spring

lens artists: spring

March winds bring April showers and May flowers

In northeastern Colorado, March and April often bring heavy snow storms. While many across the globe may be tired of snow, I delight watching big snowflakes cover the world outside my window waiting with anticipation for the stilled silence that will embrace the neighborhood.

Waking up to a snow covered streets is a sure sign that soon there will be a call; it’s a snow day! A guiltless day away from the office, yes!

And then after a sleep in, there is a walk through the park and being silently greeted by snow people.

Do you remember playing King of the Mountain on the big piles of snow left by snow plows?

The next best part of these storms is the warning that occurs in a day or two … the sounds of melting snow’s rivulets and the touch of spring’s silken breezes.

spring begins–
sparrows at my gate
with healthy faces ~Issa (haikuguy.com)

Sofia Photographias: spring

yearning for the green of spring

. . . The caged bird longs for the fluttering of high leaves.

The fish in the garden pool languishes for the whirled water

Of meeting streams.

. . . ~T’ao Yuan-ming – AD 365–427 – (Once More Fields and Gardens)*

Yearning

Leica D-Lux 7: f/2.8 . 1/125 . 34 mm

*Trans: Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell: The Project Gutenberg eBook of Fir-Flower Tablets

awaiting spring 

Glossy branches of jasper, 
A sprinkling of early blossoms,
Touched up by snow bring,
The first tidings of spring.
Soft and delicate in her new make-up,
Fragrant face half showing,
She emerges in the middle of the courtyard--
A beauty in the flower of youth fresh from her bath.
spring
Nature must have regarded her with special favor,
To lavish on her such splendid moonbeams.
Come drain these golden cups of emerald
Till we are drunk.
Of all flowers this the one beyond compare. ~Li Qingzhao 

(cited:   Jiaosheng Wang, Sino-Plantonic Papers The Complete Ci-poems of Li Qingzhao: A New English Translation)

lens-artists photo challenge: spring

In the courtyard there grows a strange tree,

Its green leaves ooze with a fragrant moisture.

spring 2020

Holding the branch I cut a flower from the tree,

Meaning to send it away to the person I love.

spring, 2019

Its sweet smell fills my sleeves and lap.

The road is long, how shall I get it there?

spring 2018

Such a thing is not fine enough to send:

But it may remind him of the time that has past since he left

spring 2017

cited: Trans: Arthur Waley. A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg

spring!

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

2018 photography review, april

“…April showers bring May flowers.”

April stirs my slumbering hunger for color to counteract the depressive yellowish-brown, tired, and bare world winter leaves in its wake. Growing up in the western part of Colorado, I wasn’t aware of how brown, dry, and “un-alive” this state can be until I saw Southern California’s multiple shades of green from the window of a plane and felt the amazing touch of the ocean’s breeze as I left the airport.

As I reviewed the blogs posted during April, I found that some of the composition elements that my photo study explored were:

rule of thirds

photographing red

the photographer – “point of departure”

“From now on, before I go shoot, I’ll consult internally to focus on one thing I want to capture, and have that point of departure. It’ll give purpose to my work and me being out there. The advantages are that I’ll learn patience, presence and a deeper sense of observation. This is a powerful and deep message…have a point of departure.” ~Ralph Gibson

My favorite parts of blogging is the sharing of photographs and reading the thoughts you share in the comment section. This ongoing exchange is like an ongoing virtual trip through various countries and ideas that result in an expanding worldview. Thank you.