Against daylight

Posted by JEANNE RAMSAY on January 25, 2012

Sounds like the opening of a terrific rant, right? A rant that could be somewhat fitting in today’s climate of against-ness: political finger pointing and fault finding, economic blaming, moral side taking, and overall polarization. “I’m against daylight. It wakes me up, makes me squint (which will inevitably cause deep wrinkles), forces me to buy special tinted prescription glasses, and has been known to turn my skin a shocking shade of crimson.” I could go on and on.

But I won’t (I can feel your relief from here).

Against daylight or contre-jour (look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls) refers to the deliberate use of backlighting a subject. A silhouette emphasizing shapes and outlines. This high-contrast technique can produce some striking results.

Smoldering Sunset

Evergreen in the Sun

Spider

Red Rocks Under a Crescent Moon

Sunset Lampost

Moonlight Silhouette

Storm on the Mesa

It’s a fine line…

Posted by JEANNE RAMSAY on January 18, 2012

A line is a straight one-dimensional figure having no thickness and extending infinitely in both directions. The equation of a line is y = mx + b (that’s for all my mathematicians! And yes, I do realize that equation is the slope-intercept form.)

Lines can run parallel or perpendicular. We can travel the world via cruise line or airline. Why not sail across a river gorge on a zip line or sail a boat using a jib line? We can cross a line or draw the line. Sometimes lives are forever changed by pickup lines, party lines and picket lines. There are some who define the world with hard lines, fine lines or blurred lines, even straight and narrow lines.

We get in lines, wait in lines, color inside the lines, and tow the line…at least those of us with a certain upbringing anyway. We can read headlines, bylines, tag lines and between the lines. We begin at the starting line and end at the finish line. And to flat line can mean the end of the line.

Lines have tremendous visual appeal to me. These are some of my favorite photographs with prominent lines.

Bellagio at Dusk

Twilight eave

Fence post wires

The corner window

Lines in the glass wall

Looking through the lines

Blue oculus

Lined up canoes

Blooming of a Paperwhite

Posted by JEANNE RAMSAY on January 5, 2012

“Earth laughs in flowers.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

When most plant life outside is hibernating, it’s nice to have pretty tabletop nature inside. I managed to coax a funny looking bulb into this graceful bloom.