LENS-ARTISTS

Lens-Artists Challenge #224 – Exposure

/ Leya / 59 kommentarer

Sofia leads us in this interesting challenge – Exposure. Please visit her beautiful site for inspiration! Now, it is up to you how you work on exposure. I prefer using aperture when photographing, but for this challenge I decided only to play with changing the exposure settings while editing. In general, I find that the easiest way to get the look I want. The idea here is to see how the mood of any photo depends on its exposure.

First, some of my high key flower images. I used to be rather obsessed with that some years ago.

What is High-Key Photography?

In short, high-key images are those that have few shadows and have the subject set against a very bright background. High-key images are often set against over-exposed backdrops and the average of all the pixels in the image is very bright. High-key is the opposite of low-key images that are defined by their darker tones.

But, I am cheating…I have this opportunity in one of my cameras, and I also use NIK. If you want to try it for real, here’s an explanation and a tutorial.

Hiking last week in the deforested area, made for sunlit roots and grass. The area felt desaturated – in a positive way.

I decided for monochrome before changing the exposure in LR. The low exposure was a hit for me. I could almost feel the beautiful, whitened roots come alive in the play of light and shadow. Please click to enlarge.

For this plumbago flower, I used Lightroom to create different exposures. You can see that in the underexposed image the light is softly shining through the petals, something you cannot see that well in the overexposed picture. Harmony.

NIK can make striking high key images, while the low key one with LR touched shadows gives another feel.

Different umbrellas

This fly agaric stood alone in the shadow, neutral exposure – with an underexposed image, you can make the ”hat” glow when editing in for example LR. More magic!

Landscapes – well, I don’t know what you prefer, but I prefer the ethereal look of the overexposed image.

Last, but not least, if you are a follower, you already know that I love double exposures. You can make them in Photoshop, but I am lucky enough to be able to make them in my camera. This image I have featured several times, but it is the one I think have turned out the best. So far. In the header – roses.

To sum it up, for me it’s aperture photography, but I often find that playing with exposure while editing gives me a wider range of opportunities. Good for me – I am not always fast in deciding how I want the final image to look. I think that underexposed images make for interesting edits and overexposed images can lift the photo to something ethereal.

Last week we had John’s creative challenge to lighten up our windows to the world. The variety of replies showed how every challenge can be interpreted in a different, personal way and that applies to this week’s challenge as well. We” invite you to play, think or just do your own thing with exposure, either on camera or while editing. and then show us the result.”

Please link to Sofia’s original post and tag with Lens-Artists so we can all find you. Next challenge it is Anne hosting, be sure to visit her beautiful site for inspiration.

As always, stay calm and kind.

LAPC #223 – Flights of Fancy

/ Leya / 64 kommentarer

John leads this week’s challenge, and it is no surprise it involves a ”flight”…

I was a little bookworm, a girl with my head full of dreams. Many dreams of foreign countries I read about in books and saw fascinating pictures of. Mostly special places in these books, not so much whole countries. I never thought they would be more than dreams, but then I met a young man as eager as myself to see the world. We started travelling together when I was 16 and he was 21. And we never stopped. Today I am very grateful that so many ”flights of fancy” from my childhood really came to fruition. Of course I have many dreams left, but in fact there is only one more great travel dream, and that is to see the cherry blossom and the wisteria tunnels in Japan. Somehow I don’t think that dream will come true – but it feels good to still have dreams!

Please go to John’s site for more inspiration!

I have picked three different ”flights”… big and small, and in two out of three there is a real flight involved.

One of my first ”flights of fancy” was this house. As a young girl I used to spend every summer in the public swimming pool of our village. And on my way to the pool, every day I passed this white house, surrounded by a big garden with lots of birches, apple trees, plum trees and pear trees. It was built on a bit higher ground than the other houses, and I also knew that one of the most handsome young boys in my little village happened to live there…

Little did I know that my boyfriend and I would buy this house when I was only 21 – and we have lived here since then, for 44 years now. And, it is still my dream house!

