Wonders and peculiarities

Lens-Artists Challenge #321 – Intentional Camera Movements (ICM)

/ Leya / 50 kommentarer

Anne is urging us to try ICM – and I agree with her – it is great fun once you give it a go!

In 2016, Sue of Wordsvisual taught me how to do when she was here in Sweden. I immediately fell in love – the results are close to impressionistic. I have had some fun with it maybe once a year – but now, I really wanted to give it a fair try. (What wouldn’t I do for Anne?) Please visit her beautiful site to find some great inspiration!

As I am closing down my garden and glass house for the winter – I took my inspiration from there. The colours are still alive and here are my results from a couple of hours’ joy!

No laundry – but vines! I let them climb there because I love them flaming, and the two following pictures are also from those lines.

In the left one I drew the camera sideways and down, trying to catch the colours in the clothes pins while they went towards the ground. The right one was made by making u-formes with the camera to get the feeling of yarn hanging out to dry.

These two pictures are from the open place under the trellis. I still have some trees standing there, but tomorrow they are moving inside. The left one is a Plumbago and the camera was moved upwards. The right one is the Ginkgo tree and some different leaves on the ground, and camera was moved downwards.

These two are from the last of my Asters. You can guess how I moved the camera. The diagonal lines on the left side are from straws leaning over the flowerbed.

This last pair is from my fiery Yellow Ginger Lily – the last flower standing, and to the right is the soft Acacia buds waiting to bloom in January.

I was so inspired by Anne’s trellis ICM, that I had to try catching the last grapes out there. I thought the thrush had eaten them all, but here they are!

I took all photos in evening light and at low shutter speed. Mostly 8.

I had a lot of fun preparing for this post, and I hope you do too. My biggest smile and thank you to Anne, who made me take this up again! Please share your thoughts and images. I took hundreds of photos, and it doesn’t have to be flowers…so count on it that you will have to throw away 90% of what you produce.

We all had a great time last week as Sofia had us looking back. I enjoyed experiencing all your thoughts and memories. When you share your post for this challenge, please link back to Anne’s original post and use the Lens-Artist tag. In the meantime have fun learning and experimenting with ICM.

Thursday Thoughts – What to Do with a Leftover Firestation

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

Well, on our visit to Kent and Sussex we lived in the little town Tonbridge. Scouting one day, I came across the old fire station.

The fire station was no longer in use…or so I thought at first. But this is what they had made it into!

This grey day it still looked a bit abandoned – but soon arrived some chatting ladies. I talked to the girls at the bar, and they showed me the massive amount of dog photos on their wall. You should take a photo of your dog and hang it here – with the dog’s name on it. And there were many of them – I could swear there must be more dogs than people in this town. Never verified though.

A lovely place anyway, with excellent coffee.

Lens – Artists Challenge #315 – Common Objects

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Ritva is our host this week, and common objects are in focus – making them shine. Please visit Ritvas amazing site with some brilliant inspiration!

I will start in Japan – with Shinkansen and

some ordinary umbrella stands. The Japanese can give anything mundane a fascinating glow, so, no credit to my photography…

Next gallery was made from my home, indoors photos. I have used close-ups, fisheye lens, high key pictures and B&W.

Let’s go out in the garden to enjoy the little things! Clothes pegs in the evening light as well as caught by the vine, the top of my empty watering can, a spider’s web against the greenery, a tomato plant, a tiny orchid in the dark…and a Solomon’s Seal.

Many thanks to Anne for her brilliant hosting of last week’s Shorelines challenge. The beautiful shorelines washed away all our troubles and wrinkled foreheads! I hope you will join us next week too, when Egídio will be our guide. Until then, take care and enjoy life!

Lens-Artists Challenge# 301 – Floral

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Sofia leads a challenge this week, that is right up my alley – Floral. Again it is Japan that inspires me – and I urge you to visit Sofia’s beautiful site for more inspiration. Let’s have a celebration of flowers! Different angles, close-ups or from further away.

My visit to the Wisteria gardens in Japan is, without exaggerating, the most magical experience I have ever had. I cannot choose what to show from them, so the pictures are many. My words will be few instead – to make up for this multitude… I hope you will forgive me.

The Kawachi Fujien Wisteria Garden in Kitakyushu is unforgettable.

The garden is situated up in the mountains, and is difficult to reach – there are no trains or buses, you have to take a taxi.

I came for the Wisteria Tunnels. They have one 80 meter tunnel and one 100 meter tunnel, both with multicoloured effects.

The Golden Week with many vacation days make the Japanese esthetics go watching the flowers glow. And they were many, both men and women. And flowers. We did not see any other tourists there, except Japanese people. And us two from Sweden.

I was not disappointed – we had calculated the time rather well, and was lucky too – some of the flowers were over and some had just started.

From the outside the tunnels looked compact, and less ”alive”. ”It is the inside that counts”… as with us humans.

A little ICM and the tree is still alive and visible from the inside.

Some species were big and heavy, hanging in long threads of almost a meter’s length,

while others were shorter, or long and delicate ones.

