The smoke from the Cameron Peak fire submitted for the Six Word Saturday photo challenge
the fire’s smoke painted the skies
Author: brenda
double exposure
The images above were created through the use of multiple exposure, both within camera and through digital editing. This Double Exposure project was inspired by the belief that images give voice to the emotional pain of COVID across the globe. While this virus does not discriminate, the number of people who are most impacted during this time are those who live within impoverished communities—dense housing projects, reliance on public transportation, low income, limited access to medical care and sick leave, employment instability, and rates of non-communicable diseases and illness.
The phoenix that may arise from the flames of inconsolable grief is an awareness of the inequality aggregation of these social and economic disparities exacerbates the adverse effects of all humanity.
COVID-19 is not a pandemic. It is a syndemic.
wordless wednesday
each at its own hour
The grass does not refuse To flourish in the spring wind; The leaves are not angry At falling through the autumn sky. Who with whip or spur Can urge the feet of Time? The things of the world flourish and decay, Each at its own hour. ~LiPo
Trans: Arthur Waley, The Poet Li Po II. 26. The Sun Gutenberg.org
“The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflections on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep crease scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.” ~Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
it feels as though…
I’ve been stuck in a family’s surgical waiting room since November 3, 2020. Today as I wait for the results of the Electoral College I fear that a widespread uncritical acceptance of questionable concepts is tearing our county apart.
I’ve also come to fear that the foundation of our democracy was built from a “gentlemen’s agreement” and not upon laws as this anxiety-filled waiting now extends to January 6th when the the vice president, as assigned by the Constitution, tallies the Electoral College results and declares a winner.
Putting aside uncritical acceptance, laws, and gentleman’s agreements would there be a coming together of beliefs so that we may begin to heal in unity if our leaders practiced the qualities listed below?
▪ Charity — Willingness to sacrifice one’s interest for the good of the people.
▪ Morality — Maintaining a high moral order in one’s personal conduct.
▪ Altruism — Generosity toward people, avoiding selfishness.
▪ Honesty — Fulfilling one’s duties with loyalty and integrity.
▪ Gentleness — Being kind and gentle, never arrogant.
▪ Self-control — Performing one’s duties with dispassion.
▪ Non-anger — Remaining calm in the midst of confusion.
▪ Nonviolence — Being nonviolent, not persecuting the people
▪ Forbearance — Practicing patience in one’s duties.
▪ Uprightness — Respecting public opinion, promoting harmony.
Just saying as I wait, wait, and wait ….
lens-artists photo challenge: precious moment
Opening a door of gratitude…
Reading an author’s words that have traveled through time and space.
Regret that dropping sun’s dusk; Love this cold stream’s clearness. Western beams follow flowing water; Stir a ripple in wandering person’s mind. Idly sing, gazing at cloudy moon; Song done—sound of tall pines. ~Li Po*
Camping with family in the Snowies
Watching clouds drift over Cameron Peak
Watching children explore life through play
Waking to the silence of an early Spring’s snowfall
Being grateful for photographers inviting me to see the beauty of the blue and yellowish-brown colors of early spring
Driving through Wyoming on clear roadways
Seeing the smile of togetherness
Opening myself to the wisdom of words spoke by those younger than I
Sharing precious love-filled moments
This week Amy (The World is a Book) invited us to share precious moments we have had, before or during the pandemic.
*cited: Trans – Arthur Waley, The Poet Li Po Project Gutenberg ebook
the wandering one has forgotten home
On and on, always on and on Away from you, parted by a life-parting. Going from one another ten thousand “li,” Each in a different corner of the World. The way between is difficult and long, Face to face how shall we meet again? The Tartar horse prefers the North wind, The bird from Yüeh nests on the Southern branch. Since we parted the time is already long, Daily my clothes hang looser round my waist. Floating clouds obscure the white sun, The wandering one has quite forgotten home. Thinking of you has made me suddenly old, The months and years swiftly draw to their close. I’ll put you out of my mind and forget for ever And try with all my might to eat and thrive.*
*cited: Trans: Arthur Waley, Project Gutenberg A Hundred and Seventy Poems. Note: The above poem is from a series known as the Nineteen Pieces of Old Poetry. Some have been attributed to Mei Shēng (first century b.c.), and one to Fu I (first century a.d.).
Image and poem submitted in response to Travel with Intent’s Six Word Challenge
thursday’s special: pick a word
Paula (Lost in Translation) challenges bloggers to pick one or more of five words (accessible, amber, ambrosial, craggy, and hallucinogenic) and illustrate them in photos.
Hum…how about layers of intentional movement photography to illustrate hallucinogenic?
FYI
“Therapists in Canada will be allowed to possess and consume psychedelic mushrooms, said Canada’s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu. Earlier this year Canada approved the use of psilocybin mushrooms for some end-of-life patients, but did not say at the time whether therapists themselves could take the drug.
“‘Part of ensuring a very high-quality psychedelic treatment for patients is to ensure high-quality training for therapists,” the CEO of TheraPsil, a non-profit advocate of psilocybin therapy, told Marijuana Moment. “It’s greatly beneficial if therapists have had psychedelic therapy themselves.” He added that few “would advise going to a sex therapist who’s never had sex before.'”
cited: Mark Frauenfelder December 8, 2020 Canada’s Health Minister says health care professionals can consume magic mushrooms
Anyone wondering how they could escape this syndemic by crossing the border into Canada?
lens-artists photo challenge: the letter A
PA Moed invites us to share images that feature a subject that begins with the letter A. Hum…can tone be a subject? Or am I being a bit of a rebel by featuring double exposure photography with “A” toned luminosity masks (amber, azure, and amethyst with their contrasting tones)?
Had I not seen erect in the river
These solid timbers of the olden time
How could I know, how could I feel
The story of that house? ~The Sarashina Diary (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
That moonless, flowerless winter night
It penetrates my thought and makes me dwell on it–
I wonder why? ~The Sarashina Diary (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
Do you see that the little night opens 1
And on the ridge of the mountain, serenely bright,
Shines the moon of a night of Autumn? ~ Diary of Izumi Shikibu (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
Nikon D750 f/4.8 1/800s 65mm 100 ISO
Applying a subtle color to the highlights and shadows/ of your black and white photographs gives you a slice of the emotional qualities that color can offer, without disguising the depth and texture of your black and white photograph.
yesterday’s autumns
lens-artist photo challenge: you pick it!
After autumn winds have blown away the colors of fall, the wilting landscape left behind is a sleeping yellowish-brown hue that remains until spring winds travel across glaciered lands. Between the snowfalls of winter, it is wabi-sabi that greets me throughout each day.
Words of old-- whispered today by wind in the reeds. ~Shōhaku (cited: Trans: S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
From bare brush along a mountain path-- the sound of frost ~Shinkei (cited: Trans: S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
Fallen to the ground like those words of old-- glowing leaves ~Inko (cited: Trans: S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
Travels and Trifles invites photographers to share what they find interesting about a chosen subject. This post represents current work with double exposure as an avenue to open myself to the beauty of the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete qualities of late autumn.
greeting one’s shadow
initially posted on November 20, 2016
a meditative journey 
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