A Gray America is Grand and Glorious
Finding beauty in the lack of color
William Hooker Gillette built this mansion atop a hill in the chain of Seven Sisters in Connecticut. He was an actor, director, and playwright who was best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes.
The 24-room mansion resembles a medieval castle and was completed in 1919.
We travel across America and find some extremely beautiful places. We are constantly awed by the beauty around us. There is even enormous beauty in the storms.
As we drove through New Hampshire on our way to a wedding in Maine, we could see a storm brewing in the clouds. Sometimes the sky is cloudy and gray when we travel, and sometimes we see the most glorious deep blue skies.
It sprinkled and we wondered if it would dampen the outdoor wedding. It didn’t. The sun came out just as the bride made her entrance.
After the wedding in Maine, we traveled across the state of New York to see Niagara Falls. I love photographing barns and abandoned buildings as we travel. Upstate New York is gorgeous.
We took my 91-year-old mother on this trip with us to the wedding in Maine and to see Niagara Falls. It was her first time and she wasn’t all that impressed with seeing it in person. She said it looked much better on television.
When we got back home to Ohio we had several campfires outside by the pond. These evenings spent around a fire with family are precious memories.
I never thought about turning some of my photos into black and white, or gray. It gives me a whole new perspective on the beauty of this country. The grandeur of the landscape is not only because of the color.
When I read Anne Bonfert’s November Challenge article for the Globetrotters publication, I realized that I have never attempted to look at my photos from a gray perspective.
We traveled to Indiana and Michigan to explore the shoreline of Lake Michigan. I had never seen a freighter as large as this one up close before. It honked at me as it passed by.
I love trees. I am always photographing them whenever I find a beautiful one. When a family member dies I always purchase trees from the Arbor Day Foundation to plant and restore burnt forests. It is a small way to help save the planet.
And finally, I wanted to see the beauty of the bison in North Dakota from a gray point of view.
The American Bison is the largest mammal in North America, and whether in color or in gray tone, they are magnificent to see.
Buildings, boats, and bison are beautiful whether you see them in color or in black and white. Thanks for reading.
I enjoyed reading the following submissions by other writers for Globetrotters, and I think you would enjoy them too.
I love following Adrienne Beaumont on her solo travels across the world.
And Rhonda Carrier did a wonderful job of finding gray items in her color photographs.
