Tag: Lens-Artists

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #357 – Into the Woods

Posted in Georgia, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 35 Comments

This week Egidio challenges us to go Into the Woods for some Forest Bathing. He tells us “Shinrin-yoku is a concept that was developed in Japan in the 1980s as a form of natural therapy and stress relief. In English, it is translated as “forest bathing” or immersing oneself in a forest atmosphere. It is a way to allow all your senses to experience nature mindfully.” His challenge is to show how we do forest bathing in our corner of the world.

I think I was “”forest bathing” before I knew what it was. I just know that I love the quiet of being in the woods. I feel peaceful and calm when I stand in the woods surrounded by trees.

I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree. – Joyce Kilmer

The trees in my home state of Georgia vary depending on where you are in the state. In coastal Georgia the common trees are pine trees, oaks, palmettos, and palm trees. The featured image is of a maritime forest on Jekyll Island. The following gallery was taken on a Georgia marsh hammock near my neighborhood. Wood Storks are one of the many wading birds that are seen on the trees here.

The Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia is filled with Cypress trees. Seeing these ancient trees from a boat makes me feel like I have stepped back in time.

Cypress Trees in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia

Sweet Gum, Winged Sumac, Maple, Sycamore, Pine, and Water Oaks are just a few of the trees that I see when walking in the woods of middle Georgia. The landscape changes with seasons. No matter what the season I feel a sense of serenity in these woods.

Early Spring in the Georgia woods

Wild Dogwoods bloom in the spring in the Georgia woods

Summertime in rural Georgia woods

Many thanks to last week’s guest host SH for his challenge of Quiet Hours. Your responses to the challenge took me to many beautiful quiet places. I hope you will join us next week as Tina leads us in our next Lens-Artists challenge on Saturday, July 26 at noon Eastern Time.

Many thanks to Egidio for this challenge Lens-Artists #357 – Into the Woods

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

Every Day is a Gift.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #356 – Quiet Hours

Posted in PhotographyTagged , , , 37 Comments

Our guest host SH has challenged us to show Quiet Hours. In his post he asks us “what makes for “Quiet Hours” to you. How do you see it in an image? How do you navigate the idea?”

My favorite quiet hours are early morning. These quiet times help me feel peaceful and calm before I start my day.

The featured image above was taken on a misty morning looking out at a field in rural Georgia. If you look closely you can see some deer at the far end of the field. The next three images were taken early in the morning when no one else was up yet.

Quiet morning in coastal Georgia

Early morning fog over the Santa Fe River, Florida

Sunrise at Burwash Landing, Yukon Territory

Another time I feel the quiet is when traveling on a lonely road with no other vehicles in sight.

We felt like the only people in the world on the Klondike Highway on the way to Skagway, Alaska

Back Country Road off the Blue Ridge Parkway

Our view out the front window of the truck as we drove south on the Parks Highway, Alaska

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for her challenge of Creativity and to all of you for your wonderful responses. I hope you’ll join us on Saturday, July 19 at noon Eastern Time as Egidio hosts the next challenge.

Many thanks to our guest host SH for this challenge Lens-Artists #356 – Quiet Hours

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

Every Day is a Gift.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #355 – Creativity Looking Back to #42

Posted in Georgia, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 36 Comments

Ann-Christine is our host for the first “Looking Back” topic and she explains the challenge like this: “This week we are starting to look back… each month or maybe every 6 weeks, one of us in the LAPC – team will repeat a PREVIOUSLY USED subject for the week. We will share a link to the old post, and then create a new post on the same subject. This will also give us all a chance to address challenges we may not have done before.”

Ann-Christine is asking us to look back to the topic #42 Creativity from April, 2019. I didn’t start participating in the challenges until later that year so I don’t have a previous post to look back on. You can visit Ann-Christine’s #42 post here.

Tybee Island, Georgia is home to many creative artists. In 2006 a few residents came up with the idea to display turtle statues painted by local artists around the island. In 2007 I photographed most of the turtles that were here at that time. Sometime later some of the turtles were auctioned off to raise money for sea-turtle research and preservation. For more about the project please visit Public Art on Display – Tybee Island.

