Tag Archives: black & white photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Edgy

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Ben Huberman talks about using a frame to “anchor” our compositions with something. Here’s my son holding down the Chicago skyline:

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But he seems to be bobbing in the water. What if I anchor him as well?

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Maybe that’s a bit unfair to put that on my kid’s shoulders. He’s not even as tall as I am. How about I anchor the skyline with some serious construction? Like Lake Shore Drive…

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I like that. And the monochrome treatment makes it even stronger. Thanks, Ben, for the tip!

Edge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Angular

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Straight lines are man-made, and they are all around us. 

If you’ve followed my blog or know me at all, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I see myself as a Nature Girl.  I don’t do Man-Made stuff if at all possible; I don’t seek it out, I don’t photograph it, I don’t buy it.  But of course, that’s a delusion, really.  I live in a house built with right angles, and I sell books which are usually rectangular.  I am surrounded; I had best make peace with angles.  Sharp, rigid, dogmatic angles.  Plumb-lines and cages. 

* peace *

(Wow, I can be judgmental.) Okay, horizons and vanishing points, inclines and steps.  I don’t know if I will ever call them “beautiful”, but I can see that they are useful and interesting. 

I glance out my window and see feathery frost, reminding me that snowflakes and crystals are made of straight angles.  And my ego is made up of attachments and aversions. 

* peace *

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

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D’oh!  I forgot to check the Weekly Photo Challenge on Friday!  Steve & I went on an excursion to hike a portion of the Ice Age Trail, and the day went by so fast.  Well, technically I get the whole week to post, so I’m not really late at all.  (Can you tell I’m one of those annoyingly punctual people?  ‘Tis true.)  So, here goes…

And here are two more from more recent posts….

I suppose these are only loosely silhouettes; maybe they’re only back-lit.  What if I punched up the contrast? 

Hey, now!  That’s fun!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

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Touch

Texture: that which we touch, which touches us, which we feel.  Texture lets us know we’re alive, we’re here, we’re present and presently interacting.  Texture teaches us that the world is sameness and contrast – smooth, cold, rough, warm – and solid as concrete. 

How much do you pay attention to what you touch and what touches you? 

When you become fully mindful of something’s presence, do you feel more fully alive? 

Have you ever lost the concept of time as you stroked silky fur, or dipped your toes in flowing water? 

Time pales in significance when I am present with something completely.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Twist

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“Twist” is filthy with meaning: it’s the unexpected, it’s surprise, it’s even an amazing ice cream choice. What does “twist” mean to you?

Being a bibliophile, I immediately think of a plot twist, the kind that makes you tingle with pleasure in the last chapters of the mystery novel you’re reading.  “Wow!  I never saw THAT coming!”  Such delight.  I did find an appropriately twisty photo that I snapped while hiking around Lapham Peak State Park in early spring.  We were looking for lichen, on a whim, and found ourselves outside the warming house near the skating pond.  I suppose they use that building for winter events, family-oriented programs that might include a craft project or something, because I happened upon this item posing as a lingering patch of snow in the leaf litter….

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A plastic snowflake.  Natural….but not.  It made me laugh.

 

© 2014, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

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UW Madison Arboretum - inside

UW Madison Arboretum – inside

We’ve been traveling from Milwaukee to Madison for the last three weeks to take in some of the Winter Enrichment courses offered at the UW Madison Arboretum.  Unfortunately, it has been blasted cold each week, so we haven’t been out hiking the trails.  Someone set up this little display of prairie grasses in the south window of the visitor’s center, and the sun shining in teased me with memories of warm autumn days smelling dried grass. In the deep freeze of winter, it’s nice to have some plant life taking up residence INSIDE.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Eerie

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The most eerie place in town is the abandoned poor farm, insane asylum, and tuberculosis sanitorium on the Milwaukee County Grounds.  Even more eerie, this place is now in development and the largest chunk of green space we had is now becoming a Technology and Innovation Center (read: big, modern buildings and roads).  My blog post and photos of this place can be found HERE.  Sample photos:

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Wordless Wednesday: Work Shoes Part 2

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* for back story about the owner of these shoes, see Wednesday Words: For Steve

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* scheduling this post for Wednesday, August 21 – my birthday.  I’m at work today, too.  Maybe next week I’ll show you my shoes…and you can show me yours!