Weekly Challenge

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #7: Everyday Moments

/ Leya / 56 kommentarer

Everyday moments – maybe it is easy to forget how important they are, because (I) we seldom succeed in living as mindful as we should… Thank you, Amy, for the opportunity of highlighting some of those precious moments.

Everyday I have to care for my best friends, Totti and Milo. Following their lives is a gift.

Even if I see to their daily needs, sometimes a professional grooming is necessary – especially if you want to win next competition!

Not yet….are they best friends, but it is coming. Milo is slowly learning what he can do… or not…Totti has an angel’s patience – he is really too kind and considerate for his own good.

So, I try to walk Totti alone, just him and me, once a day. Picking berries, finding wild animals – and apple trees – in the forest and meadows.

Some days we go to our summer house, or just to the sea, to relax, and only – exist…

…which is so important…Life is short – someone will soon grow out of those sandals.

Taking a boat to one of the small islands in the archipelago is always a treat.

Driving home to our ordinary house again, the farmers are usually busy in the fields, but this year there is not much left to harvest. The drought has taken its toll.

Every month – not every day – we usually visit some interesting exhibitions. It could be about almost anything. Here a fashion and theater theme by designer Camilla Thulin.

This summer there was no rain – but all the other summers there usually are everyday moments with umbrellas!

During summer, spring or autumn – or all of them – we sometimes get a bit tired of everyday life, and decide to hop on the train/ferry to our neighbor country, Denmark.

Somehow I love train stations…

…and ferries. Some guys are very, very tired of the everyday thing…but there is always room for a ferry feet stretching!

Strolling the streets of Copenhagen is always a treat. To us, Denmark means good food, fantastic exhibitions, lovely people and yellow houses with cosy corners!

To see how others interpreted the challenge, visit our Lens-Artists reader section, or click on Amy’s challenge here.

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Patterns

/ 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: Blue

/ Leya / 37 kommentarer

This week’s Lens-Artists host is Patti, and she challenges us to share our interpretation of blue—the color, the mood, or the time of day.”

My choices are from Kosta Boda Art Hotel in Sweden and in the header, the village Å in Lofoten, Norway.

Last year we spent a night here at the SPA-hotel, and marveled at the world famous artworks in every room. All of them for sale. No doubt my favorite was the glass bar, where Kjell Engman has designed and finished everything in blue glass.

 

 

 

Even the chairs…

 

For more information about participating in the lens-artists challenge, click here.

To see Patti’s BLUE challenge, click here.

To have your post show in the lens-artists tag section of the WP Reader, please tag it as

lens-artists. Be sure to include the hyphen and the final S !

Welcome!

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Soft

/ 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!

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Time to Relax

/ Leya / 33 kommentarer

This week’s host for the photo challenge is Amy : ”Show us your favorite ‘time to relax’ activity, place, or moment.  It can be in any season, month, week, or day. :)”

 

Relax is  something we all try to do – and need to do. Sometimes they are hard to get by, those moments…but sooner or later you will learn what works for just you.

I find it very relaxing to walk along the paths of graveyards – especially really old ones. Père Lachaise in Paris, Highgate cemetery in London and the old Jewish burial places in Poland are my favorites.

At home, this place is an unmistakable relaxing spot – with or without Totti!

Summertime, I love to walk out here in the evenings to enjoy the sunset.

My flowers, pot plants, orchids – all of them need their daily attendance. They give me a very relaxing hour every morning.

No shop can compete with bookshops for my attention as well as relaxation. Libraries also offer instant harmony.

But lastly – my infallible remedy against stress and pro relaxation of mind and body – is a walk in the lush green of the forest.

If you missed Amy’s challenge for this week, click here.  For more information on how to participate in the Lens-Artists photo challenge, click here. And last but not least, remember to tune in to Tina of Travelsandtrifles next week for our next photo challenge!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Cooling

/ Leya / 153 kommentarer

Cooling

Here in Scandinavia – and several other European countries – we have endured a more than two months’ long heat wave, with temperatures exceeding everything since measurements started in Sweden hundreds of years ago. To function – cooling is essential.

One of my fondest memories of cooling is from 2015, when we were hiking the spectacular Verzasca Valley in Tessin, Switzerland. After some tough hours on foot, the temperature hit 34 degrees C – and we felt an urgent need to cool down. Fast cooling was offered with a swim in the 14 degrees C glacier water of the Verzasca river.

