Summer's Ghost

We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer’s wreckage. We will welcome summer’s ghost.

Henry Rollins

It comes

Floating,

Flying,

Fading,

Furling:

flowering.

It comes.

September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret.

Alexander Theroux

This September so sweet and summery, is nature’s sleight of hand - but fall is still showing signs.

I got a little off-schedule with this, preparing for my first book binding workshop, which was yesterday (Saturday, September 28).

I will be back twice in October. That may become my normal schedule- 2 Fridays a month.

Thank you so much for being here!

Harvest Super Moon

Spider Web

Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night.

Carl Sandburg

On a foggy morning, the silk strands of a web glisten with dewy diamonds.

A spider hangs in the window, waiting.

After hunting insects all summer, I am beginning to feel a little spider-like.

Patience is key.

Bees will eventually bumble in.

Ladybugs will climb.

A spice bush swallowtail may stay surprisingly still.

The grasshopper will leap into sight.

Tiger swallowtail could get preoccupied with a blazing star,

And a singing Cicada fall from the tree.

The Monarch will make a Royal Appearance,

And unwary flies land before me.

Will you walk into my parlour? Said the spider to a fly: '"Tis the prettiest little parlour That ever you did spy.

Mary Howitt

The Collector

Spider-like I spin

my web patiently, sensing

when you wander in.

I have had a great time looking for bugs everywhere this summer. The spider binding book I mentioned in my last post (click here if you didn’t see that one) is almost completely full of photos.

Spider binding from the top - its shape is the reason for its name.

I realized I could add twice the photos I thought I could to this book because of the wide open format, so I printed the extra photos today. Now I just need to mount them and add the cover photo and I’ll be done.

Another follow up - I am offering a three hour bookbinding workshop on September 28, 2024 at 9:30 am at my barn/studio in Glenn, Michigan.

We will be making a hand-stitched slotted wrapper binding, and, if we have time, I’ll also show you a how to make a couple of fun single sheet folded books. All tools and materials will be provided. The cost is $75 per person. Class size is limited to 10 people, so please let me know as soon as possible if you’re interested by replying to this message (if you received this post via e-mail) or sending me an email at rhodatude@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for being here.  See you next month!

What a beautiful summer this has been. Here’s a brief moment with the sun, before my little part of earth turned away into night.

Framing

The magic possibility of framing a certain space and time is what brought me to photography. This process of recording elements of 3 dimensions in the flow of time, and fixing them in a 2 dimensional image, creates a new context for the elements of the photograph.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

(See his photos)

What seems to hold you

Only frames you fleetingly

You were always free.

I have been thinking about and playing with frames in photographs.

How they can change an ordinary scene into something special.

How they can focus the eye, capture light, create intimacy with the vast.

You have escaped the cage. Your wings are stretched out. Now fly.

Rumi

Maybe this is something you can try yourself, if you’re interested. Go for a walk with your smartphone or camera and look for objects, doorways, fences, holes in walls, forks in trees - anything that you can look through to emphasize your subject beyond, within, or possibly even perched on your chosen frame. I would love to see what you come up with! You can either send it to me directly or just post it and tag me if you’re on Instagram @randomrho.

Thank you so much for being here! I am going to be traveling for the next couple weeks with unknown connectivity- so I might be posting on a slightly wonky schedule - but I’ll see you next week-ish 😊.

Potential frames are everywhere. Green Heron on the ropes at the Miami Beach Marina.