Tag Archives: postaday

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Dialogue

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Today’s prompt says, “With an intuitive approach, I considered the photos’ subject matter and graphic attributes and chose those that resonated with each other, creating cross-dependencies and visual analogies. They’re combinations that tell a story.

The resulting dialogue — they story they tell — is the creation of each viewer’s individual perception.

It’s your turn now: for this week’s challenge, bring together two of your photos into dialogue. What do they say to each other?”

 

Two photos (you can view them in larger format by clicking on them):

What’s in your dialogue?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Fray

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FrayIt just so happens that I spent two hours sailing aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan today; some of that time was used to photograph rope.  I also hauled line to help hoist the sails….not that it did much good to have the sails up.  It was quite still and foggy.  There was barely a ripple on Lake Michigan.  It was quiet and peaceful and echo-ey and atmospheric.  And humid.  The sun broke through the fog just as we were coming back to the pier.  Steve was imagining what it would be like to be truly adrift in the doldrums.  The Sullivan was equipped with a motor as well, so we had no chance of being stranded.  But if we were living in the 19th century…well, we’d get back when we got back.  We would travel at the speed of one frayed knot. 

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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!

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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.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Zigzag

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“The quickest way between two points might be a straight line, but it’s rarely the most interesting one. ” So begins the teasing prompt for this week’s photo challenge.  I’m a pretty straightforward kind of person, myself.  Steve calls it “The Train”.  I get my sights set on a goal, and I steam on ahead without getting diverted.  And often without being aware of people and feelings and other things that are, well, rather important. 

Now, I’m not saying this is a BAD way to be.  It can be useful.  I get things done.  But it’s not the only way to be, either.  Steve is definitely a preferred zig-zagger.  He calls it playing his “bowling pin” game, which goes something like this: set up the pins in their starting formation and bowl.  Wherever the pins have been scattered, set them back up exactly where they are now.  Continue bowling toward the pins in their new place.  Eventually, you get a game that has ranged all over the house, the yard, the neighbor’s yard, and down the block.  Hey!  This could go ANYWHERE!!! Isn’t that EXCITING?!  Yup, he’s an adventurer.  And life with him has definitely opened up new possibilities for me. 

We have managed to travel pretty successfully for more than 5 years now.  I am pretty good at going off track now and enjoying it greatly.  One bit of advice, though.  If your GPS system should happen to fail, don’t ask him for directions.  Ask me.  You’ll be at your destination in under an hour with plenty of gas to spare.  Trust me.  🙂

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

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer Lovin’

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Perfect timing!  Believe it or not, this week’s photo challenge coincides with the first anniversary of my daughter’s wedding.  Susan & Andy became engaged on July 28, 2012 and married one year later.  We joined them for outdoor ceremonies in Madison, WI both years.  The first year, the temperature was in the 90s (Fahrenheit).  And humid. 

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For the wedding, although the sun was shining, the mercury never reached 70! 

This morning, as Steve & I walked to a local breakfast cafe, I was wearing a sweater and a nylon jacket…it was 59 degrees out.  Summer may not always be HOT, but here in the Midwest, it comes bearing flowers and greenery.  Which is a wonderful way to show Affection, Tenderness, Beauty, Grace…and LOVE!  I’m lovin’ summer here in Wisconsin!

  

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers

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Containers are recyclable!

the couch  Containers bear gifts!

oneContainers can be colorful and decorative!

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Containers come in many shapes and sizes for holding FOOD!

Thanksgiving sideboardSo, containers can be very useful.  There’s also something to be said for that which cannot be contained!

cranesHave a great weekend, free or contained!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic

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Oh, boy.  What a theme for a museum geek!  In case you’re new to this blog, let me tell you that I work at 2 museums, one being a living history museum featuring 60 historic buildings depicting 19th century immigration to Wisconsin.  In addition to that, my partner Steve & I sell books and other items gleaned from estate sales.  We have quite an eclectic collection of various ‘relics’ of the 20th & 21st century in our home.  Currently, the very home that we are renting – a duplex built in 1905 – is undergoing extensive upgrading: electrical system, roof, and paint so far.  I am surrounded by relics, and I’m always looking for more!  So….what to feature?

