Let’s hear it for petunias and flower baskets in need of a good hook.
I’d like to say three weeks later these beauties are thriving. Alas I cannot. I suspect a mix of two much water and not enough sun has wrought havoc on my latest C02 splitting machines. In lieu of their recent suffering, I am glad I made a bunch of photographs when I had the chance.
In the meantime, let’s see if I can nurse these two back to life.
Heart of Rebellion — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/200
4 May 2025. May the Fourth. Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Chat, anyone out there watching Andor season two? Two arcs deep—six episodes in total—and this political thriller keeps me on edge. Unsettling in the best way possible, it’s a welcome, if not uncomfortable, treat to be dropped into the early world of the rebellion olds like me grew up on with a story centered around—and explicitly intended for—olds like me. Andor picks at the raw under belly of the nascent rebellion’s leadership, exploring the insidious loss of humanity that corrodes slow and sure in the darkest corners of dying souls. A cause may be righteous; its effect on its people is not. And yet some fights must be fought—irrespective of the costs.
Riffing on the theme of the day, the thing that was hiding in the bleeding heart’s shape slapped me right in the face. The Rebel Alliance starbird is made to fit tattooed onto this flower. Brain gears begin to churn—let me see what ChatGPT can do. My suggestions proceeded as follows:
Me: Yo chat, happy Sunday. If I send you a jpg of a bleeding heart can you embed the Star Wars rebellion logo inside the heart-shaped flower?
ChatGPT: Yo! Happy Sunday to you too. (Smiling sun emoji.) Yeah absolutely — send over the JPG of the bleeding heart flower, and I’ll embed the Star Wars rebellion logo.
Me:Uploads above photo
ChatGPT: Shares first image
Me: Now try it with the logo inverted
ChatGPT:Second image, which is the same as the first image
Me:Abandoning the inverted starbird idea: Create the logo in the street art style of Sabine Wren
ChatGPT:Third image
Me: Nice job recreating the goated Sabine Wren. Now, can you have the spray paint logo follow the contours of the flower?
It is 31 December and I am out of days. It looks like this will be the last backlog photograph I get to post in 2023. So let’s roll back to 5 September and my backyard hibiscus. Not a ton of floralmacro work this year, so it feels good to close out the year with this low key, cross process shot.
2024 is mere hours away. Let’s get after it. Be excellent to each other.
The Way of Walking Alone — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/1000
Or The Way of Self-Reliance (Dokkōdō).
I’ve started listening William Scott Wilson’s translation of Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings on Audible. As something of a budding Japanophile, and a person long into all things history, the study of The Way and Samurai culture rings true to my soul as a monk’s bell meditatively struck in morning. In the forward, Wilson translates the final lesson handed down from Mushashi to his disciples: 21 precepts outlining The Way of Walking Alone. The teachings of Japan’s sword-saint are open to us all, and I thought I’d share a bit here.
Do not turn your back on the various Ways of this world.
Do not scheme for physical pleasure.
Do not intend to rely on anything.
Consider yourself lightly; consider the world deeply.
Do not ever think in acquisitive terms.
Do not regret things about your own personal life.
Do not envy another’s good or evil.
Do not lament parting on any road whatsoever.
Do not complain or feel bitterly about yourself or others.
Have no heart for approaching the path of love.
Do not have preferences.
Do not harbor hopes for your own personal home.
Do not have a liking for delicious food for yourself.
Do not carry antiques handed down from generation to generation.
Do not fast so that it affects you physically.
While it’s different with military equipment, do not be fond of material things.
While on the Way, do not begrudge death.
Do not be intent on possessing valuables or a fief in old age.
Respect the gods and Buddhas, but do not depend on them.
Though you give up your life, do not give up your honor.
Never depart from the Way of the Martial Arts.
Second Day of the Fifth Month, Second Year of Shoho [1645] —Shinmen Musashi
Shout-out to Digital Dao for providing the online text as I did not transcribe this from the audio text.
