Once again, a not-so-attractive face popped out at me for today’s issue of Picture to Ponder. Do you see the large, nose profile and the cone-shaped head covered with a hat?
This one is a little different in that I first saw the face, when looking at the larger photo which you’ll see below. This is a portion that I cropped out of the larger image and rotated from horizontal to vertical. From which of the photos below was this abstracted? [click to continue…]
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Though I did wish you a Happy New Year in the closing issue of Picture to Ponder for 2011, I’m moved to share the following photos and video for their light and aliveness.
Continuing the celebration, these orchids are spilling light and joy into the New Year. May it be a wondrous one, full of discovery and both old and the new that will empower you and your loved ones.
Discovering new things is one of the big passions in my life, especially exciting when they happen accidentally and totally unexpectedly. Be sure to continue reading, to see the possibility with videos.
Today’s Photos
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Last week, walking at the beach at sunset, I thought of the full moon seen the previous night. It occurred to me that the timing might be such to see moonrise over the ocean. I pulled out my iPhone to check this on the online Sunrise/Sunset calendar and sure enough it was set to happen in about 20 minutes.
Nevertheless when I saw the pink spot on the horizon line I wasn’t certain it was the moon.
However, I did take several pictures which I was not going to post publicly because they were all blurry. [click to continue…]
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Today’s Picture to Ponder photos certainly seem like a strange mix. At least they do on this end. I’ve been sitting on several moon photos for over a week, thinking I’d feature them in the last issue.
With a few possible queries and themes fighting each other in my head, I let it go and focused on the “light” message. Thus featured today are one of the moon photos and the glistening, sunlit golden water just past sunrise at the beach. New video clips also resulted.
To simplify this issue of Picture to Ponder, I posted the story of the moon on the blog, including the photographic processes and my discoveries. There you will see other full moon photos, including a brilliant orange one that I love, and Self-Reflecting Queries around “perfection”. See “Lessons From The Moon.“ Then clicking on the surf photo below will take you to a video of the waves gently washing in and rolling back on the surf.
Lastly before going further, if you are one who is an Internet Marketer, or interested in being one/learning more, be sure to check out the info after the SRQs on David Perdew’s new MyNAMS Membership program.
Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos -
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A little over a week ago, I was driving home from a meeting. Glancing out to my right a large, orange colored moon grabbed my attention. After a quick discussion with myself I turned right, rather than my usual left, to find a parking spot where I could pull out my camera to “capture” the image.
Each time I stopped, the street, and other, lights restricted my vision. As a result the moon was coming out the usual “white” for me. Finally I decided to continue onto the beach in Delray Beach. After a few photos, I happily remembered my tripod was in the car, so I set it up on the sidewalk behind the bushes, choosing not to go on the dark beach alone.
It was only then that the “big” revelation came. After playing with several settings, including the night scene on my Point and Shoot Canon Power Shot SX10IS, it occurred to me to use the Flash!
Although the distance was, of course, far from the moon, it did alter everything dramatically. I got what had been eluding me on all of my attempted moon shots over the past many months or a couple of years.
All it needed was LIGHT! It was then that I recalled a moon shot I captured in August of 2009, very close to sunset. It was at the beach in Boynton Beach, FL. I much too belatedly recalled that my discovery then had been that having the light brought out the color and texture .
Using the sunset setting on my camera deepened it further and brought out, or added to, the orange. (Note – The blue in the above photo might have been a result of slight manipulation with Photoshop Elements.)
Ironically, when I started searching my photos in iPhoto, I discovered another moon photo with textures that I was very happy to catch and that was earlier this year.
This one was also taken at sunset, in February 2011. Once again, outside light was a factor in getting the kind of full moon photo I keep chasing,
Self-Reflecting Queries -
I invite you to look into your life. Is there a place, or are there places, where you keep chasing “perfection”, where something you did was not “good enough”?
And, if you find that, what is the light you can shine on it to keep the memories and reminders there for you?
Have fun and please share your experiences with perfection, moon and/or light in the COMMENTS below.
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Today’s Picture to Ponder Photo –
This simple scene scene of the fisherman at sunset in Key West, FL exudes a sense of peace for me. My intention is that it fulfills on the same for you.
The added photograph that I almost included, and chose not to, is one of my beautiful granddaughter Kaitlyn resting against a tree in Key West. The picture was shot at an angle that reinforced the rhythm and flow of the whole scene. Though is holds together well, it felt too busy to fit with the above photo.
If curious, you can see it by clicking on Angled Tree. [click to continue…]
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I was still reeling from the wisdom and generosity of sharing that Dewitt Jones treated us all to in my interview with him on Tuesday night when really moving responses started coming in.
Long-time subscriber, and now dear friend, Linda Gipson wrote a beautiful tribute to the powerful response she had to him. I was so moved, I called and asked if I could use her as “guest writer” for today’s issue. I said I would feature one or two of her most favorite sunset photos today, as a tribute to her. Were I to eliminate anything she wrote, I would be depriving you, so I will start here and complete on the blog.
