LENS-ARTISTS

Lens-Artists Challenge # – Live and Learn

/ Leya / 45 kommentarer

Tina starts this week with another of her wonderful quotes – this time from Mahatma Gandhi:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Through my whole life, I have strived to take good care of and preserve the things I love. When it comes to humans, people I love, it becomes more difficult. We don’t live forever. Photos are essential of course, but to me, also living things I have received or inherited from them.

The white geranium above, was one of the flowers in my grandmothers windows. In Sweden we have a long tradition of keeping geraniums in our homes – indoors and outdoors. My grandmother taught me everything about them, and I inherited all of hers when she died in 1988. Soon I excelled in propagating them from cuttings, and outdoors they thrive the whole summer.

Our National Painter, Carl Larsson, often used his family and home as models for his pictures. The Flower Window is maybe a favourite with most Swedes.

Our summer house is a haven for the whole family – and the old sallow was the warden tree. It was believed to be at least 200 years old. Last year it didn’t make it through the heavy storms, but luckily a sapling survived at its feet. We were so happy. When we arrived early this spring though, the sapling too had fallen in new storms. And maybe, because it no longer had the support of the mother tree.

I was devastated, and so were all of us. I decided to gather some of its twigs and take them home, ”Live!” I whispered… when I planted them, and at least one of them does. I am hoping for more.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.

– Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

I often fall in love with roses, and would love to have more of those. Google is a good friend when my books are too old, and I found a good youtube clip that showed me how to take cuttings. So, nowadays, I don’t have to double expose my rose photos to see more of them! And I can give new roses away as presents too. This yellow rose for example. I now have three of them.

I just could not resist picking something I have learned over the years, ever since I was a child. It still gives me so much joy and satisfaction. It’s a celebration of life. My whole house and garden are filled with plants and flowers, and many of them are gifts from the start, or inherited. So, in fact they are great great grandchildren to the original ones.

Tina wants us to show some of the things we’ve learned about photography or any other subject. How do we learn it – by doing, from classes, or online, or through working with others? Please be sure to use the Lens-Artists Tag with your responses and to link your posts to Tinas’s original one.

Last week Egidio took us Into the Woods for some Forest Bathing. I enjoyed all of the wonderful responses I could read. Our summer house does not easily allow us an internet connection… On Saturday, August 2 at noon Eastern Time John will be hosting our next challenge. Many thanks to Tina for this challenge Lens-Artists #358 – Live and Learn

Lens-Artists Challenge #357 Into the Woods

/ Leya / 21 kommentarer

This week Egidio wants us to focus on the woods – and that suits me perfectly well. Hopefully you too! I walk in my forest every day, but maybe not every day in Madeira…

So, I will pick some lovely Madeira memories from June, that hopefully will add to the mystery of this green island.

The Laurissilva forest is a 20 million years old subtropical rainforest – a UNESCO world heritage,

covering about 20 % of the island. Most of the species here are endemic to Macronesia.

There are many interesting living beings in this forest woods – plants, mushrooms, lichen, birds and insects. Madeiran Chaffinches are spoiled with food from the hikers…

Madre de louro is a mushroom that grows on lager trees in Laurissilva. ”Madre de louro”, or ”Mother Laurel” is said to be good for the blood and work against rheumatism. It was even used as an insecticide.

There is something special about dense forests with high humidity. The scent, the quietness. And, I can hear the water as it trickles along the mossy stones. In Madeira the levadas add to this soothing sound – sometimes they are fast flowing, sometimes only a slow, hardly noticeable flow. And I know how good this is for my well being. Forest bathing in its true sense – and it’s no surprise that it’s origin is Japanese!

I have always loved hiking, and hopefully I will be able to keep it up even if it has become more difficult as I age. The best thing with hiking is the possibility of being alone in and with nature, for reflection and for restoring myself. Sometimes we meet a fellow hiker or two. We nod and say a soft ”hello” as we meet. I guess many of us feel the same about hiking, so talking is unnecessary.

We heard from someone in the city though, that since Covid, the levadas can even feel crowded in places…luckily we did not have to face that. This island is a hikers’ heaven and haven.

