Weekly Photo Challenge: Edgy

September 9, 2016 by scillagrace

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

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

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…

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

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror Question

September 2, 2016 by scillagrace

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, I have a question:

Reflecting on life and love…

Reflecting on family…

Reflecting on Nature…

Aren’t these all just exercises to help us make sense of our selves? Or perhaps to discover that our selves are happier when senses don’t need to make sense?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change Frames

August 26, 2016 by scillagrace

The south window of my tree-house bedroom is where my eyes gaze whenever I look up from my computer. My bed is my home office. This has been my home base for 5 years now, in all seasons…

…and through various moods.

But time brings evolution. Things change. I’m anticipating a move this fall, away from this framework and towards my life work. I will get a chance to live outside this particular box.

This frame has served me well. Very well, and I’m grateful. But it’s time to change frames and let the picture advance.

Onward and Upward!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Precious Few

August 19, 2016 by scillagrace

“After a ten-fold drop in the population of the eastern monarch butterfly population over the last decade, a 2016 study predicted an 11%–57% probability that this population will go quasi-extinct over the next 20 years.” Wikipedia

Monarch butterflies used to be so plentiful. I would see them as a child living in the Midwest and study the way they emerge from their chrysalis in school. The Fall breeze was always full of milkweed seeds floating by. Their habitat was ubiquitous – all that open field land hosted several species of milkweed, the Butterfly Plant. When we moved to California where I went to High School, I would see Monarchs by the thousands at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz hanging in great clusters on the eucalyptus trees. Then I moved back to the Midwest and noticed how quickly all that open field land, the prairies, was being developed into shopping malls, parking lots and subdivisions. Here in Milwaukee, we had a Monarch Trail on the County Grounds where there was about 350 acres of open land. Then the city decided to put in a “research park” – meaning technical buildings and apartments – and reduced the Monarch habitat to 11 acres adjacent to the interstate that’s been under construction for 2 years…so far. Once a common insect, the Monarch Butterfly is becoming increasingly rare on the landscape. The life of this wonder includes the amazing feat of migration, which is also being threatened by climate change.

The age of Kings is just about over, as the modern world encroaches more and more on his kingdom. I found this one at George W. Mead State Wildlife Area during the weekend of Independence Day.

I wish you a long life and numerous progeny, Little Prince.

Weekly Photo Challenge: FUN! and Booty Shaking

August 12, 2016 by scillagrace

I gotta admit, I am a more (ahem!) serious photographer. Nature close-ups, landscapes and the like are hardly the stuff of Booty Shaking shots. And when I’m in the midst of having fun, I usually don’t have my camera out. It’s a relatively big one, a piece of equipment that represents an uncharacteristic birthday splurge for me. So, it’s not like I’m popping shots from the hip while out clubbing. However… my kids came to my birthday party and danced in the living room once.

And then there was that New Year’s Eve we opened some Christmas Crackers…

My brother’s wedding reception was a great dance party!

Yeah, I’m a pretty mellow kind of person, but I do like to have FUN in my own way!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Good Morning!

August 5, 2016 by scillagrace

It’s all about the initiation. The beginning. The sun rising in the east and making the western sky rosy. The fog lifting. The commencement of new sound breaking out of silence. The birds, the frogs, calling back and forth. Another day, a new opportunity for life.

Looking at the effects that nighttime sunlessness has left on the world and realizing that other changes are still to come. The frost will melt. The air will warm.

It’s all about the sun. It’s come back again. Whatever we wished or feared, held in hope or anxiety, we have been given another day to work, to play, to love, to dread, or to be free. Continuation is the gift…or maybe the rule. What will you make of it?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow, but certainly not Straight

July 29, 2016 by scillagrace

I have a thing for paths and journeys.

I like walking along, single file mostly.

I’m not a 4-lane highway kind of person, by any means.

I like to meander…

…though I’m a bit more efficient and direct than my partner, Steve.

When he feels that I’m being too driven and not aware enough of my surroundings, he says that I’m “doing the train”.

Okay, I get it. So we tend to travel narrow, but not too straight. I like it that way.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Over the Top

July 22, 2016 by scillagrace

Lately, the world seems to have fallen to new depths of misery. I’m sure ten examples have just popped into your mind. Into this awareness, I want to insert illustrations of the fact that at the same time, the world is more awesome than we can imagine. You’re having an experience that is very pleasant; you’re smiling; you’re happy. Suddenly, something happens that kicks it into another level. For example, my brother’s wedding reception. It takes place at the Winchester Mystery House, which is already very interesting and fun. Then, the Hora Loca begins to play and a new element is introduced….

We were not expecting that! Or that my 80-year old mother would join her on the dance floor. Here’s another…

I was working 5 different part-time jobs when I was offered a job as the Administrative Assistant at a conservation foundation. That meant that I would work in a farmhouse with just one other employee (the Executive Director) and help protect the natural environment. I took my camera to the top of one of the hills on our lands. It was the first day of June last year. The weather was perfect. The vistas were lush. And I was getting paid. Then, this swallowtail came by to welcome me.

The goodness of the real world transcends suffering, I have found. But you have to be open to receiving it as such. A simple, new breath can be the cherry on top of everything. Breathing in, I am alive. Breathing out, I am grateful.

Weekly Photo Challenge: In the Details

July 15, 2016 by scillagrace

I’m with Jen. I love Nature in intimate detail. So much beauty! You have to slow down to find treasures under a leaf…

…or on top of a flower.

When you take your time to look at details, you can change perspective and admire Nature from different angles.

Awareness leads to appreciation. The world is fascinatingly intricate and beautiful.

Soon appreciation becomes an attitude. You see everything for its intrinsic beauty. Eventually, this attitude of wonder and respect gets converted to action.

May we all act peacefully and do no harm.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Looking Up

July 8, 2016 by scillagrace

Looking up is all about being aware of how wonderful the world is…as it is.

“Things are looking up”…

Go ahead. “Look on up from your life…” There’s so much more.