Our topic this week is Magical; Ann-Christine suggests we think about something that appears magical to us. When I mentioned this topic to a good friend she suggested I go for a walk along the edge of the woods near our summer house. She had seen wild mushrooms growing and was struck by their astonishing colors and textures which looked so magical growing on the forest floor. Seeing these wild mushrooms among the sun rays and shadows made them look like they had truly been created by magic! “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” – W.B. Yeats This…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #62 SILHOUETTES
This week Patti suggests we show pictures featuring Silhouettes. Silhouette photography is quite interesting in that it can evoke emotions, tell a story plus entice viewers to spend a few extra moments exploring details. “One of the most effective ways of dramatizing a landscape or a wildlife subject is to capture its silhouette. The combination of a strong form with a beautiful background is unbeatable.” – Jim Zuckerman Friends relaxing with their beverage while observing the ongoing gorgeous sunset in the Gulf of Mexico! Is there a storm approaching, adding extra drama to the evening sky? “It was sunsets that taught me that beauty sometimes only lasts…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #61 PRECIOUS PETS
This week Tina invites us to share pictures and a few thoughts about precious pets that have been in our life or have somehow touched us. I cannot remember being without a pet of some sort and usually had several different ones at the same time – because our family consisted of three boys! Need I say more?? The assortment of “pets” varied over the years; a parakeet, a snake or two, ferrets, a few frogs, lizards, and tank full of tropical fish. The more traditional (or normal) pets over the years were several Irish Setters, a rescued Siberian husky, a poodle, two Himalayan cats and American cocker spaniels. Now that…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #60 FRAMING THE SHOT
This week Amy suggests we show several different examples of framing our shot or subject. There are many ways the subject can be naturally framed, tall objects such as trees, shrubbery, poles, window or door frames, anything that directs the eye to the center of the “frame”. Often times this can be done in the camera when the picture is taken or during the editing process when cropping. “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 A self-portrait using…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #59 ANGLES AND PERCEPTIONS
This week Ann-Christine challenges us to explore the word Angles and Perceptions using pictures. Not necessarily geometric angles (although there are numerous angles in each flower) but photographs looking at the same object from different angles and observing it from a different perspective, which in turn influences our perception of the world! She says “the importance of different ways of seeing the same object, thing, person, happening…cannot be overestimated.” Viewing objects this way and forming a new perception is very powerful! “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare I decided to show this beautiful hibiscus on the table from different angles;…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #58 SOMETHING OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue… This is from an old English rhyme and this week Patti is challenging us to feature pictures of places or things that have some or all of these good luck qualities. She also mentioned that showing all four qualities in one image could be extra challenging, and it certainly was! This topic required a bit of thought 😟….then, I remembered taking a family visit to Peak’s Island in Maine a couple of years ago and how pretty it was with an abundance of color everywhere; buildings, homes and vegetation! Before taking you on a short pictorial tour around the Island I’d like…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #57 TAKING A BREAK
This week Tina invites us to explore a few things people can do to Take a Break from the daily grind of life – to re-energize, regroup then move forward again, feeling refreshed. I stumbled on a very interesting chart entitled, “50 Ways to Take A Break“ from the Independence Center when exploring the internet. Since this chart is so relevant to our topic this week I decided to include the links, it shows 50 fun ways to take a break and enjoy doing it! “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Suess Often times taking a break…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #56 SEASCAPES
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Cousteau This week Amy encouraged us to show favorite pictures of various Seascapes, such as the water front, shoreline and waves. Early one morning when walking on the beach at Kiawah Island, SC with our dogs, I was excited to see this female Loggerhead turtle returning to the Ocean after laying her eggs in the sand dunes. Fortunately, I was able to take a series of pictures documenting her long, laboring journey back to the ocean. This first one, originally posted on Mar 15, 2019 in my blog “Around The Neighbor”,…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #55 DREAMY
DREAMY, this is the subject Anne-Christine chose for this week. I found this topic a little difficult to define since dreamy can imply many different things – a dreamy song or meditative music, a dreamy atmosphere, a person who daydreams often or someone who is so visually beautiful they look dreamy. After some thought I decided to “artistically” edit a few pictures in hopes of creating dreamy colors along with soft dreamy shapes and designs! “Everything that’s lovely is but a brief, dreamy kind of delight.” – William Butler Yeats “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves…
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #54 DETAILS – Achilleion Palace, Corfu, Greece
This week Patti is challenging us to show details surrounding a particular person, place or thing which otherwise appears so visually overwhelming it is hard to know what or how to photograph it. She points out that sometimes focusing the camera on details can best describe the beauty and history of the site and help tell the big story. Click here to enjoy her post on Details. The Achilleion Palace in Corfu, Greece is a good example of a place so massive and beautiful it was difficult to know how to photograph it. In addition, it was a bit challenging figuring out how to get some good pictures as crowds…