Thank you, Egidio for this beautiful challenge, and our guest host last week, Stupidity Hole, asked us to share quiet hours. You gave us more quiet times with your beautiful galleries. I hope you will join us again this week in forest bathing. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag when creating your post so we can easily find it in the Reader.

Next week, Tina will send us another challenge. It will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out more about the challenge then. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. Stay well.

Lens-Artists Challenge #356 -Quiet Hours

/ Leya / 45 kommentarer

SH is our new guest host this week. He has chosen Quiet hours – and how we can show them in pictures. For me, I agree with Christina:

When I get up early, I appreciate the quiet time to enjoy a coffee or water my plants.

– Christina Tosi

I have picked my quiet hours from Madeira, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Ecuador, England and Japan. But, with this topic, it is hard to stop delivering pictures. I guess we all have lots of fitting photos for this challenge!

Fog and mist – and snow – make for quiet hours. I often go out for a walk, long or short, in those weather conditions.

Sunrise and sunset – I try to catch both. A lonely boat and a quiet sea…both attract me.

Iceland easily provides quiet hours – as many as you need. And not only because there are few people…

Mornings and evenings glow in the clear and fresh air and the hot springs never forget to send their messages.

Over to Norway, Lofoten. Quiet beauty – I understand why painters want to live there. Our famous water colour artist Lars Lerin was one of them. He lived there for several years.

The blue hour seems even more blue in Lofoten…

Let’s go to the Southern Hemisphere for another kind of quiet. In Ecuador and the Amazon – the quiet hours are filled with the sounds of the jungle. I loved it. I have never slept like a baby since I was… a baby…but now I did.

I love to spend some quiet hours walking in cemeteries. This one in Yorkshire, England. The Brontë’s are buried here. I could feel their stories with every step.


Japan is a busy country and the cities are as busy as ever. But, after the rain the streets were empty and there was not a sound…

In the mountains of Southern Japan – I was caught by the quiet beauty of wisteria in the misty morning hours.

With that I’ll close this week’s post with thanks to SH for joining us as Guest Host this week, using this lovely topic to give us all moments of peace. Be sure to visit his original here and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. I also want to thank all of you who responded to my looking back challenge on Creativity. So many creative (!) examples! And there will be more of looking back soon. From another Lens Artist.

Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week when Egidio leads us once again on his Through Brazilian Eyes site. Until then, as always please stay safe, be kind and enjoy your week.

Lens-Artists Challenge #355 – Looking Back to #42 – Creativity

/ Leya / 127 kommentarer

This week we are starting to look back… each month or maybe every 6 weeks, one of us in the LAPC – team will repeat a PREVIOUSLY USED subject for the week. We will share a link to the old post, and then create a new post on the same subject. This will also give us all a chance to address challenges we may not have done before.

In 2019 we had a challenge on Creativity – I have picked that one as a starter for this series. Much because we need to be creative in life’s ups and downs, and I guess most of us also love being creative. Blogging is one creative thing we have in common!

Here’s what I wrote on Creativity in the first post, #42: ”… is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something new or somehow valuable – inventiveness. The created item may be an idea, a scientific theory, or even a joke; or a physical object, maybe a new invention, a literary work – or a painting.”

Last Sunday I met one of the most creative souls I have ever met – Susanne Demåne. We went with some friends to see her studio and garden – she calls it ”The World of Demåne.” In 1998 she bought this old schoolhouse – rather dilapidated and no garden worthy of the name. Over the years she has created a fantastic place filled with creativity and fantasy, which also involves animals like beautiful black horses of the breeds Frieser, Knabstrupper, Arab and Shetland pony. Horses she trains with nothing but her voice and the bond she makes with them.

In these photos here, of Susanne’s own, I hope you can feel some of the magic …

How much they love and respect each other…

How much her horses trust her…

And how much she trusts them…

Susanne works in various materials, living, clay, metal, enamel, wood etc. Maybe her most famous works are in wood – made with a chainsaw…

And while we were admiring her studio – Susanne herself suddenly appeared in the doorway. Silently waiting, graceful and humble. So beautiful – a creative witch, a troll from the deepest forest. When she walked into the room – she filled every inch of it – her energy was tangible.

