Category: Homewood at Plum Creek

Standing

 

Note that these Mallards are standing in a section of the largest pond.  If the pond isn’t dredged and cleaned out soon, it is going to look a lot different.

I would prefer to see it, as well as other areas around Homewood at Plum Creek, converted into, and maintained naturally as rain gardens and bioretention assets with plants and trees.  They could then continue to do their jobs even better:  removing pollutants from the water before they continue on down Plum Creek on the way to the Chesapeake Bay, improving wildlife habitats, and improving the soil’s retention of water.

Planted as a bioretention asset would also save money in that we wouldn’t need the maintenance and operational cost of the fountains, etc.  That savings would go a long way towards negating the costs to convert from a pond to a bioretention or rain garden and save money in the long run.

Click on this link to see the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s recommendations.

Rethinking my Photography

221128-091319-JEH22We had an activity at Homewood at Plum Creek where the residents were supposed to decorate the trees in the hallways of our Community Center.  In the past I took pictures of the residents decorating the trees and they were published in the Plum Line.  When I got there at the designated time I found few residents and that most of the trees had already been decorated; i.e., few pictures to be made.  This image was of the tree in the main lobby, mainly being decorated by the staff due to the need to be on a ladder. 

I did not show this image in color since the variety of colors and patterns and various light sources of different temperatures, in my opinion, create too much visual clutter.  All of that clutter distracts from seeing the essence of the activity.  Showing this image in color would just emphasize the crazy patterns and colors all mixed together regardless of whether they worked well together or not.

For several reasons, I’m now rethinking whether or not I want to try and get back into the practice of photographing similar indoor events.  We still have a dark cloud hanging over us in the way of diseases and the desire of many to not participate in group activities.  I no longer have the better cameras and lenses for low light photography in areas with mixed light and the white balance issues.  I sold them early in the pandemic since I didn’t have a use for them, and now with inflation I don’t want to spend the money to replace them.  I am also tired of trying to accommodate the indoor decor with all of the old style ancient patterned carpets, paint, light fixtures, wallpapers, etc.  The decor reminds me of the Downton Abbey era.  And, I don’t have the physical stamina for longer sessions on my feet with the need to do lots of walking around.

Hmmm, it seems that, if I continue indoor activity or event photography, maybe I should only process Homewood vernacular photography in old style monochrome sepia.

Color Style

I’m working on finding more subjects to photograph in color, but maybe not as you would have seen them if you were there when I captured the image.  So far, I’m still tweaking some ideas and seeing how they work on different images.

I don’t feel like making “normal snapshots”, but it isn’t easy to always make images like I feel.  I also have to be concerned about the privacy of individuals, whether they think they care or not.

I also need to keep reminding myself, and others, that I make and publish images to entertain myself, not others.  Those who prefer color may get more than they wished.

Model Trains Open House

The model train engineers at Homewood at Plum Creek had an Open House to show off their work so I went and took some pictures of it.  I’ll wait until after the Christmas Open House to complete the portfolio.  I made their pictures in color, but I wanted to see how they worked in monochrome.  Since working with model trains is an old dying hobby, I just thought they deserved to be shown in monochrome.

If you haven’t seen them yet, I encourage the residents to attend the next open house in December.  It was nice to see and hear all of the trains running on many different displays in various rooms.  Several of the layouts had been upgraded with new additions since I was last there.

That Time

Fall is in the air and it is time to get ready for the winter.  I made these while out walking yesterday when I noticed the relatively new burrow in the creek bank.  It is probably a muskrat burrow but I’ll have to watch it to be sure.  We have had mink along the creek.

A Book of Days

I have been reading and looking at Patti Smith’s most recent book of images, A Book of Days.  I wonder where and why she was in West Virginia.

I’m floundering relative to what to do with my blog and photography.  I have been interested in how Patti publishes her new and older images almost daily, but I could never do a similar thing since I haven’t had such a wide list of public contacts and interests as she has had.  

Most of my career was working in classified environments where I was not allowed to even have a camera, nor smartphone, with me, let along take pictures and then keep a journal about what I did or where I was.

I had thought about doing something similar to what Patti does but making my subject about the daily life at living within a senior community … until I ran into privacy concerns and a pandemic.