Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 205: “The eyes have it”

This week, Tina has found a very challenging topic for The Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge: The eyes have it

Yes, eyes can have a message and you have to be able to read it. For the gallery below, I picked some images from my archive, where the eyes have a message. For us, the mimic is an essential part of our communication. Faces are something a baby can recognize very early. And even as adults, we see faces very easily in everyday things around us, like clouds, tree barks, blossoms, and so on. Even some animals have eyes-like patterns on their bodies like i.e. the peacock butterfly. Other animals have, from our point of view, quite strange eyes. I was even searching for an image with a sheep’s or a goat’s eye but failed to find one.

The first image in the second row is a bit different. It’s a sculpture of 3 boys having circled around a girl. This sculpture is called “Türelüre-Lißje” and pictures an old legend of a girl who used to live here near the cathedral in Aix-la-Chapelle. One day, she had a big need to pee, but a few boys got aware of that problem, circled her, and hindered her to follow the call of nature. I included that image here because the artist was able to model the faces of the figurines so well. Now we can feel how the pained girl must have felt, but also see the cruelty of the boys.

 

focused

fear (the left guy)

searching

joy

fear and schadenfreude

trust

delight

curiously shy

welcoming

tired

prayerful

decorating and daunting

bizarre

fixed

protected

sharp-eyed

Take care!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #204 – “Door and Doorways”

We’re having another guest host for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week: Sylvia Bacon of My Colorful Expressions. Her topic is doors and doorways. Doors usually part something from something else but not as strict as a wall would do. Doors can allow access with permission when having the right key.

 

 

Doors can also give some information about the owner or what is hidden behind the door.

a sailship’s captain used to live behind this door back. He build that house in the 18th century.

 

These richly decorated doors can be found in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the German state located on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. The iconic symbols also tell about the people living here. The doors always have three elements. One of them is most often the rising sun. You can find it on both doors in the lowermost sector and in the top sector of the third door.

 

 

 

But, what happens, when a building becomes useless and abandoned? Doors are open!

no more privacy in the lady’s room

no door is departing the shower from the pool anymore

 

But, there are more doors.

The next three doors are at home in Barcelona. It’s the entrance hall of Orfeo Catalan, the Palau de la Música Catalana.

and the entrance to a smaller audition stage in the basement. Both glass doors are open at the moment.

For the final images, I’m taking you with me to Asia. Asia in Europe. Asia in Germany!

Feng shui, also known as Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice that claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment.

 

 

On the other hand, you can find these doors in many places in Japan.

A torii is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. This one is located in Germany. That Japanese garden was created in 1912 by famous Japanese garden architects. Each year a team of garden architects comes over from Japan to make sure, the garden is still in perfect shape.

 

 

I was really amazed to see, how many images of doors I have in my archive when I started my search. As usual for this kind of job, I used Excire Foto to find them. I simply used the tag “door” and got more than 1,000 results to choose from. I also had a few images with doors in my mind, to share with you. But, it was great to have so many additional images to choose from. I hope, you enjoy the selection.

*AD because of an affiliate link*

In 2020, I introduced you to Excire Foto, software to analyze and organize your images and, most importantly, find them! Since June 1st, the next version is out and includes among other improvements a Duplicate Finder and the ability to analyze PSD files. I’m going to publish a review soon. In the meantime, you can get more information and the prices here.

For now, take care!

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #203 – “Local Vistas”

This time, Anne challenges us to go local. Everyone takes photos while traveling or on special occasions like parties, graduation for school or university, weddings, birthdays, and so on. But, have you ever tried taking photos where you live? You know, I’m primarily in nature photography. But I live in a quiet urban region. Although, I living at the edge of the Ruhr area, you can’t really step out and be in the nature. Even the forests are fields where trees are planted to harvest wood.

I know, some people grab their camera an go into the city for taking photographs. They are either in architecture or in street photography. For me, non of these topics is really interesting although I do it sometimes.

Instead, I’m planning visits to natural places in my greater region. Quite often these are trips to nature protected areas with significant bodies of water to photograph birds. During the last two years, I also captured some butterflies and dragonflies as well as blossoms in our garden, And I hope, this year the monthly photographers roundtables will start again.

So, for today, I assembled a small collection of images taken in our garden dring the last years. Most of the images are unpublished. I’m extremely proud of the hummingbird hawk-moth having visited two times our garden and me being able to get a few very nice images of this really fascinating and extraordinary insect.

