Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #60: Framing the Shot

25 augusti, 201923 februari, 2020 / Leya / 70 kommentarer

You don’t need a framework. You need a painting, not a frame. – Klaus Kinski

I guess most of us love things framed to help us follow lines and reveal the artist’s intentions with his/her work. At least if we put them on our wall at home or go to an exhibition. Now Amy challenges us to consider framing – and in my selection (from Stettin all except the header) I try to show some very different ones as well. An important thing to remember is, that a frame doesn’t have to look like a frame, and it does not have to apply to the whole picture either.

You don’t buy a Picasso because you love the frame – Joss Whedonm

Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts – Garry Winogrand

What counts isn’t the frame, it’s what you put in it – Otto Preminger

I’ve often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it’s inside a frame – Abbas Kiarostami

I have a European frame of mind and Europe is my home – Andrea Bocelli

Thank you for all your inspiring Angles last week! – and thank you, Amy, for a beautiful set of frames and for all the fun with this challenge!

Thursday Thoughts – Trying to Photograph My Dogs…

28 mars, 2019 / Leya / 32 kommentarer

We set out in the early morning to enjoy the stillness and the bird song – I thought I might get some photos of the two boys together too…Totti hates the camera, but Milo tries to be

…complaisant. Not always succeeding, but, he helped checking out the bird houses …

…even if they were still empty, no guests arrived yet. A couple of weeks more is needed.

When spring arrives, they both need hair cuts often – but still get warm and thirsty.

Some advice from me – never turn your back on your motif…and never try to shoot without warning! Totti and Milo knocked me down and showed their best, wet and friendly approach…A very foggy lens emerged from this attack.

Here they are finally posing, after some hours of digging and running in muddy waters.

Well, which shot did you like best? My first favorite was the one of Milo alone – in the header. But after some hours…maybe the last one. After all, they are my sweeties!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #34: Close-Up

23 februari, 201921 februari, 2020 / Leya / 173 kommentarer

The light is returning to the northern hemisphere, but we still have winter –

– which means the opportunities are less for us who love photography – or?

A great solution to the problem is close-ups or macro photography. Your own home is an endless source of motifs – and maybe a look into new worlds. So, this week’s challenge is Close-ups. Looking forward to your creative answers to this prompt!

You certainly don’t have to buy a macro lens – most cameras are good at close-ups. If you have a smartphone/android/iPhone – you will be surprised how easily you get good results.

But, last year I finally bought a macro lens – after a lecture by one of our best Swedish macro photographers. She recommended a TAMRON SP 90mm F/2.8. In this post, you are looking through that macro lens. (All photos except one – I guess you see which one…) As usual, click on the images to enlarge.

Let us see what I found when I ventured out into my flower pot, abandoned for the winter in my garden. Have a look down its frozen interior!

This is something of what I found:

And they are not only droplets – but frozen ones, lovingly held by the tiny plants.

Have fun with your close-ups and hope to see you soon –

Before you go, thank you to Patti for a marvelous Nature challenge!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #31: Landscapes

3 februari, 20195 februari, 2019 / Leya / 64 kommentarer

The challenge from Amy this week is Landscapes. And I must agree with her, searching the archives for landscapes I have traveled through brought back many fond memories. I also got reminded of my love for two English painters, namely John Constable and William Turner. Constable a naturalistic painter and Turner a Romantic – they merge into the kind of art I love the most. So, let me start with a photographic painting from the winter where I live in the southern part of Sweden. And then, some different Swedish landscapes.

”The landscape you grow up in speaks to you in a way that nowhere else does.”

Molly Parker

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If we go abroad, the landscapes of course change for every country. Here are some of my favorites, starting with the Alps of Switzerland.

Endless, lonely beaches in Latvia

…and in Iceland. More Icelandic landscapes are here and here. More? Here and here!

Early morning dunes in Morocco – so different from the warm yellows of the evening sun!

This view from a kapok tree in the Amazon basin is one of my loveliest memories ever

The unforgettable, strange landscapes of the Galapagos Islands. The impressive, 5-40 ft, endemic Opuntia cactus is common, but

– every island is different…

Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers of New Zealand display extremely impressive landscapes

Back in Europe again, and the lush, rural landscapes of Bastán, Spain

A spectacular landscape hidden somewhere in the Pyrenees, Spain

And finally, China, along the Yangtze river…

… and the vast landscape of the Tibetan Plateau – shot through a train window. We traveled on the highest built railroad in the world, and the only train running on the permafrost.

Thank you, Amy, for this opportunity to revisit some favorite landscapes! I quote Charles Lindbergh: ”Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.”

Thank you for visiting, and welcome to join in the challenge! Also, be sure to tune in for Tina’s challenge next week, February 9!

Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Inspiration

11 januari, 201911 januari, 2019 / Leya / 37 kommentarer

A new challenge – thank you Snow and Amanda – and Fridays are not filled up for me yet! Here we go ;-D

All My greatest inspirations are gathered in these two photos. My son, my dog(s), the outdoors, hiking and my daughter. I just have to see them, hear them or hug them, while breathing fresh air…and often it is enough to just think of them!

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #27: My Travels

9 januari, 20199 januari, 2019 / Leya / 73 kommentarer

”Some of us choose our travel designations based on the iconic nature of the place. My trip to Peru was no exception.”

Thank you,

Amy, for giving us the opportunity to reflect upon our travels – because everybody travels sometime, somehow and somewhere. It does not have to be to faraway countries – we can also travel inside.

Some of my most intense travels – growing my self – important travels, were those I made as a young woman. Without a camera. I grew up with books, and many of them were about foreign jungles, rain forests, arctic areas and deserts.

My nose was always in a book, and in my mind I longed to see all those fantastic places and animals, meet those other cultures so different from my own.

Never did I guess I would get the opportunity to see so many of those places with my own eyes.

The extensive traveling started when I was 16 and met a young man who had reached the age for a driver’s license (18 in Sweden) – and, had a car of his own. We traveled through the whole of Europe for three summers. Then we decided to take the step over to Asia and a country much dreamed of – Nepal. Annapurna and Mount Everest, bicycle through the Kathmandu valley, Ox cart down in Chitwan. In the mountains we stayed at a bungalow owned by a Gurkha soldier. I had read that an Indian field marshal once stated something like: ”If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha.” Respect. Still no camera – my fellow traveler had one though.

All photos from our travels for the next 20 years are slides, dia positives. We never look at them.

All those years…Nepal, India, Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railway, Egypt, China, Iceland, Greenland, Peru…Yes, Peru too – now Amy got me wanting to open up those old dia frames again…

But, I have stopped wanting to visit places I have been…you don´t have to wait long before they look completely different and have lost that glory you remember from your first visit…I hate it how we destroy the originality of places, islands, countries, people… And we change ourselves as well, as we grow.

My travels. They started in the 70´s and hopefully they are not over yet. 43 years of growing up on the road, meeting remarkable people, living spectacular moments. The world opened my eyes – teaching me tolerance, patience, love…and how very much we resemble each other, we are the same all over the world, in fact one big family…So, let us work together to make this world a better place! Sustainable. Let love and caring for nature and each other rule.

Let us build bridges – not walls. We are all connected.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #26: Photographic Review of 2018

29 december, 201830 december, 2018 / Leya / 158 kommentarer

Before closing the door to 2018, I will try to put my memories into …mostly pictures. New Year’s Eve will soon be here, and it is time to reflect upon the year we are leaving behind. Some people even make a book out of their photos, something I can recommend, as pictures tend to stay with you – to spark even more memories…

This last Lens Artists Photo Challenge of the year 2018, is all about memories. Make a recap of Your 2018! What do you remember most vividly? What precious moments from your everyday life, family, travels, holidays, adventures, meetings, did you capture with your camera?

It is not easy to choose one’s favorite(s) of the year…I know. I tried to pick one photo from every season (sometimes I had to pick two…). Another interesting idea (thank you, Mandy of Silkannthreads… ), is to find one single photo that would represent the whole year. We are looking forward to seeing Your 2018!

Winter, January – A blue morning

March – Getting to know a very special cat breed – the Siberian

Spring, April – Bhutan

Summer, June – 5000 dragon flyers at Fanö, Denmark

July – Milo moving in

July – Lofoten, Norway

Autumn, September – I finally bought a macro lens

October – ”My” old beech tree

November – Forest walk

In the header, December 23, 2018, the day before Christmas Eve – and finally, on the road heading for the New Year, 2019…

I would like to leave you with a quote from a gifted young lady, whose future sadly was taken away from her – but I believe it is the young generation that will have to teach my own generation how we should have lived, and managed, this world. And, a second quote from a grown-up lady’s perspective:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

― Anne Frank

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

– Oprah Winfrey

With these two quotes, shining with hope for the future, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Thank you All for joining us in the challenges – we hope you have enjoyed it just as much as we have! Our first challenge in 2019 will be hosted by Amy, so, welcome aboard on January 5!

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE?

The dreamy reflections of Ryan Photography
Angela’s stunning stained glass in Brazil
Very different angles of life.. at Journeys with Johnbo

For more information on the Lens-Artists Photo Challenges, click here. Most importantly, remember to TAG your post ” Lens-Artists ” so it appears in the Reader.