What door would you knock?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you.” This is a Bible verse. In case you are not a believer, I think this applies to everyone and on all occasions.  When your mind is set on something, be persistent and your perseverance will lead you to it.

If you are following my blog, you know that I have obsession for windows. Door, on the other hand, is welcoming and is the key leading us to our destinations. I have not taken too many door pictures, but as long as I have chance, I would always snap a few.  Modern doors are mostly manufactured in an industrial setting where the products are governed by specs and the styles are very uniformed. Sculptured trimming or fancy molding can be added, but body is more in a standard format, rectangular. Most of the people like to photograph aged and distressed doors. Or, door of the character of its own.

This one is surely not that standard spec door. It is the entry for a pretty large house. I am surprised that the door is not larger. I bet a 6 feeter will have to 'humble' down to go through. The door frame tells me it is an European style, but the large urn on the side looks like an Asian piece. The house looks deserted, but the plants on the front porch are obviously well-maintained. Maybe there is high priests (or monks) live there who possess the well of wisdom and are waiting inside for the seekers to knock the door...

It is an carved wooden door with antique door knocker. This door appears to be open most of the time. Luxuriant trailing vegetation has made this entrance a shaded area. Bright sunlight flashed into the space through the arch. The light carpet prompts the curiosity of the visitors. And, yes, through the frame, there is a Japanese garden. Almost everything is groomed and manicured, nice and tight. We know what's inside and an assurance of pleasant experience is confirmed. Play safe, so to speak.

Who does not like sunrise? particularly when it rose above the Mediterranean Sea.  It is a cast iron door without wood or glass. With this backdrop, you would want the fresh air to go in and out with full freedom and you will want the Blue to inhabit every bit of the space. It does not take a genius to figure out what's like inside that door. Breathing in and out that ocean blue, watching sunrise and sunset, day dreaming or count the uncountable stars. And, for photographers to take all the star trail shots at its content. A door to lead you to the dream and indulgence.

 

This image reminds me of the movie Southern Pacific (1958) and its music composed by Rodger and Hammerstein. The retro sepia tone seems to provide a more poetic setting for the classic romance.

So what kind of door I like personally? A quiet and small door, un-noticed. No fancy trim or molding. No antique hardware. Not even a door bell or door knocker. No inviting entrance. It is just be there to serve the purpose for people to enter. It is a door to get to my secret garden where I can hide for days without any interruption; where I can live in my own world with absolute freedom and peace.

Either it is the door leads to seclusion (and perhaps enlightenment); or the door leads to sunshine garden ; or the door opens the blue vanity fair, it is just a door. It is just a bridge to set us off for a destination.  The discovery inside the door will pave the way for our destination, a destination that has been set aside for us individually. We may alter our paths, but we will eventually get there, as phrased in a Chinese old saying, The boat will be set straight at the end of the bridge (船到橋頭自然直).

Cold Outside, but.....

It was a cold morning. Temperature was sub-zero.  Raining. Vegetarians were frozen solid. Roads are icy, wet and slippery. Frozen water drips were hanging on leaf ends. Tree twigs were wrapped in textured ice. Leafs were coated with crystals. Raindrops wiped all clean and ice was sparkling in the light.  Dragging the thought of going out, but I could not resist the temptation.

I bundled myself up with sweater, heavy coat, scarf and gloves. I put my rain coat on and rain cover on my camera.  I grabbed my tripod and slowly walked into the chill, 25 degree (4 below zero Celsius). Rain blocked my sight and prompted my fear to wet my camera in all possible circumstances. I waited for rain to stop or at least decrease to misty condition.

As I was scouting through the trees and shrubs, I spotted something shimmering in the background. There were these two leaf skeletons! I was expecting to see actual leaves underneath, but there was nothing and the skeletons were not attached to the twigs like the leaves would normally do.  At first, I was puzzled. Then, when I was ready to take a closer shot, the smaller 'leaf' melted and crashed on the ground, and I noticed that the large leaf had dropped closer to the tip end.  At this point, I made a conclusion: these two ghost leaves were formed from two leaves above this twig. As they began to melt, they fell and attached to the twig below. I have never seen ghost leaves. This is first.

