Fishing

I was still on the ice at West Branch with these images captured when some words began crowding into my head, a poem began its inevitable writing. The pictures need no other comment than the poem:
















ICE FISHING
Stopping by the local forest preserve to collect winterscapes,
Stepping out onto the ice, carefully walking a good thirty feet,
I began snapping images of three parka-wearing fishermen
Gathered around a portable but sizable fishing shanty
Beyond the midpoint of Deep Quarry Lake this afternoon.
Changing the sun angle, I grabbed shots of the little camp
Including some twisty winding paths leading to the location.
Turning, I trudged back to where the shore will be in spring,
Wondering about men who would enjoy the frozen sport,
Trying to catch sluggish fish hiding two feet under an ice roof.
I thought about an old fisherman joke, one suggesting that a
Fisherman must be a jerk at one end of a line waiting for a
Jerk at the other end. Soon I began to wonder, too,
What jokes the fishermen surely must have about a man who
Walks out gingerly just thirty feet, snaps his photos, and hurries
Back to his car, not grabbing a pole and a beer, not sitting down.
No idea what the punchline is, but I am pretty confident it has
Something in there about a jerk, too.

West Branch of the River

A short visit to the West Branch Forest Preserve gave me a chance to snap the shadow self-portrait here as well as to photograph some ice fishermen across the frozen surface. Their campsite is seen in the color-saturated experimental silhouette under the sun as it heads toward sunset.
The next post will take a closer and clearer look at the fishermen.

Golden Sunset

Bright golden sun arcing through the trees gave a nice closing image to the visit to Army Trail Nature Center. The urge to experiment then wrapped up the sunset in a polar coordinate that yielded a flaming ball.

Nature Experimentals

Some of the winter photos taken at the Army Trail Nature Center began to suggest a few Photoshop experiments. Here we see some of the snow-covered flora as seen through the skewed lenses available in post-processing. One rearranges a stalky seedpod and refolds it into a new rounded floral display. The other takes a thicket of twigs featuring Red Twig Dogwood, spherizes it and looks at it through a fisheye lens effect. Most such experiments end with the DEL button, but some become interesting visuals. Hopefully, these are among the latter.

Army Trail Nature Center

With my photographic Auto Show closed, I head back out for some landscapes of the season. A small but exciting park in Addison yielded these two images, one of which just demanded to be used in a poster situation. A couple of days ahead for each of three parks or forest preserves.

Car Care

From Lincoln to Lamborghini and from Mercedes to Mini Cooper, the cars were under tender loving care all day long. Crews moved from car to car, dusting and shining and sprucing up the floor models constantly.
With that noted, my blogger's version of the Auto Show closes and we head back outside in the next post.

Viper & The Model's Kicks

One of the display muscle cars with a powerful presence at the Auto Show was the Dodge Viper. Three models were on display, and the attractive model we saw in the previous post was there to attract attention. One of my favorite photos of her, though, includes only her ankles. Loved the kicks, platform style, and the reflection made them irresistible.
If you look beyond the two cars into the background, you will see another photographer shooting another shot of her.
A few more cars to check out before my version of the Auto Show closes.