Monthly Archives: March 2014

Nature and the Abstract

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Abstract1977Weeping Rock –  Zion                              click to enlarge

To be honest abstract art is not my favorite art form. If something is so difficult to understand by simply viewing it, that somebody else that I know is not any smarter than me has to explain it, and when they get finished I know less than when they started and I don’t believe one word they are saying anyway, then I find it is usually not worth the effort. And I certainly wouldn’t give you money for it.

Now having said that, some of you might say “well he’s an opinionated S.O.B. isn’t he” and I’m afraid you would be right, at least about the S.O.B. part. And having said that, there are views of nature that fall under the definition of abstract. The deal is, it has to be intuitively understandable even if you have to take a moment to figure out exactly what you’re seeing. It also has to be pretty so that even if you don’t get all of it you like it anyway. You don’t need someone to explain the angst that went into its creation and how it speaks to the duality of man’s convergence with art to transcend the differences in the whole life/death cycle thereby elevating the viewer into a state of intellectual bliss just by being in the same room with it.
 
I remember my dad saying something when he saw some of the abstract stuff that was coming out in the 50’s. We were at a party at some friends house where they were showing off a new painting they had recently acquired by someone named Polack or Pillock or Pollock and it was the latest thing in abstract art and they were struggling mightily to explain all the nuances that were contained in it. When the hostess finally finished her explanation my dad asked , “Yeah but what the hell is it ?”  My dad didn’t care about all the trials and tribulation the artist supposedly had and the demons he conquered to get the paint on the canvas, it was supposed to be a picture. What the hell is it? Of course the hostess was taken aback but at least dad withheld the rest of his comment which was “and it’s goddamned ugly too.” Dad would have been a savage art critic.

Take this view looking out from the alcove behind the waterfall at Weeping rock in Zion. This is about as abstract a nature shot as I can take. Both figuratively and literally. The falling water, the shape of the reeds with their long pointed leaves and the play of light on the different elements in the image all make sense to me, yet they have that abstract quality about them. They don’t have to be explained and they certainly didn’t involve any angst in its creation, unless it was the angst of getting my camera wet going through the waterfall, but I got over that quick enough once I saw the view.

So what’s the deal here. Is this just a rant, railing against abstract art. Nope. It’s just a guy saying what he thinks about something that makes up the largest part of his life. Art. You might disagree and that would be your mistaken, ill-advised and just plain wrong opinion, but hey, it’s your right to do so. Me, I like it easy. No angst, no struggling with all the deeper meanings of life, no having to listen to people who feel superior because they can make up better crap than you can understand, just art, being able to create something that just makes you feel better for having seen it. I’ll struggle with all that duality stuff later.

Spring Break

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SpringBreak6273Bighorn sheep -Rams – Rocky Mountain National Park
click to enlarge

It’s Spring Break time again and the boys are resting up prior to heading out to the big bash tonight at Sheep Lake. It looks like it will be a good one, there’s a band playing, a wet t-shirt contest, all the grass you can eat and a minimum of rangers on duty. It’s a good time to get your hooves stuck in the mud and watch the young rams head butting contest. Always good to see who is going to be a potential problem this fall when the rut starts.

Spring break has been a long standing tradition here at Rocky Mountain National Park. Everyone’s been studying hard, winter has been a drag and it’s time to let off a little steam. There’s been some agitation from the German exchange students to make Spring break longer here because back home in Germany Spring Break can last from five to eight weeks long. That’s a long time to spend in the biergarten. The Brits chime in with the fact that they get a month off and of course in Jamaica mon, Spring Break is the entire year except for the week they go to school.

But the third and fourth year guys know that you have to pace yourself if you’re going to last so it’s prudent to spend the afternoon resting, catching the sun, deciding on what the evening’s strategy is going to be and checking to see that your stamina levels are  registering in the proper zones. After all the ewes can spot a wimp a mile away.

Navajo Blackboard

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NavajoBlackboard4442
Petroglyphs Monument Valley

Those of us who went to school when we were still using Roman numerals remember the teachers single largest teaching tool, The Blackboard. It filled the entire front of the  room and it was used from the first day at school when the teacher wrote her name on it in large flowing letters, ours was a “Miss Clarisse LaThong”, she was French if I remember correctly and I know I do, to the very last day when she wrote “Have a Great Summer!” in her perfect handwriting.

