Tankar

Lens-Artists Challenge #382 – Rejected

/ Leya / 13 kommentarer

Egidio‘s challenge this week is all about rejected photos. A bad photo can sometimes be “rescued” and made more presentable. Take a look again at a few of your ”rejected” photos and see what you can do to bring them out of the archives.

Honestly, I find it difficult to throw away most ”bad” photos, but I try… I just have too many photos. From our trip to Poland, I have chosen four photos, and let’s see what I did with them.

This fish had a wonderful pattern and the surrounding structures were great – the colours were striking. And when it emerged from of its cave, the contrasts looked great. I clicked, but at home I didn’t recognize the picture in my head. Shooting through glass is almost never a hit, and this glass was not very clean either…

I removed the shadow fish with AI, reduced the blur and hightened the contrast. It didn’t get absolutely clear, but still – here it looks more like I remember it.

I love the jungle, and I have created some of my own at home. I think you know I always visit the botanical garden and the palm house wherever I go, and Poznan was no exception. However, there were spotlights and strong light in some places, so I was not happy with the water in this picture. I photograph in RAW, but didn’t really manage to make this one presentable.

I started with cropping on top, and then using AI again – to take away parts of the water and the blue, disturbing net. I think it turned out quite OK in the end, even if I would have wanted the whole picture.

They had a marvellous cafe’ in the midst of the greenery. That is the way I want my home to look! I am not there yet, but on my way… Reviewing these pictures at home, I found the colour of the chairs took away some of the feeling because of their bright hue.

I cropped the picture on the left, muted the colours and let the lady shine. This reduced some of the busyness and enhanced the jungle cosiness and harmony.

My last choice is a big elkhorn fern, from the same palm house. I have always found them fascinating, and once owned a plant for many years. Unfortunately it outgrowed the room and I had to leave it.

This one seems a big dark blob though, because of the angle of the shot, should I keep it?

Well, my first love for this plant was all about its structure and the hint of ancient dinosaurs…So, I focused on structure and the unique form, left the green for monochrome and my old fascination. I think I still love this plant!

My sincere thanks to Egidio who challenged us to show some of the work it takes to create an image we’re willing to share. Be sure to visit his original here, and to use the Lens-Artist tag in your response to help us find you.

Many, many thanks to those who responded to last week’s B&W/Minimalism challenge hosted by the eminent Ritva. It was an amazing display of the power of simplicity. Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week when Tina will be our host from her beautiful Travels and Trifles. Until then, please stay safe, hope you managed the snow storm ok, and may life be good to you this week.

Thursday Thoughts – Not Only Ice Festival

/ Leya / 14 kommentarer

A mix from the streets of Poznan. Old and new together.

The Poznan June 1956 monument with two crosses 19.5 and 21 m high (symbols of death and resurrection) was built for the victims of the great protest against Russia and Communism in 1956.

Lens-Artists Challenge #381 – Minimalism in B&W Photography

/ Leya / 47 kommentarer

Thank you, Anne, for letting us in on all these interesting neighborhoods! And for having us check out our own too… We get so used to it, that we really stop looking.

Ritva is our lovely guide this week, and she has chosen another interesting challenge – a combination of minimalism and B&W. Please visit her beautiful site for more inspiration.

I would rather own a little and see the world, than own the world and see a little.

– Alexander Sattler

A well-used minimum suffices for everything.
― Jules Verne

Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.

– Elliott Erwitt

Color is everything, black and white is more.

– Dominic Rouse

Look at that sea girls… all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy it more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”

– Anne of Green Gables

The world needs more people who celebrate the little things in life and find life in every little thing.
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.

– Leo Tolstoy⁠

Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive. – Elliott Erwitt

There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.

– Stefan Kanfer

Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that color never can

– Jack Antonoff

Yes, Iceland is minimalistic in essence.

Thank you, Ritva for a beautiful challenge – and I am so looking forward to seeing what you all have chosen to show us! Please link to Ritvas original post and tag Lens-Artists. Next week Egidio will be hosting – until then, stay well and be kind.

Lens-Artists Challenge # 380 – What’s Around the Corner?

/ Leya / 50 kommentarer

First – a big Thank you for treating us all with your wonderful favourites for 2025 – maybe the best challenge every year!

Now Anne is asking us to take a walk according to the theory ”…there is always something to photograph.” A theory I certainly agree with! Please visit her lovely site for more inspiration! Well, I did as she said – took the block less traveled. Here are some of my findings:

I started out at my favourite house – then took some roads where I never walk my dog.

