My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
They are doing some construction work near my condo and have this pink dumpster for the trash and debris. It is eye catching so I grabbed a quick shot the other morning. Then, later that the afternoon I happened to see it with nice light and needed to stop again. I walked around it looking for any image that might appear. I settled on the shadows of the steps.
I never thought of this but maybe it could be a part time job in retirement. 🙂
Nah! I have more important things to do.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky
Mr. Gretsky was referring to hockey shots while I’m referencing it to photographs. I’ve come to believe more and more that images do present themselves. This young lady sat at one of the tables on the patio at a local coffee shop. I noticed her brightly colored hat and quickly went through the process of determining how I would compose an image. I then needed to ask her if I could take a photo of her bright hat. So, I needed the courage to ask her and then compose this image. One shot is all I took.
“At the heart of all photography is an urge to express our deepest personal feelings – to reveal our inner, hidden selves, to unlock the artist. Those of us who become photographers are never satisfied with just looking at someone else’s expression of something that is dear to us. We must produce our own images, instead of buying postcards and photo books. We seek to make our own statements of individuality.” – Galen Rowell
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
Robert A. Heinlein
Taken last weekend.
Either she thinks I’m cute or just finished nursing!
This image is post processed using an extreme HDR Pro 2 preset. I like it. There is no sign of the city. No sounds of the city. Just the wind blowing in the grass. It’s an image that reminds me why I get up early, make my latte, and drive east to watch the sun come up.
But, there is another reason I get up early. The birds! As took the above image a couple meadowlarks were singing in the back ground. Ever notice how birds are up early? And, they’re singing. And, they’re happy. Ever wonder why? Well, maybe it’s because, as William Camden says, “The early bird catches the worm.” Or, in this case it’s probably going to be flying insects, but still. Begs the question why the insects are out so early. Why don’t they just sleep in late and not get caught? One of those nature things. But without all that circle of life stuff, I wouldn’t get to enjoy hearing them sing in the morning when I get up early.
After seeing the photo from yesterdays post, I noticed the reflection on the glass of my iphone. I thought it interesting to see the texture difference between the reflection and the glass table top. I took the image on the left and was very surprised to see the outcome on the LCD. What the lens saw at f 5.6 was so much different from what my eyes saw. I then changed the aperture to f 22 and took a second image (on the right) keeping my focus on the reflection. You can see quite a difference and was a reminder of the difference depth of field can make.
“You don’t become enormously successful without encountering and overcoming a number of extremely challenging problems.” Mark Victor Hanson
I’ve had a few of challenging problems in my life and I assume you have also. Reflecting back I see where some of those challenges were not really challenges at all, some were created by me and some were both. I learned from some of those challenges while some I repeated (more than twice). While working as an engineer, I found it exciting to encounter challenges. Those challenges helped keep my interested in that career, at least for a few years.
As we age many will face the challenge of health problems. Knees will pop and crack, backs will hurt more, arthritis will be more persistent, naps will play a more important role, our metabolism slows down and more. And, I imagine, keeping up with technology will require calling the (great) grandkids. As you know I just made a trip to visit my parents and I see the challenges my parents are facing and notice them occurring in my own life.
Photography, also offers us challenges. Learning the capabilities of our gear, dealing with weather and lighting conditions. If making money with our passion is required then we may have challenges with learning how to work as a business, marketing, finances.
Anyway, while relaxing on my parents back patio I noticed the patterns and colors of their pergola and the blue sky. And, since I had my camera I took one shot. To me this is an example where images do come to us. This image was given to me rather my efforts to capture or take an image. We just have to be there.