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Posts tagged as:
summer
I imagine farmers – the practical lot they are – don’t spend much time with the notion that their work is also art. Yankee farmers in particular are an understated group and would scoff at the idea that they are artists, and their work installations. But it’s not a stretch to consider the efforts here in that way. Sure the palette is muted and the design not particularly original, but a design it surely is, and perhaps just this season’s nod to the old adage that “there is nothing new under the sun”.
John Snell comments:
“Many of the farmers I’ve known and worked with actually do take the time to see the art before them. I still remember vividly the red deck of the mower after cutting a field that contained buttercup in bright yellow bloom. An old farmer I knew in Michigan taught me to listen to the sound of corn seed sprouting out of the soil. Farmers live so close to the land day and night they often can’t help but see the beauty right in front of them. Enjoying your photography. Sorry I’ll miss the show at the Bryan Gallery in October but wish you all the best.“
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Went up to northeast CT for some barnboard – turned out to be too far gone for the cabinet in my mind’s eye – but had a nice visit with the farmer. His barn blew down a few years ago when Hurricane Sandy came through (thus the barnboard), with winds apparently coming in from the north. I wouldn’t have expected that as from our own location – 35 miles to the south – it clearly came in from the southeast. “I’ve been here 62 years and I’ve never seen anything like that wind…” adding parenthetically as he gestured to an empty space, “nor did the barn..” He raises goats now and talked about the coyote and bobcat presence in the area, which “culls the herd”.
Remnants of days gone by can occasionally be spotted in the region, though most have disappeared or otherwise receded into the landscape, obscured by the swell of homes built in the last few decades -split levels, ranches, colonials – too much of a mishmash of styles for my taste. I did see a couple of old cemeteries though – this one was located on an east facing hill.
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There was a photo contest sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program in the early 90’s, to coincide with the first Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. The theme was “Focus on Your World”, and the winner was to receive an all-expense paid trip to Rio, where they would also pick up $20K at World Environment Day ceremonies. Somehow this image seemed appropriate to their call for images that would “heighten international awareness of our fragile environment” – I seem to remember a “shelter” subcategory. In any case, I had my bags packed but, uh, never heard back. There were 32K+ submissions, and a book was published of the winning images, which I just ordered here.
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This breed is surprisingly docile around humans; they seemed more curious about my presence than fearful or aggressive (though they certainly had a pecking order amongst themselves).
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This is where the CT River (flowing from the left) dumps into the sea. The southern edge of Old Lyme, including Great Island, is the land mass.
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Cause you can’t have too many shots of this majestic place. Actually there was a similar view which I can’t find at the moment (slide film and all), taken closer to the edge and showing a young (maybe 10 year old) kid on a small outcropping about 30 feet down from the foreground you see here. He had climbed over the edge with no safety gear whatsoever (well not counting perhaps the most valuable of all – his proprioceptive system – but still), and seemed totally comfortable there, as apparently did mom – standing near the edge with one eye on him and the other on the view.
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