Susanne is a hard working woman who made her life the way she dreamed and wanted it to be. I read about her son, Kim Demåne (also a brilliant artist), how he stated that she was the most hard working woman he knew – and how much he admired her.

Many questions whirled through the air, and she was happy to answer them all. She was so natural, so down to earth, and so humourous. She laughed and told us she had worn out several men – because she was not that easy to live with… I can imagine not. Creativity was written all over her. A passionate woman!

The final gallery shows her work at Bredåkra cemetary. She was asked if she could make something out of the many dead elm trees there – and she did. She made magic. In these photos you see: ”We are all someone’s child”, ”Madonna and child”, ”The Elm Angel” .

Someday, early morning and late evening, I will be back for the perfect light…

Hope you will enjoy this concept of looking back! We are looking forward to seeing your new take on (or first take on, if you never did ”Creativity” in 2019)! please use the Lens-Artists tag and link your post to my original post.

A big thank you to Anne for her wonderful Reflection challenge. You found reflections we never even had thought of! Next week it is holiday time, so we hope to see you July 12, when our guest host SH will be your guide. Please visit his site for inspiration.

Have a great holiday you who celebrate!

Lens-Artists Challenge #354 Reflections

/ Leya / 46 kommentarer

Anne is making us reflect…and our different reflections will be remarkable, I am sure! This is a much loved theme for photographers. There are so many ways to show reflections, and these are only some of my own favourites. Looking forward to seeing Yours!

My number one favourite was captured in Switzerland – the Fluela Pass. I have told the story many times…but here it is again: We drove out to a tiny little village, knowing we would pass this beautiful pass (!). We could not find the view along the road though, even if we had seen it in the guide books. Finally, on our way home, the sun stood in the right position and we stopped, overwhelmed, to take it all in. I can still feel it every time I look at this photo.

Water turning into ice is also a possibility for reflections. This is Totti walking on thin ice at Vedema. I still don’t know how he dared to…being just as afraid of water as a cat! Luckily he didn’t walk through the ice.

Buildings – I love those opportunities for reflections and possible fun distortions. This is in London, and I even got a red double decker in the picture.

Canoeing a silent morning at our summerhouse – the river doesn’t stop over there…it turns right beyond the trees. Herons usually fly up along the growing reed.

An old reflection of our first lagotto, Mille. He was patiently waiting indoors when we returned late from the sea.

A Yayoi Kusama exhibition in Copenhagen with multiple mirrors and holes to peep in through. My camera in the upper right corner!

A standing mirror in a dark room in a Danish castle.

At Vanås architecture park, you can walk on mirrors in one of the barns. Exhilarating – but some people just cannot do it…even I had to brace myself.

An installation of mirrors in Copenhagen. (Really, one of me is quite enough…)

Another old favourite of mine, taken in Beijing many years ago. I photographed a lantern in the street – and the result turned out like this.

In the opener is a whole block of houses covered in fragments of glass. Tough to look at in sunlight, but very special. Finally a favourite from a botanical garden with giant waterlily pads.

Many thanks to Anne for giving us an opportunity to enjoy the most lovely reflections. Be sure to visit her original challenge post here, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag in your response to help us find you. Thanks also to Beth for her first challenge as a Lens-Artists team member, and to all those who responded with amazing, stormy scenes. Finally, I hope you’ll join us next week when I, Leya/Ann-Christine, will lead – this time with a new Lens-Artists ”look-back” which we’ll be using again from time to time. Until then as always please stay safe, be kind and enjoy the good things in life!

Interested in joining our challenge? Click here .

Lens-Artists Challenge #353 – Stormy

/ Leya / 48 kommentarer

We welcome Beth to her first Stormy session with Lens-Artists!

What does stormy look like to you? For stormy weather, Beth wants us to think about rain, blizzards, sleet, snow, hail, wind, dark clouds, angry seas, lightening, a storm rolling in, or people out in the weather. Another option would be to show stormy feelings or stormy situations. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to her original post. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

This is a tricky challenge for me – living in the southernmost part of Sweden we seldom see really stormy weather. So, here’s my take:

Seeing storms from afar, slowly sailing up, that is the closest I can come to this challenge. In heavy rain I seldom go out, only watch from my window. And I like watching it – Mother Nature rules.

