Balancing Trio

They've got nice rocks in Door County, Wisconsin. I balanced a few whilst waiting to see what a storm over Green Bay would do. At this point, it had stalled and was breaking apart.

It's been a while since I did any rock balancing. Good to see that I still had the touch. The stormy backdrop was nice.

Oh, and the pressure was on for this piece of ephemeral art. A trolley full of tourists had arrived at the location and were watching me work. Got a couple of oohs and ahhs when I got the center formation balanced.

Thankyouverahmuch. I'm here all week.

Photograph © 2010 James Jordan

Uno mas

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Balanced

Taking advantage of some beautiful September weather to do some rock balancing. Tyler Creek Forest Preserve, Elgin, Illinois.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Fall balance

I know, it's an oxymoronic headline. It really should be "Autumn balance," but hey.

Rock balance in Tyler Creek in Elgin, Illinois. Hints of autumn are evident.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Branching out

A balancing rock stack built on the branch of a fallen tree on the bank of Tyler Creek in Elgin, Illinois. I usually leave the stacks standing when I'm finished, unless I use especially heavy rocks, then I dismantle them for safety sake -- don't want big rocks falling on anybody.

This one didn't last long. The current and wind caused the branch to move and dump the rocks into the creek after I snapped this photo.

I'm working on getting my selection of photos up to specs for Getty Images. Getty editors recently chose 24 of my photos from Flickr for inclusion in their stock photo library. Getty requires a minimum image size of three megapixels, which for the most part is not a problem. But they happened to choose a lot of photos I shot on film, which were shot at zero megapixels. They were scanned eons ago at only two megapixels for web posting -- I never anticipated then that they would need to be bigger someday. So now it's off to search for negatives and rescan, reprocess and repost.

It's also interesting that three of the photos Getty selected were of balancing rocks I stacked and shot (this one, this one and this one). I guess there's a market for those.

Who knew?

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

A few days on the road

My wife and I spent the weekend in Door County, Wisconsin. The prime objective was to deliver a number of photographs to an art gallery in Gills Rock. Eight black and white prints of Door County scenery in the twilight hours will be on display starting May 2 and will remain for the season which ends in October.

The pieces were well received. So well, that the gallery owner and I are discussing the possibility of a 5-week solo exhibition next year. I'm slowly building a photographic presence in the county. A lighthouse photo of mine runs across two pages of this year's official county visitor's guide. The same lighthouse (different photo) graces the introduction page of the city of Sturgeon Bay's promotional magazine.

The secondary objective was to add to my overall volume of Door County photos. The photo above is one of those new photographs. This is Clark Lake Road, which travels across the Door peninsula. It crests the high point of the county, passing farms and fields along either side. This is the view from the top on a cold, misty, early spring day.

In between rain showers, I was able to photograph some old buildings and cars, capturing an older, weathered side of the county.

Oh, yeah. I was able to stack a few rocks here and there.



Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

What'd you expect ...

... that I would travel to a place that had a gazillion rocks and not try to balance one ...



... or two?

The top photo, also posted on Flickr, garnered a comment from Bill Dan, the person who inspired me to give rock balancing a try last year. Bill does some phenomenal rock balancing, and is even branching out into balancing other items. Check out Bill's photos on Flickr.

I've got the spirit: My photograph of the Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Pier Lighthouse won the "Spirit of Winter" prize in a competition in the Shield of Excellence group on Flickr. Getting up early in subfreezing weather has its rewards.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

Benched

I'm warming up at the local park for the outdoor rock stacking season. Looks like the gang was there too -- warming up for the tagging season.

Yes, it's balanced. No tricks. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Achieving balance

Much like the elusive state of balance that many seek in their lives, this picture was a bear to achieve. I had been thinking for some time about doing some table top photos with a stack of stones. I found a small light box that my daughter had purchased for a craft project a few months back, and an idea was born.

The light box was used as the base of support for the stack of stones as well as the main light source for the picture. The stones are free standing - no glue or wires, just physics. Once I got the stones to stay in place, I quickly set up a camera on a tripod and took a couple of shots of the stack itself just in case it collapsed before I could get some hands in the picture. Once I got those safely on the memory card, I set the camera's self timer and reached over and around the camera to get my hands in the picture. Voila.

This photo just seems ideal for a "Depressories" poster:

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Rocks on the Fox

Rock balance on the Fox River in downtown Elgin, Illinois.

There comes a point when trying to balance a rock when you think to yourself this is not going to work - give it up. Especially when people are watching. But if you stick with it, slowly adjusting the contact point of the top rock with the surface of the rock beneath it, you'll eventually hit a point where you know that the rock will stand - you'll feel it, and it's only a matter of time and ever-so-slight adjustments before the rock stands on its own.

I'm more than a month out from losing my job and have done the things that job seekers have to do to find work. Resumes, job boards, search firms, networking and answering countless ads. I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of interviews. Along the way I've heard how tough things are job-wise in this economy. I've more than once thought to myself this is not going to work.

But I'm going to stick to the plan, make adjustments where needed and push through this, trusting that at the end, I'll be standing on my own.

