Lens Artists Challenge #338 – Pick a Word

/ Leya / 29 kommentarer

John‘s challenge this week is called “Pick a Word.” You must choose a word that fits your topic and select three or four appropriate photos to share. Please visit his interesting site for more inspiration!

I have chosen ”Double-Exposures” But if John doesn’t accept it (two words…) I will go for ”Double”.

During the pandemic years, I developed a love for double exposures. And swirls. But today I will pick only double exposures. I guess it became interesting because we could not travel very far and had to be very careful where and how we went. Doubles could easily be done at home or in the garden, with interesting results.

I tried many combinations, and these are some of those I found worked best. Flowers of course,

and flowers and text together.

Why not a library… we can never get enough of books!

Buildings make excellent photos – like these wooden houses in different colours.

Finally Stockholm railway station and City Hall – where the outcome is an old favourite of mine. In fact I think I want to try some new subjects for double exposures again!

So, John says the word you pick could be for example from photographic techniques like ”Backlit, Landscape, Portrait, Minimalist” or subject descriptions like “Mountain, River, Architecture, Wildlife.”

We are looking forward to seeing what word you pick to share in your challenge response! Be sure to tag your post with “Lens-Artists” and add a link to John’s original post.

Last week, Sofia challenged us to be BOLD, and we really were! Extraordinary answers to that one. Next week it’s Anne’s turn. To be sure you get a notice of her challenge when it goes live, follow her site here. If you’d like to join the challenge each week, but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

Hope to see you soon – and until then, stay safe and be kind.

Thursday Thoughts -The Road to Tibet III

/ Leya / 8 kommentarer

An early wake up again on the train – the last part before Lhasa. The Tanggula pass is more than 5000 meters above sea level, but we were well taken care of with oxygen in our compartments.

The Tibetan Plateau is breathtakingly beautiful – I still have tears in my eyes when I look at the old photos-

– and again we were glued to the window. The whole journey is almost 2000 kilometers and today it takes some 40-45 hours. I guess hour train ride took a bit longer 16 years ago.

We passed by majestic rivers, lakes, mountains in every kind of weather – but I think above all we loved the magical cloudscapes over the vast open spaces.

I remember we didn’t sleep much…as we didn’t want to leave the magic outside that train window. In fact we were earlier up than ever. We rose with the first light shining in.

The colours were beautifully contrasting between warm and cold, and the numerous jaks and sheep were grazing everywhere. We also saw a wolf, but weren’t quick enough to photograph it.

The clouds created a moving palette on the ground – with shadows and light playing. Sometimes we felt the clouds were sailing so low we could have touched them had we been able to get off the train for a minute!

As we approached Lhasa, we came closer to the mountains and the valleys –

which we hadn’t done before. There were some people too out there – but very few and not easily spotted. If you can see them, they speak of the vastness and grandeur of the landscape.

Time stood still during the train ride, so we couldn’t imagine we would soon be there – at our final destination Lhasa, Tibet. A destination longed for since I was a child, but I never could have dreamed of such an amazing journey to get there!

A couple of minutes left, and then – a new adventure would unfold. Tibet. We were sad to leave the Plateau behind, because we knew we would fly back to Beijing in a couple of weeks, never to see it again.

Thank you for taking the Quinghai train with me – at least a bit easier than staying glued to a train window!