The San Antonio River, Mission Reach Phase 2, Part 2

Between Concepción Park on E Theo Ave and Mission Rd

Today's photos:

The San Antonio River restoration is proceeding from north to south. The initial restoration of the river banks is relatively complete between Alamo St and E Theo Ave. The trail is complete south to Mission Rd, but the river banks south of E Theo Ave are still a work in progress. That is the primary reason the photos in this series do not show much of the river banks.

In spite of the ongoing work, it is already an area that has a wealth of natural beauty. I had the opportunity today to briefly chat with two of the young men doing the restoration landscaping. They were rightfully proud of the work they have accomplished thus far. What has been for decades essentially a drainage channel, is undergoing a remarkable transformation.

Once again I took so many photos, there will be a couple more posts next week from this series.

The Little Blue Heron

The highlight of my walk yesterday was when I happened on a little blue heron as I was not far from completing the walk. It is called a little blue heron even though it is actually fairly large as birds go. The little blue heron is, however, smaller than the great blue heron:

As you can see, the little blue heron was minding its own business. One of the things I have noticed about the larger river birds is that they tend to be territorial at least to some extent, staking out their own section of the river. I had lowered my camera preparing to continue my walk when an egret about thirty yards upstream took flight heading straight for the little blue egret:

The egret aggressively chased the heron, but the heron seemed unfazed as it walked into the cattail growing along the river bank. The egret backed off its attack.

The San Antonio River, Mission Reach Phase 2, Part 1

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Between Confluence Park on Mitchell St
                    and Concepción Park on E Theo Ave

I only made it half way along the phase 2 stretch of the Mission Reach this morning, so this is part 1. If all goes according to plan, I'll walk the second half from Theo Ave south to Mission Rd on Friday. Today's photos:

The confluence of San Pedro Creek on the left and the San Antonio River

The twin bell towers of Mission Conceción as seen from a newly constructed lookout in Concepción Park

Nature and the Human Presence, A Few Brief Reflections

Most of today has been spent getting things done that didn't happen yesterday because I was on jury duty. My original intention was to resume my regular posting schedule tomorrow, June 29. But apparently there are those who follow this blog that look forward to the posts more than I was aware and requested that I find something to write about and post at least one photo this evening.

On my walk on May 27, I had taken some photos with the intention of eventually setting up a post that specifically relates to the theme of "Nature and the Human Presence." I will probably do a more thorough post on the theme in the future, so this, as the title indicates, is just a few brief reflections on the theme.

Photography, by its very nature of selecting, excluding and framing, gives the photographer the power to show viewers a highly edited version of the reality the photographer was actually viewing when making the photographs. On the one hand, it brings visual order to what would otherwise appear to be chaotic. On the other, it is a way of manipulating the viewer's interpretation of the reality.

With a few exceptions, my posts thus far have been primarily in the "Nature for Nature's sake" sub-genre of landscape / wildlife photography. In the history of art, this sub-genre is a fairly recent development coinciding roughly with the beginning of the Romantic Movement in the early 19th Century.

In the early 1970's, Robert Adams (no relation to Ansel Adams) and several of his photographer friends became disillusioned with the distorted message "nature for nature's sake" photography was communicating as they saw it ignoring or glossing over the rapidly escalating degradation of the environment in and around the urban areas where they lived. In response, he founded a photographic genre which he referred to as "topographic photography." This genre has become more popularly known as environmental photography which concentrates on the human impact on the environment.

The following series of photos were taken with Adam's topographic genre in mind:

Let me point out the obvious that volumes have been written on the topic of human interaction and the natural environment. The Earth is our home and we must learn to share it with all the other creatures that make their home on this planet.

Basically, the photos in this set can be divided into two broad categories: electrical generation and the power grid, and transportation. Here are a couple of thoughts that immediately come to mind regarding each.

First, without our electrically driven technology and the power grid that supports it, there would be no internet, there would be no blogs. It makes this post that you are viewing possible. In order to maintain the culture we have come to expect, it is imperative we find ways to produce and deliver electrical power that is both sustainable and as eco-friendly as possible.

Second, the concrete I-beam bridges that have come into common use are actually an example of transportation technology that has an ecological benefit. They provide a nesting habitat for birds such as the cliff swallow and the cave swallow. I seriously doubt this fact played any part in the development of the bridge structure and was only realized as an unanticipated benefit after the fact.

These are just a few late evening (and, hopefully, somewhat coherent) musings on the topic, a little something to think about.

9:41 am, Wed., June 29:  One additional thought I would like to add this morning is that nature, given half a chance, is remarkably resilient. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, my goal in this blog is not to ignore or gloss over the environmental problems we face, but as I wrote in the Mission Statement for this blog: "this project is a testament to the power of the human spirit to find delight in God's awesome creation and to communicate that delight to others, to share in the discourse of revelation and healing."

Bexar County Justice Center, Central Jury Room "trailhead"

Today's photos, taken with my cell-cam, are a departure from the established theme for this blog, but jury duty takes precedence over walking nature trails. This morning's walk, such as it was, was limited to the basement surrounding the Central Jury Room in the Bexar County Justice Center:

Given a camera, a photographer will make photographs, no matter the circumstances.

Posting update:

There will be no post on Tuesday, June 28. Regular posting should resume on Wednesday. Or, as it turns out, there is a post this evening after all.