Saturday, November 10, 2007

that other fall we name the fall




The title of this post, as well as its tinge of autumnal melancholy, come straight from Robert Frost's poem, The Oven Bird, which uses the song of the ovenbird (which I think is the preferred spelling) as a metaphor for the losses of the season, framing the question in the last line: what to make of a diminished thing?

I certainly don't know the answer to that, but, pragmatist that I am, I've always been much more troubled by two other, considerably less profound, questions. And I'm happy to report that a little research has answered them both and I'll share the answers with you: An ovenbird looks like this and sounds like this:

16 comments:

meg said...

Did you get that kick ass lens? If not, I am so unbelievably impressed with how close you got and the amount of detail in these shots.

I especially LOVE the tomato, with the blurred background and the tomato's skin peeling away.

S said...

Am I swooning over that last photo? Why, yes, I am.

Ruby said...

Very interesting. I do love your pictures.

Maggie said...

Those are GORGEOUS!!!

Can I ask what you shoot with?

L said...

I have not forgotten about my "write a la Niobe" post, but you stole my idea to write like you about things destroyed by the first frost.

I didn't however, quote Robert Frost.

Now I have to go back and rework it.

I also got my Niobe-present in the mail!! FANTASTIC!! Arigato gozaimasu!!

MissedConceptions

Sarah said...

thank god for the internet, that some questions can be easily answered. its just so damn rewarding.

the dragonfly said...

Love the photos. Beautiful!

Julie Pippert said...

Wow! I like the other side of things, and to take the ends of these and make them so beautiful...awesome.

Julie
Using My Words

The Oneliner (Christina) said...

beautiful photos notwithstanding the loss they depict.

Lori said...

Okay, the photos are spectacular... but am I the only one who found this post incredibly funny, in that Niobe-sort-of way? I too would have never known what an ovenbird looked or sounded like, and I am glad to know.

You crack me up.

Magpie said...

I'm with Lori - you make me laugh. But you didn't answer the other pressing question - WHY is it called an OVENbird?

niobe said...

I Know You Can Hear Me: My camera is a Canon PowerShot Pro 1. I got a great deal on it a few years back, because it was going out of production. Though, sadly, it's no longer made, you can easily pick one up on on ebay.

Meg: No, I still haven't gotten the close up lens. I won't tell you how many shots I had to take to get any that I was happy with.

Jennifer said...

left a comment down on the psds post...which by the way NEVER did figure it out. me daft.

niobe said...

Jennifer: I've just updated the psds post by putting the answer in, but in white text. Just select the blank space at the very end of the post and the answer will become clear.

niobe said...

And Magpie: It's apparently called an ovenbird because it builds covered nests that supposedly look like ovens.

Christine said...

why are your pictures so lovely?