Category: Challenges

#ThursdayTreeLove | One Photo and An Abundance of Tree Love

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One Photo Poster

A month ago I shared the “one photo” I used for Sheila Delgado’s 30-day Creative Gathering. Today, I present the 30 versions of the tree photo I submitted for the Gathering–one for each day, February 28 through March 2. As usual, working with the photos provided a much needed time-out from the daily grind and compelled me to spend a little time each day playing with color and texture. This was particularly helpful as I struggled through the many cold, gloomy, and wet days of February.

I submitted one photo edit each day, but I have more than 250 extra photo edits! I usually played around with the photo until I “happened upon” something I liked. Sometimes, I liked far too many and then had to go through the process of whittling down to one, which was usually the one that surprised me or brought me the most joy.

If you’d like to see the photos featured in the poster above in their full, individual glory, check out the album on Flickr:  One Photo, Endless Possibilities.

Also, if you’re interested in seeing the amazing artwork of the other participants, be sure to read Sheila D’s “wrap-up” post on the February Gathering: The 30-day Creative Gathering Artists, February 2023.

I usually join Parul Thakur for #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday of the month. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #treelove post.

#ThursdayTreeLove | One Photo, Endless Possibilities

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One Tree Original

if the trees
keep releasing,
keep rising,
keep reaching for the light,
then so shall i.

a.quinn

My #ThursdayTreeLove postings have been sporadic lately, but my camera roll serves as witness—I have been thoroughly enjoying the trees of winter.

I see the stand of trees in today’s post almost daily as I travel to work and other destinations. It always catches my attention, so when traffic slowed to a stop on a day with a perfect sky, I took advantage and took a shot.

The photo is currently serving as my artistic “template” for Sheila Delgado’s February 2023 30-Day Creative Gathering. My theme this month: “One Photo, Endless Possibilities.” My goal is to create a different photo-artistic version of the glorious scene each day. By the end of the month, I will have 28. I look forward to sharing them with you.

I am joining Parul Thakur for #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday of the month. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #treelove post.

NPM | 52 Frames | Long Exposure | Walking Meditation

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52Frames Week 12 Long Exposure

Walking Meditation
Thích Nhất Hạnh

Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.

We will enjoy our walk
without thinking of arriving anywhere.

Walk peacefully.
Walk happily.
Our walk is a peace walk.
Our walk is a happiness walk.

Then we learn
that there is no peace walk;
that peace is the walk;
that there is no happiness walk;
that happiness is the walk.

We walk for ourselves.
We walk for everyone
always hand in hand.

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.

Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.

Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.

Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.

About the Image: The photo above, like the one shared Monday, is from Green Mountain Nature Preserve. This one was for the 52Frames Week 12 challenge, “Long Exposure.” I have some work to do with long exposure, but I love this scene. I hope you find some time to walk and mediate this weekend!

NPM | 52Frames | #ThursdayTreeLove | Leading Lines

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52Frames Week 17

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. —Eden Phillpotts

Why am I awake at 1:00 a.m. trying to pass a [technically] Friday post off as #ThursdayTreeLove? Because my time was not my own at all this week, so I am snatching a moment when I can.

The guys and I went to Harvest Square Preserve, a Land Trust near our home, because I wanted to get this shot for the 52Frames Week 17 prompt, “Leading Lines.” This lush scene was everything I expected, but then, we received a bonus! We saw a rabbit that we are convinced is one of the rabbits we rescued and released a couple of summers ago. Unlike other bunnies that hippity-hop away as quickly as possible, he hung around a bit for us, just kind of watching and waiting, maybe building up the courage to “say” hello.

I’d shot the scene above a few times before, so I decided to edit the 52Frames submission. I like how the edit accentuates the lines that pull us into the image and onto the walking trail.

It’s late spring. The trees are bursting and there’s so much to explore.

I am joining Parul Thakur for #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday of the month. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #treelove post.

NPM | 52Frames | Reflection

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52Frames Week 9 Reflection

These landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession.  –Claude Monet, August 11, 1908

For this week’s National Photography Month (NPM) posts, I am sharing a few photos from my growing 52Frames collection. I joined the community in January and, surprisingly, I have somehow managed to attain an 18-week streak so far.

52Frames offers a guided weekly photography challenge, designed to help [photographers] improve skills. Every week, we send […] new assignment. [Photographers] have 7 days to take [their] shot and share it with the community. Together, we give feedback and guidance to help [photographers] grow. Oh, and it’s totally free.

