November 2024: American Bison

One of the nearly forgotten symbols of America is the great bison. Like many iconic American symbols, it came very close to extinction. Close...but not quite. And in the long run, like many of those other symbols, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of many people the bison has survived. A number of valuable lessons are to be learned from these incredible animals. 

October 2024: Chugging Along

 

This is the Canadian National Railroad engine 1395, built in Montreal in 1913.  Currently parked in Coopersville, MI, USA, it belings to the Coopersville and Marne Railroad Museum. Sadly it is too far gone to restore. Even so, and even in its current state, it is a beautiful thing to see. 

Well, as I may or may not have mentioned, I had spinal fusion surgery a week ago. Two titanium rods, 4 screws, and a titanium vertebral spacer implanted to relieve a nerve which was being compressed due to disc damage, arthritis, and bone spurs. The surgery went very well, and I have not been in very much pain. The healing process will be another 11 weeks though, as the bone needs to grow into and around the spacer in order to keep it in place permanently, so I will remain on restrictions until Christmas, but I can already tell that this is going to be a very positive thing. 

Apparently, unlike the 1395, I am not yet too far gone to restore, and so I will keep chugging along. :)

September 2024: Busy Bee

 

Greetings and welcome once again to autumn, when the bees are busy storing up honey to feed themselves on through the winter.

As for me, I am busy preparing for my first spinal fusion surgery (of what will eventually be 3) in a few weeks.  The injuries are old, but the discs are shot and the vertebrae are compressing the spinal nerves. I will be on restrictions until Christmas, so won't be running around the woods taking photos obviously, but will glean things from the archives to share with you for the next few months.  

In the meantime, like this bee, I am scurrying around like mad arranging for everything to be in place logistically so that it goes as smoothly as possible. I am really big on preparation, and always have been. It makes things recoverable even when they go sideways on you. That is one of the keys to successful photography, nature work especially. Plus it really fosters a sense of confidence. 

When I was a kid that was the Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared." :)  It is a very good motto, truth be told. 

August 2024: Infrared Part 2

 

I think I am getting a good feel for this whole IR process now. It really does some amazing things with clouds in particular. Because I can not see in IR, I have to imagine the sorts of things that will appear in the image when I am composing. Sometimes I am accurate, sometimes I am way off, but I am getting better at it every time I shoot.

Learning new things is always enjoyable to me, especially when it is learning about things that human biology is supposed to limit us from knowing, seeing things that our eyes are not made to see. It is a reminder that there is so much more out there than we could possibly know, and that even science has its limitations in revealing those things to us. 

Hope your summer is enjoyable!

July 2024: Seeing What We Can Not See

 

So I bought another new camera...an infrared camera. Infrared light is not visible to the human eye, but it operates just as all light does, reflecting off of whatever objects it hits. So with a specially modified camera you can take photos which capture that reflection just like regular photographs, and translate them (a process I have yet to learn about) into the visible spectrum so that they can be seen. 

Technically what I have is a "near-infrared" camera, meaning it takes photographs of the portion of the infrared spectrum just barely outside the visible light spectrum. Farther out on the IR spectrum you get thermal imaging infrared, but closer to the visible light spectrum you get images that are visually closer to what we can see.

I am of course totally brand new to this, and have much to learn, but am enjoying both the challenge and the process very much. And I do like reinforcing the concept that there are things which exist in reality which are outside the ability of our senses to perceive. Because as much as we would like it to be, life is not black and white. It is not just color either. It is all that and much, much more.

June 2024: Laundry Room

 

This is an old laundry room in the former state hospital/asylum in Traverse City, MI.  It would not have been the institutional laundry room, but rather an occupational therapy laundry room, where they would teach the residents how to do their own laundry. They had a whole wing of a building dedicated to teaching things like cooking, cleaning, etc. 

What fascinates me about this particular room is that it was abandoned over 40 years ago, the paint is peeling, the walls crumbling, and yet after all this time there is still paper towel in the dispenser dutifully waiting for the next set of wet hands...hands that will never come.

I am very glad to have had the opportunity to go through these buildings when I did, as they are now in the process of restoring the ones which can be restored and demolishing the ones which can not. Access is now severely limited, as they are now active construction/demolition sites. The photos which have been taken by myself and others are the only records that will be of what these places looked like. 

May 2024: Waterfall

 Spring is fully underway here in MI, with flowers blooming, grass growing, and...water falling! It is nice to see more of the sun, and I have been spending as much time in it as I can.

Been busy of late, and am looking forward to a couple days away from it all this coming weekend. 

Not much to say this month, just that I hope that wherever you are you can take some time to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature.