Tag Archives: Pentax 645D

Barren Landscape

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life_in_maine_barren_landscapeThe dunes along Seawall Beach at Bates Morse-Mountain Conservation Area. Winter holds the landscape in stasis. Click on the image for a larger view.

I have recently been around conversations in art, and in particular, photography. One conclusion I keep taking away about our art world seems to be a boredom with the world and its beauty. Photography seems to echoing our narcissistic times by making statements about itself; declaring itself a fiction and fetishizing this revelation. And when it does look at the world, it is to exploit it as a freak show or to confuse banality with profundity.

Or is our wider culture simply bored with the world? Like adrenaline junkies, we seek out novelty, something weird or strange. If there is nothing that gets our immediate attention, do we move on? Has the norms of advertising conditioned us into wanting instant recognition, instant gratification?

Sand is the detritus of the land. Having been reduced to such a fine state, the wind and water control its destiny. Yet, plants have evolved to exploit this unlikely environment. Invading it. Holding the shifting ground in place. And when dormant in winter, this organic colony continues its grip. Even when it trades its summer green for brown, it is beautiful.

The Soft Edge of the Land

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life_in_maine_beachMid-coast Maine is famous for its rocky coastline. The transition between land and sea is hard and clear. Reid State Parks is one of the few places to find a large sand beach. I find this soft edge to the land is mesmerizing. Unlike the unrelenting granite, the beach ebbs and flows with the seasons like a slowly beating heart as the sand is pushed inland in the winter and then moves back toward the sea in the summer. Click on the image for a larger view.

Fish as Big as Dragons

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Dragons are creatures of water, dwelling in the ocean, rivers, clouds, and rain. tokyo_fish_like_dragonsKoi carp are symbols of strength and perseverance. In ancient times, a school of Koi came to a huge waterfall while swimming upstream. The fish tried to jump the falls to continue their journey. Seeing their struggle, a demon made the falls higher out of malice. The fish did not give up. After a year of striving, one fish managed to reach the top. The gods, impressed with its determination, turned it and the fish that followed into a golden dragons. These Koi are in a pond in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Click on the image for a larger view.

First Snow, 2016

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life_in_maine_first_snow_2016Yesterday, the ground was brown with the dried grass and fallen leaves of winter—unusually warm weather and strong rains had eliminated the snow pack from the last storm. This morning, that ground is covered with 20 cm or 8 in. of snow. How trees have adapted to the climate is fascinating: deciduous trees drop their leaves so not to be damaged by the weight of the snow and hibernate until they create new foliage in the spring; conifers have branches that bend down with the the load, allowing them to keep their foliage year long. Click on the image for a larger view.

Chocolate Surprise

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life_in_maine_chocolat_surpriseThis is a recipe for black bean fudge. It has a soft and smooth texture and a light flavor. It is gluten free and really healthy. The original recipe came from the BlendTec site, but Naomi modified it into something a little healthier and with a little more spice:

3 cups of cooked black beans
4 tsp vanilla extract
3 dried pitted dates
3 dried figs
2/3 cup coconut oil
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup of honey
1/4 to 1/5 tsp of chili powder

Nuts are an optional ingredient. Mixed all the ingredients in a blender. Pour the mixture into a 8 x 8 inch baking pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cut into one inch cubes. You can freeze what you can’t eat. Click on the image for a bigger bite.