WHEN: Fall 2010
WHERE: a deciduous tree canopy near you!
The seasons are changing, which is a visual reminder that time is changing. So, it's only fitting that it's time for Time & Space to change as well.
I am excited to add a new addition to my blog, just in time for the fall season. It is the first of several features I plan to add to my blog over the coming months that will make my blog more interactive, more relevant to the blog's theme (time and space), and most importantly, a prominent outlet for wasting more time! Fellow bloggers know, that while blogging and the components that come with the territory can be fun and exciting to share with others, the hobby can also become a serious time incinerator and even feel like an unavoidable chore. Nevertheless, the apparent detrimental addiction does not easily persuade the blogger to change their actions and, in my case, pushes the blogger deeper into the addictive time trap.
Please excuse me while I go throw a few more minutes into the fire.
So what new feature could be so exciting that I allow it to consume much of what remaining free time I have each week? To be completely honest, a feature I doubt much more than anyone besides me, my mom, and (maybe) my wife (only because she LOVES fall) will find any interest in. It's directly related to fall and, for those whose wandering eyes noticed a brighter sidebar, can be found at the top right of this blog. Now just be patient. Don't go clicking your way into boredom too quickly. You need some context before you really abandon hope for my sanity.
You've already figured out my gravitation towards topics of time and space. That intrigue existed long before I started blogging and has manifested itself in various forms. One way - and the reason for the newest feature of this blog - has to do with documenting the changing of seasons; the changing of time. And fall is a particularly unique season to document this change.
While time is not static, in many cases space is. With this simple principle, I decided to "freeze space" while "watching" it through time. This utility has endless uses within my discipline of geography. Don't lose me here. I'm not going 'theoretical' on you. It gets (less) boring...I hope. During one field trip to the Duck, North Carolina Federal Research Facility in 2007, I was shown a video that had been compiled by a student and researchers at the facility. This video was created using 10 years of pictures (we're talking tens of thousands of pictures) that were taken from the same camera (in the same spot, every hour) mounted atop the 141ft observation tower at the facility. What was produced was a 2-minute composite "video" of a beach, dune, sandbar, and wave system as it existed over 10 years. It was the complete opposite of watching a hummingbird or fly beat its wings in slow motion, but even more interesting. Imagine videotaping a tree grow, or a child grow (that never moved), or an old car rust and weather out in the elements, for ten years, then replay it all back in super-fast-forward over a couple minutes.
Got the picture? Well, this new feature on my blog is hardly that endeavor but it's directly in line with it. I began work on this idea back in the fall of 2005, around my parent's yard. From several predetermined positions, I took pictures of their yard from the same position, every day, for 9 months. At the end of that period, I could scroll through the 200+ pictures for each position and "watch" the leaves change color, the snow fall, melt, and the grass turn green again in the spring - all in about 20 seconds. A very abbreviated example is below.
With fall quickly ensuing (chronologically, meteorologically, culturally), I caught the "fast-forward germ" again this year. On September 10, I again started taking pictures of our backyard and front yard here in Charleston on a daily basis, to document and replay the changing of the seasons. I did not originally plan to make this a blog feature but now it is and now I'm up at midnight telling you about it. I suppose another reason for this new feature, besides my past experiences stated above and my twisted inclination to waste time, is because I've always kept a close eye on vegetation (growth and death) through the seasons. I pay close attention and make mental notes of when certain species of grasses, trees, and the like blossom or die off each spring and fall. I did it in Iowa, I did it in North Carolina, I did it in Virginia, and now I am doing it in South Carolina. All the while, I've also tried to keep close tabs on those areas where I did not live and noted the differences. I've come to learn a lot about similarities/differences in each locale through this attentiveness (and then felt disdain when flowers were late in spring or leaves fell too soon in the fall).
I obviously can only experience the changes, in person, one place at a time. I can, however, keep tabs on other places if resources exist that monitor the changing of seasons for me. One resource I use every fall is the "Fall Foliage" map from The Weather Channel (below). From late-September to late-November, this map is updated every few days to illustrate the patterns of changing fall foliage across the country. It's a good overview but lacks any specificity or local detail. That's where something like this new "Seasons" page I've added comes in. The only problem is that I'm the one recording the change and I'm already experiencing it in person. Ideally, the same resource would exist in numerous places across the country so one could witness and compare those changes as well. The word 'vicarious' comes to mind here but I have no idea how to use it to say what I mean. But I think you get the idea. Maybe not. Likely, you're confused and concerned.
Most importantly, at the top right of the page you will notice assorted "Before & After" comparisons of our backyard and front yard. Also, posts will highlight day-by-day changes and colorful, more interesting pictures illuminate the sidebar. I don't plan to update these features or add pictures daily but then again, I can't imagine anyone besides me will even care on a daily basis (if at all). The Seasons page can also be reached by clicking on the "fall scene" picture at the top right of this page. Now, if I could only get others across the country to take pictures of the changing seasons for me where they are! (Don't stoop to my level.)
1 comments:
Jesse, love the pictures! You make me sick with your photography skills and the fact that you're too far away to practice them regularly on my children!! Anyway, can I request one more change to your blog?? Will you please increase the font size of your text?? You are killing my eyesight slowly :)
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