With the drought conditions again in California, I was wondering how the creek was flowing in the Arroyo Trabuco, which fortunately is about a 15 minute walk from my front door. It is a run off of the adjacent Saddleback Mountain, not too far upstream (more than I would want to walk) part of the Angeles Forest here in Southern California. Okay, this is one of my options for my program of morning mediative walks, that I write about here from time to time.
Over the last fifteen years, I really cannot recall when there was not some kind of water running in the creek, so I was not disappointed. During the summer months though, the water flow is a bit lazy, with more green growing on the edges.
This is my second or third photograph I made as a part of my ten-minute rule, to start doing something creative as soon as possible to switch mental gears in how I become engaged and contemplate this landscape. This photograph is not meant for some gallery or museum wall, but someone might like this in their home. Maybe even me.
The photograph was not trying to elicit a lot of drama; perhaps more of a documentary style capture of what is here, and perhaps a little visual mediation. The foreground has a log and some tree parts among a collection of rocks, thus one of the many crossing points for the creek. It is not like walking a paved walkway either, as its a little balancing act walking the slippery rocks. I can count on getting my shoes and feet wet (I am not the most graceful person in the world), so I don’t even concern myself with trying to stay absolutely dry. Only visual element that I decided to include was the rock in the lower right of the framing to act as a bit of visual counter balance, to add ‘weight’ to that corner of the picture. If you put your thump on that part of the photograph to cover the rock, notice what visually happens.
So this was another nice morning walk which I enjoyed and seemed to help get my head screwed back on properly as well a few interesting photographs with the Samsung S21U. I initially had not intended to walk down to the bottom of the arroyo today, so a ‘light’ camera kit. I guess I can call this a win-win.
Cheers
Doug
Arroyo Trabuco, August (#084536) copyright Douglas Stockdale 2021.
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Workshops:
Developing a Creative Photo Book, a virtual (Zoom) workshop I will be leading again in conjunction with Medium Photo, September 11th, 12th, 18th, & 19th, New dates: March 5 – 6, 12 – 13, 2022 More details and sign-up available now at Medium Photo. New Dates!
New Book Workshop added: I will be leading a Creative Photo Book workshop with the Southeast Center of Photography (SEC4P) later in the Fall of this year. This will be a virtual event (Zoom); November 6 & 7th and 13 & 14th, 2021, 10 AM – 1 PM, EDT (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy). Registration is now open, and there is a SEC4P membership discount. Just advised that it is half-way sold out. Let me know if you have any questions!
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Singular Images 