I can also watch storms unfolding from my house or my car – and still stay dry.

Alaska cruising – in really unhappy conditions – but dry and happy on the boat!

Iceland is much more weather beaten than Sweden, being an island and situated further north.

Iceland again – I don’t remember the year, but I do remember that fast disappearing road. Icy, windy and cold. It took us some time to drive through to the other side of the island.

Last week I really enjoyed your beautiful responses to Sofia’s Mellow challenge. I learned that the the word could be used in so many ways I had never heard of before.

Hope to see you – and be sure to look for Anne’s challenge next Saturday, June 21 at noon Eastern Time.

Lens-Artists Challenge # – Mellow

/ Leya / 28 kommentarer

This week Sofia invites us to continue in a relaxing mood, after the wonderful Books theme from last week. However, she wants us to focus on a different mellowness: a sense of softness, in tones or shapes, the slowness of a summer holiday, for example. That kind of relaxation. Please go to her beautiful site and find some very inviting and glorious inspiration!

Mellow is not a common word in my vocabulary, but my immediate thoughts went to Mellow Yellow – which I save to the end of my post.

I’ll start with a plant that softly spoke to me saying: touch me…

As Sofia pointed out, light is strongly connected to this feeling. Some morning light on the first spring anemonies.

Soft evening light when I walked out of the car and up to our house. The magnolia was the softest of soft and I just had to pick up my camera.

My favourite colour is green (as you know who follow me). Again a spring morning, with a fly and attached bouquet.

Yesterday I came back from a hiking vacation to Madeira – talking about mellow – every day was a wonder.

I love the little lizards basking on the sun warm stones – when I click my tongue they listen and sometimes even come up to me.

Mellow can also be so soft that the picture is somewhat blurred.

Lastly…

– some misty, Mellow Madeira Yellow! The mist softened the intense yellow and made the landscape dreamy.

And a close-up. Temptingly soft.

Remember to tag Lens-Artists and to link back to Sofia’s post when you join us. We’re looking forward to seeing your concepts of mellow.

Last week we had Ritva’s Books Challenge, and as books open our minds, the responses were varied and beautiful, truly inspiring.

Next week, Saturday 14th June, Beth is hosting for the first time so please visit her site for more information. Until then, take care and try some relaxing.

Lens-Artists Challenge #301 – Books

/ Leya / 30 kommentarer

Ritva has chosen books as her brilliant topic – and who doesn’t love books? My children used to call me the saint of all books…

Partly because – my life has revolved around books. Reading and writing, learning, practising and teaching.

Being a teacher I had this sign on one of my book shelves at school, saying: Literature helps us understand ourselves and the world and contributes to build an identity of our own. So true.

The Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin – a marvelous library. MANY books. Beautiful books in a beautiful room.

In our old churches, the biblical stories were painted on the walls for the illiterate – and on this Swiss house we found Adam and Eve. I don’t think they are illiterate though…

My heart jumps with joy when I see a youngster with a book instead of a phone. Maybe we are not lost yet…

In this library in Prague they certainly knew how to make the kids interested.

An abandoned book in an old shut down factory. I went exploring there with my son and found many interesting things to photograph.

They say books open up new worlds…and so they do. Yacek Yerka illustrates this so well.

My daughter once gave me this piece of an Encyclopedia Britannica. She had folded every page herself.

Well, it all started long before she could read…and long before she became a dentist. Her favourite thing still is – pulling out teeth…

Luckily, she is still an avid reader – and now that she is married, she also begins a new chapter in her own Book of Life.

I’ll finish off with this happy double exposure of a bookstore My daughter often visited during her years in Umeå.

In the header, Codex Gigas from the 13th century.

In conclusion, zooming last week with Anne was fun and, to many of us, a new experience. Her challenge was an excellent reminder of the joy of learning something new. I hope you have fun joining us again this week. Remember to tag Lens-Artists; also, please link back to Ritva’s original post.

