Oak, Leather, Glass and Light

#2

01.02.10

I've just been informed that the christmas decorations are coming down in the next day or two.  Admittedly, this is not an earth-shattering announcement and most homes that celebrate christmas will be doing the same thing.  But in our home it will be extra nice since every year my wife puts them up just a little earlier.  I think they went up around Flag Day this year... but the point is to mention that the one thing I will miss are the lights glowing at night when the house is dark.  I enjoy sitting on the couch listening to music as I wind down most evenings; and the christmas lights make that rather enjoyable.  I particularly like how they reflect off the walls, the wood of a quarter-sawn oak bookshelf we keep in the living room, and the glass panes of that bookshelf.  I thought I might take advantage of those reflections while I can; as surely they won't be back until around Memorial Day per my current estimation based on recent trends.

This simple photo offered a few challenges for me.  Shooting in low light is always something I struggle with regardless of camera; even more so with a small camera such as the iPhone's.  A second challenge was getting the vertical lines of the bookshelf to line up perpendicular with the bottom of the frame.  I possess an irrational tic in regards to my perpendiculars looking perpendicular; rather than standing at angles or being curved.  It would be easier to get straight verticals if I were to stand (or kneel, in this case) directly in front of the bookshelf; but then my own reflection would show in the pic.  Uh... yeah.  That's not going to happen anytime soon... trust me.  There is no quicker way for yours truly to muck up a photo than to be in it, even if by reflection alone.  Furthermore, if I were to stand (or kneel) directly in front of the bookshelf, then I wouldn't get any colored light reflections off the glass since the tree sits off to the side a bit.  That wouldn't do, since that reflecting light off glass was the desired feature of the pic to begin with.

So I messed around with shooting the photo at different angles, and discovered that getting my vertical lines vertical had less to do with my angle to the bookshelf (which I had presumed to be the big pitfall), but rather more to do with the forward-to-backward pitch of the phone's lens.  That likely makes intuitive sense to most people - but it didn't to me until now.  So regardless of my angle to the bookshelf; as long as I pitched the phone slightly forward or backward, I could visualize the verticals getting vertical on both the right and left sides of the frame and perpendicular to the bottom of the frame.  Voilà!  There is still a little slant to the far left and a little arc to the right vertical lines... but I was satisfied nonetheless.  In fact, I was so satisfied with the richness and warmth of the photo that I considered putting a copy of it in the microwave to see if I could melt it down and spread it over some vanilla bean ice cream.

The books happen to be leather-bound replicas of old medical texts that I got from my father, the Illustrious Dr. C.Q.E.  I like the title of John Hunter's "A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds" from 1840.  Talk about a "General Practitioner"!  In today's medical world those three topics would occupy the entire careers of three separate sub-specialists.  To the right of Dr. Hunter's book is the classic "Anatomy - Descriptive and Surgical" by none other than Henry Gray, F.R.S., 1897.  Good ol' "British Gray's" as we referred to it over a long, long academic year in Philadelphia, 1995-1996.

I like the warmth of the oak under all lighting conditions.  In regards to the oak bookshelf itself; it was handmade in New England by Stickley, and is the single greatest asset in our home that doesn't go by the moniker "Q".  D.R. Dimes is another great company manufacturing handmade wood furniture.  For now, the only D.R. Dimes item I own is an old catalogue I pinched from a furniture shop in Lancaster County, PA, a few years back. Some nights I sneak it in to bed and peek at it with a flashlight under the covers.  How lucky are my parents that I'm their most deviant child, and the most smutty magazine I peruse is one showing wood furniture?  If I could afford it, I'd have no furniture or flooring or window encasements or shutters that weren't quarter-sawn oak.  In fact, if and when my wife kicks me to the curb, I just might consider leasing an old hollow oak tree and live blissfully therein forever.


Finally, a note on the musical selection I hope you have enjoyed while looking at this page.  Very little of my life goes unaccompanied by music.  My uber-wonderful sister-in-law B.L.W.E., who happens to manage a most amazing photography blog of her own that frankly puts mine to shame, has given me kind encouragement and advice in my attempts at this blog.  She knows of my passion for music, and suggested I add some directly to the page.  Wow!  I didn't even know it was possible.  So today I give you what I consider to be the single greatest recording of music over the span of All Time... 'Bye Bye Blackbird' by the insanely talented Miles Davis Quintet.  (You didn't really think I would choose 'Bye Bye Bye' by N'Sync, now, did you?) This was Miles' "first great quintet" (more came later), featuring himself blowing bliss on the trumpet in that patented "muted Miles style"; John Coltrane on tenor saxophone - showing signs of what was to come later in his stellar career; Red Garland offering one of the most delicate and beautiful piano solos I've ever heard; and the solid rhythm section of Paul Chambers on double bass and my man Philly Joe Jones on drums.  This is the song I would play on 'repeat' endlessly while rocking my boy to sleep as a baby.  What I wouldn't give to have just one more of those nights back.  So anyway - please enjoy... or I suppose you could mute it (if you have absolutely no appreciation for fine jazz, in which case I truly pity you and your parents who are forced to acknowledge they are your parents despite your inexplicable poor musical taste).  And since I'm giving praise and acknowledgements here... another fine mentor - W.C.H. out of Alaska's sister-state Vermont, has given me encouragement and advice at every step of the journey.  Thanks, you two!  Someday I'll pay W.C.H. to set up a pro blog with graphics for me; and I'll pay B.L.W.E. to take the pictures that I will certainly claim as my own.  

I'm typing like a mad dog who won't get a biscuit unless he publishes an epic novel by tomorrow morning.  Sorry.  I promise I'll shut up and condense as Life recommences on January 4, 2010.

Until tomorrow... CCE

Runner-up

I really like this photo because of the strange way the fixture on the wall casts off the silhouette of a "light angel".  I'm not so big on angels, mind you... I'd have been more impressed if it cast off the silhouette of, say, Sir Isaac Newton... but we take what we can get, right?  Inarguably this photo is a better representation of what I hoped to achieve, as there is better colored light reflection off the wood, the glass panes of the bookshelf, and also the face of the clock.  But I will always choose darker images over lighter images... it's just my personal preference.

ADDENDUM:  If you want to see a gorgeous, rich  high-resolution shot of christmas ornaments in the foreground and a burning log fire in the background... please follow the link on my page to the BE~Photography Blog; you won't be disappointed!