It was a surprise to me then when I found out that ours was not the only culture that used such a teaching aid. While traveling in the far back country looking for photo opportunities I found this remnant of a forgotten classroom tucked behind one of Monument valleys’ huge rock formations. It was in a small grotto-like area that was sheltered from the sun and wind for most of the day and probably held a dozen students and their teacher. The subject of the day seemed to be biology or perhaps animal husbandry as an illustrated portion of the study material still remains. It was amazing to realize that the Navajo were the first to come up with CliffNotes, a not so movable study guide to help the youngsters remember their lessons.

There was likely more to the days lesson than what we see here but due to the ravages of time portions of the blackboard have fallen away taking its message with it. It was comforting to realize that for years and years students had gathered here to learn their lessons before going out to spend the day herding the sheep they were learning about. I can see the young boys excitingly whispering amongst themselves about this new teacher that was going to be here this year as they left the classroom. I wonder what her name was.

Zowie!

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Zowie6216

Upper Antelope Canyon  Arizona

How’s that for a blast of color on Hump day? This is high-octane stuff this morning to get you going for that last push towards the weekend. If this was tea it would be the visual equivalent of Morning Thunder. If you’re a tea drinker I’m sure you remember Morning Thunder by Celestial Seasonings. It had the picture of a buffalo galloping across the side of the box and roughly the equivalent of a 55 gallon drum of caffeine in each cup. If that didn’t crank you up you better call 911.

This is Antelope canyon, or more specifically the Upper Antelope canyon. Because of its configuration, it being contained in a high ridge, and continuing through from one side to the other, you get more light in it and more intense colors than the lower Antelope canyon.. The lower Antelope canyon is one you descend into and has a narrower opening in the ground above that let’s in less light, so you get more muted colors. It’s a physics thing, you have to go there and experience it yourself for it to make sense.

Since I didn’t have my shot of Morning Thunder this morning that’s all the science stuff I’m up to today. We’ll let the colors do the talking instead.

Drama In The Desert

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DramaIntheDesert8Saguaro cactus Arizona                      click to enlarge

This is one of those old pictures of the desert with its Saguaro cactus I dug out of my archives because I realized I hadn’t been there in years and it is time to go back and update my portfolio. The Saguaro cactus hang out in southwestern Arizona and Mexico and are fond of sun, adequate but infrequent moisture, and nature. They like to stand in one place for very long periods of time and are impatient with chain saws or people who dig them up for yard décor. I believe that they are predominantly Gemini, Cancers or the occasional Sagittarius, although the one on the right is definitely a Taurus.

I was on a road trip to see an old friend when I stopped to see these two specimens standing along the road. I was interested in them for several reasons. One of those reasons was I was lost and wondered if they were edible. They’re not. Another was to marvel at how well they fit into the scenery, it’s as if they were native to it.

The Saguaro have many uses, from being a friend to the Indians who first dwelt here, and providing condos and town homes for small birds and other creatures, to being a tourist magnet which generates mucho dinero, which is Spanish for, a ‘huge freaking amount of money’ for the local economy. They are also used as a geographic waypoint establishing ones position on the earth as being in the Southwest portion of the United States. This is handy if you’re not sure what your position is on the earth. With this knowledge in hand you can figure out where someplace else is and go there.

Having rejuvenated my interest in Saguaros I now fully intend to revisit them and update their current conditions. I know they’re off this dirt road that you turn on just past that stand where they sell Indian jewelry and you go like maybe 18-19 miles until you’re absolutely certain you don’t know where you are and they’ll be right there on the left. See you there.

Animal Portraits: Dazma the Amur Leopard

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AmurLeopard1798Amur Leopard                                        click to enlarge

After finally receiving a day that did not have snow, high winds or general suckiness of an undetermined nature, where the sun was shining and you didn’t have to bundle up in your Michelin man snowsuit and it felt good just to be alive, it was time for a little road trip. It had been years since I had been to a zoo, preferring to photograph my animals in their natural unconfined habitat but beggars and those on limited time schedules can’t be choosers.

So where can you go where you can see and photograph a multiple of different animals, walk miles in a small space, eat a boiled hot dog and be home at night to sleep in your own bed. That’s right, the zoo.

Now regardless of your own personal feelings about zoos without them we’d be out of some of these animals. There are thought to be less than 50 of these leopards in the wild and they are dwindling fast. Through the breeding programs established by the various zoos in the country and the world there are now 96 more.

