Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Frankenstein

 

"I am obscene to you, but to myself, I simply am."

Frankenstein ( 2025 )

~Based on Mary Shelley's

 Frankenstein

Another first for me, this interpretation of the classic book by Mary Shelly's, Frankenstein. For the most part I am a purist when it comes to adaptations, and I usually bristle at versions of books that stray too far. I mean the books are best sellers for a reason! This version of Frankenstein, however, was terrific as a stand alone movie, but don't watch it for it's accuracy to the book. This first few minutes had me ready to give up, but hubby encouraged me to stick it out. Snuggling on the couch, watching movies, is a great motivation! As the movie progressed, it began to annoy me less, and actually began to entertain me. Thanks in no small part to, Christoph Waltz, as Heinrich Harlander, and Jacob Elordi as the monster. By the time the movie concluded I was sure that seeing it again, would be something to look forward to. Maybe I will add it to my October movie list. It's a very atmospheric film, so watching it around Halloween would be perfect! 

See the IMBD page here.

Woodbridge Road In The Fog

 "Lots of people go mad in January. Not as many as in May, of Course. Or June. But January is your third most common month for madness."

~Karen Joy Fowler

Sarah Canary

Yesterday, in a fit of I can't take Trump's stupidity anymore, I asked hubby if he wanted to take a ride in the fog, to look for birds. We thought it over a bit, and decided to head to Staten Island, but as we went farther and farther down the freeway, the thicker the fog got, so we changed our minds, and settled for Woodbridge road. It was a good plan.

The fog was beautiful.

Spooky Possibilities

 

"The ghost didn't want to scare her, it wanted to sit, to remember. To listen."

~Arabella Sveinsdottir

The Roof Was Never Empty: A Haunting Metaphysical Horror About Family Secrets,

 Doppelgangers And The Roof That Watches

It's January. It's Winter. And it if those two things are true, then wherever you are, it might just be a little gloomy. For me it's been a dense fog alert, from the National Weather Service, every day since the month began. Thick, pea soup fog, that doesn't burn off until past noon, making impossible to take one of our long birding trips to Bodega Bay, or even Monterey. San Francisco is also a no go, I hate driving to the city in the fog. So, to pull myself out of the gloominess, I am watching a movie about a ghost that I haven't seen before. From 1970, The House That Wouldn't Die. I guess I am lonely for October, Autumn, and all the deliciously scary stuff that makes me feel all warm and cozy. This movie looks like it has real spooky possibilities!

Through The Autumn Fog

 

"She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language.

 And birds fluttered around her, writing "Yes" on the sky."

~Monique Duval

There is so much wrong with this photograph, but at the same time there is something about it. Something really good. A kind of natural sadness to it. Or maybe not so much sadness or depression, but rather a pure melancholy that matches my current mood. Fog. Mist. Rain. Heavy thoughts. The kind of beauty that only comes from acknowledging all the moments, not just the good ones. Then letting them take flight, to make room for making new ones.  

House Finch In The Autumn Mist

 

"The presence of a single bird can change everything

 for the one who appreciates it."

~Unknown

Isn't it lovely? It's a gorgeous House finch. I wish I could have got a much nicer shot, but it was a really foggy day in the Galt, so this is what my camera captured. Still, I think it's kind of pretty, it's just not the perfect photo I strive for. I am hoping to photograph more of these, as next year proceeds. According to bird lore, it's a very good thing to encounter them. And if you dream about them, it's even better!

Flying A Kite In Autumn

 

"Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's We are only noticed on the edge of things: but on the edge of things, we notice much."

~Gregory Maguire

Out Of Oz

The White-tailed Kites I have seen since the September have been so beautiful, but this one mesmerized me! I found it perching on top of a pole on Staten Island. It was a difficult picture to get because of some really thick fog that rolled through the night before. I didn't give up, and here is the reward! I have several photos from that day, but this set is my favorite! I will post more photos from that day soon!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #71

 

The Passing

 by Stewart Stafford

In the gorgeous death of Autumn,
Tree-bowed alms for the wind,
Sacrificing eye-catching features,
Now primed for Winter, skinned.

