The Glory of The LORD

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Flower Power

Last week’s theme for the weekly project I participate in was floral. It’s been a while since I found/picked/bought some flowers for the sole purpose of photographing them so it was really a lot of fun. When I was first getting serious about photography I did a lot of work with flowers…cheap models that I could move easily as I learned about light and shadows and camera settings.

As it usually happens I had several images that I really liked but only one shared with the weekly challenge. These are the “left overs” in no particular order. Enjoy!

Black and white flower portraits are so dramatic, aren’t they?

Flowers…are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I seem to have developed fascination with this window and the light it gives in my bathroom.

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers. ~Claude Monet

The Scent of Summer

It’s a fragrances that can evoke memories of my childhood with the slightest whiff.

It calls to mind bare feet in the sweet grass, rich earth under my hands, blue skies and sweaty pony tails as we raced around the yard, climbing in and out of the low heavy branches.

It also calls to mind plain cheese sandwiches with a little mayonnaise. I must have eaten one almost everyday under that great big magnolia in our back yard. Funny, but now I wouldn’t touch that sandwich, but magnolias?

Oh, how I love them.

Maybe it’s the way the big waxy petals seem to enclose a secret treasure.

Gradually unfolding to reveal the scarlet dipped treasure at it’s center.

I have always been fascinated by the stamens and the way they’d gather, cupped in the soft white petals like some kind of offering.

It’s a hardy tree that can grow tall with branches from the ground all the way up making it the perfect fort and climbing tree.

With every intake of it’s sweet scent I can hear echoes of my childhood…my sisters…laughter…my Mother calling us in for the night. And if I sit still long enough I can almost see the fireflies that used to dance among it’s leaves late in the evening.

Promise

The Beauty of Being Undone

The One I Didn’t Choose

Whenever I am shooting something, either people or things, I take a lot of pictures. I’ll move around, closer or further back, from up high or a little lower. I’m working to see different perspectives and to find the right angle that reveals what I want to show or tells the story line I want to be heard.

Consequently I will end up with a bunch of images that don’t always reach the light of day so to speak. But sometimes the decision between one image or another is nothing more than which one strikes me the most and it can be so close that I end up choosing one over the other in an almost random dart throwing kind of way.

Why am I saying all this? Because last week I was doing the theme for a 52 week project I am part of and I’m happy with the option I posted to the fb group but I still love the one I didn’t choose. So I’m choosing to share it here.

Because, for me there is just something about it…the way a stem of the blooms is peeking from behind the banister and the little hint of the turquoise blue sky barely seen in the corner.

He Has Delivered Us

Sunday Stillness   Give Me Grace   Weekend Brew   Scripture and a Snapshot

Dream a Memory

Sometimes a picture captures a moment and reflects a story. Or at least a chapter of one…sometimes even just a few sentences.

but some images just cause you to remember…to reflect…to daydream.

these kinds of pictures offer a sense of emotion rather than dialogue…a kind of dance with a forgotten memory

they evoke a story from your thoughts…weaving will-o’-wisp of moments into a kaleidoscope of feeling

Photography isn’t always about documenting a special moment…or even the normal everyday ones. It can be about the intangible things that we don’t necessarily see with our eyes but it feeds our souls.

Sharing with Thursday Thoughts and joining for the first time with the Almost Friday Thursday Blog Hop.
Also with my regular Friday favorites: Photo Story Friday, 1440, and the No Rules Blog Party.

Sweet Shot Tuesday #3

I like to try and photograph different things…practicing focus, composition, and lighting, etc. I started using flowers a lot because they were cheap, stayed where I put them, didn’t talk back or need to use the rest room, be bribed with candy plus they come in various colors that allow me to work on lighting and camera settings. Win win.

I’m saying all of this since last week I posted an image of a flower and I am doing it again this week. But there are some differences. Last week was soft and dreamy with an isolated focal point. This week is just bold color and dramatic, albeit, natural light. You end up with two photos that are vastly different even if they are both flowers. Lessons to be learned here for portraits don’t you think?

Linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Sweet Shot Tuesday #2

The roses were my subject; delicate petals with the gentle curl, soft white with a tinge of brown as they were beginning to fade. But the baby’s breath caught my eye and I moved closer noticing this one coming into focus and the rest a blurry softness of background.

If you have a minute pop in over at Sweet Shot Tuesday and see what everyone is shooting these days.