Lens Artists Photo Challenge #25 – Reflections

24 december, 2018 / Leya / 42 kommentarer

Patti’s challenge this week is Reflections – and I agree, it is a fascinating theme! New worlds. Worlds in worlds. Your eyes are meant to see, and sometimes they surprise you, they open your mind to dimensions you never dreamed of…

Buildings change faces…

Nature becomes glass art…

The street dips into the ocean…or the ocean rises to meet you…

Nature turns into yet another work of art…

In Switzerland I met my forever favorite – the Fluela Pass. When driving here earlier in the day, we saw nothing special. On returning home, in the afternoon, this reflection changed everything.

Lastly, reflections turning the whole world into a Monet painting…I can live with that…

Life would certainly be a bit more grey without reflections! Thank you, Patti, for letting us reflect on their importance. And thank you all who joined in! Lens-Artists last challenge this year, 2018, will be hosted by me, Ann-Christine. Hope to see you Saturday, December 29 – Merry Christmas!

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in December – Y3

13 december, 2018 / Leya / 25 kommentarer

Paula of ”Lost in Translation” asks us to use special colours this Thursday – and I learned a new word again: Maroon

The header is a sunset containing most of these colours in one picture.

cyan

golden

maroon

pale pink

aquamarine

Macro Monday – Frosty Colours

3 december, 20182 december, 2018 / Leya / 25 kommentarer

When frost is a visitor in my garden, winter is close

Even if it only lasts for a day or two – we wait for the sun to colour our frozen world!

I wait patiently –

– and finally the cold rays transforms the crystals into diamonds.

It is a wonder each time, each year…

…to see them come alive again!

On Closing the Door – A New One Opens

10 november, 2018 / Leya / 48 kommentarer

Hiking with my dogs yesterday, the change in Nature, from just one day back, was very obvious –

Yesterday was a short ”between time” in the forest, where some parts still were extremely colourful, even if the colours had turned more harmoniously yellow/brown.

No wind and a clear, chilly day, we all enjoyed what we understood from the weather reports, would be the last remaining bright day this autumn.

Inside the dense pine forest, I could still find some yellow beeches, shining beacons in the darkness. But out in the open – the misty light had closed the golden door behind us.

Cheers Viveka!

10 september, 2018 / Leya / 33 kommentarer

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #10: Fences

8 september, 20188 september, 2018 / Leya / 185 kommentarer

The wide world is all about you, you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.

J R R Tolkien

Where I grew up there were stone fences everywhere – even our garden had one, and we loved to climb and to play there. That stone fence was meticulously put together by my great grandfather and his family.

For centuries stones have been gathered from the ground to open up for grazing cattle or growing crops, and then laboriously made into beautiful stone fences stretching miles and miles over the landscape…

I guess this is the reason to why my favorite fences are made of stone. But there is a great variety of other fences in the world, both beautiful and practical.

If we travel up north in Sweden – these leaning beauties are frequent.

In Poland I found this perfect fence – creating total harmony with the surrounding nature.

In the Azores, especially in Faial, they use hydrangea to make natural fences for the cattle. The hedges can grow 3-5 meters high.

Which is quite different from Bhutan, where we encountered this most unnatural fence…But, in the rural areas they have to use whatever is at hand – and in the vicinity there was a working sawmill.

Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.

Robert Frost

The marble fences in the Forbidden City, Beijing, create mazes between the buildings.

Fences and walls can be effective and even soothing, at least for those who build them.

Richard Engel

Somewhere in the Canary Islands I found this modern, somewhat sprawling fence. Only because of the palm tree, it still managed to create a certain harmony.

But, real craft work is making the harmony in this elaborate iron fence, in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Spain.

If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.

William L. McKnight

At the great Carnival in Lund, people gather in thousands – and for students, there are no fences unclimbable… they believe, like Locke, that

The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.

John Locke

This week, the Lens-Artists challenge is to show us your favorite fence. Or, maybe you prefer fencelessness? Looking forward to your ideas and posts!

Have you seen these – from last week’s Action challenge?

