 44mm f3.5 lens with rear helicoid focus, automatic film stop counter with double exposure prevention, all built into a sturdy cast aluminum alloy body. The shutter must be cocked manually, and only it only had four shutter speeds.[2] The Signet 35 is very different in appearance, function, and durability, from the rest of the Signet line.”

I met Bob and his wife, Mary Lou in the fall of 1975 when I enrolled at Johnson in Knoxville, TN. Bob had just arrived from Kansas to serve as the minister at Forest Avenue Christian Church. Cindy and I were among the few there on that first Sunday (but the Kansas Contingent was strong!). We were invited to stay for chili, as I recall, perhaps incorrectly. It was from Bob, first as my minister, then friend and later professor that I learned my most enduring and important lessons in theology, lessons I rely on every day. The really critical life lessons were simply being around Bob and Mary Lou. From them we all learned patience, kindness, grace, love, genuine prayer and a host of other amazing faithful expressions of what the Body of Christ was really to be modeling, Bob was, in my time, a careful, meticulous and ordered man. His extensive library of books were rotated on a schedule to keep the spines straight. Astonishing. Bob was also generous but not on himself, frugal and Bob seemed to fit. So I was very surprised to learn that the Younger Version or perhaps Bob 1.0 would have expended over a $100 on a camera in 195X. But it makes me very happy to know that about him.

I like to imagine that like me the camera was a tool to see differently and enduringly the world God created. Anyway, that’s what I choose to think.

Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Curves

This is a totally non-April fools post.

I don’t know why but I decided to try and learn to carve something. My courses are randomly found on YouTube where there are a host of such offerings. The primary one I have watched is Doug Linker. All of this precedes the fact we are now in Hibernation Mode. Actually since the lock down I have not completed a new project but I got one started Sunday. So far I have finished 14 very small projects. So one of them has become the subject of the second Studio (!) shot.

This photo includes the knife I use, a finished penguin (since it is well known by the type of hat I did not really need to provide that bit of information) and a few shavings. And my thumb guard. The thumb guard is on my right or carving hand and I use a glove on my left hand that has metal in the fabric and it has saved me a few times already. Not sure how this activity will progress but I am committed for a year. It takes time to learn -even a little bit so to give a proper effort I hope to make about one project every week or ten days. Not sure how long the learning curve will be to get a decent finally product.

Meanwhile I am enjoying shooting these photos and will try to finish out the week with Stylized Studio Shots & Story. Have a couple ready to go - but watch for Sunday!

Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Flower

In case you are unaware:) we are not out traveling or out much at all. Grocery runs and neighborhood walks are all we have done for 3 weeks. So, I set up a “studio” consisting of a dark shirt over a board, a stool to place it on, a work light, a small adjustable temperature LED, and a handheld flashlight. So, the next few images are the first of this type I have tried. Be patient!

This is a snippet of a plant off our back deck. It is a Chinese Fringe Flower. The small container is a wine carafe from a pre-WWII Pennsylvania Railroad dining car. The design was to keep it stable on the dining car table.

Yellow Warbler

I love the song this little bird sings but don’t often get to see them still and low enough to photograph. This male was singing in a tree low to the ground (actually all the trees here were short) as we hiked a trail near Valdez, Alaska. And as a bonus he was in his brightest breeding plumage.

Content

“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13 NLT

Two More

Someone wrote and asked if I had a photo of the Orca that I posted last week with just a fin above water. We are nothing if not responsive!

Balance

I just like the look of this photo. We are off the coast of Alaska near Valdez late in the day as the fisherman were completing the catch for the day. Here they are going after Salmon.

And Now a Respite from Ice.

A lovely spot near Sitka where we were able to have a picnic midway on the hike.

Wall of Sound_Finally, this....

