Heron Statues

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I’m not even sure that these are herons – I’m not really that good on birds. My instinctive reaction was to think that they were cranes, but then I started to rethink. They’re in a friend’s garden. His house is situated right next to and slightly above a wetlands area. I was sitting with him one day when I noticed that at that time of day the sun was going down and highlighting the trees on the other side of the wetlands. This caused the statues to be silhouetted. I didn’t have a camera with me at the time, but not long afterwards I was back again – this time with my trusty camera.

I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted: a bright background that I would throw out of focus with strongly silhouetted statues standing against it. However, when I came to edit the pictures I changed my view slightly. I didn’t like the statues being totally black and instead decided to try and lighten some of the details. I like the rather wild out of focus areas though.

My friend tells me that the two statues are actually fountains and are even connected to a water supply. He finds the water pouring out to be rather “cheesy” and so never turns it on.

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The pictures were taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Minolta 50mm MD f1.4

Thailand – Elephants

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Washing the Elephants.

My mother loved elephants! So I’m sure that was one of the reasons I took these. I have to admit though that going for a ride was somewhat exciting for me. Since these were taken I’ve been on safari in Kenya and seen how different zoo/tame elephants are from the magnificent beasts that you see in the wild. Consequently it’s a bit hard for me to look back on these pictures and realize that to a certain extent I’ve endorsed keeping these animals in captivity. The first two pictures were taken at Ayutthya and the third at Bang Pa In. I don’t recall where the final one was taken – presumably part of an elephant show. I do remember that one part of the show involved getting volunteers to lie down while an elephant stepped over them. I also remember hearing that not too long afterwards an elephant misjudged its stride, stepped on and killed someone (can’t verify this though). That’s why I wasn’t one of the volunteers.

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On the road. Clearly I was on one of the elephants when this was taken.

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Topiary elephants at Bang Pa In.

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Up!

Monarchs of the Glen

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These wicker deer are in a friend’s garden. I’d photographed them before, but had never been able to get the right angle – largely because I took the pictures from the street while walking the dog. I didn’t want to disturb our friend. Today, however, we were over for drinks, snacks and to take a look at his garden. He has a lot of interesting garden art so while my wife and our friends were talking I ambled around the garden taking pictures.

Interesting pieces I thought as I noticed the small deer, which I hadn’t even seen in earlier pictures I’d taken.

First photograph of Van Gogh as an adult discovered

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Image of Vincent Van Gogh as an adult discovered. Article via DIYPhotography.net

Fascinating! He’s the third from the left – with the pipe.

Photography is probably one of the greatest tools for preserving history.  While present generations stand at a perilous place with all of our memories sitting on hard drives and SD cards, we are thankful for those who had to take the time to develop each shot into a physical medium.  Writings and paintings can only provide so much accurate detail and are often skewed by the perspectives of their creators, but photographs seem to preserve another level of historic accuracy.

Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch post-impressionist painter best known for The Starry Night, his insane preoccupation with selfies, and chopping off bits of ears long before Mike Tyson made it popular, has often been portrayed as a dark and brooding cloud in art history.  Yet, we have never seen a photograph of his face in adulthood…until now.

Known photographs of van Gogh in his youth have been confirmed for a while, but this week, a 1887 photo of van Gogh as an adult sitting around drinking with friends went to auction at The Romantic Agony auction house.  Along with the melancholy painter are pictured such greats as Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard, Félix Jobbé-Duval, and André Antoine.

via Recently-Unearthed Photo Is the First Confirmed Image of van Gogh in Adulthood – DIY Photography

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Canoes

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I came across these canoes while visiting houses around the lake as part of the annual “Garden Tour”. What attracted me was partly the colors. I’m not usually very good with color photography, but these bright colors seemed to good to miss. I also liked the arrangement of the canoes – the way that yellow and orange canoes faced towards me, while the red one faced in a different direction. I also liked the way that the yellow oar in the background picked up the yellow of one of the canoes.