Tag Archives: nature photography

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Wall

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Wall Associations:

“All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall.” Pink Floyd (my very first impulse; it’s always a song)

The wailing wall, the Berlin wall, the Great Wall of China…so many iconic walls.  What about the wall we put up when our privacy is threatened or when our emotions are about to bubble over, and we don’t want to seem vulnerable?  Walls and boundaries, according to Steve, are useful at times, but he hopes they are all only temporary.  His goal is to be open, always.  (You can probably guess he’s a pretty confident person.  Me?  I like to have somewhere safe to hide.) Fences and walls in poetry: Robert Frost “Mending Wall” (‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall’ – yeah, like Steve) and D. H. Lawrence “Snake” (the snake comes out of an earth-wall into his water trough and…well, read the poem.  It’s good.)  My wall of photos, or my photos of Wall:

Whew!  So many walls…gotta go out and walk in open space now.  It’s almost Spring – I may even leave my parka behind!

Wall

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Five Days Challenge – Day Four

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I have been invited by Terry of Through the Lens of My Life to participate in a Five Day Challenge.  Each day, I will post a photo and write a story to go along with it.  (I probably will interpret the term ‘story’ quite loosely.  I do that.)  I will also invite one person each day to take up this challenge on his/her blog. 

Today’s offering is titled “Scarring and Healing”:

scarring and healing

The cold air pricked her cheeks as she walked the soggy trail. The sting kept her alert in her solitude, her daydreams suppressed by the chill of Now. Her downcast eyes were wary, marking her footing lest she slip on an icy patch in her resolution to maintain a brisk pace. On either side of her, oaks and pines stretched darkly upward into a damp, gray sky. The leaf litter beneath her feet offered up the rich, earthy smell of decay. She breathed it in deeply and raised her head. At the fork in the path loomed a large, lichen-covered trunk. At eye level, the bark was stripped away and a curious zigzag was laid bare. Suddenly, her legs grew weak. She stood still, staring at the jagged gash. Tentatively, she raised her hand and pressed her fingers into the seam. The place felt warm to her touch. Slowly, she traced the serpentine line, caressing each inch with intent awareness. Her brows pinched together, and her nose stung. Her salty tears ate away the iciness of her cheeks. This living tree displayed the image of her memories, the shiny white scar down his breastbone, wider and redder in a few places where the staples had given way and the flesh had became infected, punctuated here and there with the small holes of needle entry. How often she had looked anxiously on those scars. How guilty she had felt when she at last laid her head on his chest again and noticed the swelling when she raised it precious minutes later. The last thing on earth that she wanted was to add to his pain. His quick laugh was enough to assure her that he wanted her closeness more than her worries.  And with that memory, she recalled the tender touch, re-enacted it, and reverenced the miracle of healing in the patient example of the living pine. The tree stood tall bearing witness to its tale, and she moved on, alone, bearing hers.

— Next, I invite you to visit Edward Roads at My Two Sentences.  Each of his posts is exactly that, two sentences, narrating an idea inspired by his photos.  His genre makes my brain whir, filling in more detail to the story, and his vocabulary makes me get out my dictionary – which I appreciate!  I reckon his two sentences amount to a story, so he’s already completed this challenge and will probably keep it up for at least five more days.  (So, no pressure, Edward! 🙂 )

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange You Glad?

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“When it’s cherry blossom time in Orange, New Jersey, we’ll make a peach of a pair!” (If you know me, you know that any prompt will lead to a song cue.  It’s how my brain is wired, for some reason.)

Nothing rhymes with orange, but lots of my favorite things go with orange: warmth, food, Fall. 

I hope your day is cozy and that you find many reasons to be glad you live in this wonderful world!

Orange you glad it’s photo challenge time?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

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What a great thing to contemplate: scale.  How overwhelming our lives become when our scale references are distorted!  For example, how imposing our thoughts can seem on the landscape of our lives.   My daughter gave me an illustration of this: imagine someone holding a large book in front of your face and asking you what you saw.  You’d see the book and maybe a bit of the room from your peripheral vision.  Now, if you moved the book to one side, you’d still see the book, but you’d also see more of the room.  It’s hard to make thoughts go away, but you can take them out of the forefront.  That’s what meditation is about — being aware of your thoughts, but not letting them dominate your view.   We make so many mountains out of mole hills in this culture.  There is so much OMG; like MSG, it can make us feel lousy.  Media hyper-activity and fear-mongering is like that, I think.  We need to dial down the lens, deflate our egos, maintain a humble perspective.  We are one leaf on a vast and robust tree of life.   We are beautiful; the tree is beautiful.  We are not greater than or less than the rest. 

