Sweden

Lens-Artists Challenge #129 – Favourite Photos of 2020

/ Leya / 102 kommentarer

Our team is back and we wish you welcome to 2021. This New Year comes with much hope for the future. Maybe more than ever –

It was as if the land opened its lips and breathed again, and was made anew.
― Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Our “Favorite Images of the Year ” challenge will be a bit different – as this whole year, 2020, has been different. No visits to foreign lands or faraway places. Instead it opens for images that tell something of our own journey for 2020. For me, this year meant living in my bubble, struggling to stay reasonably sane. So much less camera…and so much less energy – but still, here’s my year through lens and sense.

I begin with my absolute favourite image for 2020 – the broken window with wine leaves and the last rays of sun. From here I will travel backwards in time, down to when it all started, somewhere in January/February.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
― Oprah Winfrey

A friend of mine said to me, ”…this image is like a symbol of 2020: restriction and restraint for everything beautiful.” Maybe so, but, being a person who constantly seeks beauty, I will always try to find it, and to portray it – no matter what.
Letting ourselves and the dogs as free as possible – giving room and space for more uplifting thinking. We are fortunate to live near nature and the possibility to spend several hours a day in the great outdoors.
One of the few sunny minutes this autumn. For several years I have tried to catch this road in its Autumn glory – and finally, the golden moment arrived. Unfortunately this happened on one of my ”low” days, so, I felt… nothing of the expected joy. Still, here it is – the once much longed for image…
This year brought many opportunities for close-ups and macro photography – finding new worlds in small spaces. Never has William Blake’s words rung more true to me:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. —Lao Tzu

In September my mother left us. Unexpectedly and unforeseen. And Autumn darkness at the door. After the funeral I went from feeling low to feeling exhausted and powerless. No recharging at hand. Even on our hikes I seldom brought my camera.

And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that never were.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke

A highlight in the autumn darkness was the visit to IFÖ center and the artists’ studios there. I brought my camera… Creativity is contagious – not dangerous.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Cicero

My garden was a special joy this summer. And I finally got my glasshouse – hopefully there will be new plants in spring!
The beginning is always today.—Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

New life is slowly growing where my forest once was. I clearly remember this uplifting day watching the clouds sailing low, like cottonballs dropped from the sky.
NO treat beats an outing with my daughter and son.
This year I discovered the swirl through some other bloggers – and loved juggling with it. I even made a none favourite animal look more handsome. (Still not a favourite though…) So, swirling became a distraction from the nightmare situation in the world.
Every moment is a fresh beginning. —T.S. Eliot

A new hiking area – we walked all familiar areas and even some new ones this Spring. Nothing compares to Mother Nature when it comes to healing. A sunny day, open fields, lovely old houses – the closest we could get to an ordinary day and a normal life.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. – Khalil Gibran

In the sandy soil of southwestern Skåne…you will find the most beautiful of spring flowers – the Pasqueflower. Only about 7 centimeters high, but abundant here. It felt comforting to lie down and touch the earth, knowing it is still there…

I was fortunate to attend a spectacular event – letting two young Eurasian eagle-owls take off for freedom! And how I wished I could just fly away with them.
Waiting for the train in Stockholm. On that train home from Umeå, I learned about the new Corona virus’ arrival in the world. Everything turned sci-fi, and I was shivering to the bones. My husband was traveling somewhere in Asia, and I texted him to return home immediately.

A lovely winter’s morning before the world changed… before everything we knew as normal was … gone.

In retrospect, I realize I have made more images than I knew of… despite this invisible invader and its impact on all our lives. Now we can only wish the vaccine will help us come back to easier and brighter days. The wiser. The first thing I would do… is go to a café for a nice cup of coffee and a tasty piece of cake – and quietly sit down to watch smiling people passing by.

We are excited to announce that next week’s challenge will be guest hosted by Slow Shutter Speed’s Anne Sandler. Do stop by her blog this week to see her beautiful photography and don’t miss her post next Saturday at noon EST.

May 2021 bring peace, health, and happy moments to us all. We look forward to seeing Your favorite images of 2020 and understanding why you’ve chosen them. Please link them to Tina’s original post, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. As always, we greatly appreciate your continued support of our challenge and the inventive creativity of your responses.

Thursday Thoughts – Winter Memories

/ Leya / 34 kommentarer

Today we went to the forest again, dreaming of frosty days and snow …

Like it was only two years ago – Milo and I could walk forever…
I cannot tell you how much I miss that crispy air…
… and the powdery snow

Milo was a youngster – I think it must have been a long time ago…

Lens-Artists Challenge #125 – You Pick It!

/ Leya / 87 kommentarer

I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.
— Diane Arbus

This week Tina is our host, and she says: …”we hope you’ll share a subject that is near and dear to you, that you find interesting, or challenging, or perhaps that shows us something new or unique to you.” Please visit her page, marvel at her artistry and get inspired by the art of Wabi-Sabi!

I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new. – Ernst Haas

Personaly, I have chosen nature’s beauty combined with different processing of the images. A creative pastime that has become even more interesting in days of seclusion this year. But, let’s start with my capital city – Stockholm. (I do visit cities too…) Said to be one of the most beautiful capitals in the world – much because it is a city on water.

All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.
— Richard Avedon

Earlier this year (pre-pandemic…), a grey day, just like today, I had some hours between trains in Stockholm. I walked past Stockholm City Hall, sailing in the air – a double exposure processed with an oil painting filter.


Frosty leaves on the forest floor – with a touch of oil painting.

In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story. – Walter Cronkite

My visit to Ifö art center some weeks ago also presented some splendid natural artworks. This beautiful window was covered in colourful Boston ivy (?) (oil painting filter) – but its real beauty wasn’t revealed until we went inside, looking out of the backlit window.

The memory has as many moods as the temper, and shifts its scenery like a diorama.
― George Eliot

This gallery shows the same window, processed with different filters. From left to right: colour pencil, water colour, oil pastel, pencil, abstract.

Only photograph what you love.
– Tim Walker

My final image is the window seen through my eyes, lens and oil painting filter. It represents my heart’s own memory of this moment in time. Our memory works like this – reality through filters like personality, feelings, mood and situation. In the header – double exposed roses processed with an oil pastel filter.

So, this week it’s all up to you – choose your subject and share whatever it is about it that you find interesting. We are looking forward to seeing your interpretations.

Thank you for treating us to your creativity on Amy’s Now and Then Challenge!

SPECIAL NOTE: For those who wish to have advance notice on our themes, next week Patti will treat us with an Alphabet Challenge – Subjects That Begin With The Letter A.

Until then – stay warm, safe and hopeful.

Thursday Thoughts – Younger Days

/ Leya / 36 kommentarer

Walking, walking…One of the last colourful days, I decided to walk along an old road I used to walk in my younger days – in the 1980’s. I had a friend living at the end of the road, and I believe she still is.

One of the old farms was in ruins due to a fire some years ago. The remains looks beautiful still.
Spindle and old fences – and of course a red farmhouse. Sweden is renowned for its red houses with white gables.

Even bird houses have them…
And Milo loved the stone fences – of course. He gets a nice treat when he is climbing up on top of something. Spoilt young man…
So, Milo and I have a lot in common… many stones climbed and so many fences defied – this was a big part of being a child in a rural landscape. No playing indoors – always outdoors in the fresh air.
No matter how much we tried – we still couldn’t conjure up the sleepy sun this day – but memories of childhood days danced like autumn leaves in the air. Golden and light as feathers. Today my grandfather was born, 117 years ago.