This week, show us a photo of whatever you’d like, but make sure it’s saturated. It can be black and white, a single color, a few hues, or a complete rainbow riot; just make sure it’s rich and powerful. Let’s turn the comments into an instant mood-booster!
Sunrise
The same sunrise
When I think of sunrise, I remember this early 70s song from the British rock group Yes, “Heart of the Sunrise.” Check out the other entries here.
From lines to patterns. We see lines and patterns in the world around us, in nature and things man-made. Sometimes we don’t realize they’re there: on the street, across the walls, up in the sky, and along the ground on which we walk.
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.
I think it’s harder for people than it should be. But as more and more of us become carbon neutral and change the patterns in our lives to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, we are now beginning to see the changes in policy that are needed.
Michelle Weber writes: “This week, share what you see on the inside. It could be something literally inside, like these birds in the rebar or the inside of your home or favorite hideaway. If you’d like, go in a personal direction — share a photo of your best friend laughing, showing how she feels on the inside, or an arresting shot of your son’s blue eyes (windows to the soul, dontcha know). This is also a great opportunity to put what you learned in Jeff Sinon’s guest post on composition into practice.”
My entry this week consists of three shots I recently took on a trip to The Canadian Historic Windmill Centre, at Etzikom, Alberta. At one time the Canadian prairies were dotted with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of windmills to pump the much needed water from wells. Visit the other entries here.
English style windmill
Notice the pole in the middle of the stairway, extending downwards to the ground. It was used to turn the whole windmill in order to catch the wind from every direction.
Poster with history of first windmills in North America
Inside shot of the windmill, I like the contrast background wood, from which the poster is displayed.
Inside the windmill
When I think of windmills, I also think of the song by Dusty Springfield:
The Windmills of Your Mind
Round
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that’s turning
Running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of it’s face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it’s own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half-forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of it’s face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore
And leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over
You were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the colour of her hair
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Challenge yourself to rethink your ideas about what subjects are appropriate, and then challenge yourself again to find an unusual perspective on your subject.
For this challenge, let’s keep Lynn’s advice in mind. Go out and take photos and share a shot that reveals a new and different POV. You can take a picture of a familiar subject in a fresh way, as I did of the iconic London Eye in the image above. Instead of a more traditional shot — placing the structure in the middle of the frame and taking it from a more straightforward angle — I focused on the paper art plastered on a red telephone booth along the embankment, further away, and placed the London Eye in the left of the frame, seemingly insignificant.
You can consider other approaches, too:
Use something natural (window, tree, wall of a building, etc.) to frame your shot.
Get low on the ground to take a picture from a very different angle.
Focus on a specific part of a person, object, or structure (instead of all of it) — or intentionally cut off a part of your subject or scene.
Place something in between you and your subject/scene to offer a distinct perspective
Sunrise
This past week, I took this photo at sunrise from my back yard. What’s “unusual” in this photo is part of one of our trees in the left bottom foreground. I’ve edited the photo a bit with Picasa to increase the contrast of colours between earth and sky. Please check out the other entries here.
Sunrise and Playground
This shot was taken a few minutes later, and is more of a close-up of the children’s playground.
Salt for Sermons
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