Lens-Artists Challenge #125 – You Pick It!

30 november, 202030 november, 2020 / 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.

Silent Sunday

29 november, 2020 / Leya / 21 kommentarer

Thursday Thoughts – Younger Days

26 november, 202026 november, 2020 / 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.

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.

Silent Sunday

22 november, 202021 november, 2020 / Leya / 32 kommentarer

Lens-Artists Challenge #124 – Now and Then

21 november, 202021 november, 2020 / Leya / 85 kommentarer

Now and then – Then and now

Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.
― L.M. Montgomery

Amy is our host, and she says: ”For our challenge this week we’d like you to tell us about your perspective on now vs then – it could be before and after the pandemic or any other changes you have experienced.” See her perspective on what the current changes can bring to everyday life!

As I was contemplating what major differences there are in my own life now, compared to a few years ago, some things stand out very clearly to me. I will try letting the images tell most of the story, as you change between Then and now, Now and then in my series. ( A new possibility with the block editor – but you have to go to my site to see it. I found out it doesn’t show in the reader …) Somehow I wish it was just as easy to mend things that are broken…

Due to climate change, our winters here in Sweden are very different from those we had only a couple of years ago. These two images are from November 2017 and November 2020.

Two of my best loved hiking trails have been destroyed. The forest is down. Colourful grasses are now taking over, and soon the old stumps will be totally hidden in the new vegetation.

Traveling is no longer an option, due to Covid19 and the pandemic. But, also in order to save the world from more air pollution. Instead of exploring exciting new places abroad, this autumn we built my much longed for glasshouse, where we greatly enjoy a quiet lunch every day.

Ever since I was a child, the forest has been my second home. I usually walk for hours every day, often in the company of my mother and my dogs (in this photo, Mille and Totti). In Spring we always pick wood anemonies and have ”fika” with coffee and cakes in the warm sunshine. Mille left us 2014 and my mother, this unruly year, 2020.

And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees
and changing leaves.
― Virginia Woolf (To the Lighthouse)

Changes are obvious to us all this year… and now we are looking forward to seeing Your perspective! Don’t forget to include a link to Amy’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag so that everyone can find you in the WP Reader. Next week, Tina will be our host for Challenge #125 on November 28th. Be sure to visit her site.

Lastly – Thank you for sending us so many delightful walks through neighbourhoods all over the world! It has been an adventurous week, a glorious and expressive week. As always – We are grateful that you want to share your world so generously.

Thinking of you who are celebraing Thanksgiving, and to all of us – Take care, stay warm, loving and safe.

I’m a big bath person – or

21 november, 2020 / Leya / 17 kommentarer

– Yikes, the bath bomb went off…

For Debbie and SixWordSaturday

Thursday Thoughts – Hovdala Again

19 november, 202019 november, 2020 / Leya / 29 kommentarer

Hovdala is mentioned for the first time in 1130, but the presently visible castle complex began to be constructed during the early 16th century. The date 1511 can be read on one of the façades. In those days, Scania (Skåne) was a part of Denmark.

A renovation of the castle was initiated in 1993. In 2004, renovation project was awarded the Europa Nostra award for ”sensitive and intelligent restoration work.”

The castle was besieged twice by Swedish troops during the Kalmar War. But, Hovdala castle withstood both sieges.

The beautiful Orangerie was built in the 18th century – now often used for weddings, but still a harbour for plants during winter time.

The castle belonged to the Ehrenborg family until 1944, when it was expropriated by the Swedish state. The last owners were however allowed to stay in the castle and did not move out until 1981. The grounds are frequently used for walking, hiking, bird watching and jousting.

The freshwater pearl mussel is a precious inhabitant in the waters of Hovdala.

Follow the road up in the forest behind the castle, and you will arrive at the Library Ruin – on which I have often posted. An unfinished octagon built by the owner of the castle – what a beautiful idea – to have a library in the forest! So, I will leave you there…for now.

Silent Sunday

15 november, 202014 november, 2020 / Leya / 9 kommentarer

Lens-Artists Challenge #123 – Found in the Neighborhood

14 november, 202015 november, 2020 / Leya / 230 kommentarer

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. – E. M. Forster

We are all trapped in our Covid19 bubbles – and at least here in Europe we are facing tough restrictions again. This gives us a chance to rediscover our surroundings – indoors and outdoors. And, it also means a chance to develop our photography and think outside the ordinary box. We have had some months to practice already…

Neighborhood – this might just mean taking a photo from the kitchen or office window, but, macro possibilities are obvious as well – a tiny neighbourhood with many new surprises.

Here are some suggestions to get you on track for Found in the Neighborhood: What makes this place (thing, person, pet…) what it is? How can I look at the everyday from a new perspective? Try organizing a creative stilleben you have never seen before! Details might reveal new worlds, or maybe you just noticed a new or redecorated house nearby?

Last week I decided to go a few minutes northwest and visit Gumlösa church, a church I haven’t visited since I was 10 years old. It is too close to home I guess… but so worthy of rediscovery!

According to old documents, the church was consecrated 26th of October 1192 by Archbishop Absalon in Lund. At the consecration was also Eirik Ivarsson, Archbishop of Norway, and bishop Stenar of Växjö. Many relics were preserved here, among others: a hair from the Virgin Mary and a piece of the Holy Cross.

The church was also constructed for defense. In the late Middle Ages they built the upper part of the tower and the stepped gables.

Gumlösa church is the oldest dated brick building in Scandinavia. It went down in a fire in 1904, where only the massive walls and vaults survived, together with the little Crucifix in the third image. But the church was soon restored to its former glory.

While walking along the aisle, notice the white sheets of paper on the chairs – the text says: ”This chair is for the Holy Spirit”. A subtle way of helping us to take better care of each other.

*We do not remember days, we remember moments.* – Cesare Pavese

After the church visit, we slowly walked back home through the last colours of autumn. For many years I had a venerable old friend, a beech tree, standing in my own forest, but unfortunately, my friend is now withered and gone. To my great surprise, this day I found a new friend – another old giant! So close to my home, but on a path I had never walked before. I stopped for a while to listen, and to feel grateful for finding him.

We met some more curious friends on the road – Belted Galloway cattle from Scotland. They have no horns and wear a ”double” coat. Very friendly. Do you know their nickname?

There is so much to discover, if only you open your mind and all your senses. Follow that road, follow your curiosity – even if you cannot go far away from home right now. There might still be lovely surprises around the corner… I hope you will go find them.