LENS-ARTISTS

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #34: Close-Up

/ Leya / 173 kommentarer

The light is returning to the northern hemisphere, but we still have winter –

– which means the opportunities are less for us who love photography – or?

A great solution to the problem is close-ups or macro photography. Your own home is an endless source of motifs – and maybe a look into new worlds. So, this week’s challenge is Close-ups. Looking forward to your creative answers to this prompt!

You certainly don’t have to buy a macro lens – most cameras are good at close-ups. If you have a smartphone/android/iPhone – you will be surprised how easily you get good results.

But, last year I finally bought a macro lens – after a lecture by one of our best Swedish macro photographers. She recommended a TAMRON SP 90mm F/2.8. In this post, you are looking through that macro lens. (All photos except one – I guess you see which one…) As usual, click on the images to enlarge.

Let us see what I found when I ventured out into my flower pot, abandoned for the winter in my garden. Have a look down its frozen interior!

This is something of what I found:

And they are not only droplets – but frozen ones, lovingly held by the tiny plants.

Have fun with your close-ups and hope to see you soon –

 

Before you go, thank you to Patti for a marvelous Nature challenge!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #33 – Nature

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Patti’s challenge this week is Nature. I have spent most of my spare time in nature – and that is where I belong. The Galapagos Islands have been a dream ever since I was a child.

And in 2016 we went for Ecuador, the Amazon and Galapagos.

As all 19 islands are of volcanic origin, every island is different and many of their inhabitants are endemic to just that island. Harsh nature, but life thrives.

Among cacti and volcanic ground, birds and plants can live their lives without human interference. As a child I thought this must be a true Paradise.

In fact it is. Here you come close to nature and the animals, because they are not afraid of humans – they have no reason to be.

You can watch them hunt…like this Yellow -crowned night heron,

and fight – be it the giant land iguanas (stay clear here!)…

or the graceful Swallow-tailed Gulls.

Red-footed Boobies

The birds also allow you to watch them building their nests. I was 10 centimeters from the Red-footed Boobies – and they just kept courting and building without minding me.

The Marine Iguanas displayed their grandest costumes while sunbathing…

…and even let you get close-ups while lying on the ground, contemplating life.

It is the co-existing human – nature that fascinates me. It could be so easy…but we humans make it so difficult…

Why not walk the endless beaches together? There is room for us, if we only let there be…

If we are respectful,

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and stay 2 meters away (the limit here on the islands),

then the animals might even come up to you. We are all curious creatures if we have nothing to fear. One of Nature’s little wonders – my favorite..

…the simple beauty of a Mockingbird

So, if you tread lightly and show respect…

we can live together, love together, and let Mother Nature thrive.

I will always love these islands – where Nature rules, and man is only a grateful guest.

Thank you to Patti for this wonderful challenge – and for the chance to present my view of Paradise.

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Challenge #32 – Shadows

/ Leya / 51 kommentarer

In the header, the grand Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain. A picture where you cannot ignore the importance of shadows. For Tina’s challenge this week – Shadows.

Shadow owes its birth to light.
John Gay

Even the tiniest creature/ thing displays a delicate shadow when there is light enough

And as you move, your shadow moves with you…

In the late evening… the shadows make us a delightful pair – the cherry tree and me

The fence, in Riga, Latvia – one of my favorite pictures ever

Some flowers look their best in the shadows of other flowers in my garden

The golden browns of the dunes become enhanced by the shadows

…and the trees provide soothing shadow while they thrive and reach for the light

Thank you to Tina for a lovely challenge, and a homage to the importance of shadows.

 

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.

Junichiro Tanizaki

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #31: Landscapes

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The challenge from Amy this week is Landscapes. And I must agree with her, searching the archives for landscapes I have traveled through brought back many fond memories. I also got reminded of my love for two English painters, namely John Constable and William Turner. Constable a naturalistic painter and Turner a Romantic – they merge into the kind of art I love the most. So, let me start with a photographic painting from the winter where I live in the southern part of Sweden. And then, some different Swedish landscapes.

”The landscape you grow up in speaks to you in a way that nowhere else does.”

Molly Parker

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If we go abroad, the landscapes of course change for every country. Here are some of my favorites, starting with the Alps of Switzerland.

Endless, lonely beaches in Latvia

…and in Iceland. More Icelandic landscapes are here and here. More? Here and here!

Early morning dunes in Morocco – so different from the warm yellows of the evening sun!

This view from a kapok tree in the Amazon basin is one of my loveliest memories ever

The unforgettable, strange landscapes of the Galapagos Islands. The impressive, 5-40 ft, endemic Opuntia cactus is common, but

– every island is different…

Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers of New Zealand display extremely impressive landscapes

Back in Europe again, and the lush, rural landscapes of Bastán, Spain

A spectacular landscape hidden somewhere in the Pyrenees, Spain

And finally, China, along the Yangtze river…

… and the vast landscape of the Tibetan Plateau – shot through a train window. We traveled on the highest built railroad in the world, and the only train running on the permafrost.

