Beauty in Winter

"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them." -David Hume

            Some people get very sad when long summer days give way to the short, cold days of winter. Nature loses most of it's color as everything seems to die. Grass turns brown, Trees lose their leaves, and the wind chills you to the bone.

But there is beauty in winter. Beauty in the dormant trees, beauty in the gray skies, beauty in the freezing water.

Each season's photos have the ability to evoke a vastly different range of emotions. Winter pictures, to me, present a much more raw group of emotions. A picture of a lonely tree in a barren landscape can make you sad or contemplative. That same tree in the spring time packed full of new leaves surrounded by a field full of growing crops can give you a warm feeling of hope.

 

 I don't think I would appreciate a warm spring day nearly as much if I didn't have to make it though a long, cold winter. The beauty of winter is a much more subtle thing than the beauty of the other seasons. It is not as easy to find. But it's there if you're willing to look for it.

Just because it's cold and windy outside doesn't mean we have to be unhappy. If just means we have to try a little harder to find the things that make us happy.  

Look Straight Up

“To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.” -Edward Weston

        I have read a lot about photography. There are a lot of "rules" that people say will help you to become a better photographer. You need to make sure that you...   You must ensure that your camera is...  Don't forget to position your subject in the...   I'm definitely not saying that you can't learn a lot from people that have come before you, but I want you to think about the most influential people in your life. Did they inspire you by following rules? Did they inspire you by doing things the same way people before them did?

Probably not.

      I'm willing to bet they inspired you by thinking differently than the people that came before them. They acted abnormally, they were considered strange, they did their own thing regardless of how other people said they should act.

      I am absolutely not saying I am any kind of an inspiration to anyone, but the one thing I am is ABNORMAL.

       My favorite thing to do is to get in my truck with my camera and just randomly drive around until I see something that catches my eye. Something that evokes emotion. Something that moves me. Looking straight up moves me.

 
 
 

 

 

 

    

How often do you stand still and look straight up?  You might be amazed at what you see. I take very few pictures standing straight up with my camera at eye level. I think that is pretty boring. Sometimes I set my camera on the ground to take pictures, other times I'm the one on the ground.  There is just something about looking up into the trees that makes me feel like a kid again.  It fills my mind with wonder and makes me very happy.

       

         I think it reminds me of childhood moments spent laying on my back in the grass, staring up at passing clouds. My imagination taking over. That kid didn't have any real problems. My biggest concern was getting through the week at school so I could go camping with my friends on Friday night.   If you could get there again, wouldn't you?

         When I was in school I tried my best not to get noticed. I blended in with everyone because I was too scared to stand out. Too scared to be weird. Too scared to be myself. But as I got older I realized you can never be happy by keeping who you really are locked away. Now I'm proud to be weird. Proud to think a little differently than most people I know.

         So if you're reading this, I want you to take one thing away. Try to do something different today. Don't do the same thing you always do. Don't do what everybody else is doing. When everybody else is looking straight ahead, you should try to look straight up.

 

Hiding in the Rain and Fog

           I used to think that rainy days were only good for sitting inside on the couch watching TV. But, since I got into photography I have found that nothing quite conveys the mood of a day like this better than taking pictures of it. These used to be depressing days, but finding beauty on a dreary day makes me very happy.

The first thing I did was head downtown in Fayetteville to see what was going on there. As I was walking down the street taking pictures of buildings, street lamps, and fallen leaves I looked up and noticed a police car had pulled off the road and the officer was watching me very intently. Either he thought I was some sort of terrorist doing reconnaissance or he was looking to fill his jaywalking ticket quota. Either way, I managed to take a picture of him once I was convinced he didn't plan to shoot me or call in reinforcements.

 

Once my fears of incarceration had passed I turned my attention back to what was around me.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, there are quite a few homeless people in Fayetteville and I think one of them has decided to draw some furniture on this building. Hey, whatever makes you feel at home buddy.

                             Then it started to rain too hard and I had to get seek the refuge of my truck.

 

 

       Since the rain forced me to quit, I decided it was time to head home. But, of course, once I was almost there it completely stopped and all I was left with was gray skies and fog. What can I do with that?? Find a lake near my house and take foggy pictures of course!

 

 

 

And guess what was next to the lake.... Fences are my favorite.

 

 

 

 

          During times when the sun isn't shining, I believe we need to do whatever we can to make sure we still see the beauty around us. Because it's there...hiding in the rain and fog. 

