Sometimes, all the stars just align perfectly, so to speak, for a rare image to come together. It’s always a mixture of the right opportunity, the right light, the ability to capture it, having the necessary gear along, and a huge dollop of luck. Such was the evening that resulted in this image of curling by luminary under the stars on the St. Croix river in Wisconsin. Emphasis on the huge dollop of luck.
This time, I visualized the scene in black and white, but with a full dynamic range and the deep depth of field that shooting at 16mm brings. I also chose a lower angle of view than before to bring some drama to the prow of the decaying hull and highlight the texture of the paint flakes and lichen. But even at 16mm, that composition was beyond the ability to keep everything at its sharpest. Back in the film days, with a view camera, some tilt of the lens would have neatly solved that problem. Fortunately, digital tools can too.
The St. Louis River was running unusually high for the late fall season, the product of some recent prodigious rains and a wetter-than-normal season overall. The air was crisp and colors bright. We explored a trail down along the river, running past a huge array of impressively noisy cataracts.
The End of a Dream
I saw this guitar being built. I held the raw wood in my hands, and pinged the ancient European white spruce panel that was made into it’s sound board, marveling at the richness of the ringing. I watched as the luthier shaved a little here, a little there from the neck to fit it perfectly to my old friend David’s hands. I watched him learn to play it to its potential, as formidable a guitarist as he already was. And now, nearly forty years later, I witness the end of that dream.