 

Thank you, Amy, for this opportunity to revisit some favorite landscapes! I quote Charles Lindbergh: ”Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.”

Thank you for visiting, and welcome to join in the challenge! Also, be sure to tune in for Tina’s challenge next week, February 9!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #30 – Unexpected

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Unexpected – unexpected what? Now, that is up to you!

Did something totally unexpected happen today? Did you meet someone unexpected at the grocery store, or did you find something in an unexpected place …or, maybe You are up to something unexpected?

My post hopefully will contain something you would not expect from me!

Our son is a good photographer and a graphic designer – I borrowed his fish-eye lens for a couple of days… just for fun, and the opportunity to illustrate how it is to live in My bubble. Because I do live in some kind of bubble, where I try to create a positive life surrounding me and my family. I find it rather necessary in this world!

Hope you will enjoy a glimpse into my own transparent bubble – and then – I am looking forward to seeing Your interpretation of Unexpected!

When I am not traveling or hiking, much of my time is spent at home. Among everything else, I try to take care of my husband, my old parents and my two dogs.

My house is not that big – but… bigger than a Hobbiton house anyway!

It contains mostly flowers – many of them orchids – and memories…

…from travels, my children and my own childhood

Let’s step into my everyday life…

 

…where I spend most of my time!

In the kitchen I spend a lot of time
Doing the traditional chores
the boring ones as well…

A soft place where to rest quietly – maybe listening to music – is necessary. And there has to be much light.

My working area is indeed something for Marie Kondo…but they say a tidy and empty place reveals how you look inside too…

My space for work, fun, correspondence – and memories…

…this is the crew on our Galapagos ship – still smiling at me!

But soon it is time for a dog walk again! (At least three times a day, so I don’t have to worry about fitness training…) I wonder who is the happiest creature about that?

I hope you enjoyed these bubbles – at least I had great fun!

 

Have you seen these from Patti’s Challenge ”Cityscapes”? Thank you for joining in with so many amazing entries – I had difficulties in picking out just a few!

Laura at poetrypix gives us a London feeling

Click this, TAPG – a marvelous view of Tokyo

Bulldog, Moody winds from Chicago

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #29: Cityscapes

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”In the visual arts a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area.” This is the Wikipedia definition, and I must express my love for the easiness by which the English language constructs new words, adding – scape is only one possibility.

I must admit, this time I have had to struggle a bit, because I seldom take the time to see a city from a high up vantage point. I am not a city girl – more of a town girl and most of a country girl. I do enjoy visiting big cities for a very short time – for the architecture and all the other arts found in museums, opera houses, exhibition halls and the like. But one week is enough for me. Thus, my photos for Patti’s challenge, are mostly shot from boats, trains or planes. I have to excuse the lesser quality through all those windows…and the biggest city, Shanghai (25 million people), in rain.

Rain, fog and smog – that is Shanghai, and so many other big cities all over the world – in China not the least…but here I found most of my cityscape photos.

We managed to get a short glimpse of Shanghai by night – in heavy rain.

Our ship passed many big cities on the Yangtze cruise – I don’t even remember their names…

…through the windows it seemed to me…they all looked – the same.

Now we are on the other side of the world, Quito (2 million people), Ecuador. The people here are gentle and very sweet, and I loved their friendly and colourful city.

How about returning to Europe? London (8 million people) is an absolute favorite with me, and I have chosen the moment I first saw the Shard – through a dirty train window on arriving from Gatwick. Funny, I was chocked, I did not even know it existed!

Another favorite is Barcelona (1.6 million) – the home of so many of  Gaudí’s architectural masterpieces. I do plan to return to see the Cathedral finished.

I recently found a new favorite city of mine, in Bulgaria – ancient Plovdiv (345000 people, and 2019, The European Capital of Culture). A true gem.

Lastly, my nearest big city in Sweden, Malmoe, with its 312000 inhabitants. A windy city by the sea, just opposite Copenhagen on the other side of the water. Shot through the plane window flying in with a beautiful sunset. The only skyscraper you will see here is  Turning Torso – by the architect Santiago Calatrava.

In the header, the City of Cities – Rome, in late afternoon light.

Thank you to Patti for this wonderful opportunity to dig in the archives for cityscapes I did not think I had… and for the chance to see so many cityscapes I will never be able to visit!

 

Lens-Artists Challenge #28 – Curves

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Curves –

”In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves.”

Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Thank you Tina, for this week’s opportunity to admire natural as well as man made curves. They are everywhere – if you just let your eyes find them… Sometimes you have to look up though – like in Trinity College, Dublin, and The Long Room.

Antoni Gaudí – a master of curves

Rila Monastery, Bulgaria –

– glorious curves

In my forest – colourful, natural curves

Lava, and life returning – in curves

But no curves are as beautiful and complete as those of the koru –

A short Wikipedia explanation: Koru (Māori for ”loop”) is a spiral shape based on the appearance of a new unfurling silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol in Māori art, carving and tattooing, where it symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace. Its shape ”conveys the idea of perpetual movement,” while the inner coil ”suggests returning to the point of origin”.

