Photography Archives

STEM saves ART

Stem Science Technology Engineering Math Over the past decade music and art have sadly been reduced or eliminated from the education budget. Luckily our public school at the time did not follow that unfortunate trend. I remember sitting at the kitchen counter with our son's friend who expressed that he didn't have time to take art because of all of his other IMPORTANT classes. I said "Colby, you can't really feel that art is unimportant - do you?" He really did feel that way. This is the same kid that went on to be at the top of his class and is currently studying to be an engineer. I wonder if now in his second year in college, he thinks about art with a new perspective. Our other son's friend Kathy was always a clever girl, and it was apparent from when she was just a toddler. She also went on to study engineering - industrial engineering. Kathy and I had a chance to catch up when she was on break from school and I asked her how it was going. She said the "math" was very challenging and she and her "artist" friends had to work pretty hard to keep on track. But many of the "Math and Techie" oriented students struggled with the art classes. What a valuable observation. I'd like to think that when Kathy was busy collecting her objects from nature and arranging them in forts made from pool towels and chairs that she was really in the early stages of her education by combining her artistic talents with her science curiosity that ultimately lead her to study industrial engineering. So thank you STEM for saving ART! Stem, Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics & ART. Note: I was inspired to write this memory after seeing the beautiful patterns in the ice along a sandy trail. Which patterns developed during the freezing process? Which were caused by the warmth of the sun and which by the elements around them. I may not entirely understand the science behind the patterns but I sure appreciate the natures beauty. See more ICE PHOTOS Visit Bakagain Inc to view and purchase technology furniture and products or call 910-769-2422

Photography Shape and Form

Photography Shape and Form What I see, and what I through a camera lens are often two different things. I'll see something so interesting that I immediately want to take a photograph and yet when I look though the eye piece I choose not to take the shot, it doesn't do the live version justice. I refer to four huge blooming dog woods that I looked at from every angle. Beautiful but boring. I record it to memory instead of on a memory stick. That logic can also work in reverse. A simple object or scene may look ordinary but the camera lens allows me to isolate just part of the scene or object eliminating all the other distractions turning the basic into exciting. I enjoy taking photographs of landscapes or objects because they are beautiful just as they are and it's a nice shot. But abstracting them by positioning myself in relation to the scene and where the light is directed I can turn the scene into negative and positive shapes by type and color. When I drive down my favorite back road in Lititz I never grow tired looking at the crop patterns, which horses are standing in a huddles, which shade trees the cows picked lay under and how all of this can dramatically change based on the time of day and the season. I missed a shot last week when a farmer cut down several rows of corn leaving a view of what it would be like if you had x-ray vision, seeing into the middle of a field. The corn was shades of dried up brown but with just enough deep green for color and with a late morning burst of sun, the edges glowed bright gold. I could kick myself because I didn't get out of the car to shoot the picture. It's a winding road, with blind corners, and cars impatiently sharing the road with the occasional buggy, not an easy place to just pull over. Excuses. I call this photo Ribbed Barn. I love the contrast of line, shape and color. Vertical grass, vertical covering, vertical panels on the barn, free-form clouds. Horizontal green shape, horizontal silver shape, triangular gray shape creating negative space in the blue sky. Plants, Steel, Water. See framed photography in the LifeStyle catagory on Bakagain.