Eagle with Spring Hillside

Eagle with Spring Hillside
Chignik Lake, Alaska Peninsula, May 20, 2019

Sam’s Boathouse, located along the shore of Chignik Lake and visible from our dining/living room windows, provided a favorite perch for eagles, ravens, magpies, gulls and occasional kingfishers. In the right light, the hillside across the lake could render a beautiful palette of colors.

Studio Fox

Studio Fox – Pausing to perhaps contemplate a recent meal or the next one on a wet morning in late fall, this fox and I encountered each other at the boat landing where an assortment of fuel drums, an abandoned truck and other objects made for a interesting background. Shooting with a long lens and a wide-open aperture helped create this bokehed background. Chignik River, November 27, 2017

Ink and Light: Spring Snow, a thought by C. S. Lewis… and how Do you pronounce that word that means “Artistic Blur” in photography?

Woman with Umbrella in Spring Snow: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

*Bokeh (暈け / ボケ) is a Japanese term meaning blur that began to gain popularity in American photography circles in the late 1990s. 

The only friend to walk with is one… who so exactly shares your taste
for each mood of the countryside that a glance, a halt, or at most a
nudge, is enough to assure that the pleasure is shared.
C. S. Lewis – from Surprised by Joy, 1955

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), known as Jack, considered his last novel, Till We have Faces, to be his most mature and masterly work though it did not achieve commercial success.

*As is true of many Japanese words added to English, the pronunciation of “bokeh” is not always consistent with the original Japanese. This bothers some a lot, others a little and still others not at all. Many English speakers pronounce the word “boh-kuh” to rhyme with chocolate “mocha.” However, in Japanese the first syllable in bokeh  is pronounced with the “o” in hope and the second syllable is pronounced with a clipped (shortened) long “a” approximately between the ke in kettle and the kay in the name Kay. Almost like the word “bouquet:” long “o” and long “a,” but with the vowels clipped short and neither syllable accented.