 

 

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #27: My Travels

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”Some of us choose our travel designations based on the iconic nature of the place. My trip to Peru was no exception.”

Thank you,

Amy, for giving us the opportunity to reflect upon our travels – because everybody travels sometime, somehow and somewhere. It does not have to be to faraway countries – we can also travel inside.

Some of my most intense travels – growing my self – important travels, were those I made as a young woman. Without a camera. I grew up with books, and many of them were about foreign jungles, rain forests, arctic areas and deserts.

My nose was always in a book, and in my mind I longed to see all those fantastic places and animals, meet those other cultures so different from my own.

Never did I guess I would get the opportunity to see so many of those places with my own eyes.

The extensive traveling started when I was 16 and met a young man who had reached the age for a driver’s license (18 in Sweden) – and, had a car of his own. We traveled through the whole of Europe for three summers. Then we decided to take the step over to Asia and a country much dreamed of – Nepal. Annapurna and Mount Everest, bicycle through the Kathmandu valley, Ox cart down in Chitwan. In the mountains we stayed at a bungalow owned by a Gurkha soldier. I had read that an Indian field marshal once stated something like: ”If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha.” Respect. Still no camera – my fellow traveler had one though.

All photos from our travels for the next 20 years are slides, dia positives. We never look at them.

All those years…Nepal, India, Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railway, Egypt, China, Iceland, Greenland, Peru…Yes, Peru too – now Amy got me wanting to open up those old dia frames again…

But, I have stopped wanting to visit places I have been…you don´t have to wait long before they look completely different and have lost that glory you remember from your first visit…I hate it how we destroy the originality of places, islands, countries, people… And we change ourselves as well, as we grow.

My travels. They started in the 70´s and hopefully they are not over yet. 43 years of growing up on the road, meeting remarkable people, living spectacular moments. The world opened my eyes – teaching me tolerance, patience, love…and how very much we resemble each other, we are the same all over the world, in fact one big family…So, let us work together to make this world a better place! Sustainable. Let love and caring for nature and each other rule.

Let us build bridges – not walls. We are all connected.

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #26: Photographic Review of 2018

/ Leya / 158 kommentarer

Before closing the door to 2018, I will try to put my memories into …mostly pictures. New Year’s Eve will soon be here, and it is time to reflect upon the year we are leaving behind. Some people even make a book out of their photos, something I can recommend, as pictures tend to stay with you – to spark even more memories…

This last Lens Artists Photo Challenge of the year 2018, is all about memories. Make a recap of Your 2018! What do you remember most vividly? What precious moments from your everyday life, family, travels, holidays, adventures, meetings, did you capture with your camera?

It is not easy to choose one’s favorite(s) of the year…I know. I tried to pick one photo from every season (sometimes I had to pick two…). Another interesting idea (thank you, Mandy of Silkannthreads… ), is to find one single photo that would represent the whole year. We are looking forward to seeing Your 2018!

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Winter, January – A blue morning

March – Getting to know a very special cat breed – the Siberian

Spring, April – Bhutan

Summer, June – 5000 dragon flyers at Fanö, Denmark

July – Milo moving in

July – Lofoten, Norway

Autumn, September – I finally bought a macro lens

October – ”My” old beech tree

November – Forest walk

In the header, December 23, 2018, the day before Christmas Eve – and finally, on the road heading for the New Year, 2019…

 

I would like to leave you with a quote from a gifted young lady, whose future sadly was taken away from her – but I believe it is the young generation that will have to teach my own generation how we should have lived, and managed, this world. And, a second quote from a grown-up lady’s perspective:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

― Anne Frank

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

– Oprah Winfrey

With these two quotes, shining with hope for the future, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Thank you All for joining us in the challenges – we hope you have enjoyed it just as much as we have! Our first challenge in 2019 will be hosted by Amy, so, welcome aboard on January 5!

 

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Lens Artists Photo Challenge #25 – Reflections

/ Leya / 42 kommentarer

Patti’s challenge this week is Reflections – and I agree, it is a fascinating theme! New worlds. Worlds in worlds. Your eyes are meant to see, and sometimes they surprise you, they open your mind to dimensions you never dreamed of…

Buildings change faces…

Nature becomes glass art…

The street dips into the ocean…or the ocean rises to meet you…

Nature turns into yet another work of art…

In Switzerland I met my forever favorite – the Fluela Pass. When driving here earlier in the day, we saw nothing special. On returning home, in the afternoon, this reflection changed everything.

Lastly, reflections turning the whole world into a Monet painting…I can live with that…

 

Life would certainly be a bit more grey without reflections! Thank you, Patti, for letting us reflect on their importance. And thank you all who joined in! Lens-Artists last challenge this year, 2018, will be hosted by me, Ann-Christine. Hope to see you Saturday, December 29 – Merry Christmas!