This image is from quite some years ago, when we had both Mille and Totti waiting for us to come home.

Another ”flight of fancy” was going to New Zealand. I had a pen friend when I was 11 (one of many…), and this girl sent me a calender with photos from both islands, North and South. I was so mezmerised, so in love with these extraordinary nature sceneries, that I started dreaming of getting there one day. In my mind, no other country could literally have ”everything” I loved: high mountains and glaciers, volcanoes and hot springs, magical forests and jungle, unimaginable animals…yes, everything. A dream which of course sounded absolutely impossible…NZ was at the the other end of the world – the New Zealanders are our antipodes.

Then there is another ”flight of fancy” involved too. I had always loved the novels of JRR Tolkien, and especially Lord of the Rings. Our children loved it too…so, finally we arrived in NZ, North Island around Christmas 2011. We travelled the islands for a month, and of course we had to visit Hobbiton! And do you know what – it looked just like in my dreams.

Yet another ”flight of fancy” started with a novel, James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. I dreamt of the magical Himalayas and mystical Tibet, but realised I would never get there. This was literally another world. But, in 2009 my family took the train from Beijing over permafrost and the Tibetan Plateau to Lhasa. It is the world’s highest railway, 5,068 meters at Tanggula. The cars are equipped with oxygen supply to avoid altitude sickness. Still today, we all think this was one of our greatest adventures.

Over the last years, our home has become a ”flight of fancy” for birds and insects, plants and hedgehogs. I try to make it my own Shangri-La, a hidden paradise behind birches, bird cherry and lilacs. I cannot save the planet, but I know I can be of great help to make this little piece of Earth thrive.

According to John, and to Dictionary.com, the idiom “flight of fancy” refers to “an unrealistic idea or fantastic notion, a
pipe dream. For example, ‘She engaged in flights of fancy, such as owning a million‐dollar house.’ This idiom uses
flight in the sense of ‘a soaring of the imagination,’ a usage dating from the mid‐1600s.”

I believe we all need imagination and flights of fancy to survive in this unruly world, so, keep dreaming…

A big thank you to Amy for a spectacular mountain challenge – and to you all for your fabulous entries! Now we are looking forward to seeing what was your flight of fancy (or someone else’s) that came to fruition? Please link to John’s original post and tag Lens-Artists.


Next week, Sofia hosts challenge #224 – Exposure. Be sure to visit her beautiful site for inspiration. Until next, stay calm and kind.

LAPC#222 – Mountains are Calling

/ Leya / 48 kommentarer

Amy is our host this week, and she hopes we will share our joy and pleasure of visiting/climbing  mountains. I know many of us are mountain lovers, so we are looking forward to seeing your responses! Be sure to link to Amy’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.

In the mountains, there you feel free.

– T. S. Eliot

Let’s start close to home, in Scandinavia, with green summer mountains…

…blue glaciers and

mocca coloured, volcanic Iceland. They are calling to me with their special light and fresh air.

The Canary Islands offer more than beaches, we usually hike the mountain areas. Pico de las Nieves in the faraway clouds, and the pinnacle in the middle is called Roque del Fraile (monk)

On top of the world is the Himalayas, an impressive mountain range. Here seen from northern Bhutan.

More from the Himalayas, now seen from the Tibetan Plateau, where we went by train to Lhasa.

A holy lake in Tibet. The landscape is vast and it took some time for my son to walk down to the water. Lower mountains here, but still impressive. The clouds seemed to hang right above us, almost touchable, and the contrasts were bright in the thin air. This is about 3000-4000 meters above sea level.

The mountain meadows of Switzerland are a haven of summer flowers in July. I think this image shows the essense of this week’s challenge – “The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

Hiking mountains is so much more than the spectacular views – it is meeting other hikers, photographing flowers, animals, and different landscapes.

Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.

