Author Archives: scillagrace

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Break the Rules!

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Ritva states this week’s challenge like this: “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!”

Well, I never really studied photography, but Ann-Christine from the blog “Leya” was kind enough to post this graphic, which I found on Etsy:

So, it would seem that there are “rules” for composition, and probably rules for light exposure, focus, color treatment, and maybe a lot more factors as well. And what would be the point of breaking any of these rules? Possibly it would open an opportunity to “see” something quite differently. For instance, what if your group shot didn’t include faces, but feet?

This shot will always remind me of standing in the rain in New Orleans with my family as we waited for a table at a popular restaurant.

And what if you hadn’t prepared for a shot in any way at all but just pointed your camera at something happening around you at took your chances? You might record a moment of spontaneous action, Life in all its unpredictable beauty.

And what if the only thing you get is cluttered and out of focus and poorly lit – but happens to be exactly how the scene felt? When there just isn’t time to follow the rules, maybe it’s better to live in the moment and improvise. Get jazzed!

singer
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Cinematic

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lilac

This week’s challenge is “Cinematic“, hosted by Sofia. She describes the theme this way:

“There are a few things that give a photo that cinematic feel: camera angles, bold and high-contrast colors, light, locations, just to name a few. The main objective is to take a shot that is part of a story, there’s mood and a sense of location; our image is but a snapshot of a much wider situation.”

My opening image was taken in a meadow that always reminds me of the opening scene in The Sound of Music. Imagine the helicopter shot through the clouds, and the camera swooping closer to Julie Andrews as she begins to spread her arms and sing. The cinematography is iconic and plays up the contrast between a sweeping landscape and a single character. Background and foreground allude to a wider situation. If I were to expand on my image, I’d imagine the camera panning down to a vase of lilacs on a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, a wheel of cheese, and two fascinating characters…perhaps a talking Douglas squirrel and Steller’s jay.

Two movies stand out in my mind for their cinematography. The Brutalist is a 2024 film that looks and feels just like the title. It’s full of abstract, angular shots. I felt as I was watching it that I was less aware of the story than I was of the photography.

The second movie that came to my mind is Lawrence of Arabia. I was advised to see it on the big screen so that the cinematography could have its full affect on me. I will never forget the desert sunrise scene. It has been hailed as the “greatest cut of all”, a close-up shot of the main character blowing out a match, and then the desert sun rising on the horizon in an extremely sparse long shot. Of course, the music enhances the scene: eerie and mesmerizing, then triumphant and glorious.

I feel like ending this with a 1970s “rom-com” shot…

Thanks, Sofia! This was super fun. 🙂

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: My Go-To Places

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“I go to the hills
When my heart is lonely;
I know I will hear
What I’ve heard before—
My heart will be blessed
With the sound of music,
And I’ll sing once more.” – Oscar Hammerstein II

Call me corny, I don’t care. I have always been drawn to hills. I grew up a flatlander in the Chicago suburbs. Hills were exciting! I was ten years old before I saw my first mountain. Now I live with hills all around, and actual mountains not far away.

These are photos I took today on my weekly Monday hike.

Thanks for asking, Johnbo! HERE‘s the original Challenge post.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Abandoned

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“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
― Ann Landers

“Abandoned“. Now there is a word that conjures such heartbreak. And yet…
In some cases, it is the healthiest thing you can do. To let go of that which no longer serves you or anyone else – bad habits, bad ways of thinking, falsehoods – those things are better abandoned. And those places where you don’t really belong, even though you enjoyed or learned something there, are better abandoned as well: stretches of beach, or campsites, or wilderness…or sometimes, relationships.

It can be frightfully hard to let go and move on. And it can be the most joyful, brave, and salvific thing you do.

Thanks to Anne for a truly rich theme. Visit her challenge post HERE.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Seen on my Last Outing

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“A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles. ” ― Tim Cahill

I moved to my new home in Oregon during the pandemic. Aside from my adult children, I knew not a soul, and opportunities to meet people were severely restricted. I was glad to find a Meetup.com group that did local hikes every Monday morning. I decided to build my new life around that cornerstone, and I have kept that in place for the last four and a half years.

This morning’s outing was to the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, just six miles from my apartment. The boardwalk and trails around the marsh open on April 1st every Spring, after over-wintering flocks have begun to move back North. The water is very high, and will dwindle down to as little as a large puddle by the end of the summer, before Fall rain begins. The skies this morning were especially dramatic, with showers of rain falling periodically. The wind was quite fierce at the top of Pigeon Butte, and turkey vultures were enjoying playing with the updrafts along the cliff. Red-winged blackbirds were defending their territory and their mates in the cattails south of the marsh. Camas flowers were in bloom, their sweet roots beginning to store sugar and starch made with the sun’s energy. Because I brought my big binoculars along, I did not bring my big camera. These shots were made with my cell phone. I’m not entirely happy with the results, but I am glad to have something lightweight when I’m walking.

Thank you to Ann-Christine for inviting me to share my day’s outing. Visit her site HERE to see her delightful post, including heart-warming cat photos!

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: It’s a Wild Life!

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“To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour…”
– from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

Calypso bulbosa, or Fairy Slipper orchid

Wildflowers are beginning to bloom in Oregon. When I first discovered that there are species of orchids native to this area, I was delighted and astonished. I felt privileged to live in a place that contained such exotic beauty!

Trillium

“…The wild deer wandering here and there
Keeps the human soul from care…” – more of Auguries

The wild life that is natural, undominated or shaped by humans, is what keeps me sane these days in a world that is often wild in another way – unrestrained and violent. I have been fortunate enough to have visited wilderness areas around the country, and I contribute to protecting them. The portion of my blog dedicated to those stories and photos can be found HERE. I find the wisdom of the Wild to be one of the best teachers. Those Spiritual Lessons from Nature can be found HERE on my blog. If you care to explore those links, I would be honored, dear Reader. In the meantime, I’ve been given permission to post five more images on this Challenge, so here are some of my Wild favorites.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

Thanks to Egidio for this worthy challenge that has inspired the sharing of so many beautiful images! Please visit his post HERE.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Personal Favorites, Portraits, and Life Changes

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The portrait above is one of my favorites, taken while I was doing the photoshoot for my son’s wedding. These are my daughters, hamming it up for a selfie. My oldest, on the right, turned 40 years old in January. That’s a life change, for me as well as for her.

Photo credit: Richard O’Dell

It has been a busy month, Reader, and I have not participated in the last few LA Challenges. I’m attempting to make up for that now. What have I been up to? Thanks for asking! I was onstage for six performances of the play Amadeus with my youngest child in the title role. I am immensely proud of my local community theater for the vision, excellence, and creativity that went into this production. My kiddo’s spouse was also in the production, so it was quite a personally significant experience – an opportunity to work and play with them and their best friends. The respect, the trust, and the love that we built in this process will stay with me forever. I do believe that it has changed our lives.

Life has changed a lot in the last 40 years. I still take photographs, and my family is still my favorite thing about life.

I’m still in awe of the beauty of the world every day.

And the intersection of personal favorites, portraits, and life’s changes is still personified in this photo I took of my late husband in 1980. Our kiddo dedicated their performance to him, and we miss him very much. He would have been so proud of us, so full of laughter and appreciation. And always, full of love.

Thanks to Tina for this week’s Challenge, and a shout out to Ritva (Portraits) and Anne (Life’s Changes) as well.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Bold

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“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

puddle

There’s something incredibly bold about a toddler. If you’ve ever seen the pure joy on a youngster’s face when they’re beginning to walk, it might surprise you. They’ve fallen down a million times, but still the prospect of being upright and moving forward is so compelling that they are happy to try again. Maybe it’s the exhilaration of satisfying a primal urge; maybe it’s the encouraging smiles and excitement from a care-giver. Being able to do what the grown-ups (or slightly more grown up) are doing is a huge accomplishment, and it is so thrilling to know you belong. With the proper footwear, you feel invincible. Mud puddles aren’t hazards, they’re opportunities.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Perhaps there’s an element of play in boldness as well, a courageous experimenting. Toddlers who are given permission to play boldly learn quickly. As we get older, we’re expected to mitigate risks, be more efficient, fail less. I feel the constraint in my body. Perhaps I will strap on my bright green boots of invincibility today and stride out on muddy paths to stomp in some puddles. There are mountains to climb, hard rocky roads to traverse, wrongs to be set right.

Thanks to Sofia for this challenge: a worthy theme to ponder. Do visit her site for more inspiring, bold images.

