Tag: Leaves

Lens-Artists Challenge: Colors of Autumn

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Lens-Artists Challenge #167: Colors of Autumn

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The colors of Autumn are peeking out…little by little…in my northeast corner of the US. I have chosen some old favorites to share in this challenge, as I think Autumn (once it gets going in my neighborhood) is the most colorful season (sorry Spring!).

There’s nothing like blazing red, orange and everything in between when you look up. It all seems to happen overnight or close to it.

Leaves crunch underfoot. I marvel at the uniqueness of each one. I know it’s nature and the leaves’ final stage of life, but perhaps the blaze of color is its glorious send-off after shading us all summer…

Gourds are once again arriving at grocery stores and farm stands. Their colors and textures…so unlike the vegetables of summer. They’ve always struck me as strange in a cool sort of way. I never know what to do with them (no decorating potential…Martha Stewart I’m not), but they deserve a photo.

I know that apples are available year-round at the grocery store – trucked in from somewhere, but Autumn is the time for apple picking in my local area. Fresh off the trees, branches weighted down…there’s nothing like it. Orchards are busy in September & October…morphing into destination spots for festivals, bluegrass music, hayrides and apple cider donuts. And apples. Lots of apples.

Last but not least, there is orange once more…not just leaves…but pumpkins too – so plentiful in Autumn. Pumpkins to set out on your porch as a festive nod to the season…but when our kids were growing up…the first step was carving jack ‘o lanterns. Very important preparation for placing a lit candle inside on Halloween night.

Hand a knife to a 5 year old and look out!

Careful creativity in the making….

1987
Daddy and budding artist daughter

It’s All About the Light

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Len’s Artists Challenge #162: It’s All About the Light

This week the Lens-Artists team invites you to join us in exploring the magic of light…your challenge is to share images that illustrate the power of light ….

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Walk in the woods…catching the light

In my mind, the magic of light hides in shadows and the secrets they reveal. I love the surprise. I’m always on a treasure hunt…discovering the hidden lines and shapes of nature’s artistry.

It can be anywhere…a photo taken indoors near a sunlit window…crouching down on the floor…whatever it takes…or downtown, walking along a chain link fence…at just the right time of day…waiting for the clouds to part for the sun.

Sunlit Tulips

The shoreline at the beach…end of day in November…light and color merge in spectacular fashion…

Hampton Beach, NH

However…perhaps nothing takes the place of well placed natural light streaming through a window…at the perfect moment…capturing a 5 year old’s uninhibited profile of joy….

It is indeed…all about the light.

5 years old

Macro Monday: Dark Shadow

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I discovered a creature of some sort sunning itself on a leaf recently. At first, with the camera focused from above, I thought meh.

However…looking up from below, an entirely different perspective unfolded.

A dark shadow loomed…a silhouette motionless in the sun.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Aging Flowers

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge Special Request: Wilting, dead, or aging flowers and leaves.

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Unusual special request, but I understand it.

After all, beauty comes at all ages.

I found two examples.

Tulips – while wilting – took on a “life” of their own a few months ago. A different kind of beauty. One worth documenting.

faded tulip
A vine of leaves added a unique touch while weaving its way through a fence along the river’s edge. Stopped me in my tracks.

Still hanging on…

faded leaves

…and showing off.

Lens-Artists Challenge: Autumn

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Lens-Artists Challenge #106: Autumn

…share your images of this season.  What does autumn look like in your part of the world?  What does this season mean to you personally? 

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Autumn marks time until the cold darkness of winter arrives…as each day rewards us by unveiling ever-changing shades of yellows, oranges and reds.

Along with greens stubbornly hanging on from summer.

A feast for the eyes.

twisted tree

The line of trees along my street pop with color, one by one.

fall road

Halloween, my favorite holiday, happens in Autumn. There’s no pressure for gifts or elaborate meals. It’s just all about fun and make-believe. Since moving to a condo, I miss the trick or treaters and those knocks on the kitchen door. Little upturned faces covered with makeup and masks…the scary or beautiful or silly masks that have holes made especially for mouths and noses. I absolutely delighted in their joy as the doorbell rang over and over from 5 to 8 pm.

halloween pumpkin064

Autumn also means it’s time for annual fall festivals…including a very special one that I attended last year. It is cancelled for 2020.

fall festival
Apple Harvest Day
Dover, NH
October 2019

Eventually all the leaves turn brown…

brown leaf

…and at the end of a late September day – if you’re lucky – you witness a blaze of gold in a grocery store parking lot…

fall parking lot 2

…in the Autumn.

Lens-Artists Challenge: Old and New

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Lens-Artists Challenge #99: Old and New

We look forwarding to seeing your “Old and New” interpretation. It can be the contrast of architecture, fashion, collections, treasures…in one photo or multiple photos.

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My first “old and new” image is a “view from beach towel on sand” photo taken during a solo 7 day vacation in Coronado, California. I was feeling most grateful for the chance to enjoy precious peaceful time away. As I often do, I captured the moment on “film” and one photo highlighted the odd contrast between two very different buildings from very different times.

On the left: the old upscale for-the-tourists (and movie stars and all around famous people) Hotel Del Coronado with its signature red roof. Built in 1887, it has since been designated as a National Historic Landmark. I didn’t stay at the “Del” but enjoyed a meal and a drink at its restaurant. And, of course, I had to check out the gift shop.

To the right – and actually farther off in the distance than it looks – the more modern day high rise apartment buildings. Home to residents and, I imagine, not-so-famous people.

Worlds apart in more ways than one.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Coronado Beach, California 2006

My second “old and new” photo originates much closer to home. Once spring appears, my trusty path in the woods…which I have gotten to know well…always reveals a combination of the old and new. But only when I remember to pause and look down.

During a walk last month…I stopped next to these fallen leaves, now old and brown, which had covered the ground with thick layers of crunch. However…they were obviously no match for a glimmer of new growth forcing its way up towards the sun.

old and new leaves
Spring in New Hampshire 2020