My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Where light and shadow fall on your subject – that is the essence of expression and art through photography.
Scott Bourne
Shadows always pull my attention to a specific point in an image. Shadows primarily hide features that may be better left unseen or slightly hidden. They for sure add a hint of drama, emotion, or mystery to an image. A bright sunny morning was perfect for providing these shadows on my front porch.
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
Winnie-the-Pooh
We all have certain subjects we gravitate towards. I find my archives to have primarily images of wide open horizons with clouds, trees, fields of grass, open meadows, sunshine and the shadows it spreads around. This was taken last week on an afternoon drive outside the city. This morning I sit on my porch typing this post. Clear skies, sunshine and around 50 degrees. The birds are singing their songs of joy. Almost perfect.
Or maybe they are singing because it’s Ruth’s birthday. Happy Birthday Ruth!
Solitude has its own special work: a deepening awareness that the world needs. A struggle against alienation. True solitude is deeply aware of the world’s needs. It does not hold the world at arm’s length.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
I consider myself a man of solitude, even more-so over the past few years. Some of that is due to a practice of prayer, silence, meditation, photography, a need for connection to nature and maturity through life experiences. One grandson calls me a hermit but mostly because I have a simple life, less attachment to things than he does.
My solitude does not alienate me from some of the brokenness within the world. There are ways to keep abreast of world situations without sitting in front of a television or having our face glued to the news feed on our phones. Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of all the above. I’m finding ways to stay actively connected to the world, find solitude and not be alienated from the world.
We are a part of all creation, not apart from. Wayne Teasdale says to experience solitude as a mystic or monk in the world and not be alienated from it is to be “… engaged in the world and with others but not attached to the world’s greed, indifference, insensitivity, noise, confusion, pettiness, unease, tension and irreverence.” I may be more aware of the worlds needs than I have ever been and always a part of it.
“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
I wish I was twenty and in love with life
Mary Oliver
and still full of beans.
Onward, old legs!
There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side
the roses are blooming and finding their labor
no adversity to the spirit.
Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea
shining like a song, like a body
I want to touch
though I’m not twenty
and won’t be again but ah! seventy. And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans.
As predicted we received another 4-5 inches of snow yesterday afternoon and into the night. Awoke to wonderful sunshine and shadows but had to be out in 12 degree temperatures to photograph it. However, we are already up to 25 degrees and snow is melting. 😁The snow brings us much needed moisture and this type of snowfall is so beautiful to take in.
Fresh snow from yesterday’s storm with blue skies and sunshine was what I needed this morning. Weather app says we could see more snow tomorrow. Lows tonight will be in the low teens again. Have a great day!
“I don’t have a philosophy. I have a camera. I look into the camera and take pictures. My photographs are the tiniest part of what I see that could be photographed. They are fragments of endless possibilities.”
Saul Leiter