OK! Challenge accepted. Anne challenges us with a topic outside my comfort zone. On my trips, I also visit (usually smaller) towns. Indeed, they have houses. But do they also have ‘buildings’? And what about structures? Finding structures in nature is easy. But it’s hard, when not visiting cities.
Let’s have a look, at what I can find.
First, follow me to Lisboa. In the old town, you can find so many structures.
Second, I want to take you to Helgoland to show you the famous Hummerbuden. Although the island is so small, keep your eyes open and see, what’s in front of you.
Next, came with me to Parha (and avoid to get lost), …
decorations
…, via Barcelona (you can lose yourself so easily in Barcelona), ….
…, Duesseldorf (some areas seem to be constructed with a long ruler), …
…, and a few random places.
When digging through your archive, it’s likely you find more images than expected. These challenges are a very good opportunity to walk through your archive and see your images from a different perspective. Those of you following me for some time can easily see, this is not my usual style. It’s different
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Thanks, Anne for this wonderful challenge this week.
Maybe, I inspired you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Amy’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Building a castle or a chateau in the clouds is an idiom in German for working on an obviously unrealistic dream. I’m quite sure, that idiom has its origin in distinct clouds and cloudscapes.
A few years ago, I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel room looking out at the sea and saw this castle, illuminated by the setting sun, floating up in our direction.
I was waiting there for the blue hour to photograph the castle. As I’m unable to read clouds, I wasn’t aware a thunderstorm was coming closer. Fortunately, it passed without starting to rain or throwing more bolts of lightning than this single one.
The most beautiful cloudscapes can be found at the sea.
But, clouds are also nice when they lay to your feet like a carpet.
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the sky and the sea.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Thanks, Amy for this wonderful challenge this week.
Maybe, I inspired you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Amy’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Art in public has been around for centuries and was a sign of wealth
Even light is (or at least can be) art. You can read the full story when clicking on this link.
I intentionally left out architecture and old buildings i.e. created by Antonio Gaudi. They are quite often richly decorated and wonderful pieces of art.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I inspired you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Today, Sofia challenges us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week with “mood”.
Fortunately, this topic was announced ahead, so I was able to prepare this post ahead of knowing exactly, what Sophia had in her mind. But, otherwise, I had to pause this week.
I like working this way on the weekly challenges because I have to and I have to deal with the respective topic myself without having gotten a predefined direction of thinking. So, I decided to not stick to moody scenes around sunrise or sunset but also include other moods.
In general, we tend to consider a scene moody when having certain light conditions. This can be the warm light around sunset or sunrise flooding a scene, artificial lights at a party, or ambient light for a romantic situation. In nature, foggy scenes are also often considered moody, or when there are very distinct light conditions with hard contrasts. But, in my opinion, there is much more. Getting into a certain mood is usually triggered by an impulse from the outside. This can be a certain light condition, an incident, a situation, a location, or even a piece of information.
festive
reverent
prayerful
dreamy
happiness through sports
glowing at dust
heart-warming sunrise
joy
fun
before sunrise
relaxing or being together
burning nature
longing for light
burning sky
love
warming and inviting
celebrating
awed amazement
chilling
morning glory
magical night
grief
victory
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Sofia’sSofia’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Ann-Christiene will challenge us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week with “backlit”.
A scene or a subject is backlit, when the main light is behind your subject or your subject is in between you and the main light. I like photographing backlit scenes very much. Thus, I picked a few examples for you:
You see, backlighting subjects can reveal previously invisable structures of the subject or discover without revealing too much 😁.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Ann-Christine’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Patti challenges us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week with “Still Life“. To be honest, this is not really my cup of tea. But, I try my best.
bread, salt, and red wine
A Christmas / Advent greeting card
fresh water means life
This image was taken to test the quality of a new lens I got.
And finally a greeting card for Easter
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Patti’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Take care!
P.S. In case, I don’t answer a comment: it’s not by intention. I’m currently flooded by spam comments. The current wave already runs a week or so. In one night, i.e. I got >800 spam comments. Please forgive me if I accidentally deleted your comment.
After a short pause because of Easter, I’m back today to participate in the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Tina this week. Her topic for this week is “Environments”.
First of all, we have natural environments and urban environments.
Men created environments of concrete, stone, and glass to live in a well-organized and structured environment.
Nature is the opposite. Nature is chaotic, wild, and sometimes challenging for its inhabitants.