How would you capture cooling in a photograph? Is it an image like this one, showing a much-needed, cooling swim? Or is it maybe a giant ice-cream on the beach, or a dog in a bucket of water in your back yard? Show us your interpretation in a new post.

 

Here are the guidelines:

  • Lens-Artists Photo Challenges are published every Saturday at 12 noon EST by one of our moderators. Post your reply any time before the next challenge is announced.
  • Tag your post with lens-artists  so others can easily find it in the WordPress Reader.
  • Remember to create a link to this post.
  • Subscribe to all 4 moderator blogs to receive the challenge each week.

Week 1 – Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com/

Week 2 – Ann-Christine aka Leya of https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/

Week 3 – Amy of https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/

Week 4 – Tina of https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/

 

We had so many great responses to our first photo challenge!

Have You Seen These?

Deborah found a really special wonder in the Perry Sandhills – Wentworth. See her entry here:

https://debbiewhittam.wordpress.com/2018/07/09/lens-artists-photo-challenge-wonder/

And Helen reminds us that ”Everything is a wonder, when we see through children’s eyes.” See her entry here:

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Wonder

 

Amy will be your host for the next challenge on Saturday, July 21.

Missed our initial challenge announcement? See details here.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Wonder

/ Leya / 55 kommentarer

A wonder – everything in creation is. And, in December 2016, I was fortunate enough to enjoy this tiny Wonder (it is the smallest seabird in the world) with my own eyes, swirling around our sailing ship in the Galápagos’ waters. It is an Elliot’s Storm-Petrel. I took hundreds of pictures of these birds…but only a few show clearly enough the bird’s amazing abilities – it walks, runs and stands on water while feeding. I could watch them for hours –

There are two subspecies, and this one is an endemic galapagoensis; ”Elliot” after the man who discovered the bird and “Petrel” refers to Saint Peter walking on water. ”Storm” was the part given to it by the sailors, who believed the birds were warning them about a storm coming their way.

The whole story of this Storm-Petrel is enigmatic…not only is it pelagic (lives at sea only), but despite a population estimated at many thousands – a nest has yet to be found.

The theme for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Wonder.  We invite you to create a post that captures a moment, a feeling, a place, a person—which filled you with wonder.

For more information about Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – click the link!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come Join Us! A NEW Weekly Photo Challenge

/ Leya / 137 kommentarer

 

Do you miss sharing your creative ideas and photos each week in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge?  We do. That’s why we’re inviting you to join us for the new LENS – ARTISTS weekly photo challenge.  Our goal is to continue our creative community on WordPress.

Each Saturday at noon EST we will publish a photo challenge similar in form to the now-defunct WPC. If you choose to participate, please make sure to tag your post with the name of our group, LENS-ARTISTS, so that all of the responses can be found together in the WP Reader.  Please also include a link to the challenge moderator’s post.  One of our 4 moderators will host the challenge each week:

Week 1–Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com/

Be sure to subscribe to all 4 blogs to receive the weekly challenges.

Patti will post the first challenge on Saturday, July 7. 

 

Many of us who liked the WordPress photo challenge, wish to learn more and experiment with our photography, and many of us also love to travel and to see and share different angles of the world. Just to remind us of what we’re missing, here are three of my personal favorite photos from previous WPC Challenges.
Monochromatic, Scotland, September 2015 – The magnificent Kelpies are so big, that catching their expressions in the best light, from the best position, is a challenge in itself.
Curve, Sweden, Skåne, June 2016 – A simple and serene attempt with graceful curves. I have learned from many of you, that a photo often looks best when making it simple, not overdoing things.
Pedestrian, Poland, October 2017 – A problem to work on for many of us is photographing people. I try to improve my skills – and from the feedback I get, I am… but I need much more practice. Courage to talk to people – not to be afraid of asking. After all – you can only get ”Yes” or ”No”…

 

In the header: Temporary, Sweden, Skåne, November 2017.

We hope you’ll join us as we continue to support the wonderful community of creative sharing we all greatly value. We look forward to seeing you next week!

WPC: All-Time Favorites

/ Leya / 38 kommentarer

I want to thank you again, for inspiring us all to keep blogging – share our experiences and learn from each other. It has been good, so good. And tonight I truly feel sorry about losing this opportunity.

