Författare: Leya

Lens-Artists Challenge #133 – My Photography Journey

/ Leya / 114 kommentarer

Amy writes beautifully about her photography journey, and asks us to say something about our own journey with The Camera. Personally, I started out some 50 years ago with a Kodak Instamatic. 24 photos possible, and expensive they were. I wasn’t hooked… being a school girl with no income of my own. I stayed with my binoculars and forest birds. But I kept dreaming of maybe some day…

A first try with a digital camera was in 2005, an OLYMPUS, for our second trip to China. It ATE batteries…and was only used for this trip.

When I met my husband to be, who was a keen photographer, he had a Canon, a ”real” camera with several lenses. And he made diapositives. When we started traveling more extensively, I thought it would be too expensive with double up of everything. So, I gave up photographing – something I have regretted many times…I have no photos from countries like Egypt, Nepal, Peru…

With the digital revolution, I started photographing again. My first Canon IXUS was a great companion on our Norway tour in 2008.
Cattleya
Using the little IXUS, my orchids were often the target…here a favourite cattleya, Tropical Pointer

The other obvious targets were my two dogs, Mille and Totti. Mille was my first Lagotto. They all have their own special pages on my blog. My newest little one as well, Milo.

With the children came my first ”real” flirt with a camera. My husband bought a film camera, and I ended up with a Nikon D40. Second hand, but it worked well. (The whole New Zealand (LAPC #53) tour was photographed with the D40, and so were almost all of my students.) After some years, I upgraded to a D7000.

Today I also have a Fuji camera – much less weight to carry… My faithful Nikon is mostly left on the tripod for macros. I dearly loved the little Canon IXUS – slim pocket size and splendid sharpness. (Forwarded to my daughter now…) It was a ”dogwalk camera” – steady enough to work with one hand only. A phone must be handled with both hands – at least if you have two dogs. But remember – The best camera is the one you have with you.

The only course I have managed to squeeze in so far is ”Find your photographic voice” for Otto von Münchow. An online course where I learned more about both camera settings and how to ”think” and find my own style. I am not much into the tech part, so this theme was perfect for me. I would love to attend more courses, but with old parents, two dogs – and a grown man to ”take care of”… this is not easily managed.

Otto made me face photographing people – tough task for me!

When I try to sum up what has meant the most for my journey, I find it must be CHECKING OUT PHOTOS made by photographers all over the world. Learning from Your photos, experts’ photos, (Lens-) artists’ photos. I visit galleries, I use good books, I roam the Internet. And I love Lightroom and Photoshop to play around with. Lastly, I must not forget my husband, who patiently has been driving the car, walking the dogs, holding my things…

I am a bit envious of some of you, because I know you have friends to go out shooting with. I believe that must be wonderfully enriching – as feedback moves you forward and stretches your abilities. Otto and my son have been important in helping me do that. My son, David, is a very good photographer and graphic designer. Some of you know he has been a guest here two Thursdays with Chernobyl and Exploring the Unknown.

Finally I want to send many grateful thanks to all of you who contributed with such tremendous variety to Striped and Checked last week! – I never thought there could be so many different possibilities! So, this week we hope you will join us again, and we look forward to seeing your creative photos and reading about Your Photography Journey. Please link to Amy’s original post and don’t forget the Lens-Artists tag.

Next week Tina will present us with “Before and After” We’ll be asking you to share images that didn’t quite live up to your expectations together with your final versions after editing them. Until then – stay safe and be well. Stay close to Nature if you can, and communicate with mockingbirds – just like I do…because if something is promoting a photographic journey, it is love of what you are doing, and in my case – Love of Mother Nature.

Can a windmill sail without wind…?

/ Leya / 36 kommentarer

Six Word Saturday

After all this snow maybe you are hungry for a fresh Beach Walk with Frank? He’ll take you along with him every week, reflecting on life through what he sees and experiences: Moon, Dawn, Storm… and today it is Fog. I managed to find some fog and mist for him to illustrate his ponderings. His thoughts are peacefully reflective and refreshing: just the thing to brighten your morning.

Thursday Thoughts – Glory Days

/ Leya / 71 kommentarer

I thought you might want to walk with me in an area I seldom walk. It is always very windy here, and the open waters make the wind chill you to the bones. But …

…not today! Several degrees below zero, but sunny and no wind. Absolutely still.

There were more than me walking here today…

I met some dogs too, but not many. Summertime this is a very popular area for walkers.

As I had anticipated, there were no birds in sight, but I knew where to find them…
Just follow the snow covered path…

…and you will reach the small pond with warmer waters. Here we find several species of ducks, swans and cormorants.

A very sunny, uplifting day for us all! Thank you for walking with me ♥

Lens-Artists Challenge #132 – Striped & Checked

/ Leya / 231 kommentarer

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy. – Albert Einstein

After a beautifully emotional week with Patti, I thought we would make this week’s challenge very straight-forward – but hopefully fun as well. We find Striped and Checked everywhere around us, but maybe this is so common a pattern that we don’t notice it if we don’t go looking for it? One thing is clear though – I love these patterns, but remember that my children used to hate them. Today, our whole family often use a mix of striped and checked clothes as well as interior decoration. So, here we are – what about you?

In the header – almost only striped. Notice that the chairs make it somewhat checked too.

In fact, checked is a pattern of modified stripes consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines forming squares. Which make for endless possibilities!

”Simply” Scottish checked…

According to Wikipedia, the word ”checked” is derived from the ancient Persian word shah, meaning ”king”, from the oriental game of chess – particularly from the expression ”shah mat”, ”the king is dead”, or more modern, ”check-mate”. The word came into English from the French echec in the 11th century.

These patterns combined in – naturally striped and man-made checks…
Checked art – colourful, not only black and white…
Only Black & White!

Finally, I had to have some winter striped and glazed – and checked too…

Did you know that the check pattern has a number of symbolic meanings? In auto racing, the chequered flag is displayed at the finish. They say this originates from the ”checkers” who watched the finishing line and checked when cars had finished the race.

In some countries, the check pattern has become a symbol of the police. Known as ”Sillitoe tartan”, it was first used in Glasgow in the 1930s and was inspired by a pattern worn by some Scottish army regiments. The symbol is used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland and some cities in the United States (notably Chicago).

Before I finish, many warm thanks to Patti and to all of your creative Emotions shared with us last week! Now we are looking forward to seeing some fun Striped and Checked findings from you! Please link to my post and don’t forget the Lens-Artists tag. Stay safe, wherever you are, and we are eagerly waiting for you to check (!) in. And, please stay tuned for January 30, when Amy will be our host.