Such a huge body of water is also an environment. Its inhabitants are challenged to develop strategies to survive here. For others, water is a necessity like the air is for humans and other air-breathing creatures.
Some are used to survive even with extremely small amounts of water.
Others can survive while being faster than others.
Environments can be shaped very differently. We have flats, and water bodies, but also mountainous regions.
The air can also carry
And for some, their environment is extremely small. At the edge of her web, her world ends.
I’m ending here before I dig too deep into detail. There are so many more options. Tell us your view, too!
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Tina’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
It’s Tricky to find a proper answer to this week’s topic at The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Donna is asking for.
Today, it’s first of April. This means, some guys feel, they can fool everyone. Some of these fools are really funny while others are mean. I don’t like this approach at all. Despite, when a fool is easy to recognise and clear for everyone. A synonym for fooling someone could be to play tricks to someone and I assume, that’s what Donna had in her mind when picking this topic. But, I choose to take it literally. Thus, I had to dig a bit in my archive and I hope, you like, what I found there. Enjoy!
photographing a match in the moment it catches fire
2. photographing smoke
3. photographing an insect in flight in the nature
A guy, I’m following on Vero, posted an image of this insect a few days ago and reminded me to search for mine, I was lucky enough to capture more than a decade ago. For very long, I haven’t seen one in real live anymore.
4. photographing fast birds in flight
southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) / Karminspint oder Karmin-Bienenfresser
These guys hunt flying insects. To capturer them, they can either sit on twigs and wait for them or they can actively fly after them. They are quite successful with both strategies. It’s the same way European bee-eaters get their food. In Namibia, I was able to see a third strategy: they pick up insects from the water surface and quite often they go even down into the water because of the steep hint angle. I even have a few images when a bird just emerges from the water. But, I chose this one, because the whole scene is visible.
When following this link, you can learn a bit why it is so tricky to photograph them.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Donna’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
As usual on weekends, I’m participating in the Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge. It’s hosted by Sohpia this week. She challenges us this week with “spring”. It seems to be a perfect fit for me because next week we have the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere.
First of all, I think of lambs when thinking of spring. Second, the awakening of nature and popping up of spring flowers. Some of the spring flowers, like i.e. bluebells and wood anemones, have to hurry to complete their full circle of fertilization before the surrounding trees close the roof with their leaves.
mother and child
thirsty lamb
wood anemone
cherry blossom
cherry blossom
bluebells
tulips
crocusses
snowdrops
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Sophia’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Ok, guys. It’s Saturday and so my contribution to LAPC is due. This week, John is our host. He asks for “the road most often taken”. But, instead of following the idea literally, he explains, he understands it more metaphorically and projects it to photography. So, he wants us to show images, more or less typical for us.
There are so many kinds of photography like landscape, architecture, people, street, fashion, macro, or food, to name only a few of them. Since I started photography back in the early 1980s, my focus is primarily on nature and monochrome. Thus you can find me more likely in rural environments than in urban ones. I love observing natural landscapes and wild animals (wildlife), especially birds.
In my early years, I took over photography jobs for an advertising agency on a regular basis and photographed the given subjects with monochrome films which were developed and printed in my own lab. I still have my love for monochrome images, as you can easily see when browsing my blog.
Thus, I decided to pick a few examples for today, where nature and monochrome are combined. All of the images are taken during my latest trip to Norway, from which I returned on Wednesday night.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Today we have a conceptual topic for LAPC. Usually, you want to have crisp clear, and sharp images. But, sometimes softness better supports the message you want to transfer.
You can try to reach this by decreasing the contrast or the clarity (if your raw development software supports offers such a feature), but in general, it’s much better to take care of this right when taking the images.
Especially in people photography, this softness is used to transport intimacy i.e. when taking images of brides. In the old days, photographers used either soft lenses (I have such a lens, but use it only very rarely), vaseline (never tried, because I’m afraid of ruining my front lens as they are coated nowadays), or nylon stockings (used every now and then).
As I never publish images of customers, I can’t show you any images of people. But, I also have a few images of flowers to demonstrate the effect.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Bren’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
For the next at least two weeks I’m pausing with LAPC, because I’m on a trip. As usual when on a trip, there won’t be much time to blog. Days start early and last long, when on a trip. My usual posts are scheduled as I always do. So, there won’t be a pause at all.
It’s Saturday evening. Thus, it’s time for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, this time hosted by Amy. She came up with a quite an interesting topic as you can already see from the subject line. But, instead of posting images from elsewhere in the world, I’m focussing on Germany only.
