nature

wpc: structure

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If you are…someone who enjoys the countryside, or the green forest, you know that the forests are our lungs outside our bodies. Yet, we have been acting in a way that has allowed two million square miles of forest land to be destroyed by acid rain. We are imprisoned in our small selves, thinking only of the comfortable conditions for this small self, while we destroy our large self. One day I suddenly saw that the sun is my heart, my heart outside of this body. If my body’s heart ceases to function I cannot survive; but if the sun, my other heart, ceases to function, I will also die immediately… (Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace)

via Photo Challenge: Structure

Drive Photo Lesson – 5 – Sharpness

I found myself attracted to these two sunflowers in a fallowed field that borders a trail I walk almost everyday.  Since the field is situated next to an apartment complex’s parking lot, it seemed to me that the background would have muddied any image. Therefore, with the aperture value at 5.6,  I composed this image following RAJ’s instructions for a technique called “Focus Locking.”  First I composed the image with the sunflowers in the center, then pressed the shutter so that the flowers were in focus, and then with a half-pressed shutter I recomposed the image before pressing the shutter fully.

pc_sharp

Nikon D750  f/5.6 1/40  300mm 100 ISO

 

no trespassing

Again

I sneak into your garden

to eat arena berries.

(Please keep yourself hidden

until I go away!)

~Ryokan, cited in: K Tanahashi, Sky Above, Great Wind

weaving
During a recent photo walk, I found myself ignoring a “no trespassing” sign while silently rehearsing innocent detail.  If I had not been somewhat oppositional, I would have missed this interesting chair being re-weaved by nature as well as a water lily pond and a kingfisher. Much the same as Ryokan, 190+ years ago, I found myself hoping the homeowners would keep themselves hidden until I went away.

wednesday words

The quote placed inside this image of daisies with a resting beetle brought to mind a quote, by an unknown author, that spoke to my restless soul.  Over the past several years, my travels and relocations have diminished a bit more than I wish; and as a consequence, I feel as though I’ve begun to put down roots as my wings are being clipped.

EmptyName-93

dandelion project

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All phenomena of being, since time memorial, are independent of concepts and words. Concepts and words cannot transform them or separate them from their true nature.

~The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana  (cited: Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys, pg. 81)