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Autumn rocks #2

Jack Frost has been a busy guy around these parts, painting the trees in red and golden hues. I'm continuing a series of photos featuring autumn colors without actually depicting the trees themselves. Taking a walk along the Elgin, Illinois riverfront, I took a number of pictures of the colors reflected in the waters of the Fox River.

I found a rock along the river bed that was just begging to be balanced and carried it with me until I came upon a good spot for a photograph - a hospitable base rock and a colorful background in the water behind it. The low angle of sunlight didn't hurt, either. It took a couple of minutes to get the rock to balance, but once standing, I took several shots from different angles.

Photo tip: The natural inclination is to shoot a closeup of an object from, well ... close up. For this shot, I stepped back several yards and used a telephoto lens to bring the object to me. This changes the viewing perspective ever so slightly and can result in a shot that is a bit different than what we may be used to seeing and may compel a viewer to stick with it a bit longer than they would have otherwise. It's worth playing with as you're out shooting.

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Balance

Using the weekend to help me find some balance. Hoping you do the same. Have a good one.

Photo: rock balancing at Tyler Creek, Elgin, Illinois. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

On balance

I did some more rock (and brick) balancing over the weekend. It’s a great way to relax. Here’s a good quote from a rock stacker in California:

“The beauty of rockstacking is working with objects that are entirely different from each other and seeing the beauty in each and discovering how they work well together.” - Jim Needham

If you can do that with dumb rocks, think about what you can do if you applied that kind of thinking to people.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2008 James Jordan

Stackin' by the river

... Tyler Creek in Elgin, Illinois to be exact. I built a balancing rock stack and photographed it.

Hope you find some much needed balance this weekend.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Why I (heart) rock balancing

There is something about seeing a rock balanced on top of another that commands attention. Maybe it’s something about the inner balance that we all crave. Or perhaps the fact that it’s just not … natural … to see something like that in nature. It’s a surprise. Something bigger than the rocks was at work to make them stand.

Rock balancing is a form of relaxation. For those few moments when my fingers place one rock on top of another, analytic thought is replaced by the sense of touch. I feel around for the point of balance, getting closer and closer, the movements of the stone getting smaller and smaller until I hit the sweet spot. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to find it. Sometime I labor for several minutes. Most often I can feel the stone hit its balancing point and I withdraw my hands immediately. Sometimes I tentatively remove one finger at a time until I’m satisfied that the rock will not move.

It’s ephemeral art. As soon as the rock is balanced, it is subjected to forces that threaten to knock it down. Wind. Waves. Time.

Life itself is a complex balancing act of chemicals and processes in perfect balance, battling forces that threaten to tear it down. In our physical life, those forces will eventually win. But until then, we have the opportunity to stand and call attention to something bigger than ourselves.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2008 James Jordan.

Cave Point

The Niagara Escarpment is a shelf of rock that stretches more than 650 miles across North America. Thousands of years ago, the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Niagara Falls and countless hills, valleys and waterways were carved out of the escarpment by glaciers.

Cave Point in the Door County peninsula of Wisconsin is one of my favorite places on earth. Shelves of limestone rock rise from the waters of Lake Michigan. The waters perform a dance with the rocks that has continued for centuries.

And yes, it seemed like an ideal place to build a balancing rock stack. Evidence of a visit by someone moved by the other-worliness of the place. Primeval forces continuing their drama for yet another Act in a show at once ancient and new.

I was here to watch for a while and participate.

Video © 2008 James Jordan. Music: Pilot Island, a composition by Steve Wick. More about Steve's music can be found at his web site.

Those of you who visit Points of Light by RSS reader may not see the video. If that is the case, click here.

I was here

Rocks do not tend to pile themselves, at least not in an orderly sort of way. There is the occasional natural balanced rock, but it’s more a side effect of erosion than placement.

That’s what makes a pile of balanced rocks such an eye-catcher. It’s rare and intentional. I first stumbled upon rock balancing through the pictures of a West Coast rock balancer named Bill Dan on Flickr. His creations seem to defy gravity as his balanced rock towers stand in a silent, frozen dance.

The first stop on a recent vacation for my wife and me was a rocky beach between Manitowoc and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. While we stopped to rest and take in the Lake Michigan view, without really thinking about it, I picked up a fist-sized rock worn round by the waves and tried to balance it on a large boulder nearby. It took a few minutes of fussing with it, but I managed to get it to stand on end, and took a couple of photos of my achievement. We then continued our trip into Door County.

Throughout the week, I attempted more ambitious rock stacks. Two rocks. Three rocks. Even four-rock towers, like the one pictured above. Door County provided plenty of material to work with, and I got better at it as I went. I would stack rocks, then hang back as people came upon them just to gauge their reactions. They ranged from total indifference to wide-eyed wonder, picture taking and pointing them out to friends.

My wife looked at my rock-piling anonymous art project as a bit silly, and I suppose it is in a way. But it is also a way for me to say “I was here” without resorting to graffiti. And that makes it kinda cool.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2008 James Jordan.