Breaking the sound barrier

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Breaking the sound barrier

Figure 1 – An F/A-18 breaking the sound barrier. Image released by the USN with ID 990707-N-6483G-001 and taken by Ensign John Gay.

I was watching a piece on the news the other night about photographing jets breaking the “sound barrier” and in a geekish physicist sort of way I found this really cool.  So I thought I would share one of these images with you.  Figure 1 was taken by Ensign John Gay of the U.S. Navy in 1999 and shows an F/A-18 breaking the sound barrier.  When a plane punches through the sound barrier, that is when it reaches a speed of equal to the speed of sound, or Mach 1, it creates a shock wave perpendicular to its direction of flight.  What you are seeing here is that shock wave and the jet appears to be breaking through it– very cool!

The term “sound barrier” is a misnomer.  Early on as planes approached this speed pilots had trouble controlling the aircraft against the turbulence and instabilities that the physics demands and thought that ity might be a physical barrier, forbidden by the laws of physics.  This, of course, turned out not to be the case. And hence we dream of traveling faster than “warp 1” or the speed of light.  We shall see, or someone may.

The history of “breaking the sound barrier” is intriguing.  However, on October 14, 1947 in the Bell X-1 Chuck Yeager (of “The Right Stuff” fame) was credited with being the first man to break the sound barrier in level flight at an altitude of 45,000ft.

Interestingly, when you crack a bullwhip.  The snapping sound that you hear is the shock wave created as the tip reaches the speed of sound. But let’s not stop there.  It is, in fact believed based on computer models of biomechanics, that as early as 150 million years ago certain long tailed dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus and Diplodocus may have been able to flick their tails at supersonic velocities.  Now that would have been an intimidating sound!

Embden geese – Anser anser domesticus

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Figure 1 - Embden geese, Morton Park, Wellesley, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Figure 1 – Embden geese, Morton Park, Wellesley, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

This past weekend was the absolute peak foliage weekend.  Unfortunately the weather was less than obliging.  Sunday was cold and a bit damp.  Still the colors were magnificent, and I took a short trip through the woods at Morton Park in Wellesley, MA.  The geese were out in force and the water dark and leaf covered.  I was hand-holding my 200 mm lens again but the geese were close and cooperating; so I got the feather, eye, and beak detail that I was looking for.

The result is Figure 1.  these are Embden Geese, the common domesticated geese, Anser anser domesticus.  Their proud heritage of domestication is well documented and quite ancient as shown by Darwin.  While these particular specimens are doomed to little more than the laughter of children, their cousins elsewhere are pretty likely to find themselves on a dinner plate or stuffing a ski parka.

These two were quite friendly and just a bit erked that I was not providing them with any bread crumbs.  You can see from the picture that they were both talking loudly to me.

Canon T2i with   EF70-200mm f/4L USM Lens at 176 mm, ISO 1600, M Evaluative Metering Mode, 1/800th sec at F/8.0.

2014 CBRE Urban Photography Awards

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The 2014 CBRE Urban Photography Awards have been announced.  As one might expect, the awards carry with them all of the ambiguity that the word “urban” carries with it.  Cities are brilliant monuments to human achievement and creativity.  On the other hand they often grow at the expense of the “unseen,” of the crawlers.

This year’s top winner is Marius Vieth for his image “Mask of Society,” so beautifully composed.  The chaos of a modern city, how they verge on being unlivable, is captured in Carlos da Costa Branco’s picture of a traffic policeman dancing in the street in Lisbon.  I love the vague expression on the face of the woman in the car behind him.This was the winner of the Europe, Middle East and Africa prize.

The Asia Pacific award went to Ly Hoang Long for his picture of workers mending nets in a factory in Bac Lieu in Vietnam.  Here the ambiguity begins.  It is my favorite.  The dominance of the cobalt blue and the composition are just stunning.  But the immensity of the task at hand seems daunting, and the faces of the workers buried beneath their hats are hidden.  They are nameless. And speaking of hidden, a disturbingly gorgeous work is that of Sarah Scarborough winner of the 13 to 15 year old category.  It was taken in Venice and is  called “A Distant Silhouette.”

