Monetizing Bow Lake
A common meaning of monetize is ‘to make into a source of income.’ That’s not the sense I intended with the title of today’s post, which is clearer if I insert a hyphen into the verb: Monet-ize. Monet’s water-lilies came to mind when I looked at some of the abstract photographs I’d been inspired to take of Bow Lake in Alberta’s Banff National Park on September 4th.
© 2017 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Beautifully Monet-esque. Perhaps they could be Monetized. But then not everything beautiful needs to be turned into a source of money.
Gallivanta
October 10, 2017 at 5:08 AM
So you agree with Emerson in “The Rhodora”:
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being….
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 6:44 AM
Indeed, I do.
Gallivanta
October 10, 2017 at 7:58 AM
I just came across something else that Emerson wrote in a similar vein: “Every genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the sun.”
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 2:02 PM
Again, I say, indeed.
Gallivanta
October 10, 2017 at 7:18 PM
You had just enough wind for the technique.
MichaelStephenWills
October 10, 2017 at 6:23 AM
As I recall, there wasn’t much wind that day. I think someone occasionally threw a stone into the lake, and that’s what I profited from in the second photograph.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 6:55 AM
My first idea, when I saw these pictures [especially the second one] was : it looks more like a painting than a foto! It was only after reading your explanation that I realized the significance of the caption. Wonderful shot and great play on words!
Pit
October 10, 2017 at 6:56 AM
I also took conventional pictures of the lake, like the one in the previous post. The reflections, along with the abstractions to be had from them, called out to me even more, especially the ones mediated through my new 100–400mm lens. Thanks for appreciating them.
As for monetizing, I’d as soon play with words as images, and I don’t need a camera and heavy lens for wordplay.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 7:15 AM
🙂
Pit
October 10, 2017 at 7:17 AM
🌎
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 7:50 AM
Beautiful shots. I clicked as I saw “monetize” and expected to read something horrible about condos and townhouses being put up on every foot of shoreline, so the Monet-ize was a nice surprise.
Robert Parker
October 10, 2017 at 7:30 AM
A pleasant surprise, then. Fortunately Bow Lake is in Banff National Park, so it and other scenic lakes are protected. Some villages and businesses do exist inside this park and Jasper National Park to its north, but I expect the Canadian government has imposed tight limits on expansion. As with the most famous American national parks, tourist swarms are a problem, and some people say these parks are being loved to death.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 7:48 AM
In the U.S., I check the maps and note the state or USDA forests adjoining the famous national parks, to try to avoid the crowds. Since the “swarms” are a problem, it seems we need more parklands, not fewer, but that message doesn’t seem to resonate with everyone right now.
Robert Parker
October 10, 2017 at 8:26 AM
Lots of tourists are constrained to visit for a limited time, so I assume that most or at least many of them will still congregate at the most famous and most scenic places, even if more somewhat lesser places are made available. That said, many of us find worthwhile things even away from the iconic places.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 9:32 AM
I’ve read that Yosemite and Yellowstone attract roughly 4 million people a year, and the Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park sometimes gets over 10 million. It’s almost hard to believe.
Robert Parker
October 10, 2017 at 11:00 AM
I remember how crowded Yosemite was the summer we visited—and that was 28 years ago. It must be a real zoo now. Hard to believe indeed.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 1:46 PM
Enjoyed your play with Monet-ize. You might want to read Mad Enchantment, which is a dense and insightful portrait of Monet and his friendships.
lensandpensbysally
October 10, 2017 at 7:57 AM
Thanks, Sally, for the recommendation. You’re always good at making connections. I found a review of Mad Enchantment.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 8:07 AM
It’s fabulous with so many details that are new to me. I’m a fanatic Monet devotee.
lensandpensbysally
October 10, 2017 at 8:13 AM
When we went to Paris 20 years ago we visited the Musée Marmottan, which I’d never heard of till then. It has many Monets:
http://www.marmottan.fr/fr/Claude_Monet-musee-2517
I see that the Austin Public Library has several copies of Mad Enchantment so I’ll check one out.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 8:21 AM
I love your play on words, and your impressionistic lake scene.
tanjabrittonwriter
October 10, 2017 at 8:29 AM
Thanks. I can’t help playing with words and images. This trip contributed a lot to the latter.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 12:58 PM
Monet would approve….although I’m not sure he’d love having his name used as a verb! The second image in particular is full of interest.
melissabluefineart
October 10, 2017 at 8:33 AM
With regard to your first sentence, a Canadian might ask: so you think he’d moan, eh?
Perhaps the appeal of the second image is because it’s more abstract than the first.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 1:02 PM
Groan! 😀
melissabluefineart
October 12, 2017 at 12:28 PM
Moire or watered silk springs to mind looking at these photos, especially the second. I see the Monet influence though through not only the impressionistic style but also the similarity in colours.
Heyjude
October 10, 2017 at 10:22 AM
At the time I took these pictures I was trying to be abstract but I wasn’t thinking at all about Monet. Only back in Austin, once I looked at the images, did I make a connection to him. Of course I could have had Monet subtly percolating through my subconscious as I stood on the shore of Bow Lake; guess I’ll never know.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 1:06 PM
Superb results whatever the reasoning.
Heyjude
October 10, 2017 at 5:43 PM
Ours not to reason why,
Ours but to unify.
Into the Rocky Mountains
Drove the photographer.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 6:02 PM
Not literally I hope.
Heyjude
October 10, 2017 at 6:37 PM
No, not literally. Thanks for your solicitude.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 8:01 PM
😀 😀
Heyjude
October 11, 2017 at 1:50 PM
We’ve actually been in this part of the world. All the more delightful to revisit it through your beautiful photographs.
Susan Scheid
October 10, 2017 at 7:18 PM
It took us “forever” to get there. I’m glad to hear you made it there sooner and that these pictures revive your experiences. More are forthcoming.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 8:03 PM
These are so beautiful they make my heart ache, and brought tears to my eyes. It is like looking at the world through Monet’s eyes.
shoreacres
October 10, 2017 at 9:52 PM
Thanks for letting me know, Linda. I have no idea how to paint. Sometimes, though, the camera paints well.
Steve Schwartzman
October 10, 2017 at 10:49 PM
Monet would be pleased 🙂 Beautiful images, Steve.
composerinthegarden
October 12, 2017 at 4:22 PM
Thanks, Lynn. I’m glad these pictures were music to your eyes.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2017 at 6:12 PM
One of the abiding memories I have of our fly-drive tour of BC was the colour of all the lakes we saw. I like the play on words in your title, Monet used a lot of blue in his moody foggy images of London but I had never really associated him with water colours. But now I do.
LensScaper
October 13, 2017 at 1:58 AM
Better a fly-drive tour of BC than a fly-by tour. We did the same, flying from Houston to Calgary and renting a car for three weeks (after driving from Austin to Houston and leaving our own car near the airport there).
We saw Bow Lake and Peyto Lake on a clear day, so the color of the water was at its best. Smoky haze from forest fires tamped down the color of the majority of the other lakes we visited, unfortunately.
Glad you like the play of words on Monetize. Too bad Monet never visited the Rocky Mountains; I’d like to see the treatment he would have given them.
Steve Schwartzman
October 13, 2017 at 8:14 AM
[…] up it and on September 6th we came back down. You’ve already seen a conventional view and two abstract views of Bow Lake from the northbound trip. Now add a couple of looks at the lake from our southbound […]
Bow Lake revisited | Portraits of Wildflowers
February 3, 2018 at 4:41 AM