Normally, ice will cover the leaf like this one. If not for the ice, I would never notice the existence of this leaf, a faded and lifeless autumn leaf. Ice coating has brought up it vibrant colors plus a red berry was involuntarily confined with the leaf. And, the texture is amazing! Background is colorful, but I decided not to add anything. Nature wonder is what I appreciate here.

Twig is just a twig not until it was textured with laced ice. Crane apple berry was down to its life end and ready to wither, but it looks lively with iced texture. In my eyes, live or death is determined by timing and occasion and how we implement the definition. 

after

Almost all of my bird buddies were immigrated south when cold wave hit the region, but my Old Faithful Juncos are always flocked here for the winter. They are hunting their food diligently regardless ice or snow. I would say, most of the bird photographers do not shoot Junco because they are so common and they seem to be always around. To me, they are special because they are my winter buddies. They don't necessarily have dramatic appearance, but they are good-looking birds with a graceful gesture. I have not seen them fighting with other birds. When the aggressive ones come, they would yield and come back some other time. They are peace makers. They don't have to sing or make any noise, but I always know they are there.

before

Nothing extra-ordinary, but I like the peace and soft color tones in this image.  It was just one junco standing on the railing with icicles dripping down. I intended to amuse myself with 'what I had in my mind': It is the time of the year when maple leaves are falling. Evergreen is always green. My bird is here. He is not singing, but I hear the music through the falling leaves... It is all in your mind.

Storybook Styles

I have recently walked by these houses in a posh neighborhood. No taste for luxury stuff, but I enjoyed the unique architecture styles and the absolutely enchanting settings.  Wanting to share the images, but I have privacy concerns for the owners of these houses. So I decided to give them a make-over, make them storybook-like.

We all grow up reading stories. Story books are the main source to initiate the preschool education for our little ones. Nowadays there are countless colorful storybooks available and easily accessible to the young readers. With colorful visual, learning experience is fun and intuitive. The textbooks used in schools are also color illustrative and visual informative that really facilitate understanding and stimulate creativity.

For my generation and from my culture, we learned by memorizing words and sentences. Our textbooks were mostly paperbacks and the illustrations are mostly black and white. We studied textbooks same way how people are memorizing Bible verses. Through frequency and repetition, knowledge is injected into our brains and impressed in our heart. This old-fashioned education style, in fact, also worked. I can very well quote some of Confucius' wisdom and apply it in my daily life.  If it is true wisdom, it lasts forever. Except that my good memory is gone with the wind and I cannot adopt the same method for my continuous education any more. Luckily what I want to know about photography is mostly through visual and physical exercises, not too much reading.

 

I also began to think, instead of writing flat journal, how about making illustrative storybook. I meant, storybook, not just photo book. Photo book contains photos and captions. Storybook has photos and stories but the stories can be written like what we read in the fairy tales.  We can dramatize it and illustrate it the way how it was done in storybooks. There will be a core story woven through and that is our life. There will be drama, i.e. our up and down days. With storybook approach, I would see Up as a gift from the fairy. When I am Down, I can perceive it a temporary visit from the wicked Fox and you know, the bad guys will eventually fall into the terrains. People said, when we are growing older, our heart becomes younger. Maybe I am being recycled now... but I cannot deny that I certainly have lots of fun bringing these houses into my storybook.

Sky is not necessarily to be blue in the storybook realm, is it? Tudor style house is usually not my favorite, but I cannot take my eyes off this one. It is nestled in the thriving evergreen and shrubs. Down the street but secluded enough to be away from the traffic. A charming combination.

 

It is now towards the end of the year, I am sweeping away the old dust left behind and am earnest to start something fresh and new. I don’t bother to contemplate on new year resolutions any more. There are simply too many things that I want to do and I always expect the unexpected. If it is good, embrace it. Otherwise, paint it, color it and change it. It is the same basic idea for the photographers to perform post processing and bring new life to the pictures.

If we can all make our life a colorful storybook and read them like our grand children do, I think we won't have time to pant over pains and aches. Our heart will be light and our mind will be soaring in the blue sky.

Maybe I have been surrounded by wood-framed houses too much and too long, I feel Mediterranean style of white stucco walls are refreshing. It looks clean-cut and steadfast. The tile roof is classic and never go-out-of-style unlike the shingle or composite roofs that we have here, earthy, natural but not long lasting.

