Sunday, January 10, 2010

One of the most familiar tunes heard on the planet is “Going Home,” aka the largo, or second movement of The New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak (aka Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony). Few who have heard the haunting melody streaming from an oboe (or is it an English horn?) accompanied by full symphony orchestra remain unmoved. Even the most calloused, contemptible misanthrope experiences a slight increase in respiration when exposed. For most of the rest of us, it raises the hair on the back of our necks and/or does a goose-bump or two. By the way, ol’ Antonin’s last name is pronounced “dee-vor-shahck.”

What many people don’t realize is that there are three other movements of equal quality to this piece. Each has its own signature. Each is moving in its own way. The hair-raising and goose-bumping coefficients of these movements are equally impressive, depending on what sounds rev your engine.

Similarly, the great boondocks experience four seasons, not three. I say that in my sarcastic mode, since most people avoid the boondocks in winter months like they avoid social calls at an IRS office. The fact is, in the boondocks, whether you are stomping in the squishy lowlands of the delta or puffing up the craggy peaks of the Ozarks, there is simply more to see when the trees are nekkid.

The picture featured at the top of the page illustrates my point. The sunrise vista on a recent winter morning is simply not available in the leafy months. My old friend, W. L. “Pat” Patterson, one of the world’s greatest photographers, sums it up best when he fields an enquiry regarding one of his pristine images. “How’d you git that?” Pat’s retort is, “Well, the first thing you gotta do is be there.”

Wintry Perspective:  Both of the pictures on this page were shot from the deck of cabin five at the Sky-Vue Lodge on US 71 near Winslow, Arkansas, on two succeeding mornings from slightly different angles. Do not try this in May — you will get different results, not a bad thing at all, but not the same. Get my drift?

My admonition is to go see what you will surely miss if you don’t. And, for those with acoustic curiosity, here are the movements to the New World Symphony. If you listen to the first couple of minutes of each, you will better understand the gist of this epistle. You will not be tested on this.

First Movement
 
 

Second Movement
(Going Home)
 

Third and Fourth Movements
 
 

Fourth Movement
(by itself – lotsa powerful brass here)
 

N O T E S:  
Nikon D300, Tripod mounted, Nikkor VR 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 G ED. Both shots composited from multiple exposures. Base exposure for top shot — 1/60 f5.3 ISO 200, long wide shot — 1/200 @ f 7.1, ISO 800. Why 800? An operator headspace problem. I forgot to reset the ISO after some low light shots the evening before.

See more of what you might miss on our blog, Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind. More mountains and an old house / barn.  
 

Click the jump wings to see the previous Photo of the Week.

Click the camera for an index to every Photo of the Week.

Most of the time, there is more to the Photo of the Week story than can be told in an essay. And most of the time there are more pictures to be seen. Presuming that some folk will enjoy being privy to this trove of information, I have created a blog, “Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind,” where I am showing and telling “the rest of the story." There are also some blatantly commercial mentions of some of the things we do to earn our beans and taters. Click on the Weekly Grist logo and go to the blog.  — J. D.