Rambling Rhodes

Some Of My Not-So-Famous-But-Should-Be Pictures

Just a sojourn into my continued plight as a frustrated yet hopeful photographer. Click the pictures for larger images.

UPDATE: Thanks to Donna, I decided to add captions or, more appropriately, descriptions, to these photos.

This is a bridge just outside of Winona, Minn., where I went to college. Actually, it's a bridge right outside of a town called Stockton, which is right outside of Winona. I took this picture one weekend when I was feeling nostalgic for my college years. It was a very cold fall day.

This image was best captured in black and white. I know because I took a color picture of it too and. . . ehhh. This is on the Mississippi, that long river with the long name. I took this on a warm October day while pleasure cruising on my good friend's boat.

This was taken on Island Lake near Northome, Minn., off the deck of my grandparents' cabin on July 18th 2001. My grandpa was battling cancer at the time. He died in late Sept. that year, not long after much of the innocence of America died also. This picture has so much significance to me, I can't even begin to tell you.

This was taken in October of last year, during a sojourn to my parents' home in Harmony, Minn. I took a lot of pictures of that damned rainbow, probably because it's the dream of everyone who has ever held a camera in their hand to catch the perfect "rainbow" picture. It may not be perfect, but it's okay. I was on the cordless phone with my mother in Tokyo at the time I took this, and as I told my mother what I was taking a picture of, she related one of her favorite stories about me and rainbows. Apparently, when I was a youngster, I returned from a walk with mother in the rain and asked her, "Mom, the next time we walk in the rain, can we walk on the rainbow?" God but I was cute.

This tree is just South of Chatfield, Minn., and, unless you're an astute motorist, chances are you'll miss it entirely, which I did for most of my life until one spring day I noticed it out of the corner of my eye. I always wonder how that tree ended up growing into the ground like that. A strong wind? A cow itching itself? Who knows? All I know is that it's a perfect arch, a freak of nature that's also nearly perfect natural art.

I was hired to take pictures of a wedding when this vista caught my eye. It's like the magic eye fad that took hold in the mid-90s. The rows just kind of play with your vision. This is just outside of Preston, Minn.

This was taken on the Big Island of Hawaii during my first and only flight in a helicopter. Maybe it was the motion sickness, or maybe it was the fact it was Dec., 2001, and 9/11 was still fresh in my mind, but for whatever reason, I was incredibly airsick when I took this picture. Frankly, it's amazing it's as in focus as it is. It turned out great though, almost like the terrain of a foreign world.

Another picture taken during that same Hawaii trip. This one captures the volcano of Mauna Loa, on which an American military base is located. My good friend, Jim, a former marine, once had to hike up that mountain from the airport at sea level. It was common for his fellow marchers to faint en route and require what was known as "the silver bullet" which consisted of having their trousers pulled down and having a thermometer stuck in their butts to gauge their internal temperatures. I asked Jim if he ever passed out on the way up. "No," he replied. "And pretty much for that exact reason."

The only really nice sand beach on the Big Island is called Hapuna Beach, which is located about 30 minutes from every interesting town, but it's a great beach, probably one of the nicest on all the Hawaiian islands. This, I think, is a fledgling banyan tree overlooking Hapuna Beach. The waters of Hawaii are some of the most brilliant emerald blue imaginable. Then again, there may be others just as brilliant, but I've not yet visited them.

Another Big Island picture, in the town of Kona. I took this picture as an afterthought, walking back to the condo after dinner. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me more and more. The reflection of the sun, particularly, at the bottom of the picture, is something unique to digital photography that can't be replicated on traditional film. At least I don't think it can.

I took this picture last December, during a whale watching excursion that encountered no whales, but plenty of dolphins. At first, I was annoyed by the presence of the bow of the boat being in the picture, but then I started realizing that it, too, looked like the snout of a dolphin. Opinions may vary on this one.

Oh, brother. Hard to explain this one. It was taken in Colorado, during a visit to my brother and sister-in-law. I took this picture, initially, because of the irony of the one dead tree amongst all the dead ones. Then, when I looked at it full side, it seemed almost haunting. You can't tell it from the picture, but it was snowing like all hell at the time, yet there's the orb of the sun, peering through it all. It's so dark and mysterious and bleak. One of my most favorite photographic "mistakes."

This is Bartlett Lake, in Northome, Minn., basically in my grandparent's backyard. Remember the picture up above, of the dock? Well, this one was taken the night I arrived in Northome in late Sept., 2001, to observe my grandfather's funeral. I'd seen that lake countless times during my life, but never in the fall. I'd always seen it during the summer season of plenty and the winter season of Christmas. That was the first time I saw it in autumn. A time of beauty in death. Appropriate, really.

Life can be so poignant, if you take the time to notice.

Posted by Ryan at July 16, 2004 08:08 PM