Ms. Scarborough’s picture completes the path to ambiguity for us.  It is truly and richly in the tradition of Jacob Riis’ “Children Sleeping in Mulberry Street.” and John Thompson’s “The Crawlers.”  The descent into Hades is completed by Sujan Sarkar’s image of an Indian sewer worker.  In the end the words that come to mind: “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.“*

* (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.“) Durante degli Alighieri (1265-1321)  La divina commedia, Canto III, line 9.

Ring necked duck – Aythya collaris

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Figure 1 - Ring necked duck on Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Figure 1 – Ring necked duck on Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

The rangers at Cambridge’s Fresh Pond Reservoir don’t make photographing the water fowl easy. Access to the pond is everywhere blocked by fences, and except in very limited places these fences are above my head. I am guessing that these fences were not around when Teddy Roosevelt skated on the pond!

As we’ve moved into fall the water birds, the ducks and geese, not to mention a few confused seagulls (You must take Madame Arkadina away from here; what I wanted to say was, that Constantine has shot himself. ), have started showing up in abundance; so the temptation to photograph them is pretty strong. It was strong enough that yesterday I not only tested the limits of my ability to hand-hold my 200 mm lens, but I also thought I would see if by putting the lens up to a hole in the fencing I could still get a decent picture. The answer to both questions turned out to be, yes, I can.

The quality of the light was amazing. A breeze was causing the water to ripple, which to my eye gave the image a sense at once of motion and stillness. The light was intensely specular, and the color of a powder blue sky was strongly reflected in the water.

My specific quarry was a ring necked duck (Aythya collaris). This bird was a bit farther off than really capturable at high resolution with the 200 mm lens. The eye is sharp as is the bill, but in general I only call it a complete success when I can see the details of the feathers. It was a situation that definitely calls for a longer lens. And the fact that I was hand-holding meant that I had to use a high (1600 IS) which added a lot of grain because I had to do some very serious cropping.

However, what I find appealing about the result is how much like a watercolor it looks. Hmm! I look at the picture and I cannot quite figure out if it was photographed or painted and it is that ambiguity that draws me to the image.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM Lens at 200 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE Mode 1/1600th. sec at f/13.0 with no exposure compensation.

The equality of fall

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Figure 1 - Sumac, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Figure 1 – Sumac, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

I have been facing the dawn each morning, driving through an amazing canopy of color and contemplating the subtle glow of the sunrise.  It truly gives one pause.  My lunchtime walks have been equally contemplative and chromatic.  The sequence of autumn is regal, and every few days some other tree takes center stage in the parade.  There is a certain equality about it.  In this regard nature is truly egalitarian.  The meanest of plants can suddenly come into their own and demand your eye.

The first example is the poison ivy.  It has been hiding, well not really as I am ever cautious of it, all summer.  But they other day it was the turn of the sumac bushes.  They had such an intense color that was so tropical in nature as they made the transition from green to red and yellow that I had to revisit them on a second day to be sure that I wasn’t insanely exaggerating the color of Figure 1.  Soon these too will fade and shed to become first matting underfoot and then next spring, after the winter snows, they will be so much mulch for a new botanical generation.  In the meanwhile I turn to other color.

Selina Gray – ‘Gen Lee’s Slaves Arlington Va’

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Stereo image of Selina Gray and two of her daughters. (from the US National Park Service).

Figure 1 – Stereo image of Selina Gray and two of her daughters. (from the US National Park Service).

The United States National Park Service has unveiled a rare piece of Americana.  It has acquired, due to the attentive eye of a volunteer, who spotted the photograph of Figure 1 on an Ebay auction.  It is an image of Selina Gray.  Selina Gray was a slave on the estate owned by Robert E. Lee called Arlington House. At the start of the Civil War, when the Lee’s fled Arlington, Mrs. Lee entrusted  her personal slave, Selina Norris Gray, the keys to the mansion and put her in charge of protecting the great house.