Germany is not one of the big countries in the world. It’s, in my opinion, one of the smaller countries. Germany covers approximately 357,000km². The biggest distance as the bird flies between Denmark in the North and Austria in the south is 878km. The biggest distance from Belgium / Netherlands in the West to Poland in the East is 640 km.
Nevertheless, I’ve chosen to show you images taken at or at least close to these extreme points.
border to Poland on the island of Usedom in the east
most western point of Germany in the west bordering The Netherlands
Westerhever lighthouse near Sankt-Peter-Ording. It’s only 70km as the bird flies to reach the northernmost point of Germany on the island of Sylt
this is the Breitach Klamm, the gorge of creek Breitach in Bavaria, only 15 km from the southernmost point of Germany.
This place is kind of special. As you can see, there are three flags. Those are the flags of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. At the point, marked with the erected stone, the borders of the three countries touch each other. It’s one of the quite rare points on earth, where 3 countries touch each other.
These are not the only countries bordering Germany. The others are (clockwise): Danmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, and The Netherlands.
It’s so fantastic, to be able to roam freely between countries, meet people, and learn from other cultures. Help avoid wrecking these awesome achievements. Getting to know each other and each other’s culture helps to avoid wars.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Amy’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
That’s a topic, I like very much. Thanks, Patti for having chosen this for Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge this week.
When there is light, there is shadow. Especially in monochrome, these shadows become extraordinary because the colors are not distracting your eye. Thus, the patterns pop out much stranger.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Patti’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
This week’s LAPC is hosted by Donna. Her message is to focus on messages for this challenge.
An essential part of human nature is communication. Paul Watzlawick once stated, “You can not not communicate!”, and I guess, he’s right. Besides phrased communication (written or spoken), we communicate with mimics and gestures, so-called non-verbal communication.
There’s also an additional form of non-verbal communication we use automatically and often even cross-cultural.
personal information written on a tombstone
manufacturer’s information on products
or, where to get their products
safety information
giving guidance
What is love?
find help when in need
stay in contact
find your neighbor
or even for the long distance
either to the left or to the right; the cemetery is straight ahead!
Attention!
frankly following Hamlet: to swim or not to swim?
Even when not familiar with these two guys, you can understand their attitude at the first sight!
All of these, and many more, send messages. They are received, generally understood, and followed. Every single day!
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Donna’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Thanks, Donna, for this fantastic opportunity to focus on messages we’re sending and receiving all the time.
This week, Anne is our host for Lens-Artist’s photo challenge. She invites us to a photo walk with only one lens. The idea of doing so is quite old and goes back to the film days when zoom lenses became increasingly popular. In those days, some (many) images taken by non-pros became boring. They overused the ability to zoom into a scene. The advice was (and still is) to use your feet. The famous photographer Roper Capa once said, if your photo is not good enough, you were not close enough. That’s the reason for the advice “go on a walk with only one lens”. Each focal length has its own characteristics. So, when having only one (prime) lens, you have to think about composition more carefully. Thus, this advice is a kind of exercise for your photographic eye and is meant to help to develop your composition abilities.
My first camera was a fixed-lens film camera for 126er film cassettes. Next, I got a 35mm focal length film compact class camera. My first lens for my first SLR was a zoom lens: 35-70mm, later accomplished by an 80-200mm.
Nowadays with all the mega-zooms, the advise is more and more important to improve your photography skills. When you don’t have a prime lens, you can also fix the focal length to a certain focal length with a piece of duct tape or go out with your smartphone, as their cameras usually don’t have the ability to zoom in. Limiting yourself can help a lot. Give it a try.
A few years ago, I led a Photo Walk. I limited myself and went with a 35mm prime lens. You can see some of the results here.
As I sold all of my primes last year, I took my standard zoom (24-120), fixed it to 35mm, put my warm jacket and my boots on, and went out for about half an hour. My first photo walk this year.
Thursday last week, we were surprised by some snow. But it didn’t last long. By Friday nearly all of the snow was gone. Only a few heaps at the roadsides remained where people shoveled the snow from sidewalk removals. But, last night some fresh snow fell and there was still some fine snow falling while I was outside.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
recognize the type of pavement and nearly lost paw prints of a cat
human footprint
birds have passed by
what’s hidden under the white blanket
some more cobbles
spring is preparing
fresh snow
hazel blossoms are among the first stone bloom
water frozen while dripping in the watering can
Near the end of the walk, I removed the fixture and allowed some other focal lengths.
