I take photos very intuitively, for this blog. I usually don’t have a plan for how I’m going to use any particular picture. I just capture images that capture me, without much reflection or thought.
At the same time, there are definitely themes in what I choose to snap with my iPhone, as I move through my day. One of those themes, I’ve noticed, is reflections. Reflections in water, windows, and elsewhere.
Here are two recent examples, from a walk away from work:
As with any kind of communication, I never know whether I can really reflect to you what I saw, felt, and thought, when I took those pictures. The reflections, as I walked by them, captivated me. But can I translate them, in a meaningful way, as I pass them on to you?
Do you see what I saw? Probably not. But do you see something that has any value, for you? And have I conveyed, in any way, the wonder of my original experience?
Here’s another way I could reflect, about any photo: could I have done a better job, in communicating what I wanted to?
For example, maybe this is a more effective framing, for that second shot:
Perhaps that framing focuses better on the tree and its reflection. Or maybe not.
Maybe this framing is better:
So many options for each presentation …. and so little expertise and experience in this photographer! So how on earth should I decide how to present any image to you?
And yet, I do decide. Like anyone, I make countless decisions, every day, about what to do, reveal, or communicate — with a photo, with a word — from moment to moment.
Sometimes the reasons for the decisions are intuitive, and sometimes they’re more obvious to me. For example, I, personally, would not choose that last framing of that tree-reflection photo. It’s too close. For me, it’s lacking a sense of context.
I believe this: effective communication, of any experience, reflects a balance of closeness and context, of specific and general, of present and past.
How am I doing, communicating now?
No matter how that’s going, I can show you more, before I’m done here today.
For example, I could show you more photos of reflections, without verbally reflecting on them, letting you experience each one for yourself:
Let’s end this post with a closer look at that last photo (which appeared in a recent post, here):
Here’s one truth, for me, about reflections, photographic or otherwise: I see more, every time I look. For example, while I had noticed, previously, the reflection of that big, beautiful bird in the water, I did not realize I had captured the bird itself, until just now.
Isn’t that amazing?
I’m glad I reflected back, again, today.
Thanks to all things that reflect; to Boston and Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA); to blue herons; to people who do their best communicating experiences; to waffles and wafflers; to those who reflect back to children (and adults) their in-born and unique worth; and to you — of course! — for reflecting, here and now.
love the great blue heron picture , in flight and reflection. Wonder where it was taken?
Hi, Mary! It was taken at Alewife Brook Reservation, in Cambridge. Maybe we can go for a walk there, some day!
This post is so great today, Ann, because you remind us that inside of every big picture, there are many little pictures. I think that’s significant to understand that multiple views can live together in one panorama.
For the previously posted wildlife picture, I had commented how you captured two wild birds. I had not noticed one was a reflection of the other. Great capture of the overall view!
And I received your communication on that previous post differently, Mark, because I was aware of another bird I had captured in another photo. There ARE many little views, in each sighting, aren’t there? Thank you for the reflective comment, my friend.
I love those bottom two – the light is so perfect!
Thank you for reflecting back perfection, in such a lovely way!
I love how you walk around and snap shots of your daily sights.. It puts me walking down a street I’ll probably never tread on… Nice
This comment put me walking down a very nice, lovely, and accepting street. Thanks so much!
Reflection, framing, contextualization…all fundamental issues for an art historian, but let’s not go there. Your photographs in sequence with commentary are, of course, the results of opportunities and choices. The great thing is that they allow us to see a little bit more each time about you but not with the sense that our knowledge is too precise or definitive since we don’t know exactly how much is by choice and how much is by accident or opportunity. We are, in a way, empowered to fashion our own versions of Ann, all similar but not the same. By the way, I like the version of your second picture that includes the staircase much better not only because it has a context, but also because it presents a stark juxtaposition of organic and inorganic, hard angles and soft ones, etc.
I like your version of that picture, of this post, and of me! Many thanks, Gene.
Yes! The bird! A beautiful hidden gift for you! Reflections speak well with me today……
Thank you for this beautiful, unhidden gift of a comment!
What I particularly enjoy in your photos is the unexpected bits, like the reflections and the amazing words and objects that you catch, often out of the main focus of the shot, that most of us would miss.
Thank you very much, Hilary. I particularly enjoyed what you wrote here.
I love how it all comes together make sense in the end Ann. The closer look at the heron is sparkling and surprising 🙂
Val x
I’m always glad when it comes together and makes sense in the end, Val. Sometimes, that is surprising for me!
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Hi, Craig. I had a thought about you earlier today and poof! here you appear. You’ve left me with a little bit of a mystery; let’s see if I can figure it out. Aha! I googled that phrase, and I found a link to a CPAP mask. Thank you.
Reflections are some of my favorite landscape shots, because the big is always noticeable and beautiful…but then it is a great time to see the little things…and thinking about those things in all areas of life can be so helpful at times. Wonderful post Ann.
And thank you, Randall, for this beautiful and helpful comment. I am very grateful when you visit here.
Always great to stop by ~ catchup on all that I miss on WP while behind the Great Fire-Wall of China 🙂 Wish you well ~
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