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Scale

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Depth

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My mother revealed to me a nickname that she had secretly assigned me when I was a young teen.  She thought of me as “The Waterstrider”.  Ever seen those long-legged bugs in a still puddle who are able to stroll the surface without ever breaking the tension that keeps them above water?  Here are a few:

water striders

My “Waterstrider” tendencies changed, my mother noted, after my sister and I were in a car accident and she was killed.  I turned 17 only three days later, and began to ask the Really Big, Serious Questions about life.  I began to search for Depth and Meaning, but mostly from only one perspective – Christianity.   When I was 45, my husband died in bed beside me early one Saturday morning.  My journey toward Depth was not over.   I decided to look from a different angle.  I needed a bigger perspective.

I discovered that there is so much more than I had ever noticed before.  Depth goes in different directions: up and down, inward and outward…indefinitely.  Maybe it was less overwhelming to be a Waterstrider, but it was also less genuine.  In the depths of the sea, there is reflected the vastness of the heavens.  In the solitude of a silent moment, there is the ageless Now.  In the recognition of something we “know”, there is the awareness of Mystery that we will never comprehend.  This might be what some people call “Wisdom” or “Maturity”.  I tend to think of it as simple Truth.  If you’re not afraid to go below the surface, you may discover the wonders of Depth.  It feels different.  It surrounds you, puts pressure on places that may not be used to bearing it.  But you may discover a strength and resiliency you didn’t know you had…at least I did.  Then that depth makes you feel buoyant and free…as if you were flying!

cranesTake up the challenge, friends.  Take a journey into Depth. 

(Thanks, Word Press, for a great theme!)

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Depth

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Serenity

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Serenity.  A marvelous theme.  Placid water, still mind.  Peacefulness, harmony.  Keeping your surroundings still, small and simple.  My partner, Steve, is working on a New Year’s resolution.   So far, what I know he’s aiming at is maintaining more quiet in his life, perhaps returning to a practice of meditation and yoga. 

How do you cultivate quiet in your life?

Serenity

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadowed

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I really like this challenge.  Shadowed.  Looking at my photographs and paying attention to what the shadow adds to the picture is like developing greater awareness of the Yin side of the universal whole.  I don’t always remember to do that.  I am attracted to the brighter side of life by default, maybe because of my Sun sign, Leo…maybe not.  Maybe just because there are so many voices encouraging us Westerners to be positive and dualistic.  Shun the shadow, move toward the Light.  Problem is, you’re only half aware if you do that. 

Nature’s shadow is dramatic and ordinary at the same time.  Sunlight is a powerful force in the ecosystem of life, and its waxing and waning effects many behaviors.  We tend to think of the differences as important, but are they?

shadowed 2

Nocturnal creatures make a habitat out of shadow; it is simply home, cover and shelter. 

shadowed

Natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns, from which approximately 300,000 bats emerge nightly to find water and food.

Shadows can represent mystery in life, reminding us that what we don’t see is nevertheless present and active.

shadowed 3Ultimately, ‘shadowed’ is a concept.  It’s a creation of the big human brain, borne of our propensity to analyze, distinguish and attach a label.  Shadows are a natural phenomenon that we like to imbue with meaning.  That’s who we are and what we do, and it’s interesting to ponder that.

shadowed 4

© 2015, essay and photograph, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Inspired by the Word Press Weekly Photo Challenge.

Shadowed

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Cold Comfort

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“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.  

— from Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

 

morning frostThe truth is, it’s cold here. 

evening frost 2And the beauty is, it’s cold here.

evening frostMay you enjoy the true beauty of this world today, wherever you are.

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow

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I am curious.  Yellow.  What does it mean to me?  (Besides a Swedish film about acting, social justice, sex, non-violence and the 60s aesthetic lifestyle.)  I would think sunshine would figure prominently.  And flowers.  Autumn leaves.  A certain house in California.   Well, I’ll give you a gallery, and then you’ll get the picture.  Literally.

  (in response to Word Press)

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Twinkle

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Toes.  Eyes.  Live humans twinkle.  Is that from light cast upon them or from light within?

twinkle joshCarl Sagan says that “we are made of star stuff”.  My mother-in-law used to say that Jim was “shiny and pink” as a baby.  He glowed with the vibrancy of good circulation and white-blond hair, I guess.  I remember almost putting his eye out once when that twinkle made me just so curious that I wanted to touch it. 

photo credit unknown

photo credit unknown

That spark of life.  The cosmic, irreproducible result that drives scientists mad.  “It’s ALIIIIIVE!” No wonder we want to add that vibrant energy to our winter days, when we’re thrown into the farthest arc and missing the summer sun.

P1040432How do you remind yourself of the shimmer that is our existence on this beautiful sphere in this living Universe?  Do you surround yourself with round, sparkly things?

NYE tableOr do you simply look up from your life?

 

The lights are already hung.  The magic is all around us, even now.  Go outside and take a look!

in response to WordPress’ weekly photo challenge.

<a href="http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/twinkle/">Twinkle</a>

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