The April Fool — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/320
The April Fool tramples his path Running roughshod through this world Joyous conceit Close-minded and haughtily assured Gilded, unperturbed
Dazzled masses froth over such trappings The success, the power, the sprawling paper card manse propped up on the hill How do I get mine? Follow the April Fool For he knows not he knows nothing
Serving up a soft focus dahlia on a Friday afternoon. Smooth and inviting this flower grows to soothe. When viewed through a macro lens we come close to the tiny tubular petals emblematic of the dahlia. These petals are numerous as they are fascinating. There must be 50 our more making up each full flower. This late season dahlia came to me by way of another splendid Eastlin Floral Design bouquet. As ever, Erin expertly plies her craft.
I am going to miss photographing flowers. As we pivot to autumn the opportunities grow fewer. As is the way of things. As I reflect back on this years floral work, I am satisfied with some of the photographs I have made. I have said it before and will again, were it not for flower macros I would never have learned to handle myself with a camera. The broad, sweeping landscapes would have never come to be. It is good to stick to roots that bear fruit, and I am happy to stick with my floral friends. Looking forward to honoring you again next year.
My heart grows a little bit softer remembering the inexplicable tragedy that struck 19 years ago today. May we all find a little more ease in troubled times.
Lilium Inter Spinas — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400
The lily among the thorns. As it is in Latin it is in life. Beauty bounded in time. The glove of power sleeved in subtlety. The self-governed restraint necessary for functioning freedom. Dualities of life shaded in paradox. Polarities bring balance. Gifting equilibrium to produce a harmonious stasis. Yet there is discord. An episodic if unpredictable dissonance that plays in temporary favor to tip the scales. Here there is emotion, often times uncomfortable and burdensome. It is here we are watered. It is here we learn to grow. I caution you yet, resolve not to reduce everything to a binary—it will prove a crutch. For life is seldom so simple.
Were I to see into the future would I make this photograph?
Would we do anything were we to see it beforehand? More so, would we have in our possession the power to stop ourselves? When and where would we even want to?
Does our seeing a thing stop us from tracking it? Does our knowing a thing irrevocably change its course? Does its future sprout a new one?
How can we know when our future is here? When the heart lifts and the gifts are easy, and you well know a place you’d swear you knew before.
No one needs me to explain how COVID-19 has left us homebound and siloed throughout much of 2020. Whether in isolation like me or hunkered down others, we’re riding things out void of the communal comings and goings we took for granted. Who would have thought sitting in cafe sipping on a fresh cuppa would no longer be a thing? Yet here we are. Chastened and changed, and I sincerely hope for the better.
All this time home has brought with it both new and familiar things. Each appreciated in their own special way. The principle return to past glory is coming in the form of macro photography. I’ve discussed here before how formative macro photography was to learning The Way of the Camera back in 2012. I unloaded thousands—tens of thousands of exposures on the plants and flowers hanging about my yard. Sure hope they signed those consent forms. Anyway…
All this time at the 2020 homestead is reconnecting me to my roots and my local plot of earth. I’ve lived in this home since July 1993 (bought it off my parents in 2009), and I am back exploring every inch of the property. If for no other reason than my own sanity. I use the term property loosely as it’s not a big yard by any stretch. Yet my parents being the hobbyist green thumb enthusiasts they are had this place teeming with extensive flora exquisitely maintained. I let it go over the years (understatement), but this year, banked by Covid time, I’ve been putting in work about the place. Setting to rights a decade of neglect. It’s still unworthy of its prime, but it’s no longer an unmitigated disaster and that is something!
With the cleanup has come better conditions for flower and plant life to thrive. Giving me ample opportunity to make beautiful photos without having to break any kind of social distance mores. Insert win-win corporate jargon complete with stilted laughter here. It’s been years since I have spent this kind of time with my trusted macro lens. The 100 millimeters that have been there with me since the beginning. This old friend helped see me out of a heinous depression, and I will never forget how she’s here for me once again in my time of isolation. Thanks so much for teaching me patience, peace of mind, and self-reliance. And of course the ultimate thanks for gifting me a passion that keeps on exploring.
Yet I cannot wait for my first real chase of a smoldering sunset out on the marsh. In its own way that, too, will be a trip home again.
