August 17, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #311 What’s in a Garden

 “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul”. – Alfred Austin Anne-Christain writes that several essential elements are used to create gardens; water, representing life-giving force; and plants, which provide the color and changes throughout the seasons. You also often find bridges, water falls and stepping stones. This banner image shows one of the many lovely flower gardens planted by neighbors in our golf course community in Well, Maine. For me, gardens are a wonderful place to explore, relax and reflect. This vase of roses looks like a small…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

August 7, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #310 Zigzag Pictures

Our photo challenge is to feature pictures showing zigzag lines. Did not think I had many pictures but was surprised. As it turned out, most of these images are zigzag lines seen in nature, first is ocean waves, then butterfly wings, water reflections, Atlantic coastline and a slab of marble.  The first picture was taken at sunset on Kiawah Island, SC. Next is a beach scene of the Gulf of Mexico in Bonita Springs, Florida. Other zigzag lines seen in nature is lovely patterns on butterfly wings. Below is a Southern Oak Hairstreak butterfly with light-colored zigzag lines on its wings. (As a side note, the appearance of having it having…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

June 29, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #305 Two Rectangles

Egidio, who is leading our photo challenge this week, suggests we show pictures emphasizing two rectangles.  He says, “By two rectangles, I mean you have two dominant rectangular areas in your image. For many people, this is one of those compositional tools we use without thinking about it. These rectangles give balance, harmony, and unity to a composition.” The image of these carps shows two pairs of rectangular areas created by contrasting light and shadows. Ever noticed the numerous rectangular areas on a baseball field?  Large billboards, advertisements around the seating area, division of seating sections in the stands and even grassy rectangular patterns on the field. Overall, these pleasing…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

June 8, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #302 Artificial Intelligence and Photography

The header shot is a “pure” Artificial Intelligence photo! It began with a blank page in Adobe PhotoShop. The page was selected by the Lasso Tool and AI Contextual Task Bar Tool was instructed to create an “ocean background sea oats foreground”.  And this is what was created! For this week John has suggested we explore Artificial Intelligence techniques found in various software programs such as Adobe PhotoShop and others. Some software programs have had AI editing around for several years and is regularly used to remove digital noise, distractive objects and enhancing details. I use it in this context along with Dodge and Burning Tools when posting images on…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Digital Art, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

May 25, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #300 Delicate

Our host this week, Ann-Christine, suggests we think about the word Delicate and what it means to us. I generally tend to think about certain creatures seen in nature that appear fragile and delicate. Some actually are delicate while others look that way even though they are strong, For example, the sun shining on the wings of this egret shows off the delicate structure of its strong wings. Even though Dragonflies have translucent and fragile looking wings, they are much stronger than they appear. This caterpillar stranded on these few twigs below is quite fragile and delicate and probably not able to take care of itself. These fragile Loggerhead Turtles…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

May 10, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #298 To Be Young Again

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson  Tina, who is hosting this week, suggests we feature children in our pictures. I rarely photograph people so this topic required a bit of searching through photo archives. My first thought was to look for pictures taken during the summer months that included water. From personal experience children love to play in water on a hot, steamy summer days! The perfect activities at the beach include building sandcastles, skimming the surf on a board, swimming in shallow waves or just enjoying the cool breeze blowing off the ocean. This taken near our house on Kiawah Island…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

April 27, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #296 Abstracts

“Abstract art was the equivalent of poetic expression; I didn’t need to use words, but colors and lines. I didn’t need to belong to a language-oriented culture but to an open form of expression.” – Etel Adnan This week Ritva of Ritva Sillanmaki Photography selected Abstracts as the photo challenge. Much has been written on this subject, Ritva describes abstracts as “photography which breaks the normal rules of realism. It turns everyday scenes, objects, or textures into visual poetry, inviting viewers to see beyond the surface.  It is a genre of photography that focuses on the shapes, colors, textures, and patterns of the subject, rather than its literal representation.” It…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

April 20, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #295 Rocks

“The most beautiful stones have been tossed by the wind, washed by the water and polished to brilliance by life’s strongest storms.” – unknown I have always enjoyed photographing interesting looking rocks. They have Rocks such a variety of unique colors, patterns and shapes based on where they were formed. Looking through my photo archives here are a few favorites taken over the years. I will begin with the Natural Bridge in Aruba, one of the largest of its kind several years ago.  It measured approximately 25 feet high (7.6 meters) and 100 feet long (30 meters.  This rocky land formation was originally part of an ancient cave and made…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

April 6, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #293 Water in Motion

This opening shot captures one of many beautiful designs that can be created by splashing pool water in the sunlight as a person goes down a water slide and hits the water! As I thought about different ways water could be in motion a few adjectives came to mind. For example, the two pictures below show how powerful and dangerous an ocean can become at times. Or, how graceful and beautuful it can appear with lovely reflections on the surface.   Water in Motion can also create momentary feelings of comfort and energy as soft, hypnotic sounding waves wash up on the shore. Heavy rain beating on a wooden deck during…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

March 16, 2024

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #290 Circular Wonders

“The whole universe is based on rhythms. Everything happens in circles, in spirals.” – John Hartford When thinking about the photo challenge topic this week, everywhere I looked I saw Circles! I have been to the beach a lot lately, our dogs love it there plus it is a beautiful place to take long walks early in the morning. The other day after a recent storm a lot of sea foam had washed up on the sand. The foam was particularly interesting this morning because the early sun was reflecting off hundreds of tiny circular bubbles giving the appearance of lovely arrangements of colorful jewels all along the beach. The…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Flowers, Kiawah Island SC, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography