Author Archives: scillagrace

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: On Display

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Amy has chosen a perfect theme for this week: On Display. My favorite part of holidays, besides eating and music, is the color and light displayed in joyous abundance, dispelling the darkness of the Winter Solstice. I have always loathed shopping and buying Things, for many reasons, but I am always drawn to an attractive visual array of objects. Salt water taffy in this Oregon shop comes in so many colors, and so do lollipops!

The sparkle of glass and cellophane adds to the magical light captivating the imagination with the promise of sweetness and delight.

You can find beautiful displays in museums, in nature, and in your own home, probably.  What have you got on display? 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Nostalgic

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“The past is a candle at great distance: too close to let you quit, too far to comfort you.”
― Amy Bloom

“Memory believes before knowing remembers.”
― William Faulkner

Thanks to Tina for her challenge “to look backward for a while” with this theme.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Abstract

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This week, Patti invites the Lens-Artists to “break the rules and go beyond the traditional realistic image of an object, scene, or element” and create Abstract photos.

It’s fun to guess what objects were used to create abstract images. Here are a few abstract shots of playground equipment:

Did you see the moon in that one? I wish I could figure out a way to make that more visible. 

The one below is a public art sculpture, again, with the moon faintly visible. 

Naturally simple lines and shapes can also make great abstracts, especially when you use photo editors. 

How does the emotion and story change in the abstracted versions of the plants shown above? How does your reaction change?
I could play around with possibilities forever on this theme!

Pumpkin guts become…

…pop art!

How fun is THAT? Thanks, Patti!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: COLD!

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Tina of Travels and Trifles lives in the South where they’ve had snow exactly twice in 20 years. A recent snowfall there prompted her to challenge us with the photo theme of COLD.

Honey, I live in Wisconsin. Have I got “COLD”? You bet!

Blue lagoon

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Waiting

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In the animal kingdom, humans are a species with a highly developed sense of time. We know past, present, and future and often try to imagine time frames that dwarf our own life spans. 

Waiting, the theme for this week’s Photo Challenge, implies expectations of future events. “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop…” or for the adventure to begin. When waiting seems like a waste of time, it’s because the thing to come is more valuable to you than the present moment. However, if you look at it another way, the present moment is the only real moment and therefore more valuable.

To wait well and gracefully may be to enjoy the present moment and allow the future moment to unfold “all in due time”. 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Creepy!

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This week, Ann Christine suggests that we share some CREEPY photos that will show something “causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease”. Some of her examples include spiders. I personally find arachnids fascinating and not unpleasant. I frequently share a shower with some of them. And they make great photo subjects:

Do any of you remember that Jim Stafford song, “I Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes”? Well, having picked on spiders as creepy, here’s a shot of a snake:

How about UFOs? That idea is pretty creepy. 

Here’s something that I personally find incredibly creepy, and it lives in my house. It’s a Jenny Haniver. Wikipedia will tell you: 

A Jenny Haniver is the carcass of a ray or a skate that has been modified by hand then dried, resulting in a mummified specimen intended to resemble a fanciful fictional creature, such as a demon or dragon.

So, what this tells me is that human beings fabricate “Creepy” to far more fearful extents than anything that exists in nature. 

I took the first four of these photos while walking around in the natural world. I find them perfectly peaceful and interesting. I am a bit creeped out by the Jenny Haniver, as were my children when they found it hidden in our microwave as a practical joke!

Fear is a very natural human response. It can be useful and kind of fun. But manipulating fear is a human activity that can cause great damage, confusion, and disaster. We must be very careful when we create creepiness.  

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Monochrome

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For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #70, Patti invites to explore the world of monochrome–which includes black and white and sepia, as well as different shades of one color.

“…emotions come through much stronger in black and white. Color is distracting in a way, it pleases the eye but it doesn’t necessarily reach the heart.” – Kim Hunter

I love the drama of a really good monochrome shot. 

To see in color is a delight for the eye, but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul – Andri Cauldwell

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
― Ted Grant

“Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.” – Eliott Erwitt

“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected” – Robert Frank