Next I found these covered trees. Almost ghostly appearances. I wouldn’t want to meet them in the dark…

Yes, Winter has arrived and in many places we have very cold weather and huge amounts of snow. Schools are closed, there are no buses and the trains are standing still. And more snow is coming. There are red warnings telling us to stay at home!

Here is a neat group of stones to be set in a yard next year(?). Many people started renovating and building new when we had covid. Some never got finished.

Round the last corner before walking back home, I found a beautiful winter tree with reddish branches and snow powdered twigs. A gorgeous dominant in this garden.

Lastly some rusty and broken details – and a fallen out door from the old silo.

When I reviewed my post, I saw that much of our architecture and many trees have that red touch during winter (even the details!) – I like it. It gives the overall impression of a red and white world. These are also the colours of most Swedish houses from the old days.

Thank you, Anne, for a fun way to find out what our neighbourhood looks like today! Now we are looking forward to seeing what’s on Your block! Don’t forget the Lens-Artists tag and to add your post to Anne’s original one.

Next week it is Ritva leading – please visit her beautiful site for inspiration. Until then, stay safe and be kind.

Thursday Thoughts – Poznan Ice Festival

/ Leya / 26 kommentarer

For many years we have kept an eye on the ice festival in Harbin, China, but oooh…the cold (-25) is just too much. This year we went for the small Ice Festival in Poznan – the Midieval beauty that once was the capital of Poland. Unfortunately no snow, but the festival is always held.

Poznan is a big city of about 1 miljon inhabitants, but we stayed in the old center with its typical architecture and beautifully decorated facades.

A festive feeling lit up the grand square, where they also had arranged a skating rink.

People of all ages enjoyed themselves – and treated the audience to lovely moves as well as spectacular falls…

The Christmas market was in full swing as well and we were still lucky with the weather. But, This was what we came for:

There were participants from all over the world, about 30 couples all in all. They circled the whole square. It was good to see great cooperation between people of different countries and nationalities. Iraq, Spain, Canada, the Philippines, Germany, Poland…The Ice Team worked hard to serve them all!

The artists were very skilled, and it was a treat to see them handling the ice. Some of them had made a sketch to follow, but some not. Their tools looked similar to those used for tree sculpting, but how do you work with a material like ice? We saw no big mistakes though, and the ice blocks seemed to tolerate almost any treatment…

The finished sculptures were fabulous works of art. Most of them rather small sized, but some the size of a grown human.

They were put on pedestals and lit up in different colours. We didn’t stay to see the winner, but these two were my favourites.

Art is a wonderful thing, it makes your heart glow and your mind grow. Thank you for walking with me, I hope you enjoyed!

Favourite Images of 2025

/ Leya / 37 kommentarer

I hope you all had some Happy Holidays and are now ready for posting your favourites of 2025! As has become our custom, we are asking our followers to select their favorite images of the last year – whether they’ve been included in previous posts or not. This week, no single host will present the challenge. The entire team will share the challenge topic.

Here are mine – difficult to choose, and, of course I could have chosen other ones. But, with some for the beauty, some for the fun, some for the surprise and some for Love – I hope you will find something for yourself too!

This picture is my absolute favourite of the year – an endemic chaffinch sitting in a young girl’s hand in the forest in Madeira. A moment of peace and total connection with Nature. It fills my heart with gratefulness just looking at it.

I think I wrote in another post, that this year I didn’t do much photography – because I have started painting again. That is why one of my paintings is here in the gallery too.

Spring is the starter of Life – and everything…also my joy in photography. But it must be Spring at home, in Sweden.

In June we returned to Madeira, our hiking paradise for many years in the 70’s and 80’s. It was a joy to come back to the lush and beautiful nature there, but in the city so much had changed that I hardly recognized it. Despite the changes of time though, the country feeling remains – suddenly close-up cows in the middle of the road. Loved it!

Back home to Autumn, Winter and bird feeding in the moonlight. I do love my sweet sheep meetings every day on my dog walks – Milo believes they are his cousins.

Finally, a trip to the ice festival in Midieval Poznan, Poland. This is Restaurant Ratuszova with its amazing paintings in the cellar vaults.

We thank all of our followers for continued support and look forward to seeing the images you choose as YOUR favorites of 2025. Please remember to link your post to any or all of the Lens-Artists team members. Also, remember to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you.

We offer our best wishes for a New Year filled with peace, happiness, love and friendship. Anne will lead us next week on her lovely Slow Shutter Speed blog. Until then, stay safe, be kind and and find joy in the simple things.