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Posts tagged ‘weekly photo challenge’

Photo Challenge: From Every Angle, Above and Below on the Chesapeake Bay

For the past few years, I’ve been flying over the Chesapeake Bay. This was a route that I frequently drove, so I have photographs of many of these places along the route. I’m always amazed about the flying experience, that I have this incredible opportunity to see the earth from the vantage point of thousands of feet in the air. Sitting in a window seat, I grab my camera to capture the views. I unfold maps, following the coastlines of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia as I attempt to identify the locations below that are familiar to me. Rivers and streams snake across the landscape as the sun reflects the light from the water. The land is divided in a patchwork of shades of green and brown. It’s a perspective that stays with me as the plane returns to the planet

Tangier Island

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Ocean City, Maryland

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Arial Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach

Cape Henlopen, Delaware

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Every Angle

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Family History, Photography

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Photo Challenge: Today was a Good Day

Friday, April 24, Hydra, Greece

The Star Clipper anchored off the coast of Hydra, an island of green rugged hills, barren and wild. The top of the cliffs looked like wonderful places to walk, and I knew then my day would include hike on one of the seaside paths. The crew prepared the tenders for our last view of the ship in full sail. A sailing ship is a work of art–the design, the grace, the elegance as the clipper floats majestically on the sea. The sails fluttered, and the sun lite up the white sails against the blue sky. The crew stood on the bowsprit, while camera buffs in the tender snapped away to keep the memory of the dramatic scene.

I had found a group of friends while on the clipper, and together we stepped down the clattering steps of the gangplank for the ride in the tender to the island. A small bay of the Argosaronic Gulf surrounds Hydra, shaped like an amphitheater.

Donkeys and their escorts lined the wharf area, and from that moment, a donkey obsession possessed me. I took photographs and videos of any donkey that clip-clopped by. I couldn’t help myself . . . where else in the world are donkeys the only means of transport? Laws forbid motorized vehicles on Hydra, making the island a quiet and peaceful place. Continuous steps took us down the alleys and more steps led us back up again. We wandered the narrow cobblestone streets looking in the shop windows.

We turned the corner around to the other side of town and walked to a lovely little café with expansive views of the bay and our Star Clipper outlined against the blue hazy mountains. As I sat down at the table, I felt like I had become part of a painting. Was this real? Was this a dream? It seems so now. We sipped our drinks as we shared stories and wondered at the visual splendor before us.

I explored the trail that went through the hamlets along the coast. Well-laid gray stones provided the path, and yellow daisies in their finest display gathered on either side of the walkway. I could not believe the beauty of this island, as I came across whitewashed villages, with traditional architectural elements, such as doors in stone walls with vines toppling over wooden arches. Donkeys grazed on grassy knolls and roosters crowed. I came to a pointed arched bridge, and then turned around to walk back along the seaside trail.

My day spent with friends on Hydra was a good day.

http://me.sh/ynfzkd0

Weekly Photo Challenge: Today was a Good Day

Written

on 08/21/2015

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Photo Challenge: Those who Rest Beneath our Feet

The Crystal Ship

Before you slip into unconsciousness
I’d like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We’ll meet again, we’ll meet again

Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You’d rather cry, I’d rather fly

The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I’ll drop a line

– The Doors, 1967

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet

Written

on 08/10/2015

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Weekly Photo Challenge is My Inspiration

Before I began posting on the Weekly Challenge, my photographs remained in their digital library, gathering electronic dust. The photo challenge, with the encouragement and suggestions of another photographer, inspire me to go back and take a second look at photos that never made it on a blog page. The challenge also provides an opportunity to view other photographer’s interpretation of the theme, which help to form new artistic approaches to taking pictures. The challenge presents the incentive to look for a photographic opportunity to fit the theme.

Once in a blue moon, I take a photograph of the blue moon, July 31, 2015.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inspiration

Written

on 07/31/2015

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Close-Up, Spider with Soccer Ball?: Weekly Photo Challenge

After taking some time to photograph hosta leaves, this little spider popped out from behind a stem. I couldn’t figure out why the spider appeared carrying a soccer ball until I did some research. Turns out she is a Nursery Web Spider, appropriately named, who carries her egg case wherever she goes. I had to admire her facility moving through the leaves with no trouble. I imagined myself trying to carry an object half my size over hill and dale. Eventually mommy spider builds a nursery tent for her egg sac when hatching time arrives and guards it protectively.

Weekly Photo Challenge

Written

on 07/24/2015

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Half and Half, G Forces: Weekly Photo Challenge

Gauges and Gears

Gaze and Gap

Grain and Ground

Gradient and Grid

Weekly Photo Challenge: Half and Half

Written

on 07/17/2015

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Graffiti as Symbol: Weekly Photo Challenge

In this photograph, the irony of the admonishment stands juxtaposed to the resistance message. Another irony, that except for on the sign, I didn’t see any other graffiti in the area. Did the perpetrators of the writing intend to make a humorous statement? So, what is going on here?

Sometimes the first reaction to graffiti is revulsion at the idea of defacing property, and certainly that is a concern. My point is not an advocacy for vandalism and the eyesores that graffiti sometimes creates. But a thoughtful analysis has to consider many more complex issues. Writings on the wall have stood as symbols of resistance to control of government and big corporations, challenging prevailing views. Graffiti allows voice to those who feel they have no voice or no mechanism to express their opinions. We could argue if we have to put up a sign, perhaps that is the first sign that there is a lack of general consensus from the community on the issue. How would a sign even serve as a deterrent? Maybe the sign inadvertently says, “bring it on!”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol

Written

on 07/11/2015

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The Sailing Ship: My Muse, Weekly Photo Challenge

Muse, n. a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.

Seems fitting that a sailing ship should serve as a muse. Some historians believe that the ancients dedicated their ships to goddesses. In Latin, the gender for the word ship (or navis) was feminine. Then as customs changed, ships were dedicated to important women. Captains and sailors of the past thought of their ship as their home and their love.

For me, the sailing ship has been a source of imagined and romantic travel. Enchanted with the splendor and grace of the sailing ship, a masterful creation, a work of art, I fell for sailing the frothy seas that inspired waves of passion for life as the salt air wind blew away doubts and dreams unfurled.

Inspiration from a sailing ship comes in many forms: a model, painting or sculpture. These recreations tell stories of the human experience at sea.

Whether sailing the Mediterranean, Doubtful Sound in New Zealand or the coves of Maine, viewing the landscape from a Clipper enhances the travel experience. The wind billows the sails and the bow slices through the waves as the hand of nature pushes the vessel to the next destination.