― Jeffrey Rasley

Many of us seek the mountains to be alone. To shut out the world and just BE. Silence is rare in this world.

Go where you feel most alive.

– Unknown

So, mountains are calling me because of their beauty, for peace of mind and soul…for moving my body at a pace that suits me, for spending time in the glory of nature. And for photography.

I will finish with other ways of loving mountains… bungyjumping, kiteflying, skiing, rafting, aso…today there are endless activities to try in the mountains if hiking is not your thing. In New Zealand you can get it all.

I cannot thank you enough for last week’s explosion in flowers! You sent us just what I had hoped for – an abundance of glorious flowers! For once, you could indulge in lovely flower images without regret (!), and many of you pointed out the impossibility in chosing favourites – because we love them all! ♥

Next week, John will host LAPC #223. Be sure to visit his site for loads of inspiration. Until then, stay safe and be kind.

LAPC 221#221 – Flower Favourites – and Why?

/ Leya / 194 kommentarer

I must have flowers, always, and always.
― Claude Monet

This week I hope will bring some colourful joy to us all – we will have more Favourite Flowers than ever! And, should it not be flower season where you are, you are welcome to share other beautiful or interesting plants that you love. If there is a story to go with them, we’d love you to share it with us.

My first choice, in the header, must be a Cattleya Iwanagaara Appleblossom – this was my favourite for many years, but sadly it died last year. Then…tough choices for me as I love many flowers! I will not complain if you too find it difficult…

I love the white Magnolia in my garden. Maybe the reason for loving these flowers has to do with its extreme fragility in our climate. The first Spring flowers, the anemonies, can take several days of frost and bad weather, but most years we lose the magnolias after a day or two – because of the cold.

Our greatest favourites in Sweden must be the shy blue anemonies. We even poke around last year’s leaves in order to find the first blue buds… And, it’s a yearly competition to show the first photo on facebook or instagram…

Sweden and the other nordic countries are rather cold places, so when Spring arrives with the light and warmer temperatures – our first flowers are always the most loved ones.

While the blue anemonies grow rather scarcely and are more of solitaires – the white wood anemonies fill the whole forest with their little faces turned towards the sun – just like we do. They bring out people of all ages to walk in the forest and admire the magic.

As you probably know, wild flowers and grasses have a special place in my heart. In my garden I have many wild summer flowers, and not only for the insects – they are for me too. I love their delicateness, often in contrast to the bigger and sturdier cultivated flowers.

Among cultivated flowers, Miss Willmott’s Ghost is a favourite of late, I just love the silvery whiteness and its sharp needles – and the story of course. How Miss Willmott loved this plant so much that she secretely spread it everywhere in people’s gardens…

The colour of plumbago is heavenly. Ever since I saw the first one, in my teens, in a little village somewhere in the Mediterranian, I was caught. Finally I can have this beauty at home, as my glasshouse makes it possible for it to survive winter temperatures.

And then, one of the strangest flowers…

Callistemon – or bottlebrush. It was love at first sight, 1986 in Nepal. I brought home a twig and made it live, but coming back from one of our travels I found it had died. I have bought several ones over the years, just to see them die during winter, but now they survive happily in the glass house.

Asters are the last ones to flower before winter, and that is a good reason to love them, because they have to endure cold and rain, frost and sometimes snow. Sorry to say, they don’t look this brilliant in 2022. We have had too much rain and too little sun this autumn.

I guess this is what is left before winter, a much appreciated plant firing away its last flames of autumn. It’s even clinging to my washing line – so, no clean wash there right now…

If you love a flower which happens to be on a star, it is sweet at night to gaze at the sky. All the stars are a riot of flowers.
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

For winter then? Well the only flower growing here then is…the frost rose. I don’t know what you call them – if you have them where you live – but my grandmother always said they were frost roses. I wonder if there will be a renaissance for them in our homes this winter…?

