I love this week’s photo challenge: Dialogue. I almost feel like I am back in art school again, but without the all nighters and cigarettes. Still have the drinking and music, so I guess half isn’t too bad for an old lady. Wink wink.
I decided to create my dialogue with 3 images, kind of a triptych, yet technically more of a triad, since they are a grouping not to work as a whole.
Here are some sunset (and one morning sun) photos from Alum Creek Reservoir. While I am looking forward to the Spring and growing some vegetation during the upcoming warmer months, I will miss the insect/human-free hikes to my favorite hideaway.
I like my deck water feature way more in the winter than in the summer. In the summer I can put plants in it, and have some mosquito fish to eat the mosquito larva. (They are currently waiting patiently in my laundry room for the winter to end while eating fish food flakes). But I have to watch it carefully when it rains because the fish wash over the side onto the deck. That is not good for a fish. I have to tend to it like any garden. In the winter the water feature has a life of it’s own, and it maintains itself. It reflects the weather and tells us the temperature more beautifully than a thermometer. These photos were taken the other day in the morning and it was 29*. Most of this winter it has been frozen solid. Hovering near freezing the ice waxes and wanes. I didn’t get to see much of the delicate ice formations when the temperature goes from above to below freezing this winter. The designs are exquisite! I have had photos of them on here before. The way the ice makes leafy patterns as well as sharp lines is beyond my comprehension. Here are 3 different views of my lovely water feature. What a difference perspective makes. Keep this in mind in your relationships too. Some people see beauty and some see murky leaves drowned in dirty water. And, some people aren’t even paying attention, daydreaming while staring off into space.
This winter has been so lovely; I will hate to see it leave. Here are some of the really cool ice formations we saw at Alum Creek the other night! It was beautiful. It was muddy in spots, but no one lost a shoe. 😉
Juxtaposition: One of my all time favorite words. I think I learned this word while studying art. A word that makes a visual oxymoron have meaning, purpose, delightful complexity. I like the contrast of many things. To find images that show juxtaposition is a bit daunting, at least with how I feel about the word. I feel like a juxtaposition of things is deliberate, whereas these images reveal things that happened on their own, only to be frozen in time by my camera. For example, my kitchen combines an aqua colored glass tile backsplash, clean and cool, like a pool, next to the natural mossy greens of my formica counter that almost resembles polished cement. I had a friend think this combination was absurd. But her kitchen is beige, tan, off white, and a big explosion of less than dull to me. So, to each his own, but I choose juxtaposition any day of the week! Viva la expression!
When I am not making mold (ha ha), I love being outdoors. Here are some layery nature photos. 😉
The first three photos are of a bottle I had outside with frozen water at the bottom. (This is from last winter). The last photo is of the sun shining through some clouds (unedited). I took this one earlier today. The frozen water had beautiful bubbles that flared out, creating an infinite and curious display of science, and nature. The sun is inherently infinite, as is the sh*t all over my lens and camera sensor. Imagine the infinite amount of time wasted on cleaning up my photos. It is increasing maddening. I guess I will have to figure out a way to clean it. I think there are an infinite amount of things that are annoying. A dirty camera should not be one of them. 😉
Today was so beautiful!!!!!!!!! Although this sunset is from Valentines day. I didn’t go take sunset photos today because there are no clouds at all, and rush hour traffic coincides with the current sun setting time. So, I am just enjoying it here at home and thought I would share a cool photo from a couple of weeks ago. I will say, that I am not looking forward to hot, muggy, smothering summer weather, but I am excited to open my windows, not wear a big ol’ coat, and being free of the constraints of school. I am also looking forward to gardening, and I am planning on doing this magnificent gardening BEFORE it is 95*, 90% humidity with a wall of death mosquitoes. Then, hopefully I will not be spending the end of summer embarrassed about my weeds. I already have 10 bags of mulch ready to go! Does it matter they have been sitting on my driveway since last July?
I guess “fire and ice” are kind of accurate, as the sun is rather fiery. I will be sad to see the ice leave the water. It really adds an unusual element to the sunset reflections. This is from last night, Feb. 22, 2013.
I love this photo of fallen wood. Wood is beautiful in all it’s forms. There is life there even after the plant has died. I love how many colors and textures and shapes are on this, contrasting with the snow and ice. It is too pretty not to share. If you have a better title for this than I, please let me know. A good one is not coming to me. Maybe because I have the wood-chuck rhyme stuck in my head.
ArtBea 