As the other kinds of wildlife photography, this can also be quiet time consuming. Be prepared and wait patiently for your subject coming in the right position. Although this collection might look amazing, I’m not one of these guys going out in the wild meadows to search for and photograph insects. I really admire those people bringing back home those fantastic photos of insects, but for me the necessary effort it too high. So, I only have an open eye and capture what’s around me. I can be patient to get my shot but I’m not patient enough to do so for hours.

You can enlarge the images by clicking on one of them and use the cursor keys to jumpe from one image to the next. That way you can also see the descriptions for the images. Have fun!

 

bumble bee (Bombus terrestris)

European wool carder bee

Bombus pascuorum

Andrena labiata (?) on Cardamine pratensis (the petals are only 5-6 mm long) and the bee is of the same size 😲

western honey bee

drinking wasp

Vanessa atalanta on Echinacea

decorating and daunting

Lycaenidae on a blackberry blossom

hummingbird hawk-moth at phlox

Pyrrhocoridae on lavender

damselfly

coupling Large red damselfly

Large red damselfly

 

I hope, you enjoyed my little insect gallery. I know, not everyone loves them and I have to admit, some insects really look strange and alien like. Nevertheless, these tiny creatures also have their important role to play her on earth. They help feeding us! And each of them is worth the effort to protect them.

Take care!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 196: “Humor”

This time John challenges us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with Humor 😲 He writes, that he picked this theme because he was considered of having a very special kind of humor. Phew!

How can I picture “humor”? What kind of humor do I have? My wife sometimes states that it seems from her point of view, I’d have to go to the cellar for laughing. I guess, she’s wrong. But, I have to admit, I love intelligent humor and when you have to look around the corner for being able to understand it.

From my point of view, it seems to be impossible to show “humor”. Instead, I picked a few humorous or funny images from my archive for you.

This is quite common in some areas in the countryside to make public that someone on the farm is about to marry soon.

 

We found this open-air shower and washbowl in the high-temperature area of northeast Iceland. Water was running unstoppable. While we were wondering about it and taking a couple of images, a second car arrived at this completely free parking ground. A couple from Slovenia left the car and came up to us. They were also wondering about it. After a short talk, the man decided, that taking here a shower would be a great opportunity because the camping ground where they stayed the night wasn’t that great, and visiting a public bath would be quite expensive.

 

 

This next image was taken during the parade for the annual funfair of our town. It celebrates the idea of Jamaica having its first bob team for running during the Olympic Winter Games. There’s also a movie telling this remarkable story called “Cool Runnings”. The scene below shows the finish of the racing track.

I photographed this funny lady a couple of years ago, also during the funfair parade.

This is a harpy, a fictional character in an anime or manga. I’m not that familiar whit that kind of art, but I love photographing cosplayers during the annual Japantag in our state capitol every now and then.

I love street art and this huge one is painted on the side of a 3- or 4-floor apartment building. Enlarge it, it has funny details, too.

This is also street art: a war-knitter decorated some poles and street-bordering chains.

I stumbled upon these “babies” in Prague a couple of years ago. No idea, what the artist has in his mind while creating them.

This is also in the town where I live. Two times a year the laundry is put up in the old town: in June during the Old-Town-Festival and in September for the funfair. A few years ago this image found its way into our State Archive as it documents a certain folkloristic habit.

 

This final image is taken during our annual carnival escape. It’s one of the fish dealers in the Barcelona Market hall

Enough fun for a day,

Take care!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 194: “bokeh”

Today, Sofia Alves asks for something called “bokeh”. This word is derived from Japanese. Wikipedia describes it as follows:

“In photography, bokeh (/ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə or /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay; Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image. Bokeh has also been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”. Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause very different bokeh effects. Some lens designs blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce distracting or unpleasant blurring (“good” and “bad” bokeh, respectively). Photographers may deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions, accentuating their lens’s bokeh.

Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas.[6] However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all regions of an image which are outside the depth of field.”

Next, I have a few examples from my archive.

 

Take care!

 

Throwback Thursday and Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 193: “birthday”

This week, John Steiner is looking forward to celebrating his birthday, so I’m happy to join the LAPC party. In some families and in some cultures, birthdays are a reason for huge celebrations. So, I picked up this post published first back in 2013.

There is a certain habit in Cuba of celebrating a girl’s 15th birthday.

The girl gets special clothing, is dressed up, and gets perfect makeup. Then they go to a photographer to take beautiful photographs.