What I like most about 52Frames is that the challenges encourage me to take time for photography and creativity every week, so even if I have only a few minutes to spare before deadline, I take the shot.

The photograph above was my submission for “Week 9: Reflection.” I staged several types of reflection photos, but finally settled on this photo from Green Mountain. This was my first outing with the guys after my father passed. I needed the water, sky, trees, and moments of reflection. This scene took care of all those needs. It was shot on the same day as the photo featured in Two Poems for Your Monday.

I’ve shared a few other 52Frames challenge photos on the blog (see links below), but am looking forward to a 52-week streak, so I can share all 52 photos with you. Fingers crossed. 😉

Other 52Frames Photos: 

#ThursdayTreeLove | Speckled Glory

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52Frames Week 14Have I been so busy that it has been almost two weeks since my last post? How did we even get to mid-April so quickly?

Whew!

I have been busy, but everything is bursting with color here in Northern Alabama, so I have been taking “small moments” to photograph color. Last week I focused on the dogwood because the trees have been exploding with those gorgeous white blossoms all over the city! Though I have many shots, I cannot resist sharing with you the photo I shared for last week’s 52Frames prompt–nature.

I’m sharing the photo au naturale. It sort of “misses the point” to tamper with the bloom for a “nature” challenge. So, you get the photo in all its speckled glory!

Even when petals have flaws, all you see is a beautiful flower —Adrianne Elizabeth

I am joining Parul Thakur for #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday of the month. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #treelove post.

#ThursdayTreeLove | Simply Rest

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Rest

About the Image: I designed this image for Day 23 of Sheila’s 30-Day Creative Art Gathering (September 23, 2021). January has been trying [understatement], so as we head into the weekend I am heeding the scriptural counsel to simply rest.

I am joining Parul Thakur for #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday of the month. If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #treelove post.

A Photo a Week | Opposite Weather

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I decided to participate in Nancy Merrill’s “Photo a Week” Challenge this year. Even though my camera is a constant companion, I have not done well with yearlong photo challenges. However, I’m inspired by my blogging friend Laurie’s completion of 52 weeks of photos last year, and I’m hoping to change that.

As I was driving last weekend, I noticed we’ve reached the stage of winter in which brown and gray dominate. I miss the brilliance of autumn, so I was pleased to find Nancy’s post coaxing us out of the dull gray and into the color of any of the other seasons with the prompt “opposite weather.”

I eagerly scrolled through my autumn photos and found two pics of oak leaves taken one brisk autumn morning just before Thanksgiving–my last shots of Autumn 2019.

The year’s last, loveliest smile,
Thou com’st to fill with hope the human heart,
And strengthen it to bear the storms awhile,
Till winter’s frowns depart.
John Howard Bryant, from “Indian Summer”
(often misattributed to his brother, Poet William cullen Bryant)

Enjoy, and be sure to tune in tomorrow for #ThursdayTreeLove!

Textures | #WordlessWednesday

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Little moments can have a feeling and a texture that is very real.  –Ralph Fiennes

Sometimes, life gets so frenzied that I take rest and moments where and when I can. This is how I managed to capture the photos above.

While waiting for the grants officer at “my” university to finish with a client a couple of weeks ago, I took a few cleansing breaths. As I exhaled, I suddenly noticed the many colors and textures in her office suite. I wanted to touch everything. Instead, I let my eyes and phone [camera] do the work while my spirit eased into rest. [Click an image for a closer look].

Written on My Heart | #WordlessWednesday

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Losing a loved one does not just make us
painfully aware of their mortality, but our own,
which comes with a great sense of responsibility–

to carry on living our lives a little more
mindfully, purposefully, and wholeheartedly,
now that they cannot

(I miss you and I will always love you) –-Emina Gaspar-Vrana

Today my sister Lori would have celebrated her 56th birthday. In the photo above are the last Christmas gifts she gave me–a brooch representing [us] six sisters joined by hip and heart and a beautiful sister-heart. She gave them to me last January–weeks after her diagnosis–when we made a special trip to New Orleans so she and I could have a sister heart to heart that I didn’t want to have by phone. While I struggle with the cruel reality of two sisters gone, I walk in the knowledge that not even death can remove the imprint of my sisters from my heart.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) –e.e. cummings