JUST PASSING THROUGH...
On the way home...
We decided to pull off and pay our respects to the family farm near Nebraska City where my mother grew up. I had big adventures there and spent a lot of time dreaming big dreams as a kid...
It has come to a sad end... Once vibrant and meaningful, where so many of our lives had overlapped, it is now deserted and abandoned, a monument to the end of an era...
Gone are the old days of the thriving dairy requiring horse drawn trips to the river in wintertime to harvest blocks of ice... and trips to Omaha with loads of cattle or hay. The cattle are long gone from the lot next to the barn where pigeons roosted and wee ones played all day in the hay. Gone are the chickens, the dogs and Uncle Bud's girls running all around...the reunions... Gone are the smells and the characters coming out of the kitchen where five generations would sometimes cross paths in the course of a single busy day...
Gone are the storytellers of not so famous Cowboys and Indians, of heroes and crack shots...of Aunt Tudie, truly famous for her State Fair blue ribbon jams and jellies, not to mention her crossword puzzle domination! My Grandpa's sidesplitting jokes and my Grandmother's regal ways...seeing glory in nature and all living things. In another life she is surely a Queen!
Gone are the quilters, the burly field hands, the strong willed, multi-skilled women, and long days in the field on the tractor... the milk house, the tool shed, the cave, gathering eggs from the hen house and berries from the garden...
All are gone...
All the homies have moved on...
It was only a brief stop, igniting a flood of memories...
These are the days of timeless treasures,
You've got to hold them in your heart...
We headed on home, each silently wondering...What was that all about?!!!
Roots are important... Tom :^)
How does one take pictures of unglamorous objects, buildings, scenery and yet make them interesting or even, as Tom's wife would say, magical. Although, my life did not take me in the direction I would have liked in the area of photography I have no regrets. Of course it helps to have a very strong faith and a focus on what many would call "the other side." I did have an education at Brooks Institute of Photography and a love of photography as an art. That in itself separated me from Brooks. They could not see photography as an art form. I love looking a photographs and I had been a judge of photographs twice at the state fair years and years ago. I also was a panel judge in Santa Barbara on several occasions. So this brings me back to the question I asked in the beginning.
ReplyDeletePhotography first, must have good composition. The main thing about composition is that you must draw the viewer into the photograph and never lead them out of it. I see absolutely great composition in Tom's work time and time again. I just love looking at his work. Next deals with shapes, lines, and light. I won't continue with that because I want to just comment on this series of work. My two favorites of the work are #3 and #4. #3 is one that really draws the viewer into the photograph. I mean draws him/her into the picture as if you could really be there. That is what makes it magical. Even though it is an ordinary out building. The top picture is very good composition and makes it a good part of a series. The tree on the right helps frame the picture which moves your eyes back into the picture itself; as does the trees and out-building on the left. What I find intriguing is the two crosses that appear to be a clothesline? It was composed in such a way as not to make the picture erratic or confusing. Can you see how he had done that? I have to comment on picture #2 because that road in front could have been a disaster for the picture. Totally destroying the composition and taking your eyes right out of the picture. However, Tom's great eyes and feel for good composition. Some are born with it and some can learn it with practice, practice, practice. That red truck keeps the eye from leaving the picture. Then the eyes goes to the huge bins and then to the building. The eyes then goes back to the road but instead of leaving the picture to the left the building forces you to stay inside and then travel the road to the right. See if at times this is what your eyes will do as it wanders around the objects of interest.
Tom, I hope you don't mind my critiquing because I love to critique great photos and to see how the photographer saw the scene. Yes all five make up a good story of the area and ones life of long ago. However, #3 can be a photo totally on its own. Oh, #4 shows how one can actually photograph a pile of debris and possible treasure for the American Pickers.
Thanks for appreciating and commenting on a few of my photos. It means a lot to me to realize someone is paying such attention and then going to the effort of sharing your thoughts is out of the ordinary. I guess that's what it's all about...making contact. We are especially fortunate to be living at this particular time... Thanks again for the critique
DeleteLove this blog.
ReplyDeleteSorry for you to see the family farm abandoned like it is. Its very sad. I was driving Dad past his family farm and the house was on fire. The new owners wanted the that little bit of land for crops. I'll never forget the look on his face...his Dad had built the house. Bygone times still live in our memories...that often that's all that's left.
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