“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse This week Xenia from Tranature.com is challenging us to share our thoughts about our Sanctuary, where we find it and how we create our place of calm and healing. Be sure to check out her blog. My Sanctuary is a place I can visit either literally or figuratively. It is a brief retreat from a daily routine plus ever changing events I cannot control. The importance of a personal sanctuary is to create a balance between a hectic lifestyle and a time to relax and clear my mind. …
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #100 The Long and Winding Road
Tina chose “The Long and Winding Road” as our photo topic this week. I found a few of my favorites looking back through the archives. I enjoy photographing roads or paths that meander out of sight, around the bend . They seem to bring up questions such as where the road leads, what sights are around the bend, how old is the path, who are the people or animals using it? Each of these roadways look so inviting that it is hard not to want to explore them. “When the road ahead seems too long, look back to see how far you’ve come. For even if the hill before you…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #98 DELICATE COLORS
This week’s challenge from Ann-Christine gives us a chance to explore Delicate Colors; beautiful, soft shades of color blending into each other. Being surrounded by these lovely colors can be soothing and relaxing in spite of the hectic world we live in now. 🙃 Delicate Colors are all around us, waiting to be discovered when outside and one with nature. Ann-Christine shows beautiful examples of delicate colors she found in her garden and neighboring forest. “There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.” – Edouard Manet Each of these pictures show a different color palette that only mother-nature can create…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #91 SIMPLICITY
Patti suggests we think about Simplicity this week so I decided to feature a few flower and landscape shots to illustrate how beautiful and elegant things are when they are not lost in the detail. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Simplicity is the glory of expression.” – Walt Whitman “There is beauty in simplicity” – unknown “Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy” – Isaac Newton “Our life is frittered…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #81 SEEING RED
Patti invites us to show pictures featuring the color Red. Red colors are believed to be a symbol for many things: passion, love, rage, danger, good luck. Even though shades of red can be in many tones, it’s rarely seen as demure. Perhaps Taylor Swift says it best: “Red is such an interesting color to correlate with emotion, because it’s on both ends of the spectrum. On one end you have happiness, falling in love, infatuation with someone, passion, all that. On the other end you’ve got obsession, jealousy, danger, fear, anger and frustration.” Ladybugs are considered to be lucky charms by many cultures when they land on someone…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #77 MY FAVORITES IN 2019
Patti suggests we show a few of our favorite photograph from 2019. I also decided to share again a few of my favorite quotes plus my all time favorite from Ansel Adams. “You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” – Ansel Adams “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” – Don McCullin …
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #75 NOSTALGIC
This week Tina wants us to share a few special nostalgic moments. Thinking back the great memories of the fun times spent with our family is right up there at the top of the list. Our children and grandchildren are scattered in the northeastern part of the country so we do not have the opportunity to see everyone as much as we’d like. This means getting together a few times each year is a real treat. Without fail, we always seen to congregate either in the kitchen, on the beach, or at the pool. “Sometimes we will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.”…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #73 COLD
This week Tina challenges us to show pictures which can make you feel “Cold”. Snow, ice, frosty window pane anything that looks cold! In recent years my experience with Cold has been associated with a few snowy months in Maine before returning home to the warm, sunny south! As you can see, we were literally knee deep in snow and watching snow storm after snow storm roll in on a regular basis. Snow and the cold is handled so different there, school was only closed a day or two, roads clear and drive-able quickly and stores were operating on a normal schedule. “What good is the warmth of summer,…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #70 MONOCHROME
This week we are exploring Monochrome photography. Patti suggests we can include images in black and white, sepia, and/or different shades of one color. And, for an extra challenge, add a bit of color to a black and white image. Monochromatic pictures showcase a color scheme based on only one, single color tint. It uses only variations or shades of a single hue, which is made by altering the saturation and brightness of the base color. Black and white colors are always added. (Colorpedia by Paletton). I decided to feature with a few photographs in black and white with a single hue of color added and was surprised as to…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #69 SEEING DOUBLE
This week Tina suggests we feature pictures showing “two of a kind” or Seeing Double in a photo. It can be people, animal, or things shown in sets of two. A fun topic to think about! Two youngsters playing while the parents watch close by. Not sure whether they are siblings or friends but it is almost like Seeing Double and they are two of a kind. Wish I can say this was taken in the wild, instead these elephants live in the Wild Kingdom Park at Disney World in Florida. Belgian Draft Horses enjoying each other’s company on a beautiful fall day in Maine! This particular pair always…