Unsightly.
Unfortunate.
Unacceptable.
One Word Sunday: Plastic
Tag: photo challenge
Art in the Sky
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Trees
…share some of your favorite trees with one another…
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I will be the first one to admit how much I enjoy the Fall season – with its endless array of oranges and reds emerging across the landscape. The multicolored trees are indeed spectacular and I always capture dozens of photographs as the season progresses.
However, my most sought after – and elusive – tree image is only possible in Winter. Against the night sky right around sunset.
After all the leaves have dropped…when a tree’s true shape and character is no longer hidden. Branches, exposed and unencumbered, stretch out…for all the world to see.
Displaying a pen and ink drawing across the sky. A freeze-frame dance of sorts.
As if to announce…here I am! Look at me!
An abandoned bird’s nest…often still nestles precariously against the trunk. Or a massive wasp hive hangs empty…ahhh…that explains the constant buzzing last summer.
The stories these trees could tell.
When the sky turns pinkish/orangish/gorgeous-ish, I attempt year after year to capture an image like I see in my mind’s eye.
I came close this past December on a city street in Washington DC. Taking a walk with my real camera, I had a sense the light would be magic (as cheesy as that sounds, it actually was magic). It was the day after Christmas after all.
A quiet evening at 5:00.
The Tree appeared a few blocks in the distance – but power lines crisscrossed in front of my view. After realizing the light was not going to last much longer, I hurried through the empty streets…getting closer.
A lefthand turn…one more block…it was time.
Standing as near as possible, I decided to include the few power lines still visible under the main branches of the tree. Before I lost the light…I looked up…tried a few exposure settings…and went for it.
Even though I was not able to photograph the entire horizontal expanse of this magnificent tree, I was thrilled to capture a sample of my favorite art in the sky.
citysonnet January photo a day challenge: Looking Up
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Leading Lines
Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #80: Leading Lines
…give us a chance to see some of the leading lines you’ve captured…position them to lead the viewer where you want them to go…
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Walking Paths
Through shadows in the Spring…
Over sand in the Winter…
Always a path to follow.
Surrey with a Fringe
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Transport
…Your challenge is to share some of your favorite modes of transport, some of which I hope will be a bit unusual…
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…chicks and ducks and geese better scurry…
As a huge fan of Broadway musicals, “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” immediately started up in my head when I noticed this actual surrey at the Shelburne Museum this past summer.
The surrey in Oklahoma! is a bit different from this one…which was actually used for transport.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: A Window with a View
Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #79: A Window with a View
…Share with us photos you’ve captured through windows.
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As I have mentioned before in several posts, I enjoyed a photographer’s paradise last summer when visiting the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Twice actually…as there was so much to see I had to return! Not just to photograph, but to experience.
Why couldn’t history lessons be this fascinating back in high school?
For this challenge, I will include two images.
The first was taken while walking across a double-lane wooden covered bridge. It was built in 1845…a weathered sign warns bridge crossers riding horses or automobiles not to exceed 10 miles per hour.
I discovered a window about halfway across the bridge…offering a glimpse across the pond beneath.
The second window was in one of the 39 buildings situated throughout 45 acres of museum grounds.
Showcasing a small sample of the vibrant, colorful flowers blooming in one of the 22 gardens on the property.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Moving Water
Inspired by Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Moving Water
Water never stops moving at the beach…always a mesmerizing sight.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Special Spot Shots
Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #78: Special Spot Shots
Now we are looking forward to seeing Your very special spot shots – maybe a room in your home, a garden, a mountain, a city, an exhibition, a lovely café…a place that is special to you!
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While taking on this photo challenge, I came to the realization that my “Special Spot” had changed.
At first, I thought…Coronado Beach! I have such warm and wonderful – and yes, special, memories from the half dozen times I vacationed there.
I have posted about this slice of heaven on the US west coast several times.
However, I have not been back to Coronado since 2006 and it is unlikely I will be able to make a cross country trip again.
Time for a new special place…
I live on the US east coast…relatively close to a beautiful beach. I will admit, it’s not as beautiful as Coronado…but it still ranks up there.
From October through December of 2016 we lived in a rental across the street from the sands of Hampton Beach. A temporary stint of “living at the beach” while we waited to close on our new condo under construction a few towns away.
It was off season, so we practically had the beach to ourselves.
Peaceful.
Perfect for afternoon walks.
A seat on the sand for contemplation.
Mesmerized by the waves while my imagination ran wild with plans for the future.
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Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a ride back to Hampton Beach…
Dressed in layers for a cold, windy, winter walk.
It happened to be low tide. The lowest tide I’d ever seen.
I was not disappointed.
It seems I still have a Special Spot.
Now…close to home.
Daylight Drive
BeckyB: JanuaryLight. …square photographs of words ending in light….
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Spotting daylight at the end of a tunnel can be a challenge.
However, it’s a short wait…when you’re in a carwash.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday: The Beet Goes On
Inspired by Sunshine’s Macro Monday #23
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Root vegetables galore covered the tables at a local indoor farmers’ market a few months ago.
I don’t usually buy fresh beets at the grocery store.
However, this time I thought…why not?
Look at all those colors!
Windows Retrospective: 2014 – 2015
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Retrospective
Feel free to look back across 2019 or the 2010s, or whatever comes to your creative mind, when you are feeling retrospective!
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Five years ago last November, my husband and I were still living in the home we had bought in 1980. The cape style house had been remodeled several times – adding space as our family grew larger. However, the dining room (originally an office & then my daughter’s bedroom) stayed virtually the same, with the occasional wallpaper and rug update.
I enjoyed eating breakfast in that small, yet cozy, dining room…something I had rarely done years earlier when life bordered on hectic. By 2014 our children had long since grown and moved on. I had (mostly) retired and treasured my mornings, lingering over the first meal of the day. No need to spend more time than necessary in the kitchen!
My seat at the dining room table faced a window looking out on our quiet neighborhood street. I sipped coffee with a clear view of the changing seasons…an occasional car…yellow school bus…jogger.
For some reason…I don’t remember why…I took a photograph of my window view one November morning in 2014. Perhaps it was the autumn leaves still hanging on despite the colder temperatures. Not sure, but I didn’t question the impulse.
Then…one thing led to another…
I thought it would be fun to document – on a regular basis – the changes happening outside…as seen from my seat at the table. At evenly spaced intervals of course. Not too surprising, as I am known to do that sort of thing (just ask my children…). Capturing moments.
For the next 11 months – on or about the 10th of every month at breakfast – I took a picture of that view…trying to line up the shot the same way each time.
The first photo…November 10, 2014.
The last of the monthly photos was taken October 12th, 2015.
I am glad I chronicled this evolving, yet familiar, scene. Little did I know at the time, but major life changes were on the way.
One year later – in October 2016 – we sold our home of 36 years.
I wonder if the new owner is enjoying the view as much as I did.
I hope so.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 