 

 

 

  

Random turns

       After getting my oil changed this morning I decided to take the long way home. And by long way home I mean aimlessly driving around heading in the general direction of my house until I eventually get there. I do this quite a bit and it can definitely be hit or miss. Sometimes I find absolutely nothing and sometimes I happen upon some amazing things to photograph. Today was one of those days where I accidentally made all the right turns!

 

First I found this abandoned go-cart track.

 

 

 

 

Right when I thought there nothing else to see there I found the putt putt course hidden in the weeds.

 

 

 

 

Once I left there I was in full explore mode so I turned down a random dead end road. I just had a feeling about it. At the end of the road was this old warehouse..

 

  And inside the warehouse was some very creepy graffiti.

Then I noticed an old barn in the woods behind the warehouse property.

 

Nothing better than an old truck in the woods!!





 

Shortly after that I was driving through a small town when I decided to turn down a little side street. It took me to a very cool church.

 

As I was leaving the church I saw a water tower down the road. And I LOVE water towers!

 



 

I usually like to have a theme to my blog posts so I didn't intend on writing one today. But then the more I thought about it the more I realized that today did have a theme. I didn't make a bad turn today.  Every driving decision I made today led me to something that I thought was awesome. So I guess the real question is... were there awesome places down the roads I didn't take? I'd like to think there was. Maybe I'll go that way next week.

Field of Honor

              So I was out driving around this morning looking for interesting things to take pictures of and I drove by Veteran's Park in Fayetteville. I have been there several times before but it never looked like this. There were about a thousand flags lined up in rows.  Of course I had to pull in and take a closer look. A sign near the flags tells the story of why they are there. Each flag honors someone who is currently serving, those who have served, and the men and women who have made the supreme sacrifice for our nation’s security and freedom.

                                     Below are a few pictures from my visit there today.

 

            I find it hard to express how walking amongst these flags made me feel. I guess the best way to describe it is that it made me feel like a kid again. When I was a kid my dad would get dressed in his uniform and go off to defend our country. He went to ensure that the freedom that most of us take for granted was protected. I was proud of him. I was proud of America. Today I felt that rush of pride again as a walked across that field. For a brief moment there were no heavy burdens for me to carry, there were no problems to cloud my mind. There was only pride, happiness, and a perspective that is far too easily lost in our busy lives. That, to me, is what Memorial Day is all about.

Life Through Broken Windows

         I haven't really been taking any pictures lately which usually doesn't make for great blogging topics. "Sitting on my couch watching old episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond" doesn't really sound like a good title for a blog...  

         So this morning when I woke up I decided I needed something that was going to break me out of my funk and there was only one place I could think of. The old hoarder's property in Raeford! The first time I went there was one of the greatest days ever because of the stories he told and the very photogenic junk that he so closely guarded.

         When I pulled up the muddy drive way and parked next to the old building surrounded by junk I could see the old man standing at his work bench tinkering with a ceiling fan. Laying next to him on the ground was his faithful dog who barely lifted his head when I walked up. The old man instantly recognized me and asked me how my pictures turned out. I told him that they turned out great and thanked him again for letting me walk around. Then I asked him if I could do it again. He immediately said that would be no problem but he threw in a warning. He told me that my shoes looked very clean and it had been raining a lot. "There's a hell of a lot of mud out there", he said with a grin. I thanked him for his concern, shook his hand, and started my walk through the mud.

Looking through the tall weeds at one of his old buses 

 

It's amazing what you can find when you look through a broken window.

 

It skews the world in the most amazing ways...

 

Looking through broken glass always makes me stop and

daydream about what could have happened and the people

before me who looked through it when it was clean and new..

 

The beauty in it gets me every time.

 

 

      I noticed that a lot had changed from when I here last. It's springtime now and nature is reclaiming it's territory...one inch at a time.

 

 

 

 

Things that were easily seen before are vanishing into the brush..

 

 

I sat behind the wheel of some of the vehicles and imagined a time when it was someone's new truck. How happy they were when they drove it home. You can feel the energy in these vehicles. They tell an amazing story. 

 

 

This is my favorite old truck. It has such character.

 

 

 

         The old man told me that all of this won't be here much longer. There is a sadness to him as he tells me that he's having to sell the property and all of these old buses, trucks, cranes, and military vehicles will be hauled off and sold as scrap metal. That will truly be a sad day because the stories they tell are magical. It will be a shame if others aren't able to enjoy them like I have. This place makes me think, it makes me sad, and it makes me happy. A place that evokes a full range of emotions like this should be treasured, not destroyed. But that's what happens to the past. It is hauled away and replaced by something shiny and new, with only the photographs to remember it by.