The bay we were in filled with ice in minutes. From a few bergs in the pretty blue water to the set of Frozen. Ice crowded into the boat and we were gently rocking with the waves from three or more slides. Then, perhaps weakened by the last slide the area to the right began to peel off less than a minute after the last one stopped. This time it was a huge slice of the glacier, perhaps as long as a mile or more with just a single section about 2500 feet across. The berg then turned over with the black side up where it had scrapped the rocks for centuries. When it turned over a large wave rocked the boat and ice chunks taller than a three story house were floating everywhere. We were not in any danger but it felt a bit tense as the captain - who has done this for 27 years announced that this was the largest calving he had ever seen and we needed to leave so we could still push our way through the icy waters. What an amazing event to witness.

This happened across a wide area of the glacier

Suddenly, about a 1/2 mile of wall slide under water,

The ice then rolls over with what was the bottom on the tiop.

Then a lot of secondary slides began across the new face of the glacier

All most all the ice in the photo was added to the bay in about 20 minutes time.

Wall of Sound.. And Next (six photos)

Then to our right another slide and then a third back again toward our left.
My Friend Dennis wrote after Friday's post:

“Some see just ice…. My mind drifts to pondering what the earth was like when the snow fell to form the ice I can now see from thousands of years ago? Who was living nearby? How did they live? Did their descendants parish due to the harsh climate or are they still living close to where their ancestors made their homes? What animals were present? What did they eat? How did they subsist? … I also think about how privileged I am to be able to see the wonders of science, the chemistry of water compression and the physics of the calving of the ice. … I hope I never lose my desire to learn about everything and strive to understand how interconnected everything about our world really is.”

And yet we are still not done, further right again.

Then we move to the incredible.

Wall of Sound _ Then... (Four photos)

When last we viewed our glacier it was creaking and snapping and popping. Loud unmistakable sounds. Then, just a bit to the left of where Friday’s shot was taken, this happened:

These are the middle four of 15 images and from the first to the last encompassed 5 seconds. (these four are a total of 2 seconds apart)

So, are we done? Maybe not!

Home, Not Mine!

This seemed to be a most appropriate word for our current time.

“My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.” Isaiah 32:18 NLT

Glimpses of Spring (3 photos)

We need a respite from the winter and the unceasingly depressing news. How about some signs of spring? Welcome Spring 2020.

Wall of Sound

Nope, nothing to do with Phil Spector. We were onboard the Lulubell from Valdez and we sailed to the Columbia Glacier, a massive five mile wide 200 to 300 foot tall ice flow. The captain took us to about 1/4 mile from the glacier and shut down. We drifted toward the wall rather slowly but ended up less than 1000 feet where he kept us steady. You could hear cracks and creaks and snaps and booms and splashes over and over, some loud some subtle but never quiet. Looking at the photo, the colors, the many cracks and slits are easy to spot and each of those a potential fault leading to a large calving of ice. And we saw that - more on Monday.

Sea Cave Hideout

This pair of adult breeding Horned Puffins was spotted as the boat we were on, the Lulubell out of Valdez, Alaska, nosed into a sea cave.

Lake Louise Walk

The walk around Lake Louise in Banff provides lots of places to stop at gape at the views. The color of the water changes with the light and angle you view and the reflections. And everyone stops frequently to stare at the unfolding beauty.

Not the Emerald Isle

But in Alaska, with hours of sunlight in the summer, where trees and foliage grow they grow thick and fast. This 1950's era school bus was used for 4 decades then parked at the edge of the woods. Now hardly visible from 50 feet. Your green reclamation work has begun.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Yellow Boat Story

We were past the Chilkoot River and running out of road when I spotted this yellow boat. The apparent owner was sitting on the bay side of the road (house on the other side). So we turned around and I stopped close to his drive and walked over to ask if he minded if I went on his property to take a photo of the boat. He said, “I thought you stopped to see the bear.” What bear? There was a grizzly, sort of young and a bit bedraggled, in the shallow water about 50 feet to the right of the boat and I never saw it. At that point I asked if I could shoot both and he sort of smiled when he said yes. Another tourist! We had a nice visit with he and his adult daughter who was home to visit on her annual trip from Seattle.

Rolling

The clouds came swirling over the mountain and in a few minutes we were engulfed in the rain and the wind. The circumstances can change quickly in the mountains.

“When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.” Proverbs 10:25 NLT