Seeing the Tree from the Forest

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I am sauntering the woods nearby, noticing Vermont Fall colors, while listening to a tape on Mindfulness. I am not looking for anything in particular, just staying in the moment, letting whatever comes into my consciousness be with me. I see lone yellow in the woods. I position to capture what I see. But, what is it I see, feel? Dewitt Jones, a great photographer with twenty years experience with National Geographic, and more importantly, as the creator of What’s Right with the World, says: What’s the story? Did you get the shot?

So often I don’t know what the hell I am shooting. I let nature reveal the story. This is cool but the more I can define what I am looking for the more I will be aware when I see it. My subconscious kicks in to get me to stop and capture something that I have been looking for, something that I like, or even better than I thought it could be. In Seeing the Tree from the Forest, it’s the birch tree in the forest that is the story. I have an ongoing project on birch trees. I am collecting birch tree images I like, and one day I will create a photo essay. It was’n the birch tree that caught my attention for the shot below, it was the yellow maple, but my subconscious knows about my birch project.

Frequently, I don’t think about the story (other than capturing nature’s beauty). It is not until I start processing the image do I come up with the story… and sometimes I get the shot. Better mindfulness will be helpful in so many ways - better experiences with photography is just one place to benefit from it’s practice.

How do I focus on the birch tree and not get distracted by the forest? Can I get a view of the tree from the forest? Can I be aware of what’s in the moment, right in front of me, now?

seeing the tree from the forest

Impressions

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Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, O’keeffe - The great artists leave such an impression. I love viewing paintings, almost as much as painting with light. I refer to my photography as painting with light, because I don’t document reality with my photography. I play with light and subject I like, filter it with tools, sometimes named after a famous artist, to create my own little impression. I can select from 150 filters and apply opacity on all or any part of a canvas from 1% to 100%. I love it - it’s the closest I’ll get to being an artist. With the myriad of choices I have to alter images, it’s kind of an art to produce something with lasting wall appeal.

Impressions

Ever Changing

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I’m walking along the fifteen mile lakeside bike path in Burlington, figuring the warm weather won’t last - this might be the last day of sixty degrees. Change - every thing changing - always - not just me. I see the sun going down. I notice clouds forming nicely, colors too. Where’s my camera? Oh, just the iPhone. It will do. Happy to capture a moment to remember.

Ever Changing

Red Moon Wave

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I went to the location lunar tracker expert, Bernhard Wunder, so graciously shared. I aimed to capture the Red moon, close to the horizon. I woke at 4am and got to Shelburne Farm by 5:30am. The wind was too much for my flimsy travel tripod. My lens for my compact Fugifllm camera didn't cut it. The sound and the view of the waves was overwhelming, and cool to experience. The water is usually as calm as a sleeping dog at sunrise. The full, special moon, maybe was the cause of the active wind and waves?

I didn’t capture the feel of the Red Moon Waves, like it seemed to me to be. I stood in the mighty strong relatively comfortable breeze in awe, sucking in the wind and the sounding waves against the shore - well worth the early rise. I am grateful.



Moon Cloud

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It’s nice to get out and shoot again (photography, that is). I especially enjoy my new connections with the Northern Exposure Photo Group. I’ve shot mostly alone over the years. Now widowed, and being home bound for awhile, I especially like visits with other photo enthusiasts. My photography focus is a bit second chair to the pleasure of new acquaintances.

I am looking skyward - it’s a good direction for me now. I’m afraid I fumble a bit trying to get an image I like in the dark. Filters help hide my lack of clarity and I kind of like playing with the myriad of options to get a look I like. My equipment is not geared for night photography, but that’s ok - I’ll make do fumbling with what I have. I like to make something out of nothing!

This mindset is a change for me. I am used to buying the best equipment for my photography passion. Now I am looking for capturing a feel, a mood, personal inspiration, a message from nature, raw beauty. Sharpness, depth of field, even tonal control are secondary now. I guess I am a want-to-be artist.

Moon Cloud

Cloud Color

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July 8th, 2014 I am returning to my Burlington condo from the pool and notice weird clouds. WTF - Bits of colors spewed throughout one cloud. Is this a storm cloud, like none I’ve seen? I search my catalog of images since the scene came to mind, now that my photo focus is skyward. Weird, Wild, Wonderful - Nature that is.

