Take a Second Look

One of the icon's of photography when I was in college was Alfred Eisenstaedt. Most people know him as the photojournalist who took the famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on VJ day. I remember seeing a photo essay by him when he was getting on in years. He was not able to get out much but had access to a window. The window had a view of a field with a small tree on the far side. The essay consisted only of his photos of the tree. One tree. Same angle. Over and over. Different seasons, different weather, different times of the day. The images, surprisingly, were mesmerizing and powerful. I was teaching photography at the University of Minnesota at the time and I used it as an example that there are images all around us ready to capture if we are ready to see them. Even the most common things - especially the most common things - benefit from a re-look every now and then. So for those of you who are away, here is the old homestead in a few different lights from the last few months.