September 2012

Off Kilter Bozeman, Montana 2012

Think how uninteresting this shot would be if it were in fact “on kilter.”

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The World on Fire Big Wood River, Idaho 2012

Montana, Idaho, Wyoming; wherever I went to art shows last month there was thick smoke in the air most days. Red sunsets aren’t nearly as pretty when they’re caused by smoke. We’re still getting smoke this month too, and the fires are close to home now too. I never thought the onset of winter would seem so attractive.]]>

Pillars of the Community Bozeman, Montana 2012

Two trees along the Sourdough Creek trail in Bozeman. This shot of their smooth straight trunks would look right at home alongside some of my similar looking cylindrical grain elevator images, like this one for example:

Elevations #38 Meridian, Idaho 2006

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Kinetic Art Bozeman, Montana 2012

Strangely enough, other than what’s temporarily on some rails for freshly printed photos, I don’t have have any art (mine or anyone else’s) hanging in my studio. Thus the walls look kind of bare. But the upside is that it makes a good display screen for these dancing tree shadows that move across the room in the morning. And because they’re always in motion and so temporary, I never get bored of them.]]>

Alter Ego Yellowstone National Park 2010

This may or may not be the exact same raven as in the photo I posted two days ago but I like to think of it as being the same one in a different persona.]]>

Bait Fishing Yellowstone National Park 2010

A parking lot picnic for a raven in Yellowstone. I believe it is chowing down on some fishing bait someone tossed out to it. (The orange color is essentially the true color.)

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Kaleidoscope Steamboat Springs, Colorado 2012

I was fooling around with kaleidoscope effects in Photoshop today. This iris needed no such fooling around to get that look.

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Confusion Big Wood River, Idaho 2012

A tangle of tall grass on feeder creek to the Big Wood River.

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People Are People Bozeman, Montana 2010

People are a puzzle alright, but “people are people” is one of those phrases that seems to say either a lot or nothing at all. In this case I’m leaning toward the later, perhaps because of the thoughtless use of a similar phrase I was guilty of back in another life. I was a graduate student in sociology at the University of Arizona at the time (the mid-70s) and taking an advanced research class from Dudley Duncan, one of the most influential sociologists in history. During one class session Dudley asked us to speculate as to the cause of some particular type of human behavior he had been discussing. After a long silence with no response from anyone else, I thoughtlessly piped up with the reply “human nature.” Now Dudley Duncan was usually a very serious and formal person both in and out of the classroom, but on hearing that reply he burst into the loudest guffaw I ever heard from him. “THAT’S what we’ve been paying you to go to school for? THAT’s what the sum total of your learning here has brought you to?” (or something along those lines) was his response once he stopped laughing. I don’t know if I’ve retained anything else from what I learned in that class but I did learn to be hyper-aware of seemingly profound statements that don’t have a lot of explanatory meat to them. (That awareness is driving me crazy during this election season, but that’s a different rant.) And Dudley? That statement did not seem to change his view of me too much. He eventually asked me to be one of his research assistants but I turned him down because I decided to leave the university for other adventures after getting my master’s degree. We stayed in touch though and he visited us occasionally until his death in 2004. That whole time he remained to me an inspiration, mentor, and a prime example of a intellectual life well led. But even towards the end I was always nervous around him, afraid of eliciting another rare guffaw.  ]]>