120mm
120mm
120mm
92mm
92mm
92mm
64mm
I love especially this lens. It gives me the freedom to walk with only one lens when i.e. on a city trip or a photo walk. But, I don’t want to miss my others: a 12mm + a 20mm prime, my 105 macro, and of course the long telephoto lenses for wildlife photography.
The new 24-120 is so good in comparison to the old one, that I even sold my holy trinity: 35 f2.0, 50 f1.8, and 85 f1.8. Those three lenses were constructed back in the film days, when it was impossible to correct distortions or uneven sharpnesses in the camera like it is possible nowadays when photographing digitally. (In case, you’re curious about what I’m talking about: take an image with lines in it in RAW format, transfer it to your computer, and view it with the automatic lens correction turned off. Now wonder, how badly the image looks. Even very expensive lenses have that problem. It’s much cheaper for the manufacturer to maintain additional firmware to be installed on the camera to apply the necessary corrections to the jpg than to spend money to do a proper job in lens construction. To have similar good corrected images when using 3rd party lenses (lenses from other manufacturers than from the camera’s brand), computer software comes into action, which is able to do the corrections. Software published by the camera manufacturer only supports their lenses. Commercial software like Lightroom, Photolab, or Luminar is able to do this. But, there is also free software available on the Internet: RawTherapee or Darktable.
Photographing in raw and using such software is nowadays more than ever necessary when using compatible (3rd party) lenses for your camera besides the other pros!
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Anne’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
This week, Sophia is our host for Lens-Artist’s photo challenge. The new year inspired her to look back and recognize what changed over time.
When I read her inspirational post yesterday, I started considering how to respond.
In the beginning, many millennia ago, our farthest ancestors took water and clay or mud in their mouths and either sprayed the substance against the walls and ceilings of caves or used fingers and twigs to apply it. They created iconic images from animals around them and from themselves or sprayed negative shadows of their hands. Unfortunately, I can’t find an example of these taken nearly 40 years ago on an analog slide film when I was visiting such a cave.
Then, painting seems to be not important for thousands of years until it got rediscovered by some whimsical people. As their ancestors, they had to create their paint them. They used minerals, saps, and different kinds of clay and mud to create different colors and reinvented the art of painting.
Nowadays, we can simply go to a grocery store and buy watercolors, crayons, or felt pens. Artists instead, go to special stores to buy the raw materials for their paints to have the highest possible quality to express their imagination.
choose the right pen
Find your style!
work carefully
regardless if your model sits or stands right in front of you or creating a painting from a small photo
some artists invent something new like painting with coffee
even the style of painting developed over time. From simple lines to complex scenes and even capturing certain lighting situations
In recent times, another new style developed: street-art
The first paintings were assumingly intended for religious purposes. About 500 years ago, religious and political leaders started demanding portraits created showing themselves. Starting from the 18th century painting found their way to the houses of the common people. By the middle of the last century, a new kind of art came even closer to all common people’s lives: street-art, art in the streets, sometimes covering a complete wall of a large house or building. While the first pieces were considered as daub and scribbling, over time the technics developed further and even the acceptance by people as long as the artists got permission in advance of creating their paintings. Now you can find some of these paintings in many cities.
Although, some of the quite modern pieces seem to remind of their roots millennia ago.
linesand hands
This is also quite old kind of painting: street painting. I can remember to have seen such artists in the pedestrian areas of bigger cities when I was a child. They were painting on the boardwalk to collect money to make their living. This one was taken during the street art festival I visited last summer.
afraid of water
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Sophia’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
A new year also means reviewing the past year. As a good tradition, I already did it under two different aspects. First, I published my “Top 9 of Instagram” and second, I picked my favorites from six categories.
a bud of Nigella damascena, love-in-a-mist, or devil in the bush (Nigella damascena) / Jungfer im Grünen (literally: damsel in the green = countryside)
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Take care!
<ad>
Incredible news! Skylum gives you access to their 7 already published Luminar plugins.
Everyone who already has a Luminar Neo license can add the plugins to Luminar by clicking on the puzzle icon and testing the plugin(s) of choice for 10 days for free.
Curtain up, for the last Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge in 2022. This week LAPC is hosted by Tina.
