Yesterday, I harvested peas, green beans, cherry tomatoes, purslane, red romaine and Swiss chard.  (I’m thinking salad.  Wouldn’t you?)  I was cleaning my harvest at the kitchen sink when I noticed the light had changed.

I looked up, paused and then made a dash for the camera.  Out on the front deck I capture this image.

Looks like the smithy is hard at work

I’ve shared other sunset photos recently, but this seems to me the best.  However, like the others, the spectacular vision fades.  (Sic transit gloria mundi.)

This fiery vision also makes me think of beauty that doesn’t fade.  A glory that endures.

The enhanced picture

Yesterday, I posted the picture of Sunday’s sunset as my camera saw it.  I wanted to show you what I saw on the canvas of my mind.  While better, this still doesn’t do justice to the fiery glory of that sky.

I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it were it not for what happened last evening.  Sylvia had called from Glen Lake and as we were talking I heard the distinctive sound of air brakes.  Sylvia said a big truck had just stopped in front of the cabin.  Soon, I heard a male voice with a Carolina accent.  The driver asked for permission to shoot a picture of the lake, which Sylvia granted.  I heard him say, “My wife won’t believe this when I get home to South Carolina!”

The time was about 9:30 PM and the sun was below the horizon.  The cabin is a couple hundred feet or so above the lake.  The view is spectacular.  Sylvia said, “I don’t know what he could have captured in this light.”

He was pleased.  I heard him thank her as he returned to his truck and continued on his way down the road.  (It’s down in every direction from the cabin, except across the road which continues to rise.)

With today’s digital photography he may have done okay.  I’m surprised at what my new camera does.

That’s what inspired me take “digital liberties” with today’s image.

More to follow on this topic.

The bard wrote these lines for Brutus in his play, Julius Caesar.  “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

My mom used to put it this way, “It’s to late to close the barn door after the horse is out.”  You probably know more expressions of the importance of timing.

I’ve seen the critical nature of timing many times while trying to catch action in a photo.  Thanks to digital photography and burst mode, I’ve been able to capture action in a still shot.

Last night, I saw that illustrated in nature.  I was on the phone with my son, Scott.  I was walking toward the office to check on something when I looked out the window.  I continued to the office, picked up my camera and went out onto the front deck.

Sunday sunset

Unfortunately, the camera does not capture the vivid contrast that my eye saw.  I didn’t want to mess with the image so this has only been resized.

As our conversation continued, I told Scott what I was seeing.  And as I watched, the glory began to fade.  Rather slowly, but it was also obviously fading.

Have you experienced the importance of timing?

Sunset

Feeling encouraged by the warmer air and the fact that Saturn is now at “opposition” (which gives us our best view), I made plans to do some star gazing.  Actually, it was planet gazing that I had in mind.  It has been years since I’ve had a good look at Saturn’s rings.

Activities started with retrieving my large (10 x 80) binoculars from their case.  Then I carefully cleaned the lenses.  With tripod and mount it hand, I assembled them all in front of the office widow.  It was good to go.

I double checked the online star map and retrieved my own star map for easy reference.  Now I only had to wait for darkness.

Around 11 PM, I went out.  Some clouds were in the sky.  Perhaps they wouldn’t interfere.  They did.  Clouds thickened.  I went to bed.

I’ll try again tonight.

It was shortly after 6 PM Wednesday evening, and I was driving home.  I looked toward the east and saw a vapor trail.  That is not at all unusual.  However, this one seemed to end at some scattered clouds where it became a bare space cutting through those clouds.  I found myself praying that it would last long enough for me to capture the image.  Fortunately, it did.

The eastern sky was interesting to me

From behind the barn, where I took the shot above, I walked toward our back door.  The color and texture of the sky seemed to be begging me to “take my picture.”

It is skies like this that make me love my Michigan home

I captured the above image while facing north-northwest.  Notice how much lighter the sky on the left.  The sun is over in that direction.

Finally, I pointed the camera northwest and zoomed in a bit tighter.  The shot overlaps the previous image.  It was those wispy clouds that pleased my eye.

We are now in my favorite part of spring.  It’s warm enough to go outside without a jacket, but the grass doesn’t need cutting.  :yea:  Yet.

Last evening, I saw a bit of color in the sky.  It wasn’t spectacular, but it looked just right for my purpose.  I wanted to test the automatic settings on my new camera.  I had worked enough with the point-and-shoot unit that I knew how to get it to do what I wanted.  Would the new one work as well?

The following shots are straight from the camera.  I only resized the images, no cropping and no other processing.

A wide-angle shot captures the context

Before I clicked, the display indicated “Strong Back Light.”  To my surprise the shutter activated twice on this shot.  Then the screen said the camera was processing.  What you see above is what came out.

I zoomed in to capture the sunset part of the scene.  I expected to see more color.

A larger percentage of sky left the foreground darker

There is one part of the second picture that looked interesting.  To look closer, I zoomed in yet again.

Looks almost like a surfer

In two minutes, I had concluded my experiments with satisfaction.  One more done with many, many more to go.

Good Friday

Today, most of the Christian world observes Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  His final words are translated thus: “It is finished.”  The Greek word is “tetelestai.”  That word is a term of commerce that was used to indicate that a debt had been paid.  Today, we would be more likely to use “Paid in Full.”  Do enjoy the day.