My visual wandering when it comes to photography, is sort of my calling card. It is what others have come to expect of me so I aim to please.  I was that sort of wandering photographer, and therefore that sort of a wandering writer about photography.

Below is an eclectic group of images. I find solace in variety. I know that seems strange, and probably is, to find relief and an escape in variety rather than sameness. If I had needed a comfort blanket as a child (I did not), I would have wanted a myriad of blankets with different sizes, colors and textures.

One of the reasons I loved doing photography in the American West, is the large number of interesting rock formations. Even in my middle America home state of Wisconsin, we have some beautiful rock forms and with or without a camera, I have managed to find many of them.

The first two images below were found in southwestern Colorado in the mountains.  I found the color and texture fascinating. The lake you see in the second shot was a bonus. Holding the values in the rock in order to share their fairly muted colors, was my mission. Over exposure would have ruined the atmosphere they have to share with us.

As a photographer, I often find just “plain ole rocks” to be a subject. This was found in a remote area of Wisconsin, in a river.  The water gently wandering around this hard rock, gave some contrast (there’s that word again) to the image and added a bit of light tone to an otherwise dark photo.

I have shared with you a lot of sunrise/sunset images on these pages. Most have been dominated by spectacular colors. Sometimes sunrise/sunset photos can have less than spectacular color, but can still be very powerful in their mood. Things like powerful mixes of light and dark, and ominous and even scary clouds can become the focal point and the “mood creator”. Metering off of the brighter parts, will keep your exposure down, leaving you with dark clouds and silhouettes of the land.

Every landscape photo we make, can not be spectacular. The average but pretty scene you see below, still provides for a photo that makes me want to be there. Gentle and inviting. Careful composition will aide in keeping an image such as this, pleasing to the eye. The curve of the shoreline provides is with a direction to walk and enjoy both this lake and the forest.

I don’t know how many waterfalls I have photographed in my life, but it seems as though I have been attracted to every drip of water I ever saw.  A fairly violent little waterfall in northern Wisconsin has been visually tamed by the anchor (contrast?) provided by the rock and the trees. Memory says that I went to much trouble to find a position in order to create the image.

Sidelight provides visual texture to an image, and pollen was the base for that formula. Contrast producing sidelight, not only created texture, but added some drama to the scene.

Yes I consider flower macros, and often wildlife images to be scenes.

Notice that I look for drama sometimes, and look for peaceful un-dramatic scenes at other times. Of course much of the time, I take what I am given

Originally, I actually wondered if this Black-crowned Night Heron had only one leg.  It is not unusual for wading birds such as this to stand on one leg, but I was there for a long time. I drove away and it was still a “one legged bird” when I left.

It seems not to be concerned, so I guess I should not be either.

As a side note, I like the light in this photo. Light matters in wildlife photography too.

Okay what’s this…..you might say. This is a wild bison in South Dakota. I find the image as I found the scene, to be fascinating. With that said, if only it would have opened that eye widely, there would have been life in the image.

Still, sidelight provides texture.

This Pronghorn Antelope was photographed in Colorado. It is a nice, be it unspectacular image. When it twisted its head back into the camera, a fairly boring image became a somewhat uneventful one. I always took whatever I got, so I said thank you and moved on.

Family outings are always nice. Mom, dad, and the five little ones. Yes, there are five of them. The swans are trumpeters and as usual, I gave thanks and moved on. The location was Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin.

Even here, the light is dramatic and adds to the image.

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Other stuff.

What’s the hardest part of living and a world that is split in two?  Fighting hard for what your side believes in, without becoming just another version of the other side.  If I disagree with them, then I ought to be better than they are. That does not mean, that I do not have the right to say my peace, and support legal changes that will help produce what I believe in and stand for. Fighting can be good or bad.

I went to my Twitter account recently for the first time in a long while. Most liberals are silent about the Elon Musk takeover with a promise of free speech. Conservatives are dancing in the streets. I might stop in and visit every so often now. I am and always have been, a proponent of free speech, the good the bad and the ugly.

I said “most” liberals are silent. Those who have become more and more disenfranchised with the left, such as Bill Maher and Aaron Rodgers, are elated. Musk himself is a liberal, who has grown weary of leftist fodder and demagoguery. 

I would caution everybody on all sides of political/social discourse to remember, we have never had 100% free speech. If you decide to call for the murder of someone or to burn down someone’s house, you will be visited by the police. Even our founding fathers realized that threatening violence is not free speech, it is thugery.

As for lies and character assassination? We have civil and criminal courts designed to handle that. Whether we like it or not, we have the right to argue out our points, call names and assassinate characters if we wish.

Great friends, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, argued about this issue when some criticized the government, and those who work there, and then President Adams called for their imprisonment.  In the end, Jefferson ran and defeated Adams in the next election, and through congress, reestablished our rights to say what we believe, minus any violent intent. We can do so, whenever and however we choose.

The censorship we have seen in Twitter and other social media, is not designed to protect anyone from lies, but rather to “steal the voices” from those which they disagree.

Galatians 4:16
Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

God Bless,
Wayne

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