This week Patti invites us to explore the various composition elements that invite viewers to focus on the subject : leading lines, patterns, color, contrast, selective focus, freezing the action, doorways or arches, or human/animal eyes.
Be safe. Be well. Be sage.
The quiet that follows a snowstorm.
looking delicious
the snow falling softly
softly ~Issa (cited: haikuguy.com)
Yesterday’s snowstorm blanketed the sphere of my world with 17.7 inches of snow…today feels calming, relaxing, and tranquil.
What a treat from Mother Nature.
Time to slow down…What a treat!
Travel and Trifles invites us to share “What a Treat”
This week Ann-Christine (Leya) invites us to explore where or what is our hideaway.
What exactly is a hideaway?
Roger’s International Thesaurus (revised: Robert L Chapman, 1977) offers two understanding of Hideaway: 1) hiding place – secret place, corner, asylum, sanctuary, retreat, refuge, cubbyhole and 2) retreat – secret place, den, ivory tower, hideout, cell, lair, cloister, hermitage, ashram
Refuge synonyms include: sanctuary, harbor, safe haven, game sanctuary, safety zone, shelter, home, hospice, orphanage, retreat, secret place.
One may take refuge, claim sanctuary, throw oneself into the arms of, make port, reach safety.
My hideaway…retreat…sanctuary is my backyard where my family plays, camps, swims, hikes, photographs, share memories/hopes/fears, and laughs. These places where we sought sanctuary include Medicine Bow National Forest, Horsetooth Reservoir, Poudre Canyon, Cameron Peak, North Park.
Today, all threatened within the Mulen Fire and the Cameron Peak Fire.
“…from another perspective, refuge is about how you relate to the experience of life itself. When you stop looking outside or inside for something to free you from your struggles, you take refuge in direct awareness. …When awareness and experience are not different, you stop struggling with what arises and you are taking refuge in clarity…when you experience life without grasping, opposing or ignoring what arises, you take refuge in unrestricted experience.” (cited: Ken McLeod, Reflections on Silver River)
An island of self….
Nonverbal communication: It is suggested that 50 to 75% of all communication is transmission through our eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture and the distance between people. We also understand messages through variations of body language, distance and physical environments.
| In the mountain depths, Treading through the crimson leaves, The wandering stag calls. When I hear the lonely cry, Sad–how sad!–the autumn is ~Sarumaru (cited: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) |
did others sit here too
waiting for spring?
old tatami mat ~Issa (haiku.guy)
blooming plum–
the voices of children
sound reverent ~Issa (haikuguy.com)
A haiku…is a way in which the cold winter rain, the swallows of evening, even the very day in its hotness, and the length of the night, become truly alive, share in our humanity, speak their own silent and expressive language. (cited: Haiku: Eastern Culture)
Symbols are objects that conveys agreed upon messages within a particular group of people.
Harry Nilsson, Every Body is Talking’
Ride and jump on over to HorseAddict to join in this week’s lens-artist’s photo challenge: communication
to the man walking
“Look behind you!”
windblown butterfly ~ Issa (cited: www.haikuguy.com)
Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.
If you allow no idle concerns
To weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season. ~The Golden Age of Zen
Though days pass
And others may forget
I can never lose the thought
That meeting in the evening
Of an Autumn day. ~The Dairy of Izumi Shikibu (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
Hop on over to Amy’s (The World is a Book) to join this week’s photo challenge: photo walk
This week Patti introduces various types of symmetry that create images that are powerful and dramatic: vertical, centered, mirrored, horizontal, and radial.
Radial symmetry is all about circles. It is often seen within flower images as petals fan out from a center circle. Other examples are spokes on a wheel, or ripples of water making concentric circles.
While I have studied various types of symmetry over the years, radial symmetry is one type of compositional element that is new to me. Consequently I decided to open my eyes to various ways to compose symmetry through the use of circles.
Hope you enjoyed these images. Be safe. Be well.
Photography, in a nut shell, is lines, shapes, colors, and feelings
In photography negative space is perhaps the most important element as it embraces the subject within your image — the element of interest — helping it stand out and inviting the viewer’s attention. It is the aspect within a photograph that generally doesn’t attract much attention. It is sometimes referred to as white space and has the potential to change what appears to be an average subject into an outstanding image.
The simplest example of positive and negative are the words in this blog. These words draw your attention while the background doesn’t. The words are positive space, and the white background is negative space
Negative space awakens feelings of peace, calm, quiet, loneliness, isolation. It is less about the subject within a photograph and more about awakening a feeling in the viewer.
Negative space can create a sense of lightness, airiness…it can strengthen the positive emotions in a photography, emphasize the feelings of your subject, conveying whatever story you as a photographer wishes to evoke in your viewer.
Negative space provides “breathing room” giving the viewer’s eyes a place to rest and preventing an image from appearing too cluttered…creating a more engaging composition.
Negative space, in the world of photography, may be more important especially if the photographer tends towards creating images that are simple; yet effective. Michael Kenna, Bruce Percy, and Masao Yamamoto are three artists known for their minimalistic images.
This week’s lens artists’ host is Amy (The World is a Book). Hop on over and join in the fun.
Waking to the morning sunlight …
This week Patti invites us to take a “fresh look at ordinary, everyday objects–things that you see and use in your daily life.”
The Plum-blossom is the first of the “hundred flowers” to open. It symbolizes the beginnings of things, and is also one of the “three friends” who do not fear Winter’s cold, the other two being the pine and the bamboo.
cited: Fir-Flower Tablets Poems Translated from the Chinese Trans: Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell Project Gutenberg
A Winter night, a cold Winter night. To me, the night is unending.
I chant heavily to myself a long time. I sit, sit in the North Hall.
The water in the well is solid with ice. The moon enters the Women’s Apartments.
The flame of the gold lamp is very small, the oil is frozen. It shines on the misery of my weeping. ~Li t’ai-Poa Woman Sings to the Air: “Sitting at Night Fir-Flower”
excerpt: Trans: Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell Fir-Flower Tablets Poems Translated from the Chinese Project Gutenberg
First snow! I see it young every winter,
Yet my face grows old
As Winter comes. ~ The Diary of Izumi Shikibu
cited: Trans: Annie Shepley Omori & Kochi Doi Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
This week’s lens-artists photo challenge – winter – is sponsored by Leya
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.
cited: The Poet Li Po (AD 701- 762) Trans: A Waley, Project Gutenberg
This week’s lens-artists photo challenge is sponsored by Patti.
In the courtyard there grows a strange tree,
Its green leaves ooze with a fragrant moisture.
Holding the branch I cut a flower from the tree,
Meaning to send it away to the person I love.
Its sweet smell fills my sleeves and lap.
The road is long, how shall I get it there?
Such a thing is not fine enough to send:
But it may remind him of the time that has past since he left
cited: Trans: Arthur Waley. A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg
Note: The poem above is one of 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.).
This week’s lens-artists challenge (spring) is hosted by Tina
Lagoon Summer concert at Colorado State University, July 2017. Hop on over to Amy’s to join this week’s lens-artists photo theme: summer
Nikon D750 f/6.3 1/640s 85mm 100 ISO edited Capture One 20
a meditative journey 
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