When preparing a post, you have a couple of images for the given topic. In the end, you have to skip a few of them to maintain the post on a reasonable level. This week’s theme gives us the opportunity, to show a few of these skipped images. But, she added two additional conditions: taken in 2022 and not previously published!
As my images are usually taken from my archive and are not created especially for the challenge, I’m interpreting this slightly differently: Today, I’ve chosen only unpublished images taken in 2022, but selecting one of the challenges from this year, I didn’t participate because of some reason.
geringelte Mordwanze (Rhynocoris annulatus) – I was unable to find the English name for the bug. Maybe one of you is able to help based on the scientific name in Latin.
European garden spider aka diadem spider (Araneus diadematus) / Gartenkreuzspinne
large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) / Frühe Adonisjungfer
great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major = Picoides major) / Buntspecht
European green woodpecker (Picus viridis) / Grünspecht
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Tina’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
This week, Ann-Christine invites us to think about patterns in photography. You can find them in nature as well as in man-made environments. You simply have to walk around with open eyes.
I captured the first one in Lisbon a couple of years ago. The sun painted this on the ground.
On the shelves of this small shop in Lisbon, you can find many tins with sardines.
The next image is taken with a macro lens in a kitchen. You can see a part of a rub.
Next, I have a few natural patterns: grain on a field
ocean waves painting patterns at the shore.
Intentional camera movement in a forest
A part of a palm tree leave
The wrinkles in the dress of the Green Lady of the North.
And finally, a railway track.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Ann-Christine’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
John invites us today, to imagine the unthinkable and go behind the border of imagination for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. He writes:
“According to Dictionary.com, the idiom “flight of fancy” refers to “an unrealistic idea or fantastic notion, a pipe dream. For example, ‘She engaged in flights of fancy, such as owning a million-dollar house.’ This idiom uses flight in the sense of ‘a soaring of the imagination,’ a usage dating from the mid-1600s.”
and
“For this week’s challenge, consider sharing images of interesting or unusual subjects that represent notions or ideas that seem incredible even today or seemed. “
So, the jump point is set.
The French Brothers Montgolfiere used to have a dream, an incredible dream! And, in fact, they were able to realize it. On June, 4th of 1783, they presented their self-constructed vehicle to the amazed audience: the Montgolfière, the ancestor of today’s hot-air balloons. Their courage has opened up a new world for mankind.
This image is taken a few minutes before sunrise during my second flight looking east
.
The people of the North are used to this incredible glowing in the dark during the long and cold winter nights: Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. But, unlike us nowadays, they did not have an exclamation for the moving lights above them. The old Vikings found a saga to explain it: At night the valkyries ride along the battlefields to collect all the past heroes and lead them to Odin’s table in Walhalla. The rays of moonlight were reflected by their arms and shields which are supposed to result in the amazing lights.
My third image is to honor the genius Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí. In the past, I already donated a few posts to him and his absolutely incredible work. He was able to think outside the box when planning buildings and was able to make heave stone seem to be light plant parts. All the shapes were derived from nature, just like this hall of forest trees forming the main ship of the cathedral La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. I got aware of parts of his work first when I was in my 7th or 8th class at secondary school. I’m so happy, to have been there a couple of years ago and I hope to revisit when the cathedral is once finished.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
“You stand up there, whith your head in the clouds” – John Lees
This line of Barkley James Harvest’s famous song Hymn came to my mind when I read the topic, Amy has chosen for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
In Norway, the mountains grow straight from the bottom of the ocean
But, there’s another line, tied strait to the other one:
“Valley’s deep and the mountain’s so high”
A mountain can’t exist without a valley.
In the Bavarian Alpes, the valleys in between the mountains are used to build houses
The Bavarian Alpes seems to grow out of a plain when coming from the North. Seeming to be a barrier, and they are. The Alpes are the main reason for the quite stable weather in Europe.
Again, mountains having their heads in the clouds.
towns are embedded in the valleys and areas not so steep.
When discovering the tiny rail track you’re getting an idea of the dimension.
Isle of Skye
Iceland
Water finds its way down, simply following the gravity
Humans have to walk or invent something
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Amy’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
It’s Saturday evening here in Germany, the sky is gray, and it’s raining. As we’re in the northern hemisphere, October means fall. So, I have to dig in my archive to find suitable images of blooming flowers instead of going out to a botanical garden or so. Nevertheless, Ann-Christine‘s challenge fits well in this gray and dreary time of the year to cheer us up.
Although I don’t have strong preferences when it comes to flowers, I do have some regarding photographs of flowers.
