Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Stark setting
Chasing the light
Without the harsh lines of the cliff to mark the horizon, it would be hard to tell where earth ends and sky begins. The perpendicular line of the stone fence leads the eye to a stark composition of sky, snow, rock, and tree.
Taken in Door County, Wisconsin.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Study in blues
Chasing the light
The little fringe of trees on the right and the luminous clouds save this scene from being a grim and frozen winter emptiness. Still, even with all the beauty of the last light, you can feel the bone-chilling cold. Taken in southwestern Wisconsin.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Dream world
Chasing the light
To the end of my days, I will be entranced by the sweep and contours of my homeland hills. In this case, the hills in the foreground and the mountains behind are separated by a fog bank filling up an entire valley. These Montana fog photos are a continuous lesson to me that, no matter where I am, I need to keep climbing to stay out of that gray valley and see the complete panorama in all its inspirational magnificence. One foot in front of the other!
Taken in the upper pasture at the MCG Ranch in western Montana.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Bubbling merrily along: stream in winter
Chasing the light
Ripples capture light from the snow as this musical little stream in Wisconsin makes its way through a frozen winter day .
Friday, January 27, 2006
Clouds roll above and below Mt. Lolo
Chasing the light
Taken in the upper pasture at the MCG Ranch in western Montana.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Light breaking through morning fog
Chasing the light
A Montana morning at the MCG Ranch.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Ice and snow ballet
Chasing the light
Ice crystals in Wisconsin capture dancing sparkles of sunlight.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Amazing last rays on a Montana afternoon
Chasing the light
Bright new snow gleams as the late afternoon sun lights up Mt. Stuart north of Missoula, Montana.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Sunrise, moonfall
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. For the next few posts, I'll share some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Sunrise: on this particular January morning, a pale moon made a last stand in a dawning lavender sky.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
A bit o' green on the forest floor
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. For the next few posts, I'll share some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Morning: the forest floor has its own way of reflecting light; it is different in each season. During a warm spell, bits of green will peep out. Here is some furry moss contrasting with the dry parchment of the leaves.
The tiny dot of green in the lower left looks like a baby violet leaf. I read that these unseasonable warm spells are causing wildflowers to bloom earlier than at any time in history - buttercups were found in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana last week. Another example of climate change.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Oak awaiting spring
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. For the next couple of posts, I'll share some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Early afternoon: shadows lengthened early in the afternoon on this January day, but the light had a particular clarity that felt somehow hopeful.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Leaning into the sky
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. For the next few posts, I'll share some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Mid-afternoon: the leaden clouds of morning broke themselves up into fluffy, scudding puffballs that made the day seem like spring in March. The trees seemed to be leaning into the sky in anticipation of welcome warmth soon to come.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
An afternoon of ice fishing
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. For the next few days, I'll post some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Late afternoon: the way the light bounces between the ice and the sky, with the dark shoreline framing each, is a classic Wisconsin winter scene. The little figures to the right, peering down at the hole they are drilling, added a human touch to what would otherwise be a forbidding landscape.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Day's end
Detail of photo above
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. I'm sharing here some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day, working backward from sunset.
Early evening: these pale pink hues deepened ultimately into a spectacular sunset (See yesterday's post.) I raced from this spot to climb a hill to find the best vantage point for the peak colors; the show was over in just a few minutes.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The final glow
Chasing the light
One day recently, on behalf of our current theme of celebrating light, I explored different facets of light in southwestern Wisconsin from sunup to sundown. I've been sharing some glimpses of changing light at different moments of the day.
Here's the final glow of a day in which clouds created an ever-changing backdrop for an unseasonably warm January weekend.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Twilight touches the peaks
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Sharp definitions
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Shining mountain
If you've had a chance to spend time on this blog, you probably know how I love to explore the land around my home town. Look at the interplay of clouds and sunlight on this crisp winter day. The way the brown hills swell and roll into the blue mountains, with the peaks rising triumphantly above it all...this vision is always in my mind's eye. The symmetry of the elegant Sleeping Woman Peak was with me throughout my childhood - gazing across the valley, climbing up and down a mountainside to get to school, riding my horse, preparing to leave Missoula at 17 to go off to school in Chicago.
It's still a point of reference for me, though I've lived elsewhere for many years and am grateful now to spend time with my family in a sweet green valley in southwestern Wisconsin. Encounters with serious health issues in our immediate family have just deepened the appreciation for those places where I am privileged to be.
Friday, January 13, 2006
A cold sunrise in the pasture
Nippy morning!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Mother and daughter
Two folk very dear to me were enveloped in last light as we walked together in the Wisconsin dusk. The crunch of the snow, the bracing air, and the light on the lake made for a fine excursion.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Muted sunset
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Fountain on Paseo del Prado
A sharp contrast from the preceding photos: from the starkness of winter in Montana mountains to the pleasant splash of a fountain on a summery boulevard in Madrid. We're still looking at light. Love the way the fountain spirals catch the sparkles and the way the trees in the background pick up those rays during the "golden hour."
Monday, January 09, 2006
Alert in the gray of dawn
In the stillness of dawn, two figures poised on the horizon and gazed with interest at my fumblings with the camera. Yes, deer are a dime a dozen these days, but their grace and beauty still have the power to thrill when we stop and lock eyes for a brief moment in time. They are still wild and mysterious creatures, despite our encroachment into their terrain.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Sunup behind the fencepost
I should mention again that all these photos will benefit greatly from being viewed large (see the instructions in the column at left.) At the size above, you can't see details like those lovely water droplets hanging on the wire fence as the warming sun melts the frost on the metal...
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Nature's mirror - a last view of the setting sun
A puddle is such a mundane part of a melting landscape, but when it reflects the sunset for just a few moments, it becomes a bright jewel in the shadowed ground. Taken near the Clark Fork River in Missoula, Montana.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Sun's just about up
As long as we're celebrating the return of light in honor of the solstice, I'm enjoying my beloved sunrises and sunsets. In mountain country, the transition of the landscape when the sun suddenly pops up behind the hill is startling. The mysterious colors of dawn evaporate, and the sky becomes its own regular blue, instead of experimenting with the delicate pinks and apricots and golds of those early rays. This was taken from B's back porch.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
First touches of morning light
Just as I find the "witching hour" of dusk a magical time, so too the sunrise. This is Mount Sentinel, taken from B's front porch. I like the little touches of fog and the dark pine silhouettes in this one.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Light on a winter landscape
Still thinking about light, and what it does to sky and hills as the eye travels to the vision beyond the grass underfoot.
Taken in the hills north of Missoula, Montana, looking toward Mount Stuart.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Otherworld
I'm still in Montana, with a brief chance to upload pix. These were taken as we climbed Mt. Daniel in back of the ranch. We started our hike shrouded in fog, but as we gained elevation, glimpses like this [above] appeared. We finally emerged into blinding sunlight, mountaintops agleam with fresh snow. In the valley below, the fog remained and folks in town thought it was just another gray day [below].
