26 June 2017
Lens:
I. Taken in Camera+ and edited in Snapseed and Pixlr
1. Canna and Orchid Photomontage; 2017 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved
II. Taken in Camera+ and edited in Snapseed and Pixlr
2. Canna and Orchid Photomontage; 2017 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved
Click onto each image to enlarge. Let me know which you prefer. Prints are available upon request.
Pens:
Most good projects have a beginning and a transformation. Certainly that has been the case with the mobile photography challenge (whose name changed a few times to accommodate the evergreen world of inventions) over the last few years. Technology has given us an array of choices for our tool box, and that in itself has encouraged innovation and risk taking.
Today I pay tribute to all those who have participated in the challenge through their work or by comments. I’ve been especially honored to have a number of loyal participants in the photo community. My heart thanks you, my soul thanks you, most sincerely.
For me it’s been a journey of self-discovery and self-expression and self-experimentation. The journey took me through many permutations of my photography and writing. Mostly, my inner vision has focused more and more on nature, the quintessential master of the universe.
Mother Nature challenges and inspires, awes and tranquilizes, symbolizes life itself, literally and figuratively.
Over the last year there has been a waning of participation in the challenge, which I believe is a normal trajectory. That slowing of entries has encouraged me to take a short and long view of the challenge, and my work as it relates to it. And so the years of my sponsorship of the challenge will be archived in blog heaven. This posting is the finale of the mobile photography challenge.
On Monday, 03 July, I now will use this blog to direct my creative energies, for example, to photomontages—photomontages that will span the spectrum of nature’s abundance. My lens and pens will be a voice for all that nature represents to me, her majestic narrative that keeps the world as we know it spinning round and round.
This space will be a place for my interpretation of nature’s role in and of itself and its interdependence upon human nature and humanity’s everyday life. It will be a platform for advocacy and reverence.
My ongoing challenge through this blog will focus on continual inner experimentation: that place where I push what I see and what I know and what I intend and what I feel and what I intuit.
During this journey my mission is also to create my idea of what I can be and encourage crossing boundaries into unchartered inner and outer worlds. Because seeing is not always believing and believing is not always seeing. I am on a path to breathe new life into my life’s creative efforts.
I will continue to post each Monday, and you are welcome to join my emphasis on the natural world. As I join you on your journey, I hope that you will continue to join me on mine. And we can grow on our individual paths.
In the Lens section is a multi-layered image that is how I imagine this new adventure: brightly abstract and yet longing for definition of my visual and written storytelling through the multitudes of nature’s abundance and inspiration.
Tip of the Week:
Words to ponder about Mother Nature:
“The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” — Galileo Galilei
“Keep your faith in all beautiful things. In the sun when it is hidden. In the spring when it is gone.