Today’s Picture to Ponder will be brief. I am on an extra-tight schedule and yet feel the commitment to get out the weekly issue of Picture to Ponder. Have a great and inspiring weekend.
Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –
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Play and Discovery
Today’s photos were taken with my iPhone. Each was enhanced with one or two iPhone FX Photo Studio applications, along with slight Photoshop Elements touch-ups.
Before checking to see what the subjects are, if you are not sure, please take a moment or two to simply be with them, noticing what, if anything, appeals to you. [click to continue…]
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This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending Mother’s Day with my younger son, Rob, his wife, Kevra, and grandson, Ryan. In addition to it being a relaxing, loving weekend, it was also one in which I had the pure delight of making new discoveries.
First my eye “noticed.”
Then I “paid attention”, using my iPhone camera to document my experience to savor and share with you. An added bonus for me was that Ryan got excited also with what I was seeing. He was able to do his own photos with Android.
Today’s Photos – [click to continue…]
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Wild irises became the focus for my camera and me this past week. I woke last Friday remembering that this must be wild iris time at Wakodahatchee Wetlands. They bloom from the last week or two in February through mid-March.
Last year I totally missed them, even though I must have walked right past them several times. I thus set the time to go Wakodahatchee walking at the end of the day with the specific intention of looking for the irises. (See below today’s Queries for links to prior year posts and photos.)
Today’s Photos -
Below is the original photo from which the “bird” in a mailing earlier this week was taken. I’m including others with which I’ve also had fun this week.
The “bird” coming in for a landing and more wild irises [click to continue…]
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On New Year’s Day, around noon, I was driving down a street when the reflections in the building shown below caught my attention.
Reflecting the building seen in the photo just under here. [click to continue…]
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Updates On What’s New – If you are one who enjoys “Mystery Photos”, I have set up the Through and From The Lens Facebook Fan Page, which I believe is viewable whether you are a member of Facebook or not. If you have been subscribing to Picture to Ponder for a while, you may remember some of them. I invite you to check out the TFTL Fan Page and to also click on the “Like” link at the end of the line of links under the page name. Clicking on “Like” will not result in your getting any email. The only way to see the page is to bookmark the URL and go directly it.
Also, since this will be the only mailing until next week, I invite you to check out the two programs in which I’ve just enrolled – under the Queries.
Today’s Featured Photos -
The first view I saw in this series. To see the “Bark-in Dog” and change perspective three times [click to continue…]
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Last week, when speaking of the, then, upcoming Through and From The Lens course, I shared some statements by Marifran Korb, Relationship Coach, on the beauty she now sees in her world as a result of participating in the TFTL course.
In a second conversation she had some very interesting things to say about how the camera has become a means for her to “take charge” of her life. At one point, she stated:
“I use the camera for being more at peace with myself and my world. When I use the camera I feel like I’m in charge and sometimes in life you’re not. With the camera you’re choosing what you’re looking for or you are in charge of what you see. . .and how you see it.
For your convenience I have put both audio interviews on a new page with a link to transcripts of what she said in each of those seven-minute interviews. See Marifran’s Words.
Today’s Photo and Story -
Late afternoon sunlit palm leaves in Green Cay Wetlands.
My camera(s) and I went out for a walk with the intent of breaking through the sluggishness I was feeling. Almost the first thing I saw, at the beginning of my walk, were these “spot-lit” leaves, reminding me that there is always some brightness that exists somewhere. I, of course, started taking pictures,
and [click to continue…]
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This week I had fun spending a lot of time with raw vegetables and fruits, cutting, blending and eating them for my friend Rachelle Anslyn’s and her partner Thomas Radtke’s Make It Real, Make It Raw detox blast. Not surprisingly, as I was cutting vegetables, especially peppers, certain imagery grabbed my attention. I, of course, went for my camera.
Today’s Featured Photos -
The top photo is the cut half of a yellow pepper with the center section of the opposite half turned upside down placed in the center of the half we see. When the photograph first appeared on my monitor, I was unable to identify the lines on the right. I was puzzled for quite a while. Yet I loved the play of light and shadows on the wood, finding a peacefulness emanating from the whole picture. I thus decided to use it as one of today’s feature photos.
