0911_0270 Yesterday's News
I rarely post two images in one day, but am making an exception here. I know photos of litter have limited appeal. I'm sort of compulsive with photography - I shoot just about everything. The current image set kind of fascinates while also repelling me. This particular shot has always intrigued me, so the back story may be worth telling...
It was a wet day in November and I was poking around the forest with a macro lens, looking for fungi to photograph. Something white caught my eye, resting atop an ancient red-cedar stump. I realized right away it wasn't a mushroom.
It was a book. It had been out there for a while. The pages lay open, and rain had thoroughly soaked them so that they were stuck together, returning to pulp. I worked in a pulp mill for two years in the 1970s, so I know what wood pulp looks like.
The ink was smeared, the words mostly illegible. An abstraction. I photographed it as such, with tripod and macro; fascinating. Now here's the kicker - and some of you may have guessed what the book was. It was a Bible. Why would someone do this? Was it an act of faith? An attempt to share The Word? Was it sacrilege? A political statement, however obscure? I have no idea.
Last year I posted a rodeo shot and received a scolding from someone who shouted at me from across the world that this was abuse, adding, "Shame! Shame on you!" As if I were responsible for the event I was photographing. So... if anyone feels angry that I would take this picture and share it, maybe stop and think for a moment. I am a reporter: I observe and report. This is a found object. Make of it what you will.
Photographed in Goldstream Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2009 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
0911_0270 Yesterday's News
I rarely post two images in one day, but am making an exception here. I know photos of litter have limited appeal. I'm sort of compulsive with photography - I shoot just about everything. The current image set kind of fascinates while also repelling me. This particular shot has always intrigued me, so the back story may be worth telling...
It was a wet day in November and I was poking around the forest with a macro lens, looking for fungi to photograph. Something white caught my eye, resting atop an ancient red-cedar stump. I realized right away it wasn't a mushroom.
It was a book. It had been out there for a while. The pages lay open, and rain had thoroughly soaked them so that they were stuck together, returning to pulp. I worked in a pulp mill for two years in the 1970s, so I know what wood pulp looks like.
The ink was smeared, the words mostly illegible. An abstraction. I photographed it as such, with tripod and macro; fascinating. Now here's the kicker - and some of you may have guessed what the book was. It was a Bible. Why would someone do this? Was it an act of faith? An attempt to share The Word? Was it sacrilege? A political statement, however obscure? I have no idea.
Last year I posted a rodeo shot and received a scolding from someone who shouted at me from across the world that this was abuse, adding, "Shame! Shame on you!" As if I were responsible for the event I was photographing. So... if anyone feels angry that I would take this picture and share it, maybe stop and think for a moment. I am a reporter: I observe and report. This is a found object. Make of it what you will.
Photographed in Goldstream Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2009 James R. Page - all rights reserved.