LENS-ARTISTS

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #71 – Creepy

/ Leya / 219 kommentarer

Halloween some days gone… I thought you might still have some interesting thoughts and images left for us and this challenge – things Creepy!

If you look up ”Creepy” in a dictionary, it says ” causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease”.

Here are some of my creepy nightmares… and in the header my worst scenario. Just how many spiders were at work weaving all those nets? And that – in my own garden…

When a sudden look down a side street – reveals an abandoned house – or, maybe not…?

When it is raining men…

…or they suddenly dissolve in a haze – right in front of me.

Or – I have to pass through dark tunnels …and I notice someone lurking inside.

I also avoid walking in the forest late nights…no option…when there are tree trolls towering 2×5 meters high and wide.

Seeing a giant Gunnera waking up…gives at least me the creeps…

And, Totti…? Is that you?

 

According to a recent study, the creepiest job was working as a Clown, and among the creepiest items mentioned, were dolls. Personally I clearly can relate to ”unpredictability” as an important component of creepiness. If you are interested in reading more of this study, On the nature of creepiness, here’s a link.

We just have to remember that being ”creeped out” is deep down a good thing for our ability to survive! So – now we are looking forward to seeing Your Creepy answers!

 

Thank you for the many inspirational and varied entries for Patti’s Monochrome challenge! Some of you were not much used to monochrome before, but found your own ways to answer to the challenge – clever and innovative!

Have you seen these:

As always, Amy, Tina, Patti and I hope you will join us.

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #70 – Monochrome

/ Leya / 84 kommentarer

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #70, Patti is our host, and she is inviting us to explore the world of monochrome– which includes black and white and sepia, as well as different shades of one color.

Patti also allows us, for an extra challenge, to try using a selective color – which is easily done in Lightroom for example. Just take out all colours (saturation) in the colour table – except the one you decide to keep. Sometimes you will find it gives the image that little ”extra touch”.

I have chosen one B&W ( a sweet meeting on the steps in Mariacka Street, Gdansk ) and three with selective colour – looking forward to Your posts!

The new WWII museum in Gdansk –  keeping the colour Orange

A carpet shop in Tbilisi – keeping the colour Red

A shop in Mariacka Street, Gdansk – keeping the colour Lilac

We had a lot of fun with all the Doubles for Tina last week – thank you for posting with such great variety and creativity!

Next week it is my turn (Leya) to host challenge #71, so please be
sure to stop by and find out what is on the table!

 

 

Lens-Artists Challenge #69 – Seeing Double

/ Leya / 52 kommentarer

Tina’s challenge for the week sounds like this:  ”Double trouble, double-time, two’s company, take two ….  the world is filled with references to twosomes. This week, let’s double our pleasure and focus on things that come in twos.”

In fact…my first thought was of shoes – they always come it twos! These art clogs stand in a street in Malmö as a memory of one of Sweden’s most beloved actors at the beginning of the 20th century. He was from my part of Sweden, Skåne, where clogs were the only footwear needed in the old days.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, one of the most common things to see in twos are…dogs! But in the header, two lovely young women as well, peeping out from an art studio.

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. – Audrey Hepburn

And people talked to the stray dogs, took time to feed them or to just give them a warmhearted pat. I loved how this young man kept his hand resting on the sun warmed, relaxing dog, and with his other hand using his modern, electronic device. Overall the people in Tbilisi did not use cell phones that much. ( If someone did, you almost knew it was a tourist…) They seemed to care more about the living beings around them.

Some years ago we had a pair of swans often landing at our summer house, and we were kindly allowed to admire their young – if we kept the distance of course.

Parent and child – a loving and comforting twosomeness.

The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention. – Unknown

Lastly – young lovers strolling this magnificent Spanish beach towards the setting sun.

Thank you for all the lovely variety of Layers sent for Amy last week! Now – Tina, Patti, Amy and I look forward to seeing Your twosomes.

 

Lens-Artists Challenge #68 – Layered

/ Leya / 61 kommentarer

Amy is our host this week, and she suggests we look for layers. Have a look at her inspiring post from Plitvice, Croatia!

Here are some layers from my favorite world of mountains, rocks and stones. In the header – the Pancakes of New Zealand, South Island.

Ireland, Giants’ Causeway.

The Hellnar cave.

 

And last, Iceland, south west part, Snæfellsnes peninsula – the cave at Hellnar. Look closely, and you will find a mink looking for young gulls nesting, or some eggs for dinner.

Hope to see you joining in the fun!

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #67 – Candid

/ Leya / 229 kommentarer

What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.
– Karl Lagerfeld

Taking photos of people or animals when they have no idea that you’re doing it is called candid photography. One of the beautiful things with photography is being able to catch someone in the act. It adds natural life to your pictures. Even if my choices here are mostly in B&W, of course feel free to use what you find most suitable for your shots!

So, this week I thought we would go for candid photos of people or animals – Have fun with the challenge, and we are looking forward to seeing your candid finds!

It is always about keeping your eyes open and be prepared when an opportunity comes up – have your camera ready and just shoot.

Remember to take many photos…the digital cameras give us unique chances to choose which photos to keep or not:

Your first 1,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Sometimes it might feel a bit difficult to photograph people – at least if you are a shy person, like me. A great help can be if you have a longer lens that gives you the possibility to ”hide” behind it and still get close. With a little luck, and practice, you sometimes get one of those lovely smiles – or two.

