Week 16 - 2015 in Photographs

Day 106

This week was about water.

Clear, cold water.

Water just shy of being ice.

So clear

Its only color

was what it mirrored.

Day 107

I did not set out with a purpose of only photographing water this last week but it happened because the ice melted and the sediment settled and it is not warm enough to grow anything in this mountain springs and ponds. The water is so clear you can see the bottom or the pond or right through the little waterfall on the irrigation ditch. And at the right angle just after dawn it becomes a mirror. If it has a color at all it is the sky it reflects.

Day 108

The returning geese are checking out the ponds. They have been here before. There were this week three pairs. And some fights. The water may have been still but the air was filled with their protests.

Day 109

The temptation with reflections is to put the seam of real vs. reflection right in the middle of the composition. Makes a great jigsaw puzzle. But I rather like the seam to be by the rule of thirds with the reflection getting the biggest chunk. A how to I read said to not put the sky in because the reflected sky will always be more blue than the real sky and ergo suffer by comparison. I have a picture in this next week's lineup where I have broken both of these rules. Rules are made to be broken.

And the cascade pool pictured below makes another appearance this next week. If you want to see each day as it happens check out Binford-Bell Studio. It is rather like a hand mirror or Alice Through the Looking Glass. When the waterfall is turned on there will not be such clear reflections.

Day 110

Water and the objects in the water like the weathered gazing ball below stuck in the reeds of last year is run to play with. Both mirrored ball and water were reflecting the sky.

Day 111

As is the water in this photo. I knelt down low (got my knees wet on the grass - the sacrifices artist make) so I could get just the right angle on this red willow on the shore. And get just the blue of the reflected sky in the water. It is the same pond as the first photo seen in just a bit different light and from another direction. It is always wise to know your ponds.

Day 112