The Blind Story Teller

Pine Hill, NJ

This abstract image taken from the bark of one of our dogwood trees. I know that I'm getting away from the city and landscapes that I've taken in the past. But I am more and more drawn to these images.

A little over a week from today will be Halloween. Over the next few days I will be entering some of my abstracts that have a eerie feel to them. My first example is below. I did it yesterday and call it "Taking the Dead".

Taking the Dead

This image comes from a recent series of tree bark slides taken this past summer. It is the same dead dogwood tree that I made the images "Brain of Genius" and "Praying for the Debauchers". This image is very small as I cropped at just a very small portion of the slide. On the original slide I had seen a discoloration that looked like two forms holding something between them. I began to brighten and darken the image. The form on the left took hold becoming a man, he was still holding something. The second form on the right began to disappear. The sometihng being held began to look like a man his legs dangling, his left arm held away from a body being lifted by the man on the left.

Night in the Mountains

Pine Hill, NJ

I have a roll of film of trees and bark taken at our home. As I have mentioned in other abstract images, I have become fascinated with finding the abstract image with in the photograph. Several previous works have been from the same dead dogwood tree that I have here. In my first attempt I had taken the color slide and removed all the color rendering it a black and white. I then inverted it to a negative. I didn't like the result and went back to the positive. The result is "Night in the Mountains".

The Cowboy

Pine Hill, NJ

It has been 12 days since I've added a photo to the blog. Two words: Work and Mom. At work we have become so short-handed that every week I work from 3 to 4 hours overtime. This coming shift I may have to work to 4AM on 2 consecutive days. The other is my mom's broken hip. I spend a lot of time running out to see her, checking on her apartment and taking care of her bills. So the blog has taken a back seat.

The other day I got a box of slides back. Most of the images have been of tree bark and dead tree branches. This image above is from a dogwood tree that died 2 years ago. We have left most of the tree standing. The birds crawl along the trunk hunting for small bugs, etc....

With much of the bark gone, I got this really neat red, yellow and black image. A man began to pop out and I see a hat. Then I began to see this cloak around the man's shoulders. At the bottom on the left could be an animal's skull that might be seen out on the plains or desert. Although the cowboy's horse in not visible, I had the feeling he was riding it, maybe on a rainy night just outside of town.

A Tree Blossoms

Cape May, NJ

The dogwood tree blossoms against the cedar tree as sunlight filters through.

Dogwood Blosson No. 1

Pine Hill, NJ

Bill worked on this image he took of a dogwood blossom. He cropped the picture to show only the blossom. He used his Nikon N70. He thought it was an OK image yet, somehow he wanted to push the picture a little more. His result is another image of the same flower using Ulead.

Dogwood Blossom NO. 2

Pine Hill, NJ

Spring Dogwood Blossoms

Gloucester Township, NJ

I've been watching the dogwood trees around our property and I see the beginning of buds. Soon they will flower. The weather is still cold. With luck next week will be warmer.

Dogwood Blossoms

Gloucester Township, NJ

During the spring we often spend our time in local nature parks. I've shown photos from Dramesi Park in Gloucester Township, NJ. This one was taken a few springs ago. I've cropped the original image to show these blossoms and I darkened the background. In this picture I really wanted to keep it simple.