lens-artist: setting a mood

Looking backward … I cannot see the ancients days. Looking forward … I cannot see ages yet to come. Only heaven and earth have remained, and will remain forever … I am alone, I grieve, I drop tears into the dust. ~Chen Tzu-ang*

Images that speak of solitary … alone … by one’s self evoke feelings of contemplative sadness.

winterwalk

Leya has extended a lens-artists challenge: setting a mood

*cited: Translator: Anonymous. The Project Gutenberg Ebook of the Jade Flute, by Various

thursday’s special: pick a word

observing

The skill of observing involves using all of the senses, as appropriate, to find out about the characteristics, properties and attributes of objects, places and events. Observations can be made directly with the senses or indirectly through the use of instruments that extend our capacity to observe.

Paula’s Lost in Translation: Pick a Word

wow…words of wisdom

Even in Kyoto-

hearing the cuckoo’s cry-

I long for Kyoto. ~Bushō

“Solastalgia conveys the distressing homesickness we experience without leaving home, when home has altered beyond recognition, such as when seeing a familiar and beloved environment that has been destroyed by drought, fire or flood, by the extremes of climate change.”

cited: Dharma Talk bySensei Deirdre Eisho Peterson – Red Rocks Zen Circle

Note: “Solastalgia” was coined by a contemporary Australian environmental philosopher named Glenn Albrecht, and it is a word that comes out of the climate crisis.  This word solastalgia combines the words solace, desolation and nostalgia.

Paula’s Lost in Translation Words of Wisdom

lens-artists: walking the neighborhood

This week’s Lens-Artists, walking the neighborhood, challenge is offered by Travels and Trifles.

During the heat of the summer, walks occurred during the early morning with its cool(er) temperatures. This time of day parking lots are mostly empty, one may greet people who rise early to walk their dogs or to begin their day in quiet contemplation. Well … there are people who are multi-tasking on these morning photo walks as they open their eyes to see life through a camera lens and begin the challenge of 10,000 steps walking to the groceries to buy Skyr and raspberries … hum. Skyr, blackberries and nuts … hum, hum. Blue berries, anyone?

As my great-granddaughter is known to have said, “It sounds like a parfait!” I read that parfait is the French word for “perfect.” Creamy vanilla skyr is the best! Hum, hum, hum!

Thank you Tina for this challenge. It was fun.

seven squares: dawn

About a year ago, I moved into 55+ apartment … second floor with east facing windows. East facing windows offer moments of awe as the sky transitions from night to dawn.

Most days I feel tied to this apartment since Jeff passed. This sense of being tethered brings to mind the work of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe.  With a brief review of his life and a collection of his work within Aperture I read: 

Choose one subject, anything will do — your own house, or the house opposite, or the next house — and in place of a tripod, drive a stake into the ground, nail a board on top of this, and make a screw hole in the board for the screw of your camera . . . Photograph your subject at every hour of the day, on fine days, and at intervals on dull days, photograph it after it has been rained on for weeks, and after it has been sun-dried for months. (cited: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, the Aperture History of Photography Series: Aperture 1979).

While I dreamt of photo trips during those long-hours filled with work and family responsibilities, I find Frank Sutcliffe’s creative work serves to move me toward greater acceptance of being “tethered” during this time of transition with the challenge to open myself to the “transitory effects” of nature that transforms the landscape close to home.

For the second seven squares, there was a personal invitation to explore landscape minimalism with 7 different Fujifilm film simulations offered through the FujiXWeekly app. The first is image was created with the Retro Gold recipe.

Retro Gold

Chrome 11
Super HG Astia
Acros
Moody Monochrome
BW Superia
Night

I appreciate The Life of B’s seven squares challenges as they invite me to stretch this emotional tether and open an awareness to the beauty around me. Thank you

lens-artists: common object

Ritva Sillanmäki invites an exploration of “Taking the mundane and shining a different light on it. Highlighting an object or scene that we normally pass by without notice, and making it something special. This process allows us to appreciate the beauty and significance of everyday things that often go overlooked. By giving attention to these ordinary elements, we can find inspiration and joy in the simple moments of life”.

I once read that a photograph of a peanut taken at a distance is just an image of a peanut. A photograph of a peanut that fills the image space is art.