Significantly, Lee’s wife was a descendant of George Washington’s wife Martha Custis. Marauding Union soldiers stole numerous heirlooms belonging to George Washington that were stored in the house. Gray confronted the soldiers demanding that they  not touch any of Mrs. Lee’s things. She then complained to Union Gen. Irvin McDowell, and it was McDowell who had the remaining artifacts shipped to the Patent Office for safekeeping and posterity.

Gray was freed in December 1862, a stipulation of the will of Mary Lee’s father. Ms. Gray and her family ultimately bought land near Arlington, growing and selling vegetables for a living.  She died in 1907.

As rare as it is to know the names of subjects in 19th century photographs; it is particularly rare when these people were slaves, who were considered merely the property of others.  The photograph is believed to have been taken outside the slave quarters at Arlington House.  The photograph, a stereo pair, was simply marked on the back as “Gen Lee’s Slaves Arlington Va,” but Park Service historians were able to identify Selina Gray from another photograph in their collection.  As ever the picture is a rare glimpse.  We contemplate the clothing for a moment.  But then we become haunted by the reality of what a terrible moment world it was for these people.

A tribute to Giiovanni Battista Piranesi

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Figure 1 - A Tribute to Piranasi, Madison, WI. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Figure 1 – A Tribute to Piranasi, Madison, WI. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Circumventing the interior of the Wisconsin State House I was struck by the multitude of columns, arches, and circles, by the light of the sky piercing in through the dome combined with the lamps and the atmospheric darkness.  It reminded me so much of an architectural etch by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).  And it was just this etching quality that I sought to capture in the image of Figure1. I think that both the toning and the graininess of the light at ISO 3200 both lend to the sense of ink.  To include as many of the architectural features as I could I used the widest lens setting I had 18.0 mm. I feel that it is almost like a bromoil print and is exactly what I wanted.

Canon T2i with EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens at 18.0 mm, ISO 3200, Aperture- Priority AE mode at 1/200th sec at f/4.0 with no exposure compensation.

Ah, the flexibility of youth

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This past Sunday I was studying the week’s best pictures features on various news media- always a fun pastime. But I found myself over and over again returning to this image by Greg Baker for the AFP showing Switzerland’s Ilaria Kaeslin captured in midair as she competed on the uneven bars at the Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning, China. The thing about it is – well, how can anyone do that?  How can anyone bend that way? I keep checking that if I were to jump up in the air and kick my feet backwards – doesn’t paint a very pretty picture does it – would my feet really be oriented the way Ms. Kaeslin’s feet are oriented.  I have concluded, well, yes, kinda maybe!  It is just amazing. And note that in anticipation of the next microsecond of action she has one palm down and one palm up.  It is a beautiful photograph and a testament to the flexibility of youth.

The first and the last

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Figure 1 - The Last Water Lily, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WI. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

Figure 1 – The Last Water Lily, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WI. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

We seem to attach special significance to the first and to the last, to the alpha and to the omega.  I’ve had an ongoing theme in this blog about photographic firsts and recently I posted about fall’s first color – and it is proving to be a very glorious fall here.  Well, we are in the thick of it now.  Fall color is everywhere, even though some hardy flowers persist.  But last Sunday on my adventure to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI something struck me.

It was a chilly and grey day, with little to really remind one of summer.  There is this little reflecting pool, which now bears only the remnants of water lilies, and even these had started to turn a shade of red.  So as I stared into the dull water, I was thinking about glacial verves – appropriate since  Wisconsin has a glaciation named after it.  These are the “rings of the Earth” fine bands of sediment that once settled annually when glacial lakes froze over in winter and now turned to stone. It seemed wholly appropriate, since the water lilly, Monet’s flower, is related spiritually, if not taxonomically, to the sacred lotus a symbol of life, death, and rebirth – of the endless cycle of life on Earth.

And then I saw it, and tried to capture the feeling in Figure 1.  There was one remaining water lily blossom – still ever so perfect.  It was in essence the last bloom of a summer now past. And it defiantly proclaimed the promise of spring.