Us chickens

working in the chicken yard in the late evening light, endeavoring to cover the top with netting to keep out the local hawks who keep coming by looking for a chicken dinner...

managed to both make photos and post them all in the same day!

Self

Snugging up the house for the night -- we have entered the time of year when days still hold the memory of summer heat, but nights are slouching toward winter, and windows are adjusted accordingly morn and eve.  Caught sight of my reflection in the glass, liked the tree line and twilight sky outside. I never have figured out how to take a self portrait that does not prominently feature my iphone du jour...

Grand Cru

Got to get righteous with the posting. I remembered to shoot a photo for yesterday, and though this happened pretty late in the evening it is a nice example of a visual situation I would have noticed, but most likely not photographed. Only one shot, and I like it better that I thought I would -- the detail of the other alumninum chairs outside through the framing of the door is pleasing.

Anyway, shot late last night, and by the time I was back near my computer it was after midnight anyway, and I was so exhausted I literally could not see straight.  So here it is, and another one from today to immediately follow.

A small goal for tomorrow: shoot another photo. Post it on the same calendar day.

A certain slant of sun

Made this photo yesterday, I promise. Late afternoon slant of sun and the skeleton of a leaf from the genteel-ly decrepit English walnut tree in the back yard. Then a busy evening and it utterly slipped my mind to post. But here it is.

The phone camera turned the image 180 degrees from how I had it oriented in the camera. I went to correct the rotation but realized I like it better this way. A simple photo. Clean. I like the texture of the concrete pad, the sideways slanting lines in the same orientation of the sun. I will endeavor to orient myself with the sun for a moment or two today.

Further Down the Trail

Cautious optimism about this daily photo habit I've quietly started. Re-started. Re-re-restarted. But one day at a time. Today was very stressful, all day at home dealing with my Apple id getting hacked. Boy does that have lengthy, complicated tendrils into all sorts of unexpected areas of a person's life. On multiple devices -- we are an iFamily, so there were three iPhones, two iPads, two MacBooks and one iMac involved in this fun little rodeo. So, yeah, the past 24 hours have been beyond stressful, and once things were dealt with to the point where everything is hopeful damage-controlled as possible (pause for a moment of intense gratitude for my brother Kevin, who spent hours on the phone with me figuring out exactly what happened, and then what to do about it).

Once things were more or less brought under control, it was late afternoon. I got a small bit of work done, but today feels at last like the first true day of autumn. What better way to release some stress and put myself in the way of some potential photographs than a hike along the Gunpowder?  This was a new trail for me, and I liked it a great deal.

I used to have a rule, in previous photo a day projects, where I could only post one image. This being a new undertaking, I'm thinking why not show multiple images if I like them or have something to say about making them. Like, the fairly un-interesting photo of the trees across the river wasn't working, but as I turned away from that view i happened to point the phone down, and caught sight of the sky and trees reflected at the water's edge -- an image I really like and nearly selected as "the" photo for today.

And the blaze -- the first photo I took upon commencing the hike. To remind myself of my quiet vow that I will hike the Appalachian Trail. Though of course that is the iconic white blaze, not this trail's flashy yellow. But in learning to meditate, which I've been doing recently, you think a great deal about mindfulness, being in the moment. So today's trail today. Om padme mani home.

Good Pluck Cart

I am not totally in love with this image, but I do love how it got made. As in, I was driving home, hustling to get there and start work work working, and saw this cheery yellow shopping cart in the middle of a vast swath of lawn adjoining an apartment complex.  Someone had apparently just rolled it down this hill to come to rest in the middle of this wide field. Unexpected Objects misplaced in the landscape have long been a photographic fascination of mine, and I stopped immediately.  And really tried to get a good shot, despite the terrible flat midday light. After one round of pictures I was hiking back to my car, feeling like I just had not at all gotten an image that captured the absurdity of this shopping cart. And I made myself turn around and try again. Still never really got the photo I feel is there to be made, but I'm happy that I saw this, stopped, tried. Happy that I remembered at all to make a photo today. Will try again tomorrow.

I do sort of like this one. A feeling almost of the shopping cart setting off resolutely to seek its fortune in the great big world. Good luck, plucky little shopping cart!

Pidgey and the Chick

My son Cole adores his chickens. This is his bantam hen, Pidgey, sitting protectively on her two week old chick, Murkrow, in our hay-filled chicken coop. There was another chick, Hummer, who we lost last week in an especially sad and awful way, and it wrenches my heart that I hadn't taken photos of her adorable yellow fuzzball-ness in the short time we were able to enjoy having her with us. So when it occurred to me late this afternoon that I had yet to make a photo today, the thought arose to have a mama hen and chick photo shoot. Because they grow up so fast, as all mamas know.