Once making that decision I needed to determine what it all was. I originally assumed that the pepper was on my wooden cutting board. I finally realized that, in fact, I had placed it on my table and that the angled “grey” lines were the slats of a white chair pushed up against the table.
The middle photo is a very close-up view of the pepper’s center, creating, what to me is, a very whimsical image. As I inserted that photograph here my eye was drawn to the color and grace of the dark, curving “line” on the left.
I went back to Photoshop Elements to see what it would look if I went in and cropped the photo to highlight solely that line. Thus the bottom photo was born.
I hope you have as much fun with these as I did. If you start “playing” with your own cut vegetables, I’d love to learn about your experiences.
Self-Reflecting Queries -
Today’s photos lend themselves to another one of the recurring themes in Picture to Ponder – looking at objects, people and things from a multitude of perspectives. In addition, of course, there is my constant message for “paying attention to whatever grabs your eye.”
So, as I did with the pepper, I invite you to firstly, to divide in half an object, situation, or your thoughts about a particular person. Then look at both “halves”. Do you see differences? Do they change with repositioning?
Then zoom in more closely. Does anything change? Can you find any humor in that at which you are looking either with your eyes or with your thoughts?
Lastly, with the latter perspective, find one thing that is appealing in what you’ve noticed. Zoom in. Move around it. What new do you see?
Despite my saying “lastly”, you are of course welcome to continue your exploration.
When finished, please post your experience in the COMMENTS section below.
As always, have fun and open up to new possibilities.
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Today’s issue of Picture to Ponder evolved from some of my experience of “creating” during the last two days. I wound up spending a good amount of time adding new images to products in my Nature Art Gift shop. This included creating prints of the silk painted mandala featured in last week’s Picture to Ponder as well as portions of the garlic bulb imagery below. Also at a customer’s request I put the “Sh*t Happens – I find the beauty” on a mug. She loves the message and wanted one for herself and one for a gift.
After working on the mug I went to the garlic bulb segments featured here and on the blog in September. I particularly love the photograph and wanted to have it on a calendar in my kitchen. (The calendars are actually a very cost effective way of getting 8X10 -approx – prints. I simply cut off the calendar part when finished, or before.)
As I started working with the photo in Photoshop Elements, I “accidentally” focussed in on one portion of it. I then became enraptured with the silky texture and created a page with some variations on one of my sites. Stilll excited, I’ve put a composite of three of them here for
Today’s Featured Photos -
As you can see the top two are the same view rotated 90 degrees, each projecting a different feeling. The “silkiness” that so appeals to me remains in both.
For the bottom image I created a “montage”, mainly to show the original image with which I had started. There are a couple of more images on the garlic page where it is easier to spend time with each image separately.
Self-Reflecting Queries -
Today’s experience and story relates to being open to the unexpected, focusing in and shifting perspectives.
I am assuming that more than likely you never pay too much attention to a garlic bulb if/when you take it apart to get separate the cloves. In the case of the above two segments I was taken aback when I made the “discovery”, kept the pieces for photographing and for further exploration with my camera. Ultimately, as evidenced by the above, the photographs themselves became another playground for exploration.
Is there anything that has caught your eye or attention recently that you chose to spend some time with and look at in a different way? If yes, what opened up for you out of that experience? If no, I invite you to find something very “ordinary” and see what new you can mentally/imaginatively create from it. And, of course, even if “yes”, I suggest you do this.
I also invite you to really zoom in on pieces of the object, person or situation and see what new you can find. Does the shift in visual perspective, create any other changes for you?
As always, have fun and open up to new possibilities.
Then please post your experience in the COMMENTS section below.
Upcoming - Jump Start Course for Your Brain
My friend Suzanne Holman, who is doing the three week Jump Start Course for Your Brain sent me five page report with tips for maintaining Brain Health. She said I can pass it on to you. In PDF format, I invite you to download it at BRAIN HEALTH FOR BOOMERS.
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Today’s issue of Picture to Ponder is a slightly different “take” on one of our recurring themes that of “paying attention.” I admit the photos certainly appear to be an odd combination. On the other hand, I hope they bring you the same smiles that I get when I snapped and then reviewed them. More below.
Today’s Featured Photos -
For more photos and the story – [click to continue…]
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