Tag: Photography

Lens-Artists Challenge #90: Distance

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Lens-Artists Challenge #90: Distance

…These days, everyone’s talking about and hopefully practicing “Social Distancing”. Since it’s something we should all be doing, we thought a challenge focused on DISTANCE might be an appropriate reminder of its importance.

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I hope that sometime in the not so distant future we never need to hear the term “Social Distance” again. Which ought to be called “Physical Distance” – a more accurate description. A time of anxiety…and often loneliness. For me and most everyone I know.

I am very thankful for the connections that social media and FaceTime and Zoom and Skype offer us. However…I increasingly miss actual three dimensional flesh and blood face to face conversation. A rectangular screen is no substitute for a big bear hug. One little hand holding yours. Catching up with friends over lunch at a favorite restaurant.

At times it feels like I briefly stepped into a nightmare I had as a child…where I got off the school bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Panicked, I ran up and down empty streets from house to house unable to recognize any as my own. Until I woke up, heart racing, groggy, straining my eyes in the dark until I finally realized it was just a dream.

However…now for very good reasons…we do what we have to do. Distancing ourselves.

I know that someday I will wake up from this surreal existence. In the meantime, I try to remember how beautiful distance can actually be…

When I purposely sought out being alone.

sand footprints

Comforted by an empty path through the trees.

path ahead

Offering a glimmer of hope.

distance sun

In the distance.

Apple Tops

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April marks the beginning of a new squares challenge from BeckyB at The life of B

…I am hoping our April theme will keep our heads held high and help fill our lives with social connections and squares filled with joy….The theme is top, and you don’t have to go outside to find topping squares…Create your post with a square photograph,

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I am hoping that an apple a day keeps the coronavirus away.

Maybe yes, most likely no.

But why not give it a try?

After being thoroughly washed and scrubbed, these four apples posed for a photo…cooperating to form a perfect square.

Their tops all shiny…clean…and virus free.

apple square

 

Sunshine’s Macro Monday: Changing Seasons

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Sunshine’s Macro Monday #35

Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

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Here in the northeastern USA, the comforting signs of spring are still hard to come by. And, believe me, I am looking for them. Those vibrant splashes of yellows and purples as hibernating bulbs push signs of life up through the cold ground. Surrounded by trees and bushes newly dressed with greenery.

However…as I discovered this past weekend…if you look closely…Mother Nature is making her presence known..little by little.

budding out

 

A welcome – and hopeful – sight.

Connecting

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Inspired by Dutch goes the Photo: Connect

…your challenge is to capture anything that either connects or with which you feel connected.

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connect branches

A sea of mismatched branches growing en mass caught my eye this weekend – as I was walking alone in the woods. Not another soul in sight.

All balanced just so…yet not making any sense to me.

I couldn’t help but wonder…why (or how) the branches came to grow in such a way. Haphazardly entwined and still surviving. What happened? A confusing sight to which I felt oddly drawn to. Snapping photo after photo.

Was nature imitating life in this current upside down world?

Forging a way to connect, however tenuously. Reaching out. Over and under and through the unknown. Despite the obstacles.

Somehow holding on.

Lens-Artists Challenge: A River Runs Through It

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Lens-Artists Challenge #89: A River Runs Through It

…photos of rivers running down mountains, through valleys, along plains where you are or you have traveled, and we also love to read your stories…

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A river runs through the small town of Exeter, NH.

Known commonly as The Exeter River, it is technically a tidal river originating in the town of Chester – located west of Exeter.

The Exeter River begins in the town of Chester and flows east and north to Exeter where it becomes tidal and changes name to the Squamscott River, before emptying into Great Bay. (DES.NH)

As it enters Exeter, it flows under a bridge behind the main street, lined with local businesses.

river bridge
Entering

Winding its way past downtown, the river picks up a bit of speed.

river2
Picking up speed

Next it flows by a public park where visitors walk or jog along the perimeter.

river
Next to the park

And often pause to rest…on one of the numerous memorial benches donated by local citizens.

river bench
Memorial bench

A peaceful place of refuge.

Airborne

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Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Up In The Air

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS THAT ARE AIRBORNE OR UP IN THE AIR IN ANY WAY.

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These days “up in the air” could very easily apply to life in general. For me and most everyone else on the planet.

However…since I usually tend to take things quite literally, I am choosing “up in the air” to mean just that. Air travel. That’s about as up in the air as I ever get anyway. I can’t imagine hot air ballooning. Or tight rope walking. Or zip lining….

Between December 2019 and February 2020 I traveled by airplane three times to Washington DC. My seat always in row 14 – near the wing. I don’t know why, it just feels safer to sit near the middle of the plane. I will not, however, book a seat in row 13. No reason to tempt fate.

Whenever I fly, I am fascinated by the view from the window. If the weather cooperates and I can hold the camera (in this case my phone) steady, I document what passes by. Trying not to think too deeply about the fact that I am encased in a metal tube traveling at a very high speed – held up by the…um, air. Thousands of feet above good old terra firma.

A few up in the air moments…captured to distract myself.

On my way to DC.

in flight
On my way to DC
in flight 2
On my way to DC getting closer

And on my way home.

in flight 3
On my way home…taking off

It is, after all, beautiful country down there.