© Karen McRae, 2015
environment
Residual Garden
These are macro photographs of some of the little seedheads in my garden that are no bigger than my thumbnail. They have been mostly snuggled under snow for eternity the winter… But today spring actually seemed like it temporarily meant business and it got to work rolling back those white carpets that have been covering the fields and lawns and sleepy flowerbeds. A brilliant day full of warmth, sunshine and riotous birdsong. Who could possibly stay indoors?
[From the series In Transition: Seedhead Series. (click on images to view them larger)]
© Karen McRae, 2015
Borderlands ~ Stories from the Periphery
The Stand-in
The Standing
The Fallen 1
The Fallen 2
© Karen McRae, 2015
Spring is Extinct
Or, at least, if you lived here you could be forgiven for thinking this is true. It is also true that there are small signs of spring: the pussy willows are indeed popping out of their dark skins, the birds already have a little spring fever, the days are longer, brighter… But it’s still pretty cold. Just yesterday it snowed. Again.
Today the sun was shining, though, with enough warmth to start a slow melt of the little glaciers that line the streets. They are retreating incrementally. I spent hours out in nature but it was only on the walk home, looking at that gritty street-side snow and those small puddles, that I found images I liked. A slow shutter for a slow spring.
[Images of pavement, snow and ice, made while walking]
*Spring is not really extinct. I hope.
© Karen McRae, 2015
‘The Tangled Garden’ *
(click on image for a larger and more detailed view)
*the modern, gritty, winter version.
Which is not at all like the *original Tangled Garden that inspired the title: a painting made almost 100 years ago, all brush strokes and rich autumn colours. The image here is urban: all road salt and gravelly snow at the edges of the concrete city. ‘Painted’ in 1/20th of a second at the press of a button.
But it would be very difficult to create this image again. The landscape and the light change continually. The synthesis of camera movement and car speed would never quite be the same. To me there is something hopeful and lovely about the whole gritty mess; a push and pull between the focused and blurred, between earth and snow. I like, too, how the subtle flecks of gold graze some of the vegetation – the last bit of light before it falls away. And the idea of painting with a camera, and making images that we might not actually see otherwise (but perhaps still feel).
© Karen McRae, 2015
Something in the Air
It has been -20c for a month and a half.
This statement may be an exaggeration but only a slight one. If one wanted to know for sure they could always check here, but why bother. It feels like it’s been -20c for a month and a half. Even for a winter lover it’s a bit cold.
The birds have had enough. I hear them calling for spring in their songs. Perhaps even insisting on it. At least, these sound like spring songs I am hearing. Yes, I am hearing one now…? And the feathered ones seem especially active. But it could be that they are just trying to keep warm.
Nature is pressing on, though. I see the bluejays picking at tight winter buds and catkins on some of the trees (how do they still manage to produce those in this cold?!). The sleepy pussy willows are likely growing those fur coats they need for early spring – I haven’t checked yet.
Anyway, there is something in the air besides -20.
A flock with dozens of Waxwings, spotted yesterday.
© Karen McRae, 2015
Sketching the Winter Landscape
The Snowshoer
Today felt downright balmy as the temperature briefly climbed all the way to -4c ~ we have been locked in the deep cold for so long, and it’s not over yet. It’s hard to believe spring is (officially) just under a month away. This day was for perfect for playing in the fresh snow, though, so I took my camera along while I was cross-country skiing on the escarpment and attempted to make use of the dull light (which can be suitable for longer exposures). Each of these images was made in-camera using multiple exposures and/or camera movement.
© Karen McRae, 2015
Winter Light (Abstracted Landscapes)
I made the above series of photographs a while ago and had decided that they were pretty much failures. Except.
Except there is something about that luminous winter light and those subtle tones. And perhaps I am reconsidering these images because I recently saw the visually sumptuous movie ‘Mr. Turner’ and these sort of ‘landscape sketches’ have taken on a slightly different meaning. Or perhaps they are still failures, I haven’t quite decided. Either way they are an interesting part of the image making process (for me) so here they are.
Different light on a different day.
[Each one of these images is a ‘drive-by’ photograph, made from the passenger seat of a moving car]
© Karen McRae, 2015
Seed Pearls
[Another Winter Garden with fresh growth from the self-seeding frost on the cold window ~ the glow of the frozen water drops made me think of seed pearls.]
© Karen McRae, 2015
draw and shoot 