This week I think we turned from the warm light of early to mid Fall towards the fading light and colors of late Fall. This week’s images reflect that transitional moment.
This first image is the looks back a bit to the warm light and colors, but I noticed that the light changed quickly this morning and the morning glow did not seem to last as long as a week ago.
The rest of the images are in black and white. They remind me that even in the fading light and the dying of grass and leaves, or gray skies and city streets, there is still beauty and interest.
The yellow in this grass will stay all winter; indeed, moments of bright winter sun and clean backyard snow will only enhance the beauty of the grass.
The leaves below are tucked into a corner where the back deck meets the ground. They hold my attention; it’s the morning frost and the veins and edges of the leaves.
I cut down the large stands of grass in the front of the house (as high as 3-4 feet). During the summer and fall, they soften the edges of the front steps and angular lines of the house. During the winter, they just get in the way of snow shoveling.
By mid-day, these leaves are wet mess and lose their beauty. Or, maybe, I just need to find the beauty then too. But somehow, in my eye, the soft wetness looks more like the death mask of the leaves than frozen sharpness that comes with morning frost.
I also went downtown to do some architectural photography, thinking that the clouded-over skies and black and white images might suit my mood. They did. The first two are on Library Street in downtown GR.
The second two are Sheldon Avenue, which runs between Library and Fulton. The first one is similar to an image I made six or seven years ago. It looks down an alley into the interior of a city block, where service entrances to buildings are located.
In the intervening years, artwork has been painted onto the walls of the alley. I was contemplating how to shoot the alley when, just like the previous image, a person decided to walk into the alley. Now there was some drama.
The last one is a COVID19 image. The sidewalk with with outside tables for a bar. The safe way to eat and drink, these days.
That little bit of relatively safe freedom and normality, outdoors, is going away as the weather gets cold and wet in Michigan. And COVID cases are rising fast.
Stay warm. Stay safe!
No Ordinary Light 