Perhaps a crumbling lime kiln I found at High Cliff State Park.  It was in operation from 1870 -1956 on the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago….

relic 1

Maybe Steve’s hiking boots – they’re not really that old, but they got a lot of wear last year when he worked as a mail carrier for the US Postal Service…

relic 2Or how about this corner of our living room, where we display some of our favorite oddities…

relic 3

Actually, my very favorite photo for this theme isn’t one I took.  It’s one someone else took of me.  Old World Wisconsin runs a photo contest every year, and the first year I worked there, a photo of me won Best In Show.  The featured relic in the photo is the 1839 Cathedral of the Diocese of the Territory of Wisconsin – St. Peter’s Church.  The pump organ/harmonium/reed organ is from 1890.  The stations of the cross are lithographs made in Germany between 1875 and 1900.  The photographer is Jay Filter, and he gave me permission to feature his photo on my blog in 2012.  Here it is again:

St. Peter's Church at Old World Wisconsin. Photo by Jay Filter

St. Peter’s Church at Old World Wisconsin. Photo by Jay Filter

Yup, that photo is a real winner.  Can’t claim it as mine, but it sure fits this theme!  Thanks, Jay!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Contrasts

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What a cornucopia of contrasts we large-brained creatures enjoy!  All of our five senses combined with time, space, balance, aesthetic, and a host of other concepts gives us a spectrum of comparison and juxtaposition that is unparallelled (maybe – contrasts in perceived electricity, magnetism, light and sound might be more pronounced in other species than I imagine!  How do animals know when and how to migrate or mate or find a spawning place?).   Sensate – sentient – sensational.  The world is a vast canvas of contrasts.

prickly feathery coldPrickly, feathery, cold.  Down on snow, covered with a pine bough. 

I can lose myself in texture and scent and taste even more than with sight and sound.  My guts are more involved, my brain less so.  I am enjoying a book by one of my favorite writers, Walter Wangerin Jr.  What I like about his voice is that it is so thoroughly visceral and ancient.  It makes me feel grounded.  There’s a holiness in that.  Contrast helps me know that I am alive.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Between

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The Weekly Photo Challenge prompt invites us to interpret the theme “Between”.  This response is dedicated to my oldest, Susan.  When she was a little girl in Kindergarten, she memorized a poem by A. A. Milne (the author of the Winnie the Pooh stories) and performed it for the K-3rd grade Speech and Oratorical Contest of her elementary school.  Here is the poem:

Before Tea by A. A. Milne

Emmeline
Has not been seen
For more than week. She slipped between
The two tall trees at the end of the green…
We all went after her. “Emmeline!”

“Emmeline,
I didn’t mean —
I only said that your hands weren’t clean.”
We went to the trees at the end of the green…
But Emmeline
Was not to be seen.

Emmeline
Came slipping between
The two tall trees at the end of the green.
We all ran up to her. “Emmeline!
Where have you been?
Where have you been?
Why, it’s more than week!” And Emmeline
Said, “Sillies, I went and saw the Queen.
She says my hands are purfickly clean!”

 

Susan did not perform this poem ‘purfickly’.  As I recall, she left rather a long pause between the second and third stanzas, perhaps for dramatic effect, perhaps to indicate that some time goes by in that part.  The audience began to applaud too early.  Nevertheless, her memory was perfect, and she finished in her own time, in her little 5-year old lisp, “Thillieth…”, and I was, of course, inordinately proud of her. I still am.  I visited her this past Sunday, and we went for a stroll in the UW Madison Arboretum, where she slipped between the branches of trees — like this:

between