In one of the tunnels there were double flowers – I didn’t know they existed until now.

With this B&W, I wanted to show you the feeling I had while walking up on the mountain to the flat area on top. It felt like snow at home, a calm winter’s day, with softly falling snowflakes in my face. You will see what I mean…

Time did not exist – walking, standing, sitting, contemplating – trying to take it all in and to keep it forever. Stay in the moment. And what a moment!

The old Wisteria trees were otherworldly, and I am still trying to understand I have really been there. Seen them. I would be happy if you stayed with me throughout, but I won’t blame you if you think this is just too much.

A Wisteria tree can grow very old – 150 years for the oldest ones here. If you look at their trunks, you will not doubt it.

People were oblivious of where or how they walked. Some visitors were very old, and some came in wheelchairs. We heard about people who came every year, even if it was so difficult a place to reach.

Beautiful people, beautiful minds – esthetics.

Snow or purple rain? Otherworldly.

Pink Wisteria was not that common in the park, but this giant was mindblowing.

Thank you so much if you have followed this far. These are but a few of all my photos from Kawachi. I will spare you the rest, but hope you have been inspired to some day visit Japan.

Thank you for last week’s many delicate answers to my challenge – I really enjoyed the variety and how useful this word it is! Next week it’s John’s turn to lead, so please visit his unique site for more inspiration.

Until then – celebrate!

Lens-Artists Challenge #295 – Rock Your World

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Donna leads this week, and she wants to know what rocks our world…. I would say Nature’s grand design rocks my world. And Earth Day is only 9 days away, so let’s Rock with Donna!

As a child my favourite things to do when I came home from school, was climbing trees and rocks. We used to pack something to drink, a couple of sandwiches and homemade buns, and then head out for adventures. My best friend would come along, and sometimes my cat too – well, that makes two of my best friends of course.

Those were happy days to remember, and sometimes I climb all the fences and brave the cows and horses up there just to find my old playgrounds again. Now those stones don’t look that huge anymore, but they are still impressive. The funny thing is, it was not easy to climb them then – but today I might not be able to climb them at all, for other reasons… Maybe they too remember though, if I gently touch them and put my ear to the sun warm surface and listen…

Geologists have a saying – rocks remember.

– Neil Armstrong

So, I will concentrate on some beautiful rocks I have met (- the soft way…).I do remember all of these with love, be they natural, manmade or who made!

The unforgettable Pancake Rocks, New Zealand, South Island. You could not climb them and were not allowed to either. But, they made a grand and very special landscape.

Shell or rock? This is New Zealand as well. There was a whole beach with beautiful stone formations – and it was allowed to climb and bring a picnic basket too.

The Moeraki (a place to sleep by day in Maori) Boulders, Otago, NZ. They may look small, but are up to 2-3 meters in diameter, and weigh several tonnes. Scientists say it took about 5 million years to create them. The rolling waves will wear them down in the end, but we can only guess how long that will take.

In Tibet – I wondered at many things, and one of them was about how many people must have walked these stones up to the Pothala Palace. They are manmade and laid – with love.

The Azores – stone fences are a great love of mine. In the Azores, the whole land was divided with stone fences ( – or Hydrangea hedges) . They witness of hard work and are often skillfully laid. In Sweden we have a multitude of these too, especially in the south part where I live. The ice left many stones to handle for the people who once settled here. Today it is forbidden by law to remove or change old stone fences.

In Iceland there are many lavafields, or Rhauns, both young and old. It is fascinating to know – and see – how our Earth constantly changes and new constructions form, and even new land. Surtsey island was formed in an eruption starting 1963, finishing in 1967.

We always return to Iceland, and went there in 1984 after the eruption of Krafla – when the ground was still hot. Walking through the old lavafields is both amazingly beautiful, difficult and sometimes dangerous. Often they are covered in moss and small bush vegetation, and there under…might be a bottomless pit in the lava stream.

If you are lucky, you can find amazing things like this one below. And in the blazing sun and heat among the rock formations, you easily imagine creatures from millions of years ago…

Iceland, Dimmuborghir lava field. Who made...?

Join us for the fun of sharing what Rocks YOUR World! We hope you will enjoy your quest, and remember to link to Donna’s original post, and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you.

John made us think about Before and After last week – and what great answers we got, inspiration and eye openers. A learning post indeed.

Next week Ritva will join us again, be sure to visit her beautiful site for inspiration. If you are interested in knowing more about the Lens-Artists challenge, click here for more information.

Lens-Artists Challenge #290 – Circular Wonders

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There is something particularly special and personal about the circle and how its curves comfortably rule every aspect of our lives.
― Kat Lahr

I spent a week in Nice and surrounding villages – and was greatly inspired by the art and architecture as well as the ongoing Carnivals. Last time we visited was in 1976…a long time ago. Honestly, I didn’t recognise anything at all, but loved what I saw. And the food was delicious.

A feast of colourful life filled our days. In fact I found so many lovely circular items, old and new, that I decided this challenge would be about Circular Wonders. For you to interpret the way you find most interesting!