Organic shaded palaces looted,
Shells of once-shimmering things,
Shorn of their prettified plumage,
Until born again the following Spring.

Everything is recycled in Nature,
Dead leaves compost the soil,
Turning wheel of rampant Summer,
No memories in the humid broil.

 

 

B/W 2024 #1

“The most colorful thing in the world is black and white, it contains all colors and at the same time excludes all.”

 
~Vikrmn,

  10 Alone  

 

 I did almost no black and white photography last year, so I think this year I am going to try to do at least one b/w photo a week. This photo was taken last week, at the Stockton Rural Cemetery. I was there because cemeteries are excellent places to look for birds, and it was rainy and foggy and I was wanting to find an owl. I did not find an owl, but it was a perfect day for doing a little moody photography. This cemetery has inspired me many times, but the other day was really stunning. I promise my next black and white photo will be a little more uplifting. I wonder what it will be?

 

 

What Fog Hides In Itself

 

"If you want to see what hides in itself, don't wait for the fog to disperse! Instead of waiting for something to happen in this short life, do something immediately! Enter the fog,"

 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

Almost every day since the beginning of January has been foggy! It's the San Joaquin Delta, so sure it is! And that is good thing, because I haven't had a lot of experience with doing photography in the fog, but what I have done in previous years, I have enjoyed very much. I am hoping to do a lot of new stuff this year, not just with my photography, but with life in general, I am just starting with learning my way through the fog, in an effort to find my way. 

 

~Carly

Diamonds On The Weeds

 

"Sometimes I am the winter tree,

 and most of these times, a gathering of autumn leaves."

 

~Goitsemang Mvula

 

It looks like tiny diamonds, but what it actually is, is a small weed, with dew from yesterday's fog, glistening on it's fine thread branches. It was a beautiful, no actually, stunning, autumn day. It had just enough clouds, light rain, and fog to make my photographs really nice. I was a very happy person, but it wasn't lost on me that soon I will be doing a lot more photos like this one, as the autumn season officially slips into it's own demise. Seasons come and go, and I only have a little over a month left in this one. I don't hate winter, it has it's place, the only thing that I don't like about it is that the leaves aren't there anymore lift my spirits and warm me inside, but this coming winter already has a bone chilling veil to it, that is intruding on this autumn, as if it carries a grudge for the hope the autumn provided this year. It feels jealous to me. Maybe it's that Trump is refusing to concede the race, and every day he wakes for the sole desire of making life as painful for everyone, but his sycophants and cultists, delivered in his usual wintry posture. 

 

The inauguration is January 20th, will winter make our bare bones ache, or will it be a warm winter sun easing our minds, as the chilly winds blow past us? It's hard not knowing which it will be. There were protesters outside Secretary Of State Clinton's house last night, shouting their usual childish refrain, "lock her up." An old cry, but I fear everlasting. It all makes me so sad. This isn't politics anymore, it's something else, something dark and scary. Something tragic. It makes me depressed for what could come next. I am really brave on Twitter though, counseling others to ignore Cheeto-Hitler, to not give him the attention he seeks.

 

I'm a hypocrite telling them what to do, because I'm terrified too. It just hurts to hear how much pain they are in. The Cult of Trump won't be going away any time soon, but neither will the will of the 78,781,258 who just want to wake up to something other than a school yard bully who pitches mean tweets like spitballs. Maybe ignoring it is unrealistic at this point, but wallowing in it is unhealthy. It's a kind opioid, and the withdrawal will be painful. It's hard to make the decision to let go. It get it. As I have said, I am going to attempt my recovery, from casual political observation, by taking more photographs at ground level, lets see how long that lasts before the vomiting, chills and shakes, force me back into giving a shit.

This Matters.

