art

lens-artists: over the hill

Not for stilts

but as a cane

bamboo serves me now,

I who call to mind

the games of childhood ~Saigyo (BW, Poems of a Mountain Home)

Seventy-one!

How did

a dewdrop last? ~Kigen (YH, Japanese Death Poems)

How few our years of golden youth! How certain our gray years of age! ~Emperor Wu-ti

(The Jade Flute, Various; The Project Gutenberg Ebook)

Wind Kisses invites photographers to share images reflective of their relationship with over the hill.

weekly prompts: glimmer

Pale green night and flowers all melting into one 
    in the soft haze–
Everywhere the moon, glimmering in the Spring night.

~The Sarashina Diary (1009-1059): Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

The morning’s sun glimmered on the surface of Spring Creek. Please enjoy.

Visit Weekly Prompts to join this week’s challenge: glimmer

lens-artists: motion

Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,
Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard. ~ Fujiwara no Kinto

Patti invited bloggers to explore the movement of objects or people. Since it is a bit too hot this weekend to go on a photo walkabout, I wandered through some old files. I hope you enjoy.

lens-artists: what’s your photographic groove?

There is a unique joy within those moments when something flashes with an invitation to pause, to become acquainted, to compose, and to whisper, “Please remain as such while I set up my camera.”

To engage with what is as it is in the moment…one definition of contemplative photography.

Fujifilm X-T4 f/4 1/10s 120mm 160 ISO, editing Snapseed

A. Karr and M. Wood (The Practice of Contemplative Photography) notes that contemplative photography begins with “the flash of perception.”  

In the flash of perception…there is a space for things to come to you. Experience is definite, because there is no doubt about what you are seeing… Whatever it is, it is here, and there is no doubt involved, no shakiness.  The nature of perception is sharp, with a brilliant, clear quality.  The flash of perception is a moment of seeing that is one-pointed, stable, and free from distraction.  Experience is not diffused or scattered or moving. It is direct and in focus. It is stable because it is not tossed about by winds of thought or emotion. There is a stillness and roundedness as awareness remains with perception.

Visit Slow Shutter Speed to join this week’s lens-artist’s photo challenge: What’s your photographic groove?