All photos are from a local medical office building parking lot. I've really been enjoying the fact that I can explore beauty in even the most unsuspecting places.
Lauri Novak's website for further information. This would be such a gorgeous nature book for the classroom. I can imagine the children's minds expanding in ways we never guessed would happen. I spent some time in her galleries looking over her amazing work and I was also intrigued with the covers of the two books on "Everyday Shadows".
"...the art of photography is not just what happens in the camera, it's what you do with it when you get it out of the camera..." ~ Kim Clune
Her words above seem to fit my recent photo play.
You can see Kim's You Tube Channel HERE and her own amazing photography HERE.
As you know, I'm reading The ServiceBerry, and as I know - so many of you have also read it. It is a bit mind blowing thinking about gift exchange, while hearing about tariffs and the possibility of empty shelves. It feels both timely and impossible in the same breath. I'm enjoying it very much and today as I read, I was reminded of the old book: I Heard the Owl Call My Name, which had me feeling both glad I'd read it already, as it really had me relating to Robin's words...and also, it had me wanting to read it again.
Where do you go for sips of nature's sweet goodness?
I was absolutely looking for contrasting, well-defined edges on these flowers. I thought about the curves and the outlines against the leaves.
I found it interesting how the shading and shapes looked so different with the color gone. In fact, as I altered them, I discovered how much I could play with the tones to get such varied looks from one photo. This time around though, I just picked one that I liked to save and share.
Herb Alpert celebrates 90 years and a return to the stage with the Tijuana Brass
The palm trees and the little evergreen tree provided great lines against the sky.
I took my gift of "The Serviceberry" by: Robin Wall Kimmerer with me to read while I waited, but to be honest the speakers were sending out such great 1970's tunes, that I got fairly distracted and had to quietly sing along. Ha.
We have a "Central Park" locally here on the west coast 😁
Above I played with the photos again...there is J. walking up...oops, where'd he go? This is another fun trick for me - disappearing things! I wish I had that power in other areas of life. And then I went with black & white again for a few of the photos.
Today we headed over to this park, so J. could try out the "steps"...172 steps to be exact. They don't exactly lead to 'nowhere'...they lead to a ridge top and back down again.
I did not try the steps, as my knees would be yelling at me if I did. So, I strolled around and took photos and talked with a couple walking their dog, as I was seeking a better idea of what this park has to offer for gentle walking. They knew. They live within a mile and walk here frequently. They let me know that there are hills and a pretty flat path around the whole perimeter. Okay then. I let them know about some other places to walk in this valley.
I investigated the rather new (and brand new to me) art exhibit, which you can see in the link...scroll down to see the River of Lights all lit up.
Since this park is across town, I've rarely go to it. I've gone to a couple of the annual "Relay for Life" -Cancer Walks, but we've yet to walk the city trails there.
Bits of blue and green glass and the lights create the river.
Black & white can make changes that are grand or fair. I'm reminded of playing with printing photos 20 years ago...photos of Balboa Park, near San Diego, CA (which was mentioned in one of her videos)...printed in color, black & white and sepia.
I discovered her (Thoraya) videos a long time ago and then lost track. A few weeks ago, I stumbled onto this one and was intrigued. One-on-one conversations, a favorite of introverts...walking...observing or getting to know strangers, looking at things from another's perspective, video as art...so much to ponder here.
She has two more episodes as of now, each one such a different conversation.
I can almost imagine what Our Michelle in NYC may have said about this series. sigh.
We agreed to try this park again, at least once, even if it is more 'tame' (more city, less wild) than we normally seek out.
Grocery store flowers...
How do you think we'd feel about flowers if they had no color? What if THAT was the "normal" and we could play with our photos by adding color to them? What colors would we add and would leaves and stems be primarily green? If not, what would that "normal" be?
May you flow like the river
May you have good conversations
May you light up like glass in the sunlight and stars in the night sky
Dee's comment on the last post reminded me of my new playtime with altering photos to black & white versions. So, here is a lil photo stream. It looks like another world altogether! The wisps of clouds and swaths of sandy ground give the landscape the feeling of another time.
🗻⁕🐦⬛
After playing with the 'stunning ledges' as Dee commented...I moved on to a couple of the flower photos and the murder of Crows.
I then super-zoomed the photo of those teeny flowers, to try and see more detail.
Later, it occurred to me that the cross stitch I worked on throughout the day may look interesting in black & white as well. I zoomed in and could easily see why these little squares are so tricky to work with. The photo looks a lil blurry or is it my eyesight? haha The name is now halfway done and I'm resting my eyes.
What do you play with just for small, cheap thrills (like altering photos 🙂)?