 

 ~Carly

Stockton, California

November 16th 2020

Autumn In The Mist Morn

 

"I saw old autumn in the misty morn,

Stand shadow less like silence, listening

To silence, for no lonely bird would sing 

into his ear from woods forlorn

Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn

Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright

With tangled gossamer that fell by night,

Pearling his coronet of golden corn." 

 

~Thomas Hood 

 

Yesterday was the first truly cold, foggy day of autumn 2020. It lifted my mood, heart and creativity to very happy levels. I did a lot of photos, and I hope to do more later today. I think I might be, happy.

 

~Carly

Stockton California

November 15th 2020

San Francisco In The Autumn Twilight

" 'You have a thousand hearts worth of love to give. A thousand tears may fall when one heart breaks. But never cry for shame. He kept my chin in his thick hand. "Even love lost was well spent.' "

~Emma Scott

I loved my city, and I miss it terribly, but going back for visits is delicious and soul cleansing. Twilight on the Bay Bridge usually provides some beautiful scenes, but again, I think I could argue, and win, that it is at it's most beautiful in autumn. Just look at that golden light, and that fog, and oh my, all that love. If you can't fall in love in San Francisco, your heart has given up. There is so much to love. 

 

Not bad for out of a car, doing 65mps! If I do say so myself. Someone once told me that, the best photos you take are always of people, places and things you really love, and if these are any bit good in your eyes, then you now know just how much I love San Francisco!

 #59 Leaf of The Day

November 20th 2019

Nevada City, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me  

Joy And Pain On An Autumn Day

"You must remain. I must depart.

Two autumns falling in the heart."

~Busan

I felt that way yesterday, as I sat on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, in Berkeley, just staring down at my gorgeous love, San Francisco. I was thinking about how much it always hurts to say goodbye. I miss it so much. I miss it like I am leaving a part of my soul behind, every time I leave. When we moved in 2015, I still believed I could visit any time I wanted. We were only moving 90 miles away, after all, but I soon learned that 90 miles might just as well have been 9,000 miles away. Things will never be the same, and I have accepted that, but oh my, like with any broken heart, there are times during the break that hurt so bad, you wonder how it is that it doesn't actually kill you? But then you have days when you know, deep down, San Francisco misses you back, because that town knows how to mug for the camera! I wonder, do goodbyes hurt a little deeper in autumn?

#17 Leaf Of The Day

October 9th 2019

Berkeley, California

(Tilden Park Little Farm)

Nikon

~Mood: Okay

~Me

Foggy Impressions

"Sometimes you can't see the road ahead but as you keep going, it gets clearer. Stay the course as the fog of life dissipates."

~Sanjo Jendayi

It was foggy in Stockton yesterday, perfect! I have been wanting to get in more practice with foggy days, and yesterday was perfect because I couldn't sleep, so it was nice to stretch my creativity muscle a bit. I like days like this. I am definitely an autumn/winter person, I like the low light, especially since I have been experiencing the migraines. One of the side effects is floaters, and, at least for me, they are more severe with bright light, so I am welcoming of the dark days. It's so funny, I have never felt sad in winter like other folks do, it seems to have just the opposite effect on me! Indeed, I tend to feel more depressed in summer, when I have trouble concentrating because of high temperatures. I am on my own island I suppose.

And now, a winter leaf...

 ~Mood: Creative

~Me

Altamont Fog Part Two... Days Of Black And White

"Photograph is a reality so subtle

 that it becomes more real than reality."

~Alfred Stieglitz

Foggy days, that puts that soft glow on all the colors around you, are some of my favorite conditions to do photos. Sometimes it can be so early in the day, and so foggy, that you don't really see the color around you, and I used to really enjoy taking color photographs that had the appearance of a black and white photo but wasn't. I still enjoy that a lot, but I find with my photograph that a lot of what I notice, and see around me, has a lot to do with my mood. Fortunately yesterday I was able to see the color through the fog, but I also noticed the beauty of the world in black and white, and decided to convert the photo to black and white. I was lucky, it was the best of all worlds! 

Leaf Of The Day

December 16th, 2016

Mood: Quiet/Okay

~Me