read a good poem: today (and happy spring)

the first day of spring, 2012.

nyc

***

Today

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

--Billy Collins, via the poetry foundation

pretty city 2011: blue, belle

checking the beiber bin...

@columbus circle, nyc

nov 3, 2011

© anita aguilar

the sound, before the storm

The trees of the mind are black. The light is blue.

--sylvia plath, from "the moon and the yew tree" via the poetry foundation

am i blue?

i recently read an article that offered advice to young photographers. (i took it all to heart--and took "young" to mean "new.") of all the encouraging notes, one stood out: from chris steele-perkins, "take a lot of photos....be depressed by them."

and then i did it.

i've been working on a project for a colleague--doing it for the cause (he needs photos for a custom pub for a cancer fundraiser) and the experience (shooting landscapes). the only two mandates from the creative director were location (the saugatuck river/long island sound) and mood ("moody"). he trusted my eye and skill for the rest. i spent the better part of two saturdays making my way up to connecticut. i took hundreds of shots, from land and sea, and had a pretty fun time doing it.

here's the depressing part: i'm not sure if i have 10 to give him.

but i haven't had the heart to go through them all closely, either.

of course the weather didn't really cooperate (saturday 1 was perfectly sunny; saturday 2 was thunderstormy--but there were barely any clouds. the sky gave color in mostly single shades of blue or grey). if there were a budget for me to be a cloud chaser, which i would love, then i could probably have given something more.

but the basic and more troubling issue at this point seems to be landscape photography itself. i shouldn't have expected that my first real attempt should have come so naturally and easily. (but between you and me, i was kind of hoping it would.) how do i transform a landscape into a compelling photo? photography is about problem solving, and i'm not sure how to figure the fix for this yet. but i know that i have to take the rest of mr. steele-perkins' advice: take more...

when i have the nerve to go through the rest, and if there are some, i'll post them here.

things looking up

on 38th street, between park and lex, nyc.

photo © anita aguilar

blue...

sunday in madison square park, nyc. december 6, 2009.
photo © anita aguilar

am i?
not so (anymore).