Many of us got to know each other through WPC, now some of us maybe will not have the strength, discipline or imagination to blog that frequently again. But, even in the desert there is beauty…So, I hope we will! – You have been a great help to make blogging fun and addictive in a positive way.

It will not be easy to choose an all-time favorite…I don’t believe it is easier to choose  three or four either. I will think about it for an hour or two…meanwhile, I send my love to you all, and especially to: Krista, Jeff, Michelle, Erica, Ben, Sheri, Donncha, Jen, Sara and Cheri.

I cannot choose a favorite of mine among you either…and why should I? I just felt that Cheri, your words added to your picture – those words touched the heart of my blogging.

My choices… there is much feeling connected to the pictures chosen, memories and heart…While some of them were favorites of yours, some of them maybe are only favorites of mine. But they all are some years old – otherwise they could not be All-Time Favorites, could they? (More of my criteria at the end of the post. )

In the header, a lonely beach on the east coast of New Zealand. My family traveled together for a whole month, and we walked alone on this beach, each one of us…contemplating the beauty of Earth, and the end of our journey. Here is my son listening to the ocean.

Then – a hot night in Barcelona, my family and I was out walking and ended up in the middle of a gigantic motor bike gathering. Foreign feeling – but magical.

This is also a family hiking memory – very dear to me. My daughter resting on a giant pine branch in the Spanish mountains, somewhere between Spain and France.

Spain again – Segovia and its famous aqueduct. I had never seen anything like it – it goes through the city center and is still standing after centuries and centuries. No concrete, no nails – only the stones themselves. I walked, sat, stood in the steps contemplating – for hours. Enigmatic shadows as well.

This photo was taken at our summer house, when I still had both dogs, Mille and Totti. No other photo of them shows so on the spot their special temperaments. Now, who is the wild boy and who is the law abiding one? Fond memories.

My dear blogging friend Maria (Mariayarri), in Jämtland, took me to the Tännforsen waterfall in winter. I had never seen a gigantic waterfall frozen before. It took my breath away – and I remember, many of yours’ as well.

An early spring day some years ago, it started snowing on my way back home from the forest walk. This deer shed was still standing. (Now gone) The photo became a favorite with both my readers and me.

My Princess of the Night in flower for the first time. We waited for hours – and then everything was over within 20-30 minutes. A Wonder. This flower is about 20 centimeters and the scent fills the whole room. A photo is not enough to grasp the event…you need all your senses!

Meeting another dear blogging friend, Seonaid (Greenmackenzie) – from Scotland. She does not blog anymore, but I got the opportunity to visit her two times when she lived just outside Edinburgh. She and her lovely family had three Bearded Collies, and two of them looked just like my Amanda ( – before Mille and Totti). Those few, magical days with them will never leave me. Also a photo with feeling, showing well the character of the dog.

This photo was taken on a rainy trip to China. It rained every day – and the wedding couple here had a speedy walk on the Bond in Shanghai, waiting for their photographer. In Sweden there is a saying that rain in your crown on your wedding day – will give you a happy marriage. I hope this one was/is! This shot was a favorite with Sylvain Landry when he had his weekly prompts.

 

Catedrales beach, Spain. We just happened to find it – a World Heritage – it was not in the guide book…Kilometers of rock formations of enigmatic size and shapes. We spent several hours walking in the sunset. Incredible feeling that such a marvelous place was not marked out in any book. It made the experience even more magical.

The last photo, of Lhasa and the Pothala Palace, also marks what I see as my criteria for All-Time Favorites: Deep feeling, being in awe, magical surroundings, beauty, dream fulfilled or come true.

WPC: Liquid

/ Leya / 14 kommentarer

Ben, at WordPress,  asks us about things liquid. His findings are, that we all seem very occupied with liquid things. I guess he is right – thinking about it…If it is not liquid for real, it is the patterns and the textures made by something once liquid that will catch the eye. And as Ben says – the landscapes around it.

In the header – liquid golden sunlight in the sea – caught on the coast of Iceland.

Once liquid lava at the Gala’pagos Islands

A seemingly liquid wall at the Guinness factory, Ireland,

and liquid traces in the sand at Tylösand, Sweden.