Variations on a Theme: Mushrooms

Mushrooms can be so fascinating, both in their variety and in how you can create such similar but different photographs of them. Todays topic focuses on two different mushrooms I found not very far apart on the forest floor, each growing from a fallen tree. They look very similar but have very different backgrounds and grew on either different fallen trees or different sections of the same tree. This provides an interesting comparison between them, variations on a theme, as it were.

View fullsize

Variations on a Theme: Mushroom #1

View fullsize

Variations on a Theme: Mushroom #2

Click on the photos to get a larger view. If you look very closely one of them has a hidden surprise, a small line of spider silk stretching from the edge of the mushroom.

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---

Quarterly Look Back - 1st Quarter 2021

And so we find ourselves at the end of the first quarter of 2021. How did we get here and what’s happened since the previous quarter? We’ll take a look at some of that here, though things aren’t that different for me, so I don’t have a lot to report. The world continues to show us what an interesting place it can be, with the word interesting interpreted in many different ways. But overall it feels like there’s some positive movement forward. Perhaps that’s just the changing seasons, the warming weather, the increasing amount of sunlight during the day, causing seasonal mood changes in me. Even if so, I’ll take it.

Photography

On the photography front, and specifically here on the blog, I’ve continued my weekly posts. My father and I continue getting together for hikes through the woods as we’re able to, and I try to sneak in some extra hikes on my own every once in a while. I’m fairly happy with the photographs I’ve created and posted this quarter. I had a lot of fun creating them, experimenting a bit here and there. If all quarters feel at least this good then I’ll continue to be a happy camper.

Below are links back to this quarter’s posts. Check them out if you missed any or just want to revisit.

Before & After

Portrait of a Green Frog

Field Notes Updates

A Wren and the Guardrail

A Long-tailed Duck Scratching That Itch

Random Thoughts

Texture: Tree and Stone

Story Behind Image

South Fork Flow - After the Rain

South Fork Rapids, January 2021

Fungi Along the Forest Floor

A Meadowood Mushroom

Quantico Cascades

Techniques

Effects of a Polarizing Filter on Waterfalls in the Woods

Sketches Along the Creek

Turbulence in Motion

Reading

As has been the case for some time, the majority of my reading is fiction, and most often in the speculative realms of fantasy and science fiction. But I love reading many genres so I try to mix it up and I think I did a reasonable job of that this quarter.

Below are the books I finished this quarter, and below that are descriptions of my favorites.

View fullsize

The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).

My favorite reads of the quarter include:

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This was a reread for me, but I first read it so long ago this felt very much like a first read. I think I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the first. It’s a slightly futuristic book, one of the early and best known in the cyberpunk genre, involving hacking into computers with interesting interfaces, advanced artificial intelligences, augmentations and interesting new technologies. And surprisingly, given its age, it still felt current and relevant to me. Great book!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

This was a beautiful book about a girl unhappy with her life, so she makes a deal with dark spirits, knowing she shouldn’t, and finds her life changed forever. As usual, these deals are never quite what they seem and the wisher always seems to get the lesser end of the deal. But Addie refuses to give in and continues living her life, though everyone she ever meets will forget her as soon as she walks away. And that’s the gist of it all, how someone everyone will forget can give us such an unforgettable story of her own.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

I had such a great time with this book. It was by far my favorite Discworld novel (granted, it’s also only my third). This one focuses on the young girl Esk and Granny Weatherwax, a local witch. Esk finds herself in the strange position of inheriting the power and staff of a wizard, though everyone knows girls can’t be wizards. So will she follow in the footsteps of Granny and become a witch, will she attempt to go against all the accepted norms and become a wizard, or will she end up finding her own way in the world, of course with a little help from friends?

Saved by a Song by Mary Gautheir

I won this one through a goodreads giveaway. I’d not been familiar with Mary Gauthier or her music before reading this book. It was the title that drew me to it, the idea of music being a healing art. The book ended up being an autobiography of sorts, with some wisdom and stories of the art and healing of music sprinkled throughout. She talks about her life, how she got into music, how it helped her overcome and get through some tough times. And she shares stories of how she’s seen it help others, and how sometimes she’s been able to give back through music, directly giving solace and voice to others who were suffering but unable to express themselves.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is by far my favorite Agatha Christie novel so far. Granted, I still have many to read. This was like a locked room mystery but taking place on an isolated island where ten guests have been invited by the mysterious rich owner of the island. But little do they know at the beginning they’ve all been invited because each has a secret in their past, some crime they’ve never been punished for, and someone is about to begin their punishment, killing them off one by one.

Movies

View fullsize

The movies I watched this quarter.

