Winter Beauty: A Simple Lesson In Perspective

January 23, 2014January 23, 2014 / Ally Bean / 10 Comments

Yesterday as I was going through some photos of winter scenes that I shot a few weeks ago, I was taken with the following simple lesson in perspective.

It’s a lesson that applies to photography as well as problems.

• • •

Sometimes the simplest things look complex & confusing when you see them up close. For instance, here is a tangle of brown tree branches covered in white snow.

• • •

Step back, add a bit of a blue sky and the snow-covered brown tree branches begin to look less chaotic. In fact, from this angle the tree branches appear more organized & interconnected.

• • •

Expand your perspective again and the snow-covered brown tree branches in the foreground become incidental to the clear blue sky that forms the background.

• • •

The simple lesson here?

By putting a little distance between you and whatever, you’ll see the big picture. And from that vantage point, we can only hope, you’ll understand what’s really going on.

Good Morning, It’s Snowing Here Today

December 10, 2013 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

~ ~ • ~ ~

Pretty, huh?

A perfect day for me to make a pot of chili + a pone of corn bread.

And a salad of spring greens, candied walnuts, dried cranberries & blue cheese crumbles.

With homemade walnut oil vinaigrette, of course.

And perhaps a bottle of beer?

Lord knows that after the party that wasn’t, we have enough of them sitting in our garage.

😉

Learning To Wait

November 18, 2013November 18, 2013 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

[Sub-titled: Maybe My Middle School English Teacher Did Teach Me Something After All]

Thursday afternoon I was at home, waiting for a few things to happen. I couldn’t go any farther on the projects at hand until I got some more info from other sources, so I was feeling a bit stuck. And grumbly. I wasn’t in the mood to watch TV or to read, so to keep myself from turning into a crabius maximus I decided to goof around with my camera.

First I took a photo of the gorgeous blue sky. I like to photograph the autumn sky so that when the winter days get gray and gloomy I can look at my photos and remember that once upon a time we had sunshine and clarity. You understand.

Then I decided to try to take a photo of the sun. At first, all I could manage was this impressionistic blur which was more Claude Monet than Ansel Adams.

However, after a few more attempts I got this photo of the sun. Granted, it’s not the most spectacular photo ever, but I did achieve my goal and entertain myself in the process so we’re going to call this a win. Huzzah!

But here’s the thing, as I was goofing around with my camera I got thinking about a few stanzas of a poem that I was ~~forced~~ inspired to learn along the way. A poem, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, that seemed to perfectly encapsulate my stuck-at-home-in-the-suburbs afternoon. A poem that Miss Gillan, my 7th grade English teacher who was about a hundred years old when I had her, would be happy to know I still remember… more or less.

A Psalm Of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest !
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

[a bunch of stanzas that I don’t recall]

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

We Went To Utah For A Long Weekend

August 12, 2013July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

The hubster was on business out in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I decided that it was time for me to see Utah. He left here on Monday and I joined him there on Thursday.

The tail of an airplane + many pigeons at Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum.

On Thursday afternoon Zen-Den and I went into downtown Salt Lake City so that I could see what it was all about. SLC was just as clean and organized as I had heard that it would be. I didn’t take any photos of the buildings or streets, but visually it was inviting. And clean. I mentioned that, right? With people walking within designated painted lines on the streets in accordance with the timing of the traffic lights. Who knew?

The Wasatch Mountains.

We have friends who live just north of Salt Lake City and on Friday they took a day off from work to drive us around the area. It was generous of them to do this, can’t thank them enough. First we went to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and looked at their wonderful collection of airplanes and memorabilia– which, of course, I liked. Then we went to lunch at Taggart’s Grill, a restaurant and bakery nestled in the Wasatch Mountains, with camera-shy pet peacocks who live in the garden around the restaurant. The food was delicious. Coolness.

The Great Salt Lake.

After that we drove up through the Wasatch Mountains and then down to the edge of the Great Salt Lake. Everywhere I turned I saw the most amazing sights– whether they were natural formations, or unique small towns, or a herd of bison living free on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Amazing.

A herd of bison on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

On Saturday Zen-Den and I drove up to the mountain resort town of Park City, Utah, to go to an art show. Park City is home to Sundance Film Festival— and many wealthy people from the looks of it. The community was perfect. Like Disney perfect. Like so planned that I worried that we’d be thrown off the set for not adhering to the director’s vision of what the town’s residents should look like. Oh well.

Wild sunflowers that grow as weeds along the highways in northern Utah.

That evening in Park City we had tickets to the outdoor Deer Valley Music Festival with the Utah Symphony featuring Mandy Patinkin. He was amazing and professional with an astounding vocal range, charming personal stories and a quiet sense of humor. Delightful.

Starlings [I think] in a nest under the eaves.

On Sunday morning before we left we decided to drive around the University of Utah in SLC and surrounding neighborhoods. Again, so clean. And well-maintained. And, I’m assuming, safe. I say this because the capitol of Utah is in a residential neighborhood with no fences or guards around it. The building is just sitting there. Pretty.

Utah daylilies in an unusual shade of orange that I’ve never seen before.

We enjoyed Utah and would like to go back there someday. Maybe take a week and drive up into Wyoming and Idaho while we’re in the area. Maybe take more photos of the cities– and the buildings– and the unfailingly polite people who waited on us. That part I really, really liked. Worth the price of the vacation alone.