Linda Braun Gipson, a Registered Massage Therapist, in Houston, Texas wrote [my bolding]:
“The first thing Dewitt Jones said that grabbed me was that he tries to approach each subject with “no agenda”. This is exactly what I tell prospective clients when they ask what kind of massage I do. Many are looking for a simple answer, like “Swedish”, which they think tells them something… it doesn’t. Some people get it… most don’t. But I got it last night… this guy speaks my language!
When he went on to discuss “the connection” being the most important aspect of photography… he had me wrapped up and sold. Again, I’ve always told my students that first, you connect with the body. [For full post - Today's Photos and Queries and more of what Linda wrote - [click to continue…]
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This morning I set the intention to find a something new in my neighborhood, that would catch my eye, and then photograph it for this issue. During the brilliant sunlit morning here in Florida, I noticed the dance of shadows on a garage door. I took several photos and mentally my “story” was forming. Lo and behold, when I went to download them, they weren’t there. Evidently I did not click firmly enough on the older camera I had grabbed.
a brilliant September sunset in Green Cay Wetlands. [click to continue…]
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It is my intention for today’s message to be brief. When you scroll down and look at the two different photos you may wonder at their relevance to one another. Usually I look for a theme and, using art principles, I always attempt having them hold together and relate both visually and aesthetically to one another
Not wanting to intrude on your individual responses, I’ll expand further in my notes below the photos.
Today’s Photos -
To give reference to the perspective from which it was shot, the top sunset photo was taken from the balcony of a penthouse apartment in Boynton Beach, FL.
Although she looks somewhat pained, I love the regal, queenly appearance of the woman in the clouds whom we see in profile facing to our right. If you enjoy exploring further, you might see the second much smaller profile face in her “neck.” It, too, faces to the right. Then there is the one on our left at the top of her full hat, facing skyward. I suspect you will find more.
The image in the lower wood knot photo brought a quick smile to my face when I almost stepped on it on the boardwalk at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach. She looks like she is winking at us with the eye on our right. She has the feel of a “Greek Goddess and also an angel, though the wing we see is misplaced. It wouldn’t be attached to her cheek.
RE Art and Composition:
To complete on my thoughts from the introduction, what’s holding together the space that these two photos are occupying is that:
1. The subject of both is women, albeit imaginary ones, and
2. There is a bit of burnt orange in the wood that picks up on the orange in the sunset. Colors in the wood are also repeated throughout the sky and clouds in the top photo.
There is a similar linear pattern in both, though horizontal in the top and vertical on the bottom.
Today’s Photo Story -
No story today beyond what I’ve shared above in the photos and, as I see it, there is plenty of “juice” for many stories. Why not have fun and make up some of your own.
If you have children, or know any, I invite you to share these photos with them and listen to their observations and stories. And, certainly don’t neglect the “children” within the adults in your world. Please invite them to have fun with you also.
No more words on either. I invite you to BE with each, fully for a moment or two, less or more, and simply experience the images.
Self-Reflecting Queries -
Today, I also invite you to reflect on your responses, or reactions, to today’s photos. Did you see the faces I saw? Did you have judgments on my observations on the photos, or other things I might have said?
If so, was your response, or judgments, part of a pattern that you can identify and match to other situations in your life? If so, is there anything you can take from it, remind yourself of, and/or acknowledge yourself for, to further empower yourself in those areas or others?
And, as I stated last week, and at other times, it’s all made up. What stories are you making up in your life today? Are they serving you? providing fun? openings for interactions with others?
Thanks for “playing.” As always have fun with these queries and looking/seeing. Also, please post your responses in the COMMENTS section below.
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Three plus weeks ago, these six roses were part of a dozen that were an integral part of a large mixture of flowers my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren gave me on Valentine’s Day. They were acknowledging the sadness I felt, missing my husband who has been gone for more than two years. I wrote about the experience on Writing for Healing.
Then two days later published the first of the rose photos and wrote about the experience here on Photography and Transformation. A week after that, impressed with the longevity and beauty of six of the roses, eight days after my original writing, I once again photographed and posted a photo of Beauty in an Aged Rose.
I thought that both the roses and I were finished with the photo journaling. And then, lo and behold, the other day I noticed new growth – green leaves – on the stems of these flowers that have been off the plant for who-knows-how-long.
In a virtual writing retreat, or “camp”, as Julie Jordan Scott refers to it, Julie has been speaking of relating our experiences to those of coming out of Winter into Spring. These now dead roses with the new growth seem to be such a metaphor for that I felt the necessity of once again photographing and sharing this “miracle.”
All kinds of stories come to my mind. Seems I think in stories much of my life. A friend says that these roses are Sam talking to me. And, putting all of that aside, I am attempting to cut down on my words. So I leave you today with mainly the photos and the opportunity for you to share your own stories, if you so wish, in the COMMENTS section just below.
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