My garden

Lens-Artists Challenge # – Live and Learn

/ Leya / 45 kommentarer

Tina starts this week with another of her wonderful quotes – this time from Mahatma Gandhi:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Through my whole life, I have strived to take good care of and preserve the things I love. When it comes to humans, people I love, it becomes more difficult. We don’t live forever. Photos are essential of course, but to me, also living things I have received or inherited from them.

The white geranium above, was one of the flowers in my grandmothers windows. In Sweden we have a long tradition of keeping geraniums in our homes – indoors and outdoors. My grandmother taught me everything about them, and I inherited all of hers when she died in 1988. Soon I excelled in propagating them from cuttings, and outdoors they thrive the whole summer.

Our National Painter, Carl Larsson, often used his family and home as models for his pictures. The Flower Window is maybe a favourite with most Swedes.

Our summer house is a haven for the whole family – and the old sallow was the warden tree. It was believed to be at least 200 years old. Last year it didn’t make it through the heavy storms, but luckily a sapling survived at its feet. We were so happy. When we arrived early this spring though, the sapling too had fallen in new storms. And maybe, because it no longer had the support of the mother tree.

I was devastated, and so were all of us. I decided to gather some of its twigs and take them home, ”Live!” I whispered… when I planted them, and at least one of them does. I am hoping for more.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.

– Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

I often fall in love with roses, and would love to have more of those. Google is a good friend when my books are too old, and I found a good youtube clip that showed me how to take cuttings. So, nowadays, I don’t have to double expose my rose photos to see more of them! And I can give new roses away as presents too. This yellow rose for example. I now have three of them.

I just could not resist picking something I have learned over the years, ever since I was a child. It still gives me so much joy and satisfaction. It’s a celebration of life. My whole house and garden are filled with plants and flowers, and many of them are gifts from the start, or inherited. So, in fact they are great great grandchildren to the original ones.

Tina wants us to show some of the things we’ve learned about photography or any other subject. How do we learn it – by doing, from classes, or online, or through working with others? Please be sure to use the Lens-Artists Tag with your responses and to link your posts to Tinas’s original one.

Last week Egidio took us Into the Woods for some Forest Bathing. I enjoyed all of the wonderful responses I could read. Our summer house does not easily allow us an internet connection… On Saturday, August 2 at noon Eastern Time John will be hosting our next challenge. Many thanks to Tina for this challenge Lens-Artists #358 – Live and Learn

Lens-Artists Challenge #345 – My Go-To Places

/ Leya / 65 kommentarer

This week John asks us to show our Go-To Places – where you go or what you do to help lift those spirits when you are feeling low? So, here are some places close to my heart that helps me rest and reload.

People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable!

The forest fills my heart and soul with everything I need.

Every season it brings harmony and helps me shut out the troubles of the world.

My dog(s) are a constant source of happiness and energy. They are my best companions, and they never fail in their efforts to make me smile.

My garden is right at my doorstep…and its inhabitants, big or small, are a joy to follow in their daily life. Every morning and evening I walk slowly through the garden to see who’s in, what’s growing and what or who needs me.

Right now, I need to fill the drinking places for birds and hedgehogs twice a day – it is very dry in Skane, and in the whole country.

Summertime, the old cottage lifts me up to manage life when it is too warm outside and I think too much. Early mornings and late evenings bring solace and time for contemplation.

Last week, Anne brought us the “Abandoned” challenge – and we got loads of wonderful responses. Many of us do love abandoned things to photograph! Next week, Sofia will be our host. Be sure to follow her here so you don’t miss her post, which will go live next Saturday at noon Eastern time. If you’d like to join in with your own challenge responses, but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

Lens-Artists Challenge # – Shoot from Above

/ Leya / 57 kommentarer

This week Ritva invites us to a very interesting challenge – Shoot from Above. Not my ordinary way of shooting, but certainly outside the box!

My first thought for a fitting image was a photo taken in a restaurant in Amsterdam, where the restrooms were in the cellar. On my way down I could not avoid noticing the unusual tiling. Rather spectacular… to my eyes at least!

Then a gallery from my garden and glass house. The shells are from New Zealand, then you find what is left of my favourite flower pot, one of last summer’s flower bowls, and one rusty, decorative ball. Lastly a collection of my daughter’s tinfoil balls ( I get one now and then…) in a glass box.

I love these flowers – or their foliage. The swirling shapes look their best from above. And in the header/opener is a collection of Legotechnic figures put in a box by my granddaughter.

Resilience was last week’s theme and your posts to Anne’s wonderful challenge really showed its importance in our lives. A massive thank you to you all. This week, Ritva presents us with this incredibly interesting theme, and I enjoyed seeing things from above again, although that is not an ordinary winter game. Ritva’s post is beautiful, and it will inspire you to join in. Remember to link back to her original post and to tag Lens-Artists.

Next week it is Egídio’s turn to lead so please make sure to visit his colourful site Saturday 25th January to find out more. Until then, be good and take care.

Lens-Artists Challenge #321 – Intentional Camera Movements (ICM)

/ Leya / 50 kommentarer

Anne is urging us to try ICM – and I agree with her – it is great fun once you give it a go!

In 2016, Sue of Wordsvisual taught me how to do when she was here in Sweden. I immediately fell in love – the results are close to impressionistic. I have had some fun with it maybe once a year – but now, I really wanted to give it a fair try. (What wouldn’t I do for Anne?) Please visit her beautiful site to find some great inspiration!

As I am closing down my garden and glass house for the winter – I took my inspiration from there. The colours are still alive and here are my results from a couple of hours’ joy!

No laundry – but vines! I let them climb there because I love them flaming, and the two following pictures are also from those lines.

In the left one I drew the camera sideways and down, trying to catch the colours in the clothes pins while they went towards the ground. The right one was made by making u-formes with the camera to get the feeling of yarn hanging out to dry.

These two pictures are from the open place under the trellis. I still have some trees standing there, but tomorrow they are moving inside. The left one is a Plumbago and the camera was moved upwards. The right one is the Ginkgo tree and some different leaves on the ground, and camera was moved downwards.

These two are from the last of my Asters. You can guess how I moved the camera. The diagonal lines on the left side are from straws leaning over the flowerbed.

This last pair is from my fiery Yellow Ginger Lily – the last flower standing, and to the right is the soft Acacia buds waiting to bloom in January.

I was so inspired by Anne’s trellis ICM, that I had to try catching the last grapes out there. I thought the thrush had eaten them all, but here they are!

I took all photos in evening light and at low shutter speed. Mostly 8.

I had a lot of fun preparing for this post, and I hope you do too. My biggest smile and thank you to Anne, who made me take this up again! Please share your thoughts and images. I took hundreds of photos, and it doesn’t have to be flowers…so count on it that you will have to throw away 90% of what you produce.

We all had a great time last week as Sofia had us looking back. I enjoyed experiencing all your thoughts and memories. When you share your post for this challenge, please link back to Anne’s original post and use the Lens-Artist tag. In the meantime have fun learning and experimenting with ICM.