Midterm Fantasy

 Part of Our World - 1/38/12

 Grandmother Willow - 1/31/12

 Evil Queens Icy Crown - 2/11/12

 Narnia - 2/11/12

 Snow Melting - 2/11/12

Secret - 2/18/12

 - Midterm Cohesive Fantasy - 

As I have said before, Nature is completely out of my comfort zone. I’m not one to take hikes or crazy adventures but I felt as though I needed to break beyond sports. At first I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or looking for. Each picture looked the same and as generic as the one before.  I wasn’t really sure where to start but then I noticed a pattern in all of the holes in the trees. That’s when I truly started to just walk around and notice the little things. I started to write my own story.

            My story started when I found a tree that reminded me of Mother Willow from Disney’s Pocahontas. This helped me then to start noticing other things from my favorite Disney stories and fairy tales. As I walked through each forest I felt myself creating new adventures. I then noticed more themes like Narnia in the snowy landscape of Trough Creek and Snow White in the winding hills of McConnell’s Mill. These small themes helped bring my work together as a whole. My adventures turned into my stories that are being told through these photographs.

McConnell's Mill

 Waterfall - 2/18/12

 Snowy Stump - 2/18/12

 Mossy Stream - 2/18/12

 Dead Foliage - 2/18/12

Icy Puddle - 2/18/12 

 Secret - 2/18/12

Pebbles - 2/18/12 

Lone Waves - 2/18/12

 - McConnell's Mill - 

            Woke up early once again to a chilly February morning except this time it was just cold and not snowing. It was an early morning to travel just out of the city to McConnell’s Mill. At first glance, McConnell’s Mill looks to be just like every other wooded area, trees everywhere up a mountainside. Once you take the time to travel up, or down in this case, mountainside you may find beautiful treats. And we got to see just that, a beautiful treat from nature.

            We embarked down an icy pathway to a waterfall falling in to a stream. Except as beautiful as it was, it was also extremely dangerous because this normally calm area was flooding by not allowing us to cross to really see its true beauty.

            After making my way back up the icy pathway, I found myself in an open area for some time and I started noticing the tracks in the snow. Although I didn’t end up photographing any of these tracks they still made me wonder who or what had walked there earlier in the day or maybe even the day before. In all these endeavors I have yet to see a woodland creature, which might possibly be a good thing. I’m not sure how I would react to a bear or deer standing before me. But all of the tracks seemed to remind me of the Disney movie, Snow White. She was forced into the scary forest that she wasn’t used to and found herself facing the things that make up the mysterious tracks in the forest. Even though I know that was an animated film and extremely fictional, it gave me a sort of guideline to go by. I was also forced into these unknown woods but I took that to be my advantage and tried to notice the little things around me that would normally just be walked by without a second glace.

            I noticed and photographed to the best of my abilities. Enjoy!

Trough Creek

Wobbly Bridge - 2/11/12

Winding Stairway - 2/11/12

The Evil Queens Crown - 2/11/12

Frozen Stream - 2/11/12

Forever Snow - 2/11/12

Narnia - 2/11/12

 - Trough Creek - 

Another early morning started on Saturday the 11^th with snow and lots of it. I personally love the snow and like being outside in the cold better with snow falling rather than just stuck in the cold. After some time we all embarked on the road towards Trough Creek. I had been to Raystown Lake area for my dads 50^th birthday almost five years ago but that was in the summer time and it was extremely hot! This day was the complete opposite but it was also a different area to explore.

For this assignment I didn’t really have any idea what to take pictures of because it was snowing so much and just made everything look the same. It was hard to tell the difference between one area and another. I found myself walking around and just looking at the great scenery rather then picking up my camera and capturing the scenery. Once I loaded my pictures into my computer to edit I found that I wasn’t too impressed with very many because the snow falling added white streaks through all of my photographs. I could have used this to my advantage but when I was taking the photos I didn’t really think about that too much. Everything in the area was so massive that it was hard not to get overwhelmed by everything surrounding me. I found myself just wandering along the path, climbing up the mountainside and just wanting to reach the top. Once I got to the top and the land started to flatten out I got an image stuck in my head. Along with the image, I found that I had a certain feeling too. This was the feeling of my childhood. The image was one of Lucy Pevensie walking into Narnia for the first time in the Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I felt like Lucy when I reached the top. I had never felt like I was in a far off land but this snowy day brought me to Narnia, even if it was only for a moment.

Trough Creek was a nice get away from city life on a snowy day and I only wish my photographs show the wonder that I found there.

Frankfort Mineral Springs

Watery Path - 1/31/12

Initial Tunnel - 1/31/12

Grandmother Willow - 1/31/12

 Eaten Away - 1/31/12

Motion Spring - 1/31/12

Mossy Pipe - 1/31/12

Tunnel Bridge - 1/31/12

Pin Hole - 1/31/12

- Frankfort Mineral Springs - 

On January 31^st, after a long day of classes, we traveled to Frankfort Mineral Springs. It was a nice getaway from the typical city life we are all so used to.

Once arriving, we split off into our own little groups and went exploring to capture that “perfect image”. Everyone seemed to be heading to the left toward the springs but I, along with a couple others, headed to the right along a long, narrow trail following a stream of water. After walking a little while, we branched off to find our own unique images. I took your typical photo of the stream but wasn’t too impressed by it. I walked a little further and found myself upon this log that seemed to have a tunnel drilled all the way through it. I took one picture of it and surprisingly liked it. So, I found myself taking another and another until I got the composition and focus I liked.

Then I looked up the path and saw that there was another tree with a hole that I thought looked like Mother Willow from Pocahontas. I photographed it and enjoyed it. So, I decided at that point that I wanted to have a sort of scavenger hunt for holes in trees and limbs all over the pathway. I felt that by sticking with this theme helped me feel inspired by my surrounding in a different way than the others finding different photos to take. By making it a game, it was easier to find new subjects around each turn.

This trip was all in all a great get away on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in January. Hard to believe it truly was January by the temperature. Hope the weather continues to be nice for our remaining trips but we all know Pittsburgh weather is as unpredictable as any other city or town.