Cannot get enough Tuscany, the terra cotta color seems to always popped up in front of me. Entrance door with black cast iron hardware reminds me of my old business and stone trim adds antique flare. How many houses still have this chimney that Santa would be in favor and bring your kids more Christmas presents:-) In this cold autumn days, don't you crave for that cozy sunshine and blue sky?and the colors?

I show this one, not for its architecture, but for the squash Geese on the front porch. I have never seen squash looking so much like geese, maybe only in the storybook. But they are real vegetarian geese ! People in this house must be creative and have a good sense of humor. Don't you love that? I tried to blur most of the area and make the geese and pumpkins more showy. I bet the trick-o-treaters have bombarded this house on Halloween night.

I will continue to keep storybook in my mind and I hope to share more pictures and stories with you.

In Retrospect - The Alternatives

A bit less than two years into posting my blogs, I recently have been pondering why I am doing it and what is my short term or long term goals.

I post my blog every Wednesday since I started and I have not broken once. I have been faithful to maintain the integrity of my content, i.e. to tell the true stories behind. Either I share exactly what comes to my mind or where my imagination takes me to. I can sometimes wander and roam without an end, but most of the time, truth comes and it brings me freedom and ease to simply talk about it.

Grab a bit of sunshine in this autumn day.

It has something to do with my family trait and my personality. If I am onto something, I want to do it right and good. The consistent posting forces me to take more pictures and the process has gradually and greatly helped me to unfold the mystery behind the camera, one layer at a time. I am learning every day and there are still mountains of knowledge to be explored. Foremostly I am getting fresh prospective for life through the lens and that is priceless and unspeakable.

In the end of last year, I looked at the pictures I took throughout the year and smiled at considerable amount of them. However, when I am re-examining my efforts one year after, I found less images make it to my faves list.  I realized that I am not as easily pleasing myself any more. I desire to be better, but I have not been devoted and patient enough to follow the steps recommended by the pros. My tripod still looks new and I barely used my remote release. I am always too much in a hurry and I want to change that. I need to yell out each day, patient, patient and patient.

Rainy day? Play with rain drops.

Every once a while, when my inspiration did not flow, but I had to keep up my routine and so I did. In other words, on a few occasions I blogged because I did not want to break my blogging schedule, inspired or not. I did not feel good when that happened. In my whole life, I swear to myself to be truthful, faithful and (close to) perfect in whatever I do. Once I gamed, I was in for excellence and results. That occasional unease bugged me a great deal.

I have not taken enough time to shoot each image like many other great photographers do.  I should assure that I am using the right lens, pre-visualize the shots, take time to compose before I trigger a shot. But I seem to always fire one of too many shots and take too much time going through hundreds and hundreds images afterwards. Greatness does not come by accident. I have repeatedly told myself that I cannot continue doing what I have been doing. I don’t want to shoot many and hopefully some of them will turn out. I want my mind and soul in before I pull the trigger. 

Frosted hay field? I saw morning glory gradually fading out to night solace.

I also like to spend more time working on certain images to add artistic touch or enhancement of any kind. My interest in black and white photography is growing and I want to attack that area as well.

In my weekly practice, I found it easy to write when the images are in place. It is easy to speak the truth and from the heart. At this stage of my life,  I don’t have to think about product designs or business strategies. It is a simple leisure and it is easy to bring pleasure. I enjoyed it immensely whenever my inspiration flows and my pen flies. 

Taking all above into consideration, I may begin to experiment a less frequent posting. Instead of weekly post, I may start to do it bi-weekly. I am not particularly happy with the layout of my blog, but I am not software savvy and preset format does not seem to give me enough freedom to play with. I am bored to post my images in the symmetrical manner (one to the right and the next one to the left :-<) and I plan to look into other options and make changes.

No dramatic sunburst? How about dainty sun sparks?

When there is no way, there will be another way. I cannot remember who is the singer, but her voice seems to stick in my mind. No cozy sunshine, rain just stopped, cloudy and hazy, but there is still Light and rain Drops are sparkling on the leaves. Murky water,? no problem, just Texture and cover it up. When reality is not as pretty, make something for yourself. This is exactly what photography does for me. 

Blogging has forced me to write and daringly, write in my second language. Blogging has provided me the means to share my images and my thoughts. The impact is unmeasurable and I gratefully embrace it.