I’m not here to enter into that zoo’s good, zoo’s bad debate. What I am here to do is talk about and show the absolute beauty and majesty of these incredibly rare animals. More show really than talk because words begin to fail me when I try to describe the feeling of connecting with one of these individuals. Perhaps in a better world we wouldn’t have to visit one in a zoo but we don’t have a better world at the moment. What we have is a species that is coming back from that absolute abyss of extinction and the thought of never being able to see one again is unacceptable to me.

This is Dazma, a female Amur leopard currently residing at the Denver Zoo.

Odd Looking Bird

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OddLookingBird8584American Robin   Yellowstone             click to enlarge

We have been getting a huge amount of cards and letters from our loyal readers, Ok two, asking why hasn’t the Institute been out in the field shooting those incredible images we’ve come to know and love, and why haven’t you been bringing us more hard-hitting news and insipid, I mean astounding new discoveries.

To which I reply “Hey, will you give us a break here ?!? This has been the 11th worst winter in recorded history. Its been cold, snowy, windy, wet, and miserable. My battery froze in my car. Half the staff has run off to find heat, whatever the hell that is, and the other half is unresponsive. Its been tough around here.” But I get your meaning. You’re bored too.

However the Institute is slowly coming back to life. Its been a little warmer, we found our camera gear which had been lost, some intern had packed it in a cooler and stuck it way back in the cistern room, I better not find out who did that. The mice chewed off one side of my camera strap and I’ve had to tie it back on with some kind of goofy bowline knot I remembered from scouts, so now when I go out there’s this big stupid knot that keeps banging into my glasses, and more to the point, our researchers have grudging agreed to actually do some research.

Consequently we sent our resident birdologist, Dr. Lemuel Beakston, up to our favorite place to look for stories and mysteries, which is Yellowstone National park of course, and he has finally sent back a report. Apparently the park is abuzz with reports of an odd-looking bird seen flitting about in trees and stuff, bushes, wet spots on the ground, you know, looking for worms and causing no end of puzzlement as to what it is and what, if any, its motives are. Is it an invasive species, an alien infestation from our neighbors to the North sent to eat all of our earthworms so we have to buy them from those really sneaky guys up there. They’re still cheesed off at us for making fun of them saying eh’ all the time so I wouldn’t put it past them. Or is it some new totally unidentified species that we are seeing for the very first time. Personally I’m banking on the Canadian theory but I could be wrong.

When we send our field agents out into the field to investigate phenomenon they are given a complete kit we have developed over the years to aid them during their research. It has things in it like a compass, power bar, three tissues packed in a waterproof baggie for any emergency that might arise, also three squares of TP in a separate waterproof baggie for any emergency that might arise, a dime for use in any payphone in case of real emergency, a piece of paper with the personal unlisted cell phone number of our resident physician, Dr. Vera Lent, in case they think they may die, a small notebook and pencil to write down facts, a small mirror for flashing at overhead planes in case they get lost, an extra key to the perimeter fence gate in case they get back late, a name tag, a magnifying glass for looking at things very close, and in Dr. Beakston’s case a well used copy of the six pound, “The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds” with the original dust cover, so he can find out what kind of bird it is in the rare occasion he doesn’t know.

However as is often the case, the best laid plans of mice and men etc. sometimes get screwed up. Just ask Shackleton or Emilia, and Beakston is no exception. In fact around the PhD lounge he is known as the guy, who if he had a duck, it would drown, and he lives up to his reputation every chance he gets. It seems that his copy of the Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds with the original dust cover, is missing pages. Someone, and unfortunately it could have been anyone, tore out some of the pages to start the morning fire back when it was so cold this past winter that we were burning The Institutes prized antique furniture collection just to stay alive.

And of course the missing pages were from the ‘R’ and ‘Q’ and ‘M’ sections of the index so he has no idea what this bird might be. Which is why we are reaching out to you our loyal readers, to ask if anyone has noticed a bird resembling the one pictured above and do you have any idea of what it is called. One wit sent in the answer ‘Earl’ but we know that isn’t correct. Neither is Virgil so knock that crap off. If you’re not going to help us then just don’t send anything in. But you serious folks, and you know who you are, please give us a hand and send in anything you believe might help us, except a cease and desist letter, that’s not going to help at all and besides the guard at the Institute’s gate has instructions not to accept anything he has to sign for. Time is of the essence and we’d like to get the scoop on this before any of the other Institutes start to horn in on the action and claim credit for discovering and naming this maybe new species. Thanks. Please enclose a dollar, or some bread, or any cast-oft clothing that might aid in the financing of our endeavors here at The Institute, Bless you.