It’s never the differences between people that surprise us. It’s the things that, against all odds, we have in common.
― Jodi Picoult

Thank you to Amy of The World is a Book, for hosting this week’s interesting challenge. She asks us to explore, East Meets West or North Meets South. Read her creative post here to inspire your thoughts. Remember to link to her post and add the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you.

I must declare this was a difficult task for me – how to? I hope my solution is OK with you.

Because, I have focused on North meets South, and two very different countries with much in common. Just like we humans, wherever we come from – we have got so many things in common.

I guess you already know from the first images which the two countries are…

Both have got spectacular natural phenomena as volcanoes and hot springs, and ice and snow in beautiful nature.

They have got similar houses too…(!) even if one of them only is from some famous films made here.

So, how do we use their natural resources, the hotsprings? We can bathe in them…

cook in them…

or maybe just love the sight of them as a tourist. For energi they are outstanding and sustainable resources.

Both countries also boast spectacular natural layers of stone.

In one of the two countries, there are no forests – in the other one the jungle lives side by side with the glaciers.

If you follow me, you know how close to my heart these two countries are. They carry the clear light of a natural world less spoilt. One of them is called the land of the long white cloud, while the other one, if you look at the images above, maybe is the land of the short white cloud…

A special thank you to Patti as she made us look at Shadows and Reflections in Monochrome last week. Once again, the interpretations to the challenge were creative, fun and inspiring.  This way, we also learned something about what photos work best in monochrome.  Next week, we welcome Bren as our guest host.  She challenges us with: ”Lowering That Clarity To Bring Softness.”  We look forward to more learning next week!

Interested in joining the Lens-Artists Challenges? Click here for more information.