This week Tina (Travels and Trifles) invites lens-artists to share photographs that bring a bit of humor into their lives. As I have found that photo walks are like treasure hunts where each click of the camera is tucking images into a bag of treasures … only to be opened when one is at home. The images below brought moments of humor that I hope you enjoy.
Only if I could poppy speak.
Yep! A foretelling of academia!
How does a children’s slide become the Fantom of the Opera?
Ritva writes that “we work so hard to learn the photography rules, at least I do but now it is time to BREAK them!! The problem is just that in order to break a rule, you must know that there is a rule in the first place!”
The composition guidelines (rules) used within this image:
Sub-framing – a picture in a picture is a technique which invites a viewer’s eye into an image through the use of natural or man-made elements. This invitation to the viewer to be guided from the foreground to the background also adds depth to an image. They may take multiple shapes or forms and may either dominate an image or constitute a small component in a wider composition.
Does the composition of this image invite you to be guided from the foreground to the framed tree in the left upper corner?
Rule of odds – guideline created by how the composition within an image may gift us with the balance we unconsciously seek
Does the three blurry bells gift you with a sense of balance? Or does the line composition have a negative affect on balance? I find that my head tilts in an attempt to fit the image into a sense of expectation.
Rule of thirds: the element of composition that begins with dividing an image into thirds, horizontally and vertically, creating nine imagined sections.
This image is created with five layers, do you find that the composition may have some how upset the rule of thirds?
Sutcliffe rarely left Whitby [a port and resort community on the Yorkshire coast], where his portrait studio kept him busy, and said that he was ‘tethered for the greater part of each year by a chain, at most only a mile or two long.’ To most modern photographers this would seem a crippling restriction, but Sutcliffe gradually realized that it was an asset to him as a photographer since it forced him to concentrate on the transitory effects that could transform familiar scenes. …photographers should always aim for something more than ‘mere postcard records of facts.’ ‘By waiting and watching for accidental effects of fog, sunshine or cloud,’ he advised, ‘it is generally possible to get an original rendering of any place. If we only get what any one can get at any time, our labour is wasted; a mere record of facts should never satisfy us.’
cited: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, The History of Photography Series, p 8
Horsetooth Reservoir
Journeys with John invites lens-artists to “share where you go or what you do to help lift those spirits when this old world starts getting you down”.
As I turned into an alley on my way to the library with hopes there would be a hard copy of Umberto Eco’s, The Name of the Rose, I found wall paintings of joy-filled companionship. Images speaking of metaphors, puns, riddles, memories?
“The question, …, was whether metaphors and puns and riddles, which also seem conceived by poets for sheer pleasure, do not lead us to speculate on things in a new and surprising way ..” (cited: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose)
“And he sailed off through night and day. And in and out of weeks. And almost over a year to where the wild things are.”*
“Max said ‘BE STILL!‘ and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things.”*
“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”*
“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”*
Submitted in response to Egídio’s lens-artists challenge, “I would love to see your wild side.”
As I spent part of the afternoon revisiting photo files in response to Tina’s invitation to share five favorite photographs, I began to ponder, “What are the variables within photographs that come together to create a place within the heart of the eyes?”
Photographs tell of silent, vague, faded memories. Photographs are of visual moments that have grasped one’s attention. Photographs share times of exploration, of travel, of life. Photographs are representations of impermanence, light and shadow, fantasy, composition, challenges, points of view, …
Even in Kyoto— hearing the cuckoo’s cry— I long for Kyoto. ~Buson
an image created in 2013 that awakens memories of 1960s
an unforgettable smilea telling of impermanence a pear
a time of light and shadow
Thank you Tina for this quiet Sunday of reflection.
Ritva has invited photographers “to capture the essence and personality of your subjects. Whether you choose to ask a stranger, do a self-portrait, take the portrait of a friend, family member, or acquaintance, or photograph animals and birds, the goal is to connect with another person or subject and tell their story through your image.”
This past year has engulfed my family into intense grief with the passing of my husband and son-in-law. Both these two men, the bedrocks of the family, endured intense suffering and left us with a deeper understanding of acceptance, compassion, and suffering. There is also gratitude … gratitude for the grounding companionship of emergency response teams, doctors, nurses, support staff, military personnel.
Over the past year, the beauty of the dawn has been a source of encouragement to begin each day anew. An important part of welcoming each new day … its challenges and unknowns … has been photography.
Thank you Rita for this challenge as it invited me to spend a few minutes to play as I explored new ways to perceive life.
There is an earth-shattering moment that barges into a life, unexpectedly, shifting and tearing apart everything … everything in the heart held to be true. After the denial, disassociation, and numbing begin to ease, there is a knowing that the “before you” has been ripped away and now an “ongoing emerging you” has begun a never-ending search for THE door of clarity and resolution. Within that search life continues. Life with its births and deaths. Life creating pathways of sorrow and joy. Pathways of contemplation created through photography and haiku.
rain falls
memories of lost years
left by a cloud
My mother’s passing in the spring of 2016, expected yet unexpected, occurred during this journey with WordPress. The intention to validate my mother’s life opened a gate of posting 100 days of contemplative photography and haiku to remember, honor, and share the life of a woman, my mom.
meandering tales
beyond a haze of tear drops
my mother’s face – mine.
Memories of my mom often come to visit…they are remembered moments that announce her arrival, not as the frail woman with a fierce determination that time had transformed formed but the woman who carried with her the stature of Danish Vikings…warriors, explorers, conquerors, survivors.
morning haze
jewels of rain, falling
in a dream
In our next spring
let’s meet as butterflies
afield
Though we are parted,
If on Casper Mountain Peak
I should honor the sound
of the pine trees swaying there –
with the summer breeze.
After my mother’s memories fade and life’s present moments come into focus I often wonder … if we had met – not as mother-daughter – but as children in a playground would she have wanted to be my friend? I know she would have been my bestest of friends.
Thank you Anne (Slow Shutter Speed) for the invitation to share what has “enriched and/or changed” my life.
One picture … an image holding a shared moment during a winter’s drive … a silent memory of the time … the time before hearing … hearing the diagnosis … prostate cancer, stage 4.*
*A 2013 study conducted at the Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health and Science University found that Veterans exposed to Agent Orange are not only at higher risk for prostate cancer, but they are more likely to have aggressive forms of the disease. (cited: US Department of Veteran’s Affairs)
Leya’s lens-artists challenge: “use only ONE picture. One that you find important, meaningful to you, maybe sending a message – and then explain why you picked just that picture.”
This week Patti invites photographers to explore a couple of questions in regards to black and white vs color images: 1) When is it best to use one vs the other? 2) What’s the benefit of each one?
First I have to admit that even though I have read various articles about what types of photographs are ideal for black and white, I generally move in and out of an experimental flow of emotional responses.
For example the first image was edited in Capture One from a raw file to a jpg. The black and white image was edited in Silver Efex Pro2. The last was edited in Color Efex Pro 4 which, for me, invokes a stimulus response of soft and gentle.
As I’ve been experiencing difficulties using Photoshop and Capture One due to upgrades, I made the very difficult decision to cancel both subscriptions. Anyone have any recommendations for editing programs that will work with an ISO 13.7.3?
a meditative journey 
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