Now we are looking forward to seeing your favourite flowers and plants – and don’t forget the stories (if there are any) – I know it will be a colourful and interesting parade! Please link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Sincere thanks to Patti for a marvelous challenge that really got us testing and thinking over our photography. I think we all learned something from each other!

Next week Amy will be our host, so be sure to visit her amazing site for inspiration and details! Until then, stay safe and be kind.

LAPC #220 – One Subject Three Ways

/ Leya / 65 kommentarer

This weeks challenge is hosted by Patti, who once again wants us to think photographically – One subject three ways.

I am just back from Porto, and I have to post from the amazing Livraria Lello – ”The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World”… and a bit more than three images it had to be. How do you portray a staircase like this? Hope you don’t mind, Patti! I stayed for an hour and a half to work this shot…

There were so many people in queue to come inside, that we had to try three times to find a queue that didn’t stretch all over Old Town Porto.

And I really don’t know how many books were sold or borrowed or… most people were there for the same reason as we were there – for the love of the architecture and for photographing.

My photos are all crowded, but there was no chance of shooting without people getting in the way…

…taking turns posing or just standing in awe. But for a second or two, suddenly there were only two people in the staircase!

I loved it almost more from behind …but every minute here, I was thinking ”Harry Potter”…

This is my favourite perspective and the lady looking upwards shows there is more to see up there – a beautifully painted glass ceiling for example. But that will be for another post, this one was all about the spectacular staircase!

Patti says: ”This week, we invite you to “work the shot.” Post 3 photos of the same subject–from your archives or from a recent outing. Vary your distance from the subject, try different perspectives, zoom out for the big picture, or zoom in on the details. It’s up to you. You can even experiment with processing the photos differently–in black and white or color, cropping, or trying different filters or effects.”

As usual, be sure to include a link to the original post and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you in the Reader.

A special thanks to Tina for hosting last week’s challenge for photo treasures. Your photos were so varied and inspiring–as always!

I, Ann-Christine, will host next challenge, LAPC #221, so be sure to visit Leya, next Saturday at noon to get all the details. We hope you will join us!

Until then, stay safe, inspired and kind.

Lens-Artists Challenge #219 – Treasure Hunt

/ Leya / 45 kommentarer

Tina’s challenge this week is about treasure hunting! You can do one, many or all of the objects in the treasure hunt, which are listed below. Visit Tina’s beautiful blog for more inspiration, and please remember to link to her original post and to use the Lens-Artists Tag.

My treasure, Milo – of course!

Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

– Confucius

Winter sun and clouds at home

Moon over the golden Buddha in Bhutan – fun find? Early morning walk and a great surprise at least. 52 meters high and containing 125000 small Buddhas inside.

Time is the only treasure I have on earth.
― Mitta Xinindlu

Autumn foliage and reflection

Don’t let a man put anything over on you except an umbrella.

– Mae West

Umbrellas through the rainy window

All I’ve ever wanted is a nice truck, and that’s what I got.

– Cole Swindell

A truck, a driver and a new wall

Children are the world’s treasure.
― Matshona Dhliwayo

Cousin and family visiting

Sincere thanks to Donna of Wind Kisses for guest hosting last week. Her beautiful post was inspiring for all of us, and your responses were truly wonderful. We hope you enjoy this week’s Treasure Hunt. Here is the list of items:

  • A pet or pets (yours or someone else’s)
  • The moon or the sun (extra credit for both in one image)
  • Clouds (extra credit if you also include rain or snow)
  • A reflection
  • A child (extra credit if with other family members)
  • An umbrella (extra credit if you include a person using it)
  • A truck (extra credit if you include the driver or what the truck is hauling)
  • Autumn foliage (extra credit if it’s something that only blooms in the fall)
  • Something fun you found on a walk

We look forward to seeing your treasures. Until then, please stay safe and be kind.