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Lens-Artist Photo Challenge: Only One Picture

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“This week it is my turn to present a challenge – and I mean to give us all a real ‘test’. I tend to use several pictures in my posts, and some of us often do – so the challenge is to 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. It is not meant to be a ‘favorite’ picture of yours…” ~ Ann-Christine of the blog “Leya”

What an inspired challenge! I love that this plays right into the wheelhouse of making meaning, not just making images, and that is a place where my mental gears can turn all day long. Especially in a time of confusion, worry, chaos, and sorrow. What a great question to ask repeatedly: “What is important and meaningful now?”

As one who is instinctively visually inspired, I knew that if I scrolled through my media library, one photo would jump out at me. In this case, quite literally.

This is a favorite photo, in fact, because it means so much to me, personally. For the moment, though, I’m imagining I don’t know the specific story, and I’m taking a first look. I think this is an emotion-packed scene. The brooding clouds; the flat, gray shore; the piercing light; the reflection in the puddled foreground; and the exuberant kicking up of the silhouetted figure’s heels. It suggests defiance, courage, enthusiasm (being filled with the Source of Life, which some call God – theos in Greek), hope. The fact that the action is reflected provides even more momentum. These powerful feelings continue and have unimagined after effects. I want to shout “Yes!” when I see it, feel a bracing ocean breeze in my face and a surge of energy. I want to be part of the revolution or revelation that inspired this scene.

The backstory: I traveled to the Oregon coast to visit my adult children in October of 2019. I was considering moving from Wisconsin to the west coast to be closer to them and my family of origin in California. The cross-country move would mean a lot of change, a lot of loss, an unknown step into a new adventure – everything that being alive requires. Playing on the beach with my 30-year old daughter was a timeless and time-filled joy. She has always been physically expressive and unpredictable, laughing and cavorting at any moment. And she has been through the hardest struggles imaginable; the list would astonish you. I hold her entire history in my memory and see her, here, triumphant.

Yes, I moved thousands of miles to be with her and her siblings. I moved during the COVID pandemic when isolation, confusion, and fear effected every decision and every moment. Being on the west coast meant that I was with my mother for her two months in hospice and her death. It means that I have a chance to build a closer relationship with my siblings and my kids. It means that I can be engaged in supporting those I love through hard times and celebrations. It means that I have a lived experience of making another big life change and following it through. Each time I do that, I feel more confident, more hopeful in my ability to continue to do hard things. When I face those challenges and celebrate the outcome, the ripples travel to distant shores I can only imagine.

I share this photo with you with the hope that you will recognize inspiration, courage, and joy in your lived moments.


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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Cats and Dogs

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“The cat is such a perfect symbol of beauty and superiority that it seems scarcely possible for any true aesthete and civilized cynic to do other than worship it.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, Cats and Dogs

When I was a tiny child, I harbored the belief that all cats were girls and all dogs were boys. I’m not sure how I formed that notion, but when I mention it in conversation, sometimes there’s another person who also remembers thinking that. The first family pet we had joined the household when I was about seven years old – a male cat – and I had to abandon my theory.

“The dog appeals to cheap and facile emotions; the cat to the deepest founts of imagination and cosmic perception in the human mind.” ― H.P. Lovecraft, Cats and Dogs

I was afraid of dogs for many years. When I was five or six years old, I was running on the shore of Lake Michigan in front of our family cottage when an Irish setter spotted me and presumably thought I was a potential playmate. He started running toward me, and I started running away, probably screaming. I could hear an adult voice in the distance yelling, “King! King! Come back!” When the dog caught up to me, he jumped up and knocked me over. I was sure I was about to be eaten. The dog’s owner finally appeared and told me that King was a friendly dog and calmed us both down a bit. But I wanted nothing more to do with dogs for a long, long time. In fact, it wasn’t until my adult children had their own dogs that I really began to learn to trust and bond with canines.

At this point in my life, I find myself stepping in to care for friends’ pets when they are traveling. I have learned a lot from my kids about pet care and pet psychology. There’s a sweet reality TV show produced in the U.K. call “The Dog House” which films the matching of rescue dogs with people searching for canine companions. The backstories on each episode illustrate that we are all searching for safety and love, even as we are all uniquely quirky.

Dogs and cats provide a very important service to us humans by teaching us compassion and responsibility. Learning to love and care for a living being that doesn’t look like you, speak your language, eat the same foods or behave in the ways you would is a very important developmental process. I think it helps us be better parents and citizens of the world.

May I update my theories when evidence proves them inaccurate. May I be at least as kind to other humans as I would be to pets.

Our Challenge host this week, Tina, has put together a stunning display of photos of cats and dogs both tame and wild. Do visit to see for yourself! Click HERE.