Sue of WordsVisual plays with shutter speed for action feeling

Su Leslie of Zimmerbitch caught a precious moment

Ron Mayhew’s Blog with, to me as a Scandinavian, a very American action gallery

Here are a few reminders about the Lens-Artist Photo Challenges:

Welcome to join the challenge this week.
Use the tag “Lens-Artists” in your post.
Create a link to this post.
Amy will post the next challenge (#11) on Saturday, September 15th.

Missed our initial Lens-Artists challenge announcement? Click here for details.

As always, thanks for joining the challenge and have an inspiring week!

Sortland – the Blue City

13 augusti, 2018 / Leya / 26 kommentarer

We had one single rainy day in Norway, and decided to spend it in the Blue City – Sortland. The artist Bjørn Elvenes started a millenium project to paint the city blue…

Famous blue cities are Chefchauen in Morocco and Jodhpur in India.

…but how the story ended is still not clear. However, the overall impression is –

that he at least succeeded in large parts of Sortland. Many shades of blue greeted us now that the skies did not show any signs of this colour…

The city is small, but has today got about 10 400 inhabitants.

We enjoyed the one hour walk, even if we had to pop into some shops and the library to avoid the heaviest showers…

A rainy day well spent!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Patterns

11 augusti, 201814 augusti, 2018 / Leya / 196 kommentarer

This spring, I visited Bhutan, and met so many fantastic people and a landscape so different from ours in Scandinavia. Harmony – this is the word describing it best.

I eagerly noticed all the patterns in people’s lives – in clothes, buildings, decorations, religious paintings and habits…as well as patterns in Nature herself. Like the pattern in the header – the mules and horses trotting in a row – while the lines of the landscape, the roads, paths and fences, create natural frames.

I often try to find and capture the less obvious patterns, noticing that colours are not that important to make you see the pattern or structure itself.

But in most cases colours make an obvious difference, natural colours as well as man made ones.

Either you can find patterns in a sweeping landscape or cityscape or you can look at the little details. Any way, you will find that almost everything consists of just – patterns. Moreover, in our human society, they often have a ritual or symbolic meaning.

Among the most interesting patterns must be languages. When a language is written in beautiful pictures or letters – their special patterns will give them yet another meaning. Magical, isn’t it?

Life is beautiful in so many ways – and patterns are a big part of it. So, for this week’s challenge, share your interpretation of patterns— open your eyes and find new ones! In you own home, outdoors, man made or natural… Use your curiosity and creativity!

In your post, include a link to this challenge.
Use the tag “Lens-Artists” in your post. If you use a different tag, other bloggers won’t find your post in the Reader! Also keep in mind that you should use fewer than 15 tags for your post to appear in the Reader. For more information on how to tag, click here.
Amy will post the next challenge on Saturday, August 18th.
Missed our initial Lens-Artists challenge announcement? Click here for details.

Have you seen these?

Great diversity, from Abrie Joubert of Abrie Dink Hardop

Henry Lee of Fotoeins Fotografie

Storm coming in from the sea, from Suzanne of Being in Nature

Thank you for joining the challenge and have an inspiring week!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Soft

29 juli, 201829 juli, 2018 / Leya / 31 kommentarer

This week, Tina is our host, and she challenges us to show an interpretation of SOFT.

” Is it something as simple as a puppy’s fur, or as personal as your favorite quilt or sweater? Maybe it’s the soft light of dawn or the whisper of a soft breeze through the trees. Let us know in your response what SOFT means to you.”

Tina’s beautiful series of animals leaves us with a soft whisper from nature – and she inspired me to contribute with some softness from northern Sweden and Norway, where I spent some days last week.

In the header, a lovely little bridge by the road in Lofoten. I stopped to take a photo, but, as I was parking the car, the fog had smoothly settled between the mountains – and totally changed the scenery. Now the landscape was swept in a soft, cool blanket, and my photo created a totally different, but maybe more interesting feeling.

The other shots are from Lapland, Sweden, where we were welcomed back by the softest carpet of white cotton-grass and common cotton-grass.

In Northern Europe, for hundreds of years cotton-grass was used as a substitute in the production of paper, candle-wicks, and wound-dressings. And used as filling, they made the softest of pillows.

Do you have cotton-grass in your country as well? Do you know what it was used for in the old days – or maybe still is?

For more information on how to participate in the Lens-Artists photo challenge, click here. And – be sure to tune in for Patti’s challenge next week on Pilotfish!