According to our guide, some girls are dressed like a bride for these sessions, others wear cocktail dresses and I also noticed photographs showing a girl dressed like a female version of an old-fashioned, Spanish caballero. The photographs are usually taken in a park or in the streets and not in a studio.

Two weeks later, the parents and the girl have a party with all of her friends, and an album, containing the photos, which is a real eyecatcher for that party. Also, the parents put framed photos from that session on their walls.

I like that idea. (OK, maybe, because I’m a photographer).

We met this young lady in the old town of Havana. Her mother was with her and took care of her hairstyle and her makeup, while the photographer directed his assistant to adjust the reflector.

So, we can congratulate her on her 15th birthday.

Are there any similar habits, where you live or coming from?

While waiting for my next post you can have a look at the previous posts and maybe drop me a note in the comments section below.

 

In the meantime, the girl is a young woman. As I said, I took these photos back in 2013. So, she’s already 24. How much must have changed for her in her life.

As I’m always interested in getting to know habits from other countries, regions, or cultures, drop me a note in the comments and tell me, how do you celebrate birthdays. I’m interested in your personal celebration as well as in general habits and traditions.

Take care!

Paint the sky with stars

Monochromia

More of my images can be seen at my own blog.

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A winter’s sky above the sea

Monochromia

More of my images can be seen at my own blog.

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WPC: solitude

Alone – one of a kind – one of his or her own – distance

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “solitude”.

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: Repurpose

What to do with old and useless cars? Let’s use them form an entry for a museum 🙂

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “repurpose”.

 

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: gracefulness

I’m sorry, Ben. I also have to pick a swan image for the challenge. These birds are simply a synonym for gracefulness, in my opinion.

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “gracefulness”.

 

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: ambience

 

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “ambience”.

Here, the sun rise lifted up the felt temperature of the snowy, cold landscape and made me feel a little warmer.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: names

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “names”.

Here we have the “path of the career”. As you can see, it ist stony, steep, and in bad conditions. So, work hard, to make your career.

 

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: Resilient

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “resilient”.

As long as the sun exists and the earth rotates, the weather changings will endure! Weather, like the sun, was, is and will be!

Happy new Year!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: path

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “path”.

The word ‘path’ can describe a real path you can walk on. But, in today’s context the path of life is meant. Your life, my life. Lock back to the stations of this year. Consider each station as a single footprint on your path from birth to death.

We finish this year in a few days. I’ll do a review post here as usual. but not today 🙂

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: anticipation

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “anticipation”.

My last trip gave me so many options for this theme.

Enjoy the Advent time!

 

 

 

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: tiny

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “tiny”.

 

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: chaos

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “chaos”.

These are letters inside a printshop. With these little parts newspapers and books were used to be printed. It was a hard job. Both, setting up the printing plate and sorting the single letters back in their box after usage.

What a bad luck, if the letters fall out of their boxes accidentally and have to resorted in the right boxed.

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: Transmogrify

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “Transmogrify”.

Here we hat the transformation of a full moon to a blood moon and back. I took this series last fall during the whole night.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: H2O

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “H2O”.

Water is the reason for the existence of the kind of life available on this planet. We all consist of about 70% of water. Water is essential for us to survive. Save our water resources! All of them! Ponts, rivers, lakes, the oceans and the air, too, to prevent water pollution by i.e. acid rain.

Take care!

 

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: nostalgia

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “nostalgia”.

Literally, nostalgia means to love something old, old-fashioned or vintage. Jeff came up with some of his childhood memories. Others like i.e. vintage cars or old houses.

Here we haven an image, taken last year at our local fun fair on a photowalk with a model and an assistant. She came up with this idea. You can see, even a modern girl can enjoy an old-fashioned, Mary-Poppins-like carousel.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: quest

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “quest”.

When I’m on a trip, I’m on a quest for searching memories. Enjoying nature behind my camera and collecting remarkable memories.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: frame 2

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “frame”.

For this fabulous theme I put a second image online. This one shows, how we can create such frames in your garden.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: frame

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “frame”.

The dark, round rocks laying on the beach are framed by scraggy red rocks. These opposites give complement each other.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: rare

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “rare”.

This tiny thing shaped like a cut-off fingernail is the biggest thing in the solar system: the sun itself.

I picked an image taken during a (partial) solar eclipse. I wrote a bit more about this event and the circumstances in a past post. You can also find some further images in that other post. Have a look!

Solar eclipses take part every few years, but they are visible only in a small area and this area changes from occurrence to occurrence. So, it’s a very rare event in every man’s live. And, many people will never seen one.

Take care have a great weekend!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)