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.

– Robert Capa

But, sometimes maybe you should not get too close – catching the moment is also catching your own feeling of what is in front of you…

Photography is a love affair with life. – Burk Uzzle

My photos were made in Bhutan, Morocco, Denmark and Georgia (Tbilisi).

Thank you for all the wonderful frames filled for Patti last week! If you haven’t seen her beautiful post yet – please pay her a visit!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #66 – Fill the Frame

/ Leya / 57 kommentarer

Filling the frame offers a sense of completeness, clarity, inclusion, and comfort. We essentially “dive in” and experience the true essence of what the subject has to offer.

– Lucas Martin

 

Last week Tina challenged us to share images of a special place or country. This week Patti is hosting, and she is asking us to fill the frame – what will You be filling Yours with?

Here are some of My filled frames, a variety of choices.

Wooden steps

An umbrella

A quarter of a stone circle

gdynia-gdansk-och-sopot-2014-178_copy-e1569485343478.jpg

Garlic

Leaves

A poppy

Princess of the Night

 

 

Lens-Artists Challenge #65 – Pick a Place and Catch its Spirit

/ Leya / 52 kommentarer

Last week Amy challenged us to share images of the countryside and/or a small town. This week Tina is hosting, and she is ”…asking you to look a bit farther afield. Each of us at some point has visited a place that holds special memories. It may have been a small town, a big city, or even better, an entire country.  We’d like you to capture the spirit of a place that is vivid in your memory. What was it that drew you in and why did it capture YOUR heart?”

 

I guess many of you already know where my heart lies – Iceland. I have been returning to this country again and again, for more than 30 years now. There is no end to the fascination. This is my attempt to find out Why.

The vast, open landscapes

The mountains and glaciers

The fresh air

The volcanoes and geology

The flora

And maybe most of all – the Light

– morning

– evening

– and night

There is so much more of Iceland to love – horses, waterfalls, lava landscapes, hot springs… and beautiful Reykjavik with Hallgrímskirkja of course.

 

Hopefully you are all inspired by now – Patti, Tina, Amy and I are looking forward to seeing your special places!

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #64 – Countryside – That is Where I Belong

/ Leya / 81 kommentarer

To me, Magical goes well with Countryside – I am a country girl. Even if I love to visit big cities, I know where I belong. This week, Amy is our host, and as I often post about my own countryside, you will get some pieces of Icelandic countryside instead. Iceland is a bit more harsh and rough, and we remember – once Iceland was only for the tough guys.

I consider it the best part of an education to have been born and brought up in the country. – Amos Bronson Alcott

The country is lyric, the town dramatic. When mingled, they make the perfect musical drama. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I long for the countryside. That’s where I get my calm and tranquility – from being able to come and find a spot of green. – Emilia Clarke

I really feel that my body craves to be in the mountains or by the ocean or in the countryside. – Miranda Kerr

I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. – Albert Einstein

The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God, but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other. – William Penn

Thank you for all your Magical posts last week – they made every day into pure Magic!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #63 – Magical – My Magical Garden

/ Leya / 259 kommentarer

Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden – in all the places.
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

I read The Secret Garden as a young woman, and over the years it has occupied an enchanted and magical place in my heart. Now Autumn has arrived here, where I live in Sweden, and that means There’s a magical tie to the land of our home, which the heart cannot break, though the footsteps may roam. – Eliza Cook.

But Magical can mean so many different things to everyone of us – At Lens-Artists, we have already had Magical Light as a theme, (last year) but this time it is all up to you! What is Magical to you? People, places, things, nature, adventures, moments… – this week we are looking forward to having some of Your magic!

As usual – click on the images to enlarge.

The magical, supernatural force that is with us every second is time. We can’t even comprehend it. It’s such an illusion, it’s such a strange thing. – Anthony Hopkins

Picking plums today – waiting for the lovely Comma to finish basking on my ladder…

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

An oil painting can, maybe, make the magic last forever…

Garden as though you will live forever.  – William Kent

 

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it – Rumi

Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night. – Carl Sandburg

I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden 

Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? – Douglas Adams

– But there are, Fairies dancing in my garden.  Contemplate the lovely writer Roald Dahl’s words:  Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

 

Thank you for all the wonderful silhouettes for Patti last week! If you haven’t seen her beautiful post yet – please pay her a visit!

Have you seen these:

A lovely first time, Welcome Carolyn – of Carollynnlife.wordpress.com – by the waterside

Smruti gives us a true silhouetted philosopher

Oneletterup is ever so mysterious this week…

And a first time Welcome, for Pam of i choose this, with beautiful beach shots

 

As always, Amy, Tina, Patti and I hope you will join us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #62 Silhouettes

/ Leya / 59 kommentarer

This week Patti is our host, and she challenges us to find silhouettes. If you look for them – they are there, everywhere!

My recent visit to Szczecin, Poland, brought some really good opportunities for silhouettes as well. The harbour trip was one of them.  I also fell in love with an Angel…

Finally, we had to say goodbye to Swedish summer last week – until next year!

Thank you, Tina, for the lovely Precious Pets challenge. And thank you all participants for gorgeous – and sometimes quite hilarious – entries!

 

As always, Tina, Patti, Amy, and I hope you will join us.