Cattails, ducks and blue herons on the Rio Grande.
Category: Ducks
Speed Graphic
Continuing my adventures in film, I purchased a 4X5 Speed Graphic, Press Camera with money I got for my birthday. I wanted a 4X5 that was more portable, but since field cameras are still pricey, I started looking at press cameras, and decided I liked having the choice of using either the leaf shutter in the lens or the focal plane shutter in the body, and having the option to hand hold the camera.
I ended up with this particular camera because the seller guaranteed that everything worked, and he accepted my offer for the amount of the money I received for my birthday. I got it Wednesday, checked the shutters, the movements, the rangefinders, and indeed everything worked. It was pretty dirty, including the lens, so I took the camera and lens apart, and cleaned everything inside and out. Spunk helped and then participated when I photographed the camera — he wanted to point out the camera’s features and how it works. I looked up the serial numbers on the lens and the camera and it’s a Wartime model produced in 1945.
Thursday morning I went out and took four photos, processed them, and then printed two of the negatives before we went to Thanksgiving dinner at Laurie’s parent’s house in the early afternoon. I used Kodak Tri-X 320, but had the light meter set at ISO 400 and processed the film at ISO 400. I used the leaf shutter in the lens set at 1/400 sec and hand held the camera for the shots. The lens, at 127mm, is fairly wide-angle for a 4X5, therefore, in each photo I was trying to get as close to a group of cranes, and then a group of ducks as possible. The cranes and ducks flew so I snapped the photos of them taking flight, producing my first 4×5, hand-held actions shots.
Woody
Woody the wood duck was paddling around, took a break on the bank, and then paddled out to check out a hen with her ducklings. I can’t say whether the hen and ducklings are wood ducks or not.
Ducks In A Row
Following the ducks is a bit of “macro madness” — I found various interesting critters in the iris and roses. While I was out moving hoses to hook up drip systems, this female mallard hopped up on the neighbor’s wall. Then she hopped back down, and I could hear her making little quacking noises. When I looked over the wall, she was marching off with four ducklings in a row behind her.
Sunday’s Sunset
I made sure I went out to the river and got the sunset on Sunday. Now that we are back on standard time, it will be dark before I leave the office during the week.
Ducks in a Row
After I dropped Laurie off to sing in the choir at the early service, I went over to UNM and photographed the ducks and the architecture. The clouds were building up over the Sandias on my way home, so I stopped at the jetti sculpture on Coors and got the shots of the Sandias, clouds and sculpture.
France Day 30 Last Day In Paris
We spent our last day in Paris getting ready to leave — checking in for the flight, cleaning the apartment, preparing food and packing. We went out for a walk in the Tuileries got our last look at the Louvre in the late afternoon sunlight, and I took random photos in the Tuileries and on the street walking back to the apartment. We are leaving for the airport at 6:30 this morning.
France Day 23 Hittin’ you with my best shot!
We got into the Louvre when it opened, rushed to the Mona Lisa and there were only about 50 or so people crowded in front of her, making it easy to get up to the rope to get the closest view possible. The Mona Lisa is the perfect portrait of the perfect model in the perfect pose. She is like a self portrait of how everyone would like to see themselves, and the reflections in the multiple layers of glass protecting the Mona Lisa adds to the sense of the portrait as a reflection of our own portraits.
After three hours in the Louvre we had browsed the entire Italian and Spanish painters wing and then went through the exhibit on Egyptian art and culture. In the Spanish sections, there was a small exhibit of plates by Goya, where I got the photo of the woman looking out the window that almost matched Goya’s woman on a horse.
One thing really nice about our apartment being so close to the Louvre is that we go back to the apartment and fix lunch before we go out again. Laurie made crepes for lunch that were wonderful, and then we strolled through the Tuileries on our way to the Musée l’Orangerie where they have expressionist paintings by Cézanne, Renior, Monet, Picaso, Rousseau, etc. Along the way we saw goats mowing a moat, a teenage bird bigger than its mother still asking her to feed it, duckings napping, flowers starting to bloom, iris and a few roses.
Little Drops of Rain
I spent most of the day putting together my presentation on Troubadour poetry and music for French 385: Travels in Provence. It rained most of the day, and during a break in the weather I went out and photographed the storm passing over the Sandias. On my way out to the river, I noticed there were still a few drops of rain the wind had not blown off a rose bush — it reminded me of Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You”, which has a verse that begins “Little drops of rain…” I had been reading medieval poetry all day and started thinking that “Thank You” could be modern Troubadour poetry.
Troubadours originally wrote their poetry in Occitan, the language of Provence, France, also called Provançal. I don’t understand Occitan, so I’ve been reading the poetry translated into English by William and Frances Paden in their book Troubadour Poems from the South of France. Women Troubadours where called trobairitz, and the most famous trobairitz is La Comtessa de Dia. After reading many troubadour poems, La Comtessa de Dia is one of my favorites. Here is one of her poems named Estat ai en greu cossirier / I have been in heavy grief circa 1169:
I have been in heavy grief
for a knight who once was mine,
And I want it to be forever known
That I loved him too much,
I see now that I’m betrayed
For not giving him my love
Bemused, I lie in bed awake;
Bemused, I dress and pass the day.
If only I could hold him
Naked in my arms one night!
He would feel ecstatic
Were I to be his pillow.
Since I desire him more
Than Floris did Blanchefleur,
I give him my heart and my love,
My wit, my eyes, for as long as I live.
Splendid lover, charming and good,
When shall I hold you in my power?
If only I could lie with you one night
And give you a loving kiss!
Know that I’d like
To hold you as my husband,
As long as you’d promise
To do what I desired.
Here are the lyrics to Robert Plan’s Thank You, 1969:
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.
Kind woman, I give you my all, Kind woman, nothing more.
Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
together we shall go until we die. My, my, my.
An inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look… see.
And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad, happiness….I’m glad.
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.
Moon on the Rise
I went out to get the moonrise this afternoon. The clouds covered the moon when it first came over the mountain, but then as it rose behind the clouds it afforded nice photo ops. The geese and cranes are still hanging around, and the crows were thick at times, which reminded me of the movie “The Birds.”
Off Center & Not Even 