Cloud Color filtered

Cloud Color Unfiltered

Tranquility Serenity

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Now that I am focusing skyward, I look and reflect on sky images on my walls - so many favorites! What attracts me about Tranquility and Serenity is light, passing through clouds, noticeably heightening the tone on the water, earth. It speaks to me - mystical. How can light, from such a distance, pass through a cloud filter and cast a voice, a beautiful view for me to enjoy? It inspires me. It casts hope to the eternal. It is exhilarating now!

Tranquility

Serenity

Extraordinary Light

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A slash of Blue—
A sweep of Gray—
Some scarlet patches on the way,
Compose an Evening Sky—
A little purple—slipped between—
Some Ruby Trousers hurried on—
A Wave of Gold—
A Bank of Day—
This just makes out the Morning Sky.

Emily Dickinson

Skyward views are sometimes unbelievable. September 21st, 2015, Patty said you have to see this sky. I ran for my camera, attached my 300mm lens and captured Extraordinary Light. I hadn't ever seen a sky like this before, or since. I guess there is a name for the special event, but I prefer not to be a meteorologist, rather a ‘marvelists’, enjoying the marvels of the natural sky.

Colors, colors, colors - beautiful colors of the sky. Look up Mike and be mindful… and occasionally capture a wondrous image that doesn't happen every day. I am grateful to have Extraordinary Light over my bed, so I can view this extraordinary sky each of my waking days.

Extraordinary Light

The Cloud

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Extracted from Shelley’s poem The Cloud is the following:

“I am the daughter of Earth and Water,

And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;

I change, but I cannot die.

For after the rain when with never a stain

The pavilion of Heaven is bare,

And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams

Build up the blue dome of air,

I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,

And out of the caverns of rain,

Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,

I arise and unbuild it again.”

Words of the poem were explained to me - The cycle of a cloud is, the poem assures us, eternal. Cloud may seem to evaporate, to disappear, but need frear no death or destruction. Instead, our cloud may “laugh at my own cenotaph”, delighting in the knowledge of its inevitable, almost Christ-like, rebirth.

And note the use of “unbuild”, rather than ‘build’. The cloud plays with us one last time, subverting our expectations, reminding us of its capricious spirit and its climatological clout. It unbuilds the blue skies, as much as the skies build the cloud. Irrepressible, eccentric, whimsical - that’s our cloud. (poems are hard for me to interpret - consequently I look for help, as I did in this case)

One of my favorite images, captured in 2010 in the Palouse area of the state of Washington, is Three Clouds. Now that I am focusing SKYWARD and not just with water, for my reflections, I am mindful of CLOUDS, and this simple image, below. I love it!

Three Clouds


I'm in for a ride!

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Since I decided to look Skyward for my imaging and Reflecting, my reticular activator is bringing to mind the beauty and wonderment that lies above. I woke this morning with a gaze about my bed room, open to what might pass through my empty mind. I notice that my three canvas images that I prominently and proudly display on the only available walls, are filled with interesting skies - unusual color, translucent clouds, sun rays. WOW, I have already been looking skyward. In fact most (twenty) of the images that grace my accessory apartment are dominated by sky - unconsciously including skies as a vital element to images that attract me.

Now that I intentionally look and reflect skyward, making skies a main focus, I am in for a ride. The three recent images exemplify what I am talking about.

Transition

Sky Flower

Color Palate

Where I venture to capture skies I don’t know. I know New Mexico is known for dramatic skies. Maybe it is anywhere - I just need to remember to look skyward.

Context is important though. Where is the sky connecting? Where the sky connects to land, things, people has been my center of interest with imaging thus far. Now it is secondary, but quite important, for me.

I think there is a metaphor here. My strong present interest with my Live LOVE venture is Connecting (the C in SCG).

Exploring, Relating, and Playing are the three activities I expound on in my writing on Connecting, with SCG, with Live LOVE… and boy, I am ready to connect! In the relating category, I am fumbling (and learning) as I relate to new connections, while starting this new chapter of life without Patty. I suspect it is natural - I was connected to Patty for over fifty four years! I am determined though, to make the best of connecting (exploring, relating, and playing) during this, likely, last chapter of my life on earth.