I watched a number of movies this quarter, though only one of them really stood out to me as a favorite and that was a rewatch of A Knight’s Tale. I know it’s not all that historically accurate, but I’ve always found it a fun movie, one with a lot of heart that doesn’t take itself all that seriously. I also really enjoyed the first installment of John Wick and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated film. I watched a couple live action Spider-Man movies and they were ok, as was the live action Mulan and Fight Club. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed with the anime, Legend of the Millennium Dragon.

Music

I’ve found myself watching many videos of people playing songs on public pianos around the world, most often someone who’s pretty good and sits down to put on a great performance for whoever happens to walk by. They’re often in shopping malls, train stations or airports, so they can draw a mixed crowd, or none at all. I do wonder sometimes if some of them tell folks before hand or whether they just show up and see what happens.

One of the performers I’ve really enjoyed is Thomas Krüger. Here’s a medley of songs he performed at Brunswick Central Station:

Watching these piano performances led me to a beautiful song called River Flows in You by Yiruma. I absolutely love this song, such emotion from just a single instrument. It has me wanting to learn to play piano, though I don’t want to distract myself too much as I’m still trying to learn guitar. If you listened to the Thomas Krüger video above you heard a piece of the song, but here it is performed by the composer, Yiruma:

And finally, these public performances brought me back to a song called Una Mattina composed by Ludovico Einaudi. I first heard this in the French movie, The Intouchables, and loved both the film and the song and how they so beautifully fit together. Again, you can create such emotion with a single instrument. Here is Ludovico Einaudi performing Una Mattina:

Life

I’m sitting here wondering what to write about this quarter. I can’t think of much that’s changed. No major progress or revelations, just continued small movements forward. The weather is slowly warming so photography and hiking outings won’t require as much clothing, though this past quarter has been a bit cold and with more wind than I generally prefer. I’m still practicing guitar, making slow but noticeable improvements as I continue learning. As I mentioned earlier I’m feeling the pull to also learn piano but I’m trying to push that off till later, focusing for now on guitar. I can get easily distracted by the next shiny thing that flashes in front of me.

So looking back it appears nothing major happened this quarter, and I’m ok with that. Overall, it’s been a good one. I hope you’ve had a good one, as well!

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---

Quantico Cascades

View fullsize

Lower Quantico Cascades

When the trail map calls out waterfalls you know that stretch of trail will become popular, at least during the warmer months. But it’s sometimes possible to visit in relative peace when it’s colder out or the weather isn’t so nice. These photos were created in early February when there was still a very noticeable chill in the air, though not cold enough to freeze any of the water.

This section of creek has two small groups of cascades where the water flows over rock shelves. It’s a beautiful and relaxing location when not crowded. You can walk out onto some of the rock shelves if the water level isn’t too high and just sit and watch and listen as the water flows by.

The image at the top of this post is the downstream section of cascades. There’s a large tree at a bend in the creek, visible on the left side of the photo. I climbed down to the waters edge, being careful with my footing as many sections of the creek floor were covered in slippery green growth. But I wasn’t quite careful enough. I’d stepped into the creek at one point and when I walked back onto a flat section of dry rock my wet boots either had picked up something slick from the water or the dry stone became slick when wet. I slipped and fell straight onto my back, camera and tripod in hand, held up high trying not to let them crash onto the rock or water. I felt a little guilty about this as I was hiking with my father and when he saw me go down he rushed over to be sure I was ok. I was, though I did end up with a sore bruise on my back for a couple days.

It was after the fall I walked up close to the tree and found the composition you see above. At first I tried composing without the tree, but I ended up liking the interesting shape of it even though you can only see a small section.

Just a little ways upstream is the first set of cascades, interestingly also with a tree right at the edge, though not as large or curiously shaped. But this one had a nice bit of green moss growing about its base which I really liked. I’m curious to return later in the year and see how this develops.

For this cascade I decided to try another experiment with the polarizing filter. I created one image with lots of reflections and one with the filter eliminating almost all reflections. Then I combined the two, keeping some reflections in some sections and eliminating them from others.

View fullsize

Upper Quantico Cascades (lots of reflections)

View fullsize

Upper Quantico Cascades (minimal reflections)

View fullsize

Upper Quantico Cascades (merged exposures)

What drew to me to conduct the polarizer experiment were the reflections close to the tree. There was a somewhat bright spot, which then faded to a wide line with no reflection, as the tree blocked the light from the sun. That seemed a little off to me. But I did like the bit of reflection between the mossy land and the water just below. I also liked the shapes the reflections created a little further in. So I created the two versions knowing I could combine them in software when I got home.

Click the image below to cycle through each version for comparison:

Upper Quantico Cascades (lots of reflections)

Upper Quantico Cascades (minimal reflections)

Upper Quantico Cascades (merged exposures)

Let me know which of these versions you prefer in the comments below.

---

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

---