Art

Shapeshifters

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Things are not always what they seem. Sometimes when I am making pictures I notice that the plot is thickening. Other times, I don’t notice until later.

The camera though, it is a keen observer. It has spent a lot of time looking. It has developed a sense of humour. It understands how I love double meanings, a good pun, or an interesting metaphor. And it sees what I am looking for. Sometimes it is the one to point things out.

The lens. It knows how to make the tiniest of adjustments. It knows how shallow or how deeply I want to go into a subject. It makes sense of the light, filters it carefully. The lens is meticulous.

The subjects. They are generous with their time. They are frequently in transition and often surprising. They too have a sense of humour. And they are always teaching me. Showing me how to look at things. Showing me how things are and how they are not. But also, how they could be.

Do you see the things I see here in these images? These shapeshifters?


All images © Karen McRae, 2012

Transitioning

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There is something about the transitions of the flora this time of year that I find just so lovely. I think it’s the subtle tones and changing forms that I keep coming back to. The possibilities seem endless here in this tiny world.




All images © Karen McRae, 2012

Umbra & Umber

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Perhaps an image that you wouldn’t normally expect here but I was struck by the light on the wall and how the values of the overlapping shadows create a sense of dimension in the arm. This is pure shadow and fleeting light (not a reflection of the figure) coming together for just a few moments. There are possibilities here in the shadows…
*Umbra is Latin for shadow.

Image © Karen McRae, 2012

Cladonia Seussimilis

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I’m not exactly sure of the correct names for all of these lichens but I have dubbed them collectively Cladonia Seussimilis, for to my eye they appear rather Seussian in form. And I like the way it sounds.
I believe the beautifully tiered fountain-like ones, are actually called Ladder Lichen, Cladonia cervicornis.
I’m a bit smitten with them…


Above: Possibly split-peg lichen, Cladonia cariosa








All images © Karen McRae, 2012

Pixie Cup Lichen

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Lichens have always fascinated me, but it’s the little cup lichens that I find exceptionally intriguing. I think these ones may be Cladonia pyxidata, a pixie cup Lichen. They make for an exquisite miniature landscape, and although I didn’t see any myself, it’s not hard to imagine that a Pixie might indeed inhabit this sort of magical place. These pixie cups are growing in small beds of moss and earth tucked into a craggy rock .

I was struck by how they look so remarkably like an underwater landscape of corals and sea anemones and the sense of this is enhanced with a very shallow depth of field. Perhaps too shallow. But I am not finished looking at this tiny world.









All images © Karen McRae, 2012

From the Curiosity Cabinet: A Cicada Cast-off

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This little cicada shell was gleaming in the sun like a miniature bronze, and naturally it beckoned to come home with me. It is the moulted shell from the final  stage in a cicada’s growth. You may have happened across a similar empty shell tentatively clinging to a tree branch. You’d bring it home too, wouldn’t you?


The escape hatch. A little tear up the back.



*If you are curious about method, this cicada shell was photographed on a mirror.

All images © Karen McRae. 2012

Playful

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These little transforming seed heads each seem to have their own bit of personality when you look at them closely. I am absorbed with the details of form, depth of field, and light (of course!). And they are very cooperative subjects. It is really the breeze that is most playful.

All images © Karen McRae, 2012