Bertolet Rd. Springhouse by Moonlight

Posted by Russ Devan (New Hanover, United States) on 19 May 2008 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.

I made this image last night at the end of a very rain-soaked and dreary day. It was one of those days that was good for catching up on all kinds of indoor chores but which tends to sap my energy due to the lack of sunlight. For some reason, my energy level and mood seem to be very sunlight dependent. The brighter and sunnier it is outside, usually the more energy I seem to have.

Once again, the weather forecasters were wrong and the evening thunderstorms that were forecast never materialized, but we were blessed with intermittent sunshine and clouds after dinner that lent itself to gorgeous evening light. The clearing skies also allowed the beautiful full moon to be seen, which rose shortly before sunset.

I found this old springhouse on another one of my drives one day. The minute I first saw this , I brought the car to a screeching halt and admired it for a few minutes. Something tells me that I should get a bumper sticker made up for my car saying something along the lines of "Beware of Sudden Stops. Driver Taking Pictures". I saw this springhouse and thought "it's beautiful, but it needs the right light to show it properly". Note to self: put this on your list of places to visit when the quality of the light is much better (I actually keep such a list).

What I had envisioned was seeing this springhouse in either brilliant early morning light with sunbeams streaming through those windows and creating some hard, edgy shadows; or in fog with the sun rising above it and creating an etheral golden tone to the light, or in a very warm, evening light such as what we were experiencing Sunday evening. Once I saw the quality of the light Sunday evening, I headed straight for this springhouse. However, when I arrived, I was disappointed to find it in heavy shade as the sun had gone down below the adjacent hill. The light around it was very flat as a result. Boring. I moved on to other areas and did manage to find a nice farm a few miles away with some beautiful reddish clouds above it reflecting the sunset. As I left that farm and turned around to drive home, I saw the moon rising in the east and knew immediately it should be rising almost exactly over the springhouse. I drove back and got there just as the last bit of twilight was disappearing from the sky and the moon was rising nicely just to the side of the springhouse, with hints of clouds in the sky above it. It wasn't what I had envisioned but I liked what I saw, nonetheless.

With most of Sunday being rainy and dreary, I thought it a good time to watch a documentary about my favorite landscape photographer, Ansel Adams. I had found a VCR tape about Adams in one of my drawers. It was several years old and I completely forgot that I even had it. I decided to save it for a day like today to watch it. The documentary was wonderful which was almost entirely of Adams talking about his photographic philosophy, how he works, how he developed the zone system, etc. I was quite gratified to see that the lens on his enlarger was a Nikkor lens (Yes! Nikon!). One thing that he said in the documentary really struck me and stayed with me. "When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my mind's eye something that is not literally there, in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in expressing something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without."

Perhaps I will revisit this springhouse in the future, when the light is closer to what I envision.

PS: Lately, I've been a bit disappointed with the quality of the images on AM3. They seem to lose their crispness and saturation once they are posted here. Now that they offer a paid subscription that promises to deliver higher quality images, I will have to investigate that option. For now, to view a better rendition of this image that (to me) is much sharper and more saturated, you can see it in my portfolio by clicking on http://www.pbase.com/image/97293537

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” - Henry David Thoreau

All images and text are copyrighted by Russell D. Devan. All rights reserved. The download, duplication, printing or copying of these images in any manner without the expressed written authorization of the photographer is strictly prohibited. Please contact me if you would like to use this image in any way. Please visit my portfolio at http://www.pbase.com/rddevan.

VFXY Photos | Listed on Photoblogs.org