LAPC #218 – Over The Hill

/ Leya / 79 kommentarer

We are pleased to have Donna of Wind Kisses as our guest host this week, and she wonders what ”Over The Hill” means to us. Please visit her wonderful site for some more inspiration!

My interpretation is mostly an intuitional one…and my first thought was of The Great Wall of China. Climbing all those hills and mountains, at the cost of thousands of lives. And they were all buried in that great wall…

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.

– Henry David Thoreau

Literally…these children are walking over that hill.

”Over the hill” also means the hardest climb is over and the view is terrific. So, after 12 years at school – you are over the hill too!

Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed.

– Arthur Schopenhauer

Hiking in the mountains often brings amazingly magical views. Again and again…

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

– Nelson Mandela

In Switzerland we saw this nun contemplating the grandness of God’s Creation, and maybe the road meandering over that hill.

Over some hills you don’t reach another hill – but something totally different – maybe a volcano abyss…like this one in Iceland.

And after a volcano eruption, there are endless lavafields covering the land – the plains, hills and mountains.

I will turn 65 next week…and as I’m ageing I often wonder… when I finally have struggled up that hill – will I see The Light? The Light that our religion talks about?

And what about our animal friends? They must be even more overwhelmed by the vast views from up there…especially if you are a cat on a (hot) tin roof…

And what an impossible task for the tiny scarabs climbing this seemingly endless hill of sand.

But remember:

It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is from the top.

– Arnold Bennett

Thank you, Tina, for last weeks fun challenge of Opposites! So many clever and mindblowing examples. Hope to see you all this week as well. Tag your entry and link to Donna’s original post.

Next week, Tina will lead us again – on a treasure hunt…Until then, please stay safe and kind.

LAPC #217 – Opposites

/ Leya / 67 kommentarer

This week Tina has put together some interesting opposites. Please visit her beautiful blog and get inspired! Once you have started, it is difficult to stop… ”just think about it, they’re everywhere!”

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.

– Hermann Hesse

Soft – Hard

Morning – Evening in the Sahara desert

Old and dilapidated ( but warm and ornamented…) – Modern (cold and straight)

Cold and hot climate

In the header – opposites in the same image with day and night in one – midnight sun! Above – two in one as well – hot springs in cold ice and snow.

Special thanks to Sofia for last week’s Urban Environments challenge. It was great fun seeing
the many urban examples you all shared! ”This week we invite you to show us some opposites – big and tall, round and square, new and old….”

Remember to link your response to Tina’s original, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. We look forward to seeing what you come up with. Finally, we’re excited to announce that next week’s Guest Host will be Donna of Wind Kisses so be sure to check out her wonderful site. Until then, as always please stay safe and be kind.

LAPC #216 – Urban Environments

/ Leya / 58 kommentarer

You know, I don’t really understand a suburban environment. I want to be out in the woods, I want to be where it’s wild, I want to wake up and hear birds, I want to walk outside and see a gaggle of turkeys bouncing across my lawn – I want to be someplace like that – or I want to be right in the middle of an urban environment. – Karen Allen

This week Sofia asks us about urban environments – I used to love visiting big cities now and then, for a week or two. But, due to covid, the last three years we have stayed at home. I must admit I miss those adventures…

I will tell you something of why I liked visiting the cities chosen.

Edinburgh is an absolutely lovely city with castle and all, but Greyfriars Kirkyard offers both silence and contemplation when needed. One day I saw this young man sitting alone, quietly reading his book. I had to have his portrait. And I love the way they speak, the Scots.
Rome is a city to return to again and again… Mezmerising. But on my first visit I was only16, and the young ladies laughed at my ”childish” sandals – they all wore high heels…

But you can find anything in Rome…

I have always loved London – the ”gentlemen”, the musik and the theaters. And of course the language…a visit to Foyles was always a great pleasure. I used to buy loads of books, for my students too.
Warsaw was a very positive experience. I loved the newer architecture, and the people was good-humoured and generous. And the food! Delicious!
I never dreamed of going to Madrid…but I went with my classes a couple of times. For its history, literature and architecture, fantastic museums (Museo del Prado and Museo Reina Sofia), good food and animated people – and Madrid did not disappoint!
Århus, Denmark – the new, spectacular area was a dream walking through. Innovative and beautiful in Nordic light colours. Expensive living…but very nice people all we met. Mostly young people in fact – who had made their fortune in IT or business.