I’ve always thought I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. When I was in school I was terrible in art classes. I can’t draw, I can’t paint, I can’t sculpt. I got the idea for this challenge when I saw one of the turtle statues on a morning drive around Tybee Island.

The featured image is the turtle that greets everyone at the Welcome to Tybee Island sign. I photographed it and the following image this morning.

The following gallery are some of the turtles I photographed in 2007. Each turtle was done by a different artist and each turtle is unique. These statues show the creativity of the different artists who made them. A few are still located around the island.

Last week I enjoyed all of the great responses to Anne’s challenge Reflections. The Lens-Artists team is taking a break next weekend so be sure to check back on Saturday, July 12 at noon Eastern Time when our guest host SH will be hosting the challenge. And as always, please remember that Every Day is a Gift.

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this challenge Lens-Artists #355 – Looking Back to Creativity

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

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #354 – Reflections

Posted in Birds, Photography, SunsetTagged , , 47 Comments

Anne’s challenge is Reflections. She shared many beautiful examples of reflections and also shared some good advice on how to capture a reflection. Thanks also go out to Leeanne Cole for sharing her tips and images.

I often find reflections in water. I’ll start with a gallery of birds reflected in water.

Reflections at sunset

Reflections of Cypress Trees in Louisiana

Reflections of trees in South Georgia

Purple reflection of a bridge across the Mississippi River in New Orleans a few days before Mardi-Gras

Mirrors are a great way to photograph reflections even if you didn’t mean to get a reflection of yourself.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my first Lens-Artists challenge. The topic was stormy and I had a lot of fun reading all the responses and seeing all of the amazing stormy weather images from around the world. Next week Ann-Christine is leading the challenge so be sure to look for her post on Saturday, June 28 at noon Eastern Time. And as always, please remember that Every Day is a Gift.

Many thanks to Anne for this challenge Lens-Artists #354 – Reflections

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

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #353 – Stormy

Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , 110 Comments

I am very excited and honored to present my first challenge as a member of the Lens-Artists team. This week I’m challenging you to show us your stormy images. Think about stormy weather, stormy feelings, or maybe stormy situations.

It’s June and Hurricane Season has just begun. Where I live in coastal Georgia thunderstorms are a normal occurrence all summer long and we keep a close watch on updates from the National Hurricane Center. The featured image is what we saw through our windshield as we were headed into a thunderstorm on our way home from a recent trip. We were grateful to arrive home safely.

The following images show different kinds of stormy conditions we see during the summer months in coastal Georgia.

Water Spout over the Atlantic ocean

Before a hurricane the red flags indicate high hazard conditions and the beach is closed to the public.

Angry Seas from a Tropical Storm

We have often encountered stormy weather during our travels.

Storm over the Blue Ridge Mountains

Stormy day in Jamaica

Driving through snow on the road to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park

Our bear watching excursion in Ketchikan, Alaska started out in the pouring rain but that didn’t stop us from braving the weather. We didn’t mind getting wet – we saw 8 black bears.

A violent thunderstorm cut our day short with grand kids at a Florida water park one June.
Sometimes we are rewarded with a rainbow after a storm

We ran into some scary storms when we traveled around the U. S. and Canada towing our fifth wheel trailer. I’ll never forget traveling through snow and sleet with icy road conditions as we drove through Minnesota in early April one year. We ended up getting off the Interstate and spending the night in a motel. The next day when the roads were clear enough to travel we continued our westward trek. We found an open state park in South Dakota and were the only campers in the park.

Terrifying icy road conditions in Minnesota
We had the park to ourselves at Blue Mounds State Park in Luverne, Minnesota

What does stormy look like to you? For stormy weather, think about rain, blizzards, sleet, snow, hail, wind, dark clouds, angry seas, lightening, a storm rolling in, or people out in the weather. Some other options would be to show stormy feelings or stormy situations. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to this post. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Last week I really enjoyed your creative and calming responses to Sofia’s Mellow challenge. Be sure to look for Anne’s challenge next Saturday, June 21 at noon Eastern Time.

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