black and white photography

transformation

One of the magical things about photography is the transformation that takes place when you photograph something.  Something that inherently has very little going for it, in terms of interest you take in it, can become infinitely more interesting when rendered as a photograph. ~ Grant Mudford*

wire stitching machine

Boston wire stitcher

cited in:

Tao of Photography

PL Gross & SI Shapiro

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: circles and curves

 This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is:  circles and curves

just myself

also, one fly

– an enormous house ~ Issa*

cee'sfotofuncircles

*cited in:

Inch by Inch

Trans: Nanao Sakaki

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Lines

This Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge week is all about lines:  vertical, horizontal, diagonal, crossing lines, etc.   

When out photographing, it’s with a sense of play: no bounds are in sight, anything is possible, and the unexpected welcome. ~Chip Forelli*

lines

*cited in:

Tao of Photography

Philippe L Gross & S.I. Shapiro

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life

Is my mind elsewhere

Or has it simply not sung?

Hototogisu

~Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693)*

creating images

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life. Another multi-photo challenge! Make sure you include picture captions to explain to people what they’re seeing, and experiment with the tiled galleries.

*Hototogisu, translated as cuckoo, wood thrush and sometimes nightingale.

The bird’s song is a strong but mournful cry.

It is said to die after singing 8,008 times.

It is also known as the “bird of time,”

“messenger of death” and “bird of disappointed love,”

and flies back and forth from this world to the next.

Confucian axiom: If one’s mind is elsewhere, one will look but not see, listen but not hear

cited in:

The Classic Tradition of Haiku

Edited by:  Faubion Bowers

Photo Friday: “Candid Shot”

photofricandid

When we photograph, we do not actually reach out and take anything.  A camera is basically a dark box with a receptor (film or digital sensor) on one side and a small opening on the other.  Light reflected from the subject is projected through the opening by the lens onto the receptor opposite it.  When we do photography, we receive an image that is reflected from the subject. Instead of photography as taking, then, we can envision it as receiving.  Instead of a trophy that is hunted, an image is a gift.

~Howard Zehr*

*cited in:  The Little Book of Contemplative Photography

photo friday: springtime

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape–the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth*

photofridspring

Snow yet remaining

The evening slopes are misty –

An evening in spring. ~Iio Sogi**

cited in:

*John Connolly, The Wrath of Angels

**Faubion Bowers, The Classic Tradition of Haiku