
Wordless Wednesday


Karina of Murtaghs Meadow is our lovely guest host this week, and she wants us to show something of our special place. She writes: ”Many of us have a special place; maybe it is a place you like to escape to when you need a break from the ups and downs of the everyday; or it may be just a place you enjoy spending time. Your special place may be a certain room in your house, it may be a place you like to visit, or it may be a building such as a library, museum, or church.”

Today I chose my own room – left to me when my daughter, Emma, moved out. I have all my hobby materials here, and the window is facing south, so it is always sunny and warm. A welcoming space!

More than me love this room, and last week we had Milo’s girlfriend, Esther, here. Both sweeties kept me company every day when they had got tired of playing outdoors. Reading was not easy though…as the young lady liked to sprawl her longlegged body all over my chair. I had to put a blanket there.

In this chair, I do my knitting and crocheting too, so that had to be paused for some days… I also keep my dried and pressed plants in this room , ready to be put into frames or fit into a card or a book.

The light makes it perfect for my scribbling, painting and doodling as well, as I try to find the old me again with watercolours, pencils and pens. In the yellow box to the right, new little plants find this sunny spot a nice place to start life, or restart it. I think we somehow share this feeling…
Finally, special thanks to Anne Sandler for her Water challenge. We all love water, and your variety of beautiful photographs and posts made the importance of water really shine!
We hope you will join us this week, and we look forward to seeing what makes a place special for you. Get inspired by visiting Karinas post from beautiful Ireland, and link to her original post with the Lens-Artists tag to help us find you.
Next week, Tina will lead LAPC #189, on the subject ”Odds and Ends”.

As so many readers have been asking how I made the water droplets for LAPC’s last challenge – here is the formula. Originally I learned it from always innovative and informative Dina and Klausbernd at The World According to Dina.
1) Open an image in Photoshop
2) Crop it to a square format
3) Go to filter – distort – polar coordinates and click polar to rectangular
4) Go to image – rotate – flip vertical
5) Go to filter – distort -polar coordinates – rectangular to polar
6) Expand canvas: go to image – canvas size; expand to your liking but choose the right colour before saving
A small warning though…you will get addicted! Here are a couple from my garden last year – snow on the tiny spring flowers. The original scilla image is in the opener.


Scilla and daffodils after a snowfall

And here is what is coming in a month or so – sweet Anemone hepatica.
Have fun ”orbing” your world! Please tell us about it or post some of your results! We certainly need some fun these dark days, don’t we. ♥
This week we welcome Sofia and her delightful theme ”Low-Light”. Sofia says: ”For me, any circumstance where there is less light than the normal daytime is low-light as it requires different settings to take a good photo.”
I have chosen some of my all time favourites. In the header though, a new image from our recent visit to an old health resort, Lundsbrunn. It shows one of the great photo opportunities with low-light – long shadows.
A late evening walk at our summer house can be magical – in the right light.

On the west coast of Spain, just before sunset, I had one of my most magical low-light moments. I had to do some post processing in Lightroom and Photoshop to bring out the structures from the dark cliffs.

My cactus flowers are about 20-25 cm and the flower lasts only for about an hour, night time. They were photographed with my cell phone, and I used a small flash light to make it all possible. I knew when the flower would start to unfold, and by then I must have tried out how to use the light.


Sitting in a canoe, in the Amazon, I faced great difficulties because of the thick darkness. I was not happy about many of those night photos, but some of them managed to catch the magic –

– at least for me to remember the adventure by. I can still hear the sounds and the silence…just by looking at the images. So, don’t be afraid of blurred images – they too have a story to tell!

Of course I have to have something from Iceland here too. Iceland is all about the light. This image is from the south coast, a late winter evening – and the roaring sea. Velvety browns and the black sand beach showing off its diamonds.

Lastly, I will give you a glimpse of our Swedish watercolour master, Lars Lerin. The light in his paintings is incredible. Many of his paintings are from places in low light, Lofoten in winter for example. I believe we can learn not only from other photographers, but also from our painters, artists, how they picture light, and light when there is almost none.

This week we are inviting you to share your experiences with Low-Light photography. Do you have any special tricks to share? Please link your views to Sofia’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you.
Thanks also to John for last week’s Change challenge, and for your many creative and interesting responses. We look forward to seeing your Low Light images this week and to your joining us next week when Anne leads our challenge, be sure to visit her wonderful site.


Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.
– Albert Schweitzer
This week, we’re delighted to welcome John Steiner as a new member of our Lens-Artists team. For his topic, he asks us an interesting question: What does change mean to you? John has some clever answers worth visiting!
The opener shows the change we all are waiting for now – at least here in the northern hemisphere. But it will not arrive for another two months…
Change is inevitable, and I believe Charles Darwin says it best: ”It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who will best manage change.” But survival comes at a hard cost too. I have chosen changes from my own life. A mixed bag of joy and sorrow – Life is.


I love photography, even though it sometimes has to rest for a while – now much due to covid times… This photo is from a dam close by, always an autumn hiking treat. With different possibilities in computer programs, you can play around and get almost any change you want. Photosketcher used here. It is nice when you are in control yourself, isn’t it?


My hiking interest is huge – I have to visit the forest every day for dogwalks and fresh air that will keep me breathing and happy. Some favourite paths are gone, but other areas have become new favourites, and new trees will be planted where the old ones once stood.


In the autumn 2020 we finally decided for a glass house. The old stump from the big birch tree had to go – and make room for so many other plants. I have never regretted building the glass house, because all my special plants will easier survive winter. (And you might get some nice pictures of them too…)


Lastly, some changes are not wished for at all, but belongs to our closest circle of life. I lost my dear mother in 2020, and I lost sweet Totti. Little Milo has now grown up to be my handsome number 1 companion.
Many thanks to Amy for her ”Travels Have Taught Me” challenge, where we learned a great deal from your travel lessons! Next week, we’ll be looking forward to Sofia Alves’ challenge topic. Be sure to visit her beautiful blog!

Time for a glimpse in my windows again – one of my greatest joys is the dayly watering and checking in and through my windows.







Most of my Phalaenopsis orchids are flowering now in January, February – and some other plants as well.
Then I have some very special cases… The Amazon lily is resting in my bathroom because it got little creatures this winter…but I have successfully got rid of them now, and new, fresh leaves are coming up. I have also bought something called a Nut tree – a chestnut. Lastly, my window lamps are like flowers themselves, aren’t they?



In my glass house, the Acacia is coming along nicely – sending a lovely scent as I open the doors and enter. It would have been nice sending a soft puff from her to you – but I am afraid you have to imagine! Spring and summer dreams…


Thank you for coming along to my morning chores – much appreciated company!
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