Next week is Sofia’s turn to host, Saturday 7th June. Until then, be good and keep smiling!

If you want to know more about the Lens-Artists Challenge, please click here.

Lens-Artists Challenge #350 – Zooming

/ Leya / 34 kommentarer

Your challenge this week is to take your camera and zoom lens out for some zooming. Anne is our guide in this fun challenge which takes some practice…

My offerings were not made this week, as I have been extremely busy with many birthday parties and also my daughter’s wedding. Our last guests will be leaving in a couple of days – so much joy and fun, but also looking forward to return to my ordinary life.

The bird bath sits among the flowers, and made a lovely start. I was glad there were no birds harmed in the swirling scene!

I tried to keep only one flower in the middle… Many tries on this one!

It was easier with multiple flowers. They turned the picture into a waterfall.

Another one-flower-focus.

This Agapanthus I was quite happy with – after thirty or more takes.

Why not a tomato?

”My photographs are a celebration of life, fun and the beautiful. They are a world that doesn’t exist. A fantasy.”

– Ryan McGinley

Thank you to Tina for her challenge: “The First Thing I Thought Of.” It’s amazing how a picture can have several different interpretations!

So,
have fun, try something new, get creative and yes, enjoy exploring new techniques and ideas. You never know what can happen! We hope you’ll join us this week, making sure to visit and link to Anne’s challenge here, and to use the Lens-Artists tag to help us find you.

Finally, we hope you’ll join us again next week when Ritva leads us once again. Until then as always please stay safe, be kind, and enjoy the adventure.

Lens Artists Challenge 349 – The First Thing I thought of…

/ Leya / 35 kommentarer

when I saw this…

Not many times we find ourselves in a sitution that coinsides with a sign or an advertisement right at the place we are… We were hopelessly lost in Tokyo a late night in a part of the city without recognisable street names. You know – when you think you know the way home to your hotel, but are walking in the wrong direction… I can say it was not funny. All shops closed and not a single person in the streets. Finally a biker came to the rescue…phew.

How extremely Fancy! I found out this phenomenon was not as unusual as I first thought – a Digitalis Peloria. But it surely looked too fancy to be real. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought it was an AI thing. I don’t know about you, but nowadays I question almost too many pictures in media…

A forest fayerie? This was a lovely surprise!

I did NOT walk down that street – I have had too many dreams of walls falling in on me…

Wanås – the first time I saw a Wish tree! They are still there, and both the wishes and the trees have grown and multiplied. A brilliant idea brought here by Yoko Ono. I believe it to be therapeutic to write and read wishes. I take photos and read many of them every year. (And write at least one new wish.)

Well…what did I dooo??? Mille was our first lagotto and a very lively and expressive soul…

CF Reuterswärd’s brilliant non-violence statue – I remember how clever I thought he was. And I still think so. The message so clearly comes through. No words needed. Somewhere I still have a knotted pin too.

WHAAAT? In Tokyo every big shop has an umbrella drier. I had to study it real close to see how it worked. The Japanese are really clever and innovative.

I found these relaxing in a grand castle garden in England – And I felt how I get tired just fixing my own little garden… – more chairs needed!

This stone I found in a graveyard in Prague – I had to look twice. I really had to.

Thanks to Tina for this creative challenge. I’ve already had quite a few good laughs from the responses I’ve seen. Last week, Egidio’s Serenity challenge calmed us with the many serene reactions from everyone.

As Patti announced back in late March, she broke both of her wrists after a bad fall and unfortunately she is still unable to type. She’s postponed her return until November. We wish her continued improvement and look forward to having her back with us then.

Some more news! As you might have already read in Tina’s post, we are excited to have Beth of Wandering Dawgs joining the Lens-Artists team. She is a long-time participant and will be a great addition to our team. We very much look forward to having her on board and the new inspiration she will bring us. Welcome Beth, looking forward to your first challenge.

Be sure to link your responses to Tina’s post , and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Anne from Show Shutter Speed will lead us next week, so be sure to check out her post next Saturday. Until then, be kind and keep smiling 😀