Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
This was also taken quite close to my house. I liked the juxtaposition of the two trees, the one in the foreground very much alive and the other one probably dead (although you can never be sure until it’s time for the leaves to come out). I rather hope it is dead, because I find it interesting without leaves. The branches almost look like limbs reaching up to the somewhat threatening sky.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 10-24mm f4
This small bridge is quite close to the larger bridge in the previous post. I’ve taken pictures of this one too – but not many, and those in black and white. These are the first that I’ve taken in color.
I really like this one. The larger bridge is impressive, but somewhat boring. There’s much more going on with this one: the brook falling over rocks; small pools; old fallen trees; gnarled tree roots with rocks seemingly growing out of them etc. I also find it amazing that although the picture conveys the impression of a burbling brook in the woods, it’s actually only a very short distance from a busy road.
It’s also more of a mystery. While it’s clear that the larger bridge was built to carry the road up to the mansion, I haven’t got a clue what the purpose of this bridge was. It’s really small, only large enough to carry a person (or an animal? or a small cart?). Clearly it allowed passage from somewhere to somewhere else, but why?
I guess I’ll probably never know.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 10-24mm f4
I’ve posted about this bridge before. It’s close to my house and carries what was once was the main road to a magnificent mansion (It still exists. See: A wealthy man) over Sparta Brook. I’m somewhat fascinated by the bridge and go to it fairly frequently to take pictures.
What’s a little different about these pictures is the viewpoint from which I took them. Look at the first picture, which shows the approach to the bridge. I usually take the photographs from the left side of the bridge, and indeed some of these (the second and third) are taken from that viewpoint.
However, the fourth and fifth pictures are taken from the right side of the bridge. I don’t think I’ve taken any from this angle before. Things look much more cluttered from here as a lot of debris (e.g. fallen trees) has accumulated.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 10-24mm f4
When, in January, I posted pictures of my walk along Route 9 in Dobbs Ferry I somehow missed this one. It stands in front of the High School/Middle School. I don’t think there’s anything special about it. I haven’t been able to uncover any information about it. I took the picture because it was somewhat interesting and it was there. At some point in the future it might not be.
Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
My friend, Antonio, is an Art Director and and Graphic Artist who likes to create concept art (posters, CD covers etc.) by blending photographs and other graphic elements. He usually gets the photographs from friends and then builds the graphics around them himself.
Lasts night I got a message from him which read:
Howard think of story, novel or poem you have read, and pick one of your images from your Instagram that you think reflects the words. And once you do I will make a design with the image you pick and the title you choose. Take your time it’s a fun project and you act like the art director and I am your graphic designer
My initial reaction was that I would find this difficult. I usually take photographs because there was something about the subject that caught my attention. I don’t think “Oh, that would look nice on a Vogue cover”.
I quickly realized, however, that I did have something that might fit the bill.
The other day, while browsing YouTube videos I’d come across an audio book or Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. I’d read the book and seen the 1940s Hitchcock movie (A 2020 Netflix version is available. I watched it last night and didn’t like it much) several times and liked them both. While browsing YouTube recently I came across an audiobook version of the Novel. I thought I might like to hear someone reading the book aloud so I watched the video. I was really enjoying myself when the video suddenly came to an end. I quickly realized that the audio book covered only one Chapter. This left me feeling frustrated that I hadn’t been able to listen until the end. I found other audio books that contained the full text, but by then I was feeling annoyed and didn’t want to watch any of them.
Over the next few days the haunting words of the first sentence of the book: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again” kept going round and round in my head so when I got Antonio’s message I immediately thought of “Rebecca”.
Now, did I have a photograph that I could use. I quickly realized that I did: the photograph above. While far from being my best work I thought it would do. For those who don’t know it “Rebecca” is a Gothic novel, much of which takes place in a spooky old house in England, the “Manderley” of the first line. The house above is not in England, but it is suitably spooky. It’s the former Jay Gould Mansion, Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY and it was used It was used for the exterior shots in the two early Dark Shadows movies, House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971).
I’m now keen to see what he does with the concept and the image.
Picture taken with a Konica C35 film camera.