First of all: the Strelitzia
This is a closeup image taken with my macro lens from a backlit strelitzia blossom. I love them, because of the friendly warm base tone featuring smaller violet, blue, yellow, and green stripes. In addition, their shape is so unique.
Second: the Schlumbergera or Christmas cactus
This is also taken with my macro lens. I was laying below the plant equipped with a remote-controlled Speedlight and a black card box above. Here we have again a very unique-styled blossom.
Third: a pasqueflower, a protected plant because it’s quite rare nowadays.
pasqueflower
Fourth: Pulmonaria Officinalis, or lungwort. In German, one of their common names is “Brüderchen-und-Schwesterchen”, which translates to “little brother and little sister”
You might notice blossoms in lite blue and in lite pink. One plant has blossoms in blue and pink at the same time.
And finally the Amaryllis:
Here we have again a uniquely shaped blossom. Although you can buy onions each year starting in November and enjoy the blossoms for several weeks from approximately January, I picked an image taken in Cuba, where they were blooming outside in the gardens.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Ann-Christine’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so that we can find it.
This week’s LAPC “One subject, three ways” hosted by Patti was so much much, that I prepared a second port. My first contribution was published on Saturday.
This time, I take you back to my visit to Barcelona in February 2014. I went there with some friends on our annual carnival escape. Many of my images are already here on my blog. For the challenge, I’m focussing on a modern and iconic building right at the beach: Hotel W
A wonderful challenge and again a great opportunity to look through the archive and discover the images from a different perspective.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Patti’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so that we can find it.
This week for LAPC Patti asks us, to spend some time with a subject to find the ‘right’ angle of view. In the past, I already walked you through a set that way, like here, here, or here.
Today, I’ve chosen a slightly different approach than cropping or getting closer. Instead, I visited the same location on three consecutive days and spend some time on my subject: driftwood on a quite remote part of a beach.
full-frame 16 mm (fish-eye) – 14:34h
full-frame 20mm 14:14h
full-frame 20mm 21:42h
On each of these three days, I was happy with my final image and I still am. But, when I was back the next day, that piece of driftwood pulled me in again. Each of the days (4 in total – but during my first visit I wasn’t in that particular part, where these trees were laying in the water), I spend hours on that beach and working some time with these trees. Because of the remoteness, the beach and the cliff above are more or less untouched. No-one tidies up, except Mother Nature herfelf. So, you can discover a lot of things.
My conclusion of those days is (and I also experienced this in other places too), sometimes you have to call it a day, pack your gear, and go home. But, you have to come back another day (or time) to find the final image.
A wonderful challenge and again a great opportunity to look through the archive and discover the images from a different perspective.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Patti’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so that we can find it.
This week, we have a fantastic topic for LAPC. Tina came up with the idea of running a treasure hunt through our archives.
A pet – our tom cat during his first trip in the garden.
The moon or the sun: both, captured during the partial solar eclipse
Clouds above the sea and in the middle of the image you can see it pouring down
an avocet and his reflection
a child, surrounded by adults on a hike in the Swiss Alpes
an umbrella helps not much when the kid plays with his boat in poodles
The next image is taken in Norway in early March during our hunt for the dancing green Lady.
A truck, used as a snow remover
I’m very happy to have the next image in my archive. Many years ago, I was on a Sunday afternoon walk with my wife and our daughter in her baby carriage and I had my camera, a film SLR, with me. Suddenly, I noticed a few blooming flowers on the ground between the already thrown away foliage. When having a closer look, the flowers looked like crocuses but neither in those well-known intense colors. Instead, a fair lilac. An older man came up to us and introduced us to this plant. He also was a hobby photographer and was not only equipped with a macro lens similar to mine but also had bellows with him, which he lent me (fortunately he was using the same system as I did). I found my first autumn crocus. Unfortunately, the original slide is lost. But, when I tried to find them again a few years later, I wasn’t successful. But, three years ago, I was lucky again. This time I stumbled upon them during a fall vacation.
autumn crocus or meadow saffron ( Colchicum autumnale) / Herbstzeitlose looks similar to a regular crocus but blooms in autumn
I passed the building in my next image when I had to follow a redirection because of a street closing.
a funny painted house (you can find inside, what’s painted outside)
A wonderful challenge and again a great opportunity to look through the archive and discover the images from a different perspective.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Tina’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with the tag LENS-ARTIST, so that we can find it.
MyBlog - solaner 