Phoneography and Non-SLR Digital Devices Photo Challenge: Challenger’s Choice (Architecture of Nature)

23 February 2105

Lens:

1. Snow-Covered Creek; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

2. Snow-covered Creek; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

Let me know which you refer and why. Click on to each image to enlarge.

Pens:

It’s staggering as if Siberia has magically landed on the East coast. Winter 2015 has become memorable for its single-digit days—days that can steal my daily meanderings at the creek or local parks or strolling through street life or… At the end of last week Mother Nature brought a minus 19-degree early morning welcome. The midday high broke into double digits at 10 degrees. It was time for sipping tea and hot chocolate, reading, reading, reading, and sorting through my collection of photographs.

Snow is scattered and melting slowly with more in the forecast. We’ve had weeks of hard frost, which makes me happy. Now the chatter is always about the weather, meaning that people are at least noticing nature’s role in our lives. That may seem like a strange statement, but in reality most of “us” are fixated by the daily glue of technical innovations.

Still I could not be happier with the spread of Smartphones as a mechanism for people to see the natural world and, well, just notice (with intention or not) their external visual arena. I hope that the constant documenting of one’s individual universe does open one’s awareness about our visual culture. But I’m not holding my breath.

Without question the numbers of Instagram users and photography blogs speak volumes about the current absorption. This attention to personal photography is a relatively new-found embrace of the world beyond as well as inside ourselves. (Can you tell that I’m sequestered inside.)

In the Lens section are two images that relate the narrative of our weather—ice, snow and contrasts in the landscape. The creek was a maze of various patterns and tones brought by the day’s afternoon light, which cast a particular magic across the surface of the frozen water. The cold affects the sunlight and even sunsets have been ablaze with drama.

Each image is viewed with a slightly different perspective. The architectural features of the various elements bestowed by nature are made clearer or less so by the angle of the shot. Expanse, light, shadow, shapes, shading, lines, point of view are evident or not.

I am obsessed as a watcher of our creek that runs a mile from my home. It forges a path through a long-standing sub-division and offers habitat and refuge for scores of wildlife.

The bend in the creek bed forges a distance that lures and keeps me returning to explore its mysteries–mysteries that have a depth to their patterns and textures. I am privy each day to the usual and the unsuspected. It’s a boost to my daily adrenaline.

Tip of the Week: While studying the works of other photographers is essential to become a better observer of life through a lens, it also is necessary to study the other arts. Art criticism and literature are two areas that add cohesion to my own views. Paul Valery (1871-1945), who was a French poet and philosopher known for his commentary about art and history. He also won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here is one of my favorite quotes by Valery:

“To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.”

View other entries for this week’s challenge:

https://artisticlicenseoflife.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-nature-3/

https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-and-non-srl-digital-devices-photo-challenge-and-5-day-black-and-white-challenge-architecture/

https://patchworkponderings.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-challengers-choice/

https://claresphotospace.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/mode-mannequins/

https://chasinglifeandfindingdreams.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/antisocial-enjoyment/

https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-choice-challenge-nature-and-people/

https://streetsofsfphotos.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/anything-is-possible/

https://toweararainbow.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-challengers-choice-architecture-of-nature/

https://angelinem.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-challengethe-green-green-grass-of-home/

https://decocraftsdigicrafts.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-challenge-nature-4/

http://luciledegodoy.com/2015/02/23/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-7/

https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/phoneography-challenge-challengers-choice-street-photography/

http://helpalongthepath.com/2015/02/23/frozen-architecture-phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge/

http://nwframeofmind.com/2015/02/23/iphoneography-monday-animals-fun-with-finn/

https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-photo-challenge-you-choice/

https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/architecture-of-difference/

https://allkindsaeverything.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/phoneography-challenge-architecture-of-nature/

https://amaltaas.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-challengers-choice-2/

Note:

As always I welcome comments about this post or any part of my blog.

If you’d like to join the Photo Challenge, please click here for details. If you have any questions, please contact me. Below is a reminder of the monthly schedule with themes for upcoming Photo Challenges:

1st Monday: Nature.

2nd Monday: Macro.

3rd Monday: Black and White.

4th Monday Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Animals, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Objects, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).

5th Monday: Editing and Processing with Various Apps Using Themes from the Fourth Week.

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