Sofia’s challenge introduces us to the term Wabi-Sabi. She askes us to “Think of the imperfection of things that are flawed or unsightly, the impermanence of things that have past their prime, the incompleteness of the transitional, capturing moments instead of the whole thing. Think of the unconventional and the ordinary and find beauty there. You can pick one of groups or work all three, that is up to you.”

I hate to admit that this challenge had me stumped at first. Sofia’s description of Wabi-Sabi and her great examples helped get me started. I came up with a few examples that I hope fit the challenge.

Imperfect

Nature is filled with imperfect things. I find beauty in the imperfect broken seashells that wash up on beaches.

Impermanent

Nature is also filled with many impermanent things. When I see driftwood on a beach I am reminded that the weathered wood was once a living tree. The driftwood continues to bring us beauty even after the tree has died.

Unfinished

The Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota was dedicated on June 3, 1948. Work on the monument continues today. The monument honoring Lakota Chief Crazy Horse was the dream of Oglala Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and is the world’s largest mountain carving in progress.

The monument still has a long way to go before the work will be complete. The following image shows what it looked like in 2011.

Last week you took us around the world with your wonderful images of Landmarks and Monuments in response to John’s challenge. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to our host Sofia for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #420: Wabi Sabi.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, November 7 at noon eastern time when Patti will be your host for the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift