If there were witchcraft: Bridges Over Untroubled Waters

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Bridges Over Untroubled Waters

2 foot by 8 foot panorama of the Flathead River

West of Perma, Montana

February 17th, 2015

Sail on silvergirl, Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
--Paul Simon

To hear the Concert in Central Park version of this classic, click here. To buy it, click on the link at the bottom of the post.

Anyone who follows my rants on Facebook knows that I've finally replaced my venerable, trusty, over eight years old Nikon D80 digital single lens reflex camera. I ordered the new camera last week from 42nd Street Camera in New York, and yesterday, UPS delivered it. I purchased a new Nikon, a D7100, with 24 megapixels and more bells and whistles than you can shake the proverbial stick at. I'm still learning the tricks of my D80 after all these years, so I can only hope to gain some sort of familiarity with the D7100 in time. To that end, I'm out taking pictures every chance I get. This blog will be unlike other posts I've written, in that I promise to keep the words to a minimum and share some of the 81 photos I've taken in the 28 hours I've had the new toy, er tool. Please remember to click on each photo to see it full screen.

My double hibiscus blooming in the window

Plains, Montana

February 16th, 2015

I set out today hoping to find some birds. I really want to see what the increase in megapixels can do for my avian shots. Of course, the true test is if the camera operator can figure out how to take great shots, but the birds were few and far between, so I settled on another of my favorite subjects, bridges. Edward T. Hall, in his study The Dance of Life, talks about working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on a project to build a bridge on the jointly administered Hopi/Navajo lands in Arizona. Long story short, he came to the realization that a bridge is an instrument of time. When you consider how much time it would take you to cross a canyon, or a stream, or a river without the convenience of a bridge, you'll understand what he means. If you're interested in his look at time, I've put a link at the bottom so you can buy the book and read it yourself. As for me, I just like the look of classic bridges, especially railway bridges. So I shot a few, even catching one with a train.