This carnival in Nice is an old tradition. In 1294 it was first mentioned in writing, in 1873 it was the first carnival procession in France, and in 1876, flower floats were introduced. Today the Nice Carnival is the grandest and most important carnival (more than two weeks of festivities) in the Mediterranean area.

As the old towns and small towns here usually do, Saint Paul de Vence, Menton and Eze, offered lovely cobbled streets and wonderful art galleries, big and small. Fondation Maeght was impressive, and the Chagall museum in Nice was of course well worth a visit.

In my gallery below, the included Chagall is from his Bible series. Fête du Citron (with 140 tons of fruit used for uncountable circles…) in Menton had an Olympic theme. And every morning tables were beautifully laid on the beach – emanating strong spring vibes to a cold Swedish soul.

Wander into the center of the circle of wonder.

– Hongzhi Zhengjue

The next gallery is from the Opening Parade (this year the theme was Pop Culture) and the Flower Parade. Among the flower floats I recognised many fairy tale themes. When I said we were going to the ”Flower Parade”, an elderly French gentleman kindly corrected me – Bataille des Fleurs! Oh well, that sounded just perfect in French.

A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle.

– Mark Twain

Circles, half circles…skirts, dresses, hairdos, flowers, umbrellas, candy, and even a nose. Most impressive of these circular wonders, were the cycling musicians from the Netherlands – and they circled throughout the whole parade, lead by a biking conductor! There were all instruments from drums to trumpets and horns – and no one fell off his/her bike… some admirable skills there.

Come out of the circle of time

And into the circle of love.

– Rumi

Et voilá – I will end with some non-carnival flowers found in Nice, Menton and Eze. We had such a fun, lovely and uplifting week. And the icing on the cake was that –

Viveka (My Guilty Pleasures) and I chatted for a couple of hours and had a rosy drink while discussing the festivals and our outings around Nice. Unfortunately she had booked one week later than us, so this was only a short meet before we left.

Cheers!

Now we are looking forward to seeing your fantastic circles and half circles! Be sure to link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Hope you want to join in!

Big thanks to John, for last week’s brilliant lessons about tools of composition – inspirational posts en masse! Next week it is Patti’s turn to host, so please visit her beautiful site for more inspiration.

Lens-Artists Challenge #287 – Sound

/ Leya / 49 kommentarer

Donna is our lovely guide this week, and she asks us for pictures that could show, or make you think of – sound. Personally, the sounds I love the most are natural sounds, from the wind in the forest or birds in the trees, the rustling of autumn leaves at my feet. And silence in between.

Listen to the sound of silence.

– Paul Simon


I don’t know about you, but, music is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear or see the word sound.

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.

– Plato

Imagine how many different sounds of music there are in this world! So many different instruments and traditions, melodies for feast and celebration – for dancing

or jubilation for a winning game, an exam or graduation.

Did you know that at least 70% of all communication is nonverbal and that body language is a major part of this? Surely you can ”hear” what our concierge was saying?

There’s many ways you communicate. With colour, texture, sound… Even words can communicate.

– David Carson

The sound of water is worth more than all the poets’ words.

– Octavio Paz

I guess many of us has a special love for this sound, be it the rough sea or slow waves, a raging river or a trickling, merry brook. Our souls are connected, because life was born in water, and we have all rested softly in our mother’s womb.

Personally, I will be on the road for a week now, but will try to keep up the reading and answering. Please remember to link to Donna’s post and use the Lens – Artists tag so we can all find you. 

A big thank you to Anne for last week’s inspiring theme weather. In fact you showed us there were weather I had never thought or heard of…

Next week, we are excited to announce Ritva. She will host her first official challenge for the Lens-Artists, so don’t miss her inspirational site! Until then – keep warm and be kind.


Thursday Thoughts – Glacier Bay and the Mendenhall Glacier

/ Leya / 32 kommentarer

On the ship again – towards Glacier Bay. Lovely views of the skies and mountains.

It was of course cold close to the glacier, but well dressed it was no problem. It felt just like home.

When we reached the edge of the receding glacier, there was no clear sight, but it was ok. We don’t know, but maybe this was the last time for us coming close to a glacier – they are all receding and many are already lost. I am grateful to have walked quite some glaciers in my younger days. They are beautiful. I cannot bear the thought of my grandchildren never seeing one or walking one. It is unfathomable.

The beauty of snowcapped mountains – is still there though.

The Mendenhall is obviously a famous glacier, and we took the local bus in Juneau and walked the last miles to see it. The landscape is beautiful, but was almost invisible when we reached the glacier. We waited for some 15 minutes, and there it appeared through the fog. That’s the way of glacier areas. But, it is worth the waiting!

I love the bluish ice and the edges like melted chocolate. The exhibition inside the visitor center showed just how much the glacier has receded over the years – and now almost over the months…

The shining Nugget falls were quite spectacular and the stillness in the air was remarkable. Walking back again to catch the last bus, we realised that the Mendenhall maybe looked its best from a distance.

Thank you for joining me on the glacier tour!