Studio Backdrop

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Camel’s Hump, a notable Vermont landmark, hides behind the hill behind our home. I came upon this vantage point this lovely Fall. My center of focus is our Bilder Photo Studio, with Camel’s Hump as a backdrop. I love it. I love this fall. I am grateful to have such beautiful surroundings to call home. The foothills of the green mountains are alive. Come visit.

Studio Backdrop

Snow Fall

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I heard there was snow in the Notch. The Fall colors have peaked. What a sight of Nature to see - snow and bright Fall peaking colors. I venture to see - new, for me. I take one shot, low to the notch. A local photo buff stops by and affirms my position, and provides an extraordinary friendly guide to a number of other places to see. I think, how wonderful this man must be, so offering of his captures, I know he treasures his best of views - he must. He talked on and on about the local beauty he has been blessed to see over a couple scores or more.

I move up highway 108 and admire the roadway views. I see a line of view I like. I stop. There is a couple in the spot I fixated on. They were leaf peeping and capturing with, of course, an I phone. They see me approach and commence friendly talk - talk about an accident in the Notch. They say “you might as well turn around. There is an accident at the top. The traffic has stoped”. They were not upset and neither was I. Nature’s beauty brings out the best in people. I didn’t visit the friendly photo buff’s spots to see. I drove up to the traffic stall and sucked up as much of Nature’s passing beautiful transformation would allow, for now - Fall 2022.

Snow Fall

SKYWARD

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My favorite project has been Water Reflections, a personal project I share on MikeSipe.com. I intend to capture images I love and reflect thereon, for as long as I can. It is satisfying to me and enhances my mood. I open to the universe and it is telling me to go on, expand, and focus at the same time. What does that mean - it means I will be looking Skyward. I wish to focus on the sky - light, clouds, color, mood, energy. I don’t know exactly how that will play out for me. I do know that light and sky have always been a major factor in my images. Now it will be a main focus. I will look upwards, wherever my journey takes me. I know it will be great. The skies always play a big role in magnifying beauty. I look to the sky. It is now my wonder.

Camp Cox Sunrise

Foggy Communication

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You may have heard about a lack of communication - about the other person of course! I have heard it in business settings and personal settings. I have taken this issue on more than once in my seventy six years. It may be my issue of a life-time. It is my obstacle to being a better lover - better love in my personal life - better love in the world.

One of my big agreements with myself is ‘LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND SEPARATE REALITIES’. A phrase in the Simple Prayer, which I recite daily, is Do not seek so much to be understood, but to understand. This is easier said then done, for me anyway. What is it that makes a good communicator? How can I improve?

i have been told I am a good listener. I have been told I am a poor listener. What makes the difference? I am foggy on what to do to be a good communicator - to be a great communicator.

Some thoughts to throw out there, that I am working on, are: Do not interrupt, even if I disagree - wait, wait, wait, remember, remember, remember. Do not assume - confirm my understanding - confirm, confirm, confirm. No yelling - It is not respectful, nor beneficial - rather, discuss, discuss, discuss - calmly. Respect the other’s thoughts, opinions, comments - respect, respect, respect. Focus on the party I am communicating with. Do not distract yourself with phones, setting, looking away. Connect with the other’s eyes - look within. Focus. Focus. Focus.

I have noticed, more frequently with women than men, (I dislike generalities, even though I sometimes use them} that they seem to be revetted to the eyes in whom they communicate with - this is the focus I talk about. Nothing seems to divert their attention. I love it. I wish for it.

I believe that Don Miguel Ruiz in his book The Four Agreements has words to assist me with better communication. I need to read it again. The four agreements, statements, he talks about are: Be Impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personal. Don’t assume. Do your best. How can one argue with these. Implement. Implement. Implement.

Superior Fog

Path to Friendship

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It is post Patty’s memorial. Cox’s make Camp Cox on Lake Hubert, available for a week to unwind for the seven of our nuclear family. They have made their cabin available to us a number of times over the years. What dear friends. I have known Jim and Michele for about sixty years. WOW. They have been there for me in thick and thin - real friends.

David Whyte, writes, in part, in his piece “Friendship”: “But no matter the medicinal virtues [forgiveness, and being there] of being a true friend or sustaining a long, close relationship with another, the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self; the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.” - fitting words for Jim and Michele.

I am so grateful to have such close enduring friendships.

Path from Nisswa to Camp Cox