A gallery of the kind of urban environments that I love the most. Narrow alleyways and old buildings. But as Sofia says, new architecture can also be interesting. Like Bilbao in the header and Århus in Denmark.

Finally, my nearest big city, Malmoe – the photo taken from a plane flying in from somewhere in the world. Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso shining in the evening sun.

”This week’s challenge is about how you view any urban environments you came across, either by visiting as a tourist or the place you live in or commute to every day. What makes that city or town special and how do you capture it.” Please link to Sofia’s marvelous original post and tag with Lens-Artists so we can easily find you.

Last week John emphasized the way of transport to your destination. An inspirational challenge where the different interpretations were varied and interesting.

Next week is Tina’s turn to host, please have a look at her wonderful site and join us if you can.

For more information on how Lens-Artists Challenge work, please click here.

LAPC #215 – Planes, Trains and Automobiles…and the Places They Take Us

/ Leya / 50 kommentarer

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles…and the places they take us . Visit John for more inspiration!

I must admit I am not an avid photographer of any of these transportation machines…I prefer walking and hiking. But, I did find some that I really liked. Hopefully these will fit the bill, John.

This pretty thing was found at a car show in Ronneby, Sweden. It is not a really old car, but I like the style.

A steam ship took us over to an island near Queenstown, NZ.

There we watched skilled guys shearing sheep and clever dogs herding.

Cachalote was our sailing boat in the Galapagos Islands. I think she had the tiniest cabin I have ever slept in…but the food and the people around her were just amazing. Going on a small boat also meant we could go closer to the islands and comfortably reach any nook.

A different way to promote your company – Keukkenhof, NL.

The mountain train in Switzerland, Bernina Express, took us to stunning sights. A trip warmly recommended if you happen to stay for a while in this country!

Ice melting in lovely colours

Adventure making for everyone

No planes…but still a means of transport! Maybe not for everyone?

My favourite planes are from Druk Air, Bhutan. They are beautifully decorated with dragons, and their pilots are trained to land in narrow valleys between high mountains. To land a plane here, they have to make a U-turn with the wings close to both mountain sides – and we had a perfect landing.

One more plane story: Going to the little island of Madeira also takes special pilots to land safely. We have been to Madeira five times, and the last one was a nightmare. We landed in a storm, and we knew four planes ahead of us had continued to the next island for a safe landing. We had to try twice before touching ground. Everyone on the plane cried…

Going to Bhutan was an old dream of mine, and yes, every expectation was fulfilled.

We arrived just in time for the big festival, Paro Tsechu, and the people all wore their best clothes. Dancing and celebrations were spectacular.

Bhutan is a stunning gem in the Himalayas. It was an unforgettable visit in every way. People, culture, landscape, architecture – and the fact that they are carbon neutral.

As winter is approaching here in the northern hemisphere, I thought I would finish with a bright and shining tram! I love trams, but of course this one was not in traffic. Warming my eyes though!

Thank you all for sharing your interesting finds with us last week! Very inspiring and diverse – just what we hoped for!

For the challenge this week, John is asking us to share images that focus on our journeys. ”Consider examples of historical modes of transportation if you happen to have some in your gallery, a horse-drawn wagon in Pennsylvania, or maybe an abandoned boat along the seashore.”

”Consider images of places you’ve traveled if you’re not into capturing those modes of transportation that got you there. It’s all about the journey for this week’s challenge.”

Next week’s challenge will be hosted by Sofia. If you’d like to join in the fun but aren’t quite sure how to begin, look here.