Every Day is a Gift!
This African Iris in my front flower bed bloomed the first week of January this year during a warm spell. Once the weather got colder the blooms went away. Hopefully there will be more flowers in the spring.
Many thanks to Terri for this week’s Flower Hour challenge The Flower Hour #14: A Friendly Amaryllis
Terri posts a new Flower Hour Weekly challenge every Tuesday. If you want to join in the challenge you can find out more about it here.
Every Day is a Gift
Ritva has challenged us to combine minimalism and black and white photography. She tells us “This week, I encourage you to embrace this artistic fusion and challenge yourself to capture images that marry minimalism and black and white.” To help us get started she says to “Aim for simplicity by eliminating unnecessary elements. Harsh light reveals structure while soft light creates mood, and contrasting blacks and whites deliver a striking visual impact.”
This is my first try at using minimalism in my photos. I had fun creating these images and hope that I succeeded in meeting the challenge.
Sometimes colorful flowers look better when converted to black and white. Removing distractions by replacing the background with pure black allows the viewer to focus on the details of the flowers.
The next two images were found on the sand at the beach. I removed the sandy background with solid colors to create the minimalist images.
The final image uses negative space to focus on the surfer in the water.
Thank you to everyone who participated in Anne’s challenge last week. I enjoyed all the places you took us as you showed us your walks around the corner.
Many thanks to Ritva for her challenge Lens-Artists #381: Minimalism in Black and White. I hope you will join us for her challenge. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and link back to Ritva’s post.
Be sure to check back on Saturday, January 24 at noon eastern time when Egidio will be hosting our next challenge.
You can learn more about how to join the Lens-Artists challenges here.
Every Day is a Gift
I go out every day to check my camellia bushes to see if there are any new blooms. I see a few more every day. This pink blossom is my favorite so far.
Many thanks to Terri for this week’s Flower Hour challenge The Flower Hour#13: Desert Florals
Terri posts a new Flower Hour Weekly challenge every Tuesday. If you want to join in the challenge you can find out more about it here.
Every Day is a Gift
The first camellia of the season bloomed a few days after Christmas. There are several camellia bushes in my garden that are covered with buds that will soon be opening.
Many thanks to Terri for this week’s Flower Hour challenge The Flower Hour: Yellow Trumpet Flower
Terri posts a new Flower Hour Weekly challenge every Tuesday. You can find out more about this challenge here.
Every Day is a Gift
All of the members of the Lens-Artists team have joined together to host this final.challenge of the year. The challenge is to feature any of our favorite images that never made it into of the Lens-Artists challenge. The images can be of any subject but they must have been created in 2025. Here are a few of my favorites from this year.
One of my favorite images of the year never fit into any of the Lens-Artists challenges. In early May I discovered a female Diamond Back Terrapin laying her eggs in my garden. I kept a close watch on the nest but sadly none of the eggs ever hatched.
I rushed out to the beach when I heard there was a marker buoy weighing around 13,900 pounds that had washed up on the beach at Tybee Island, Georgia. When I got there I found a mermaid, too!
Thanks for sharing lots of Holiday Fun last week for Ann-Christine’s challenge. I enjoyed all of the festive holiday images.
We hope you will join us in posting images from this year that never made it to a Lens-Artists challenge. Please remember to use the Lens-Artists tag and to include a link to this post or any of the Lens-Artists team member’s post.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Lens-Artists challenge this year. The Lens-Artists team will be taking a break until the end of the year so we can enjoy celebrating the holidays. We will return on January 3 with our annual end of the year Favorite Photos of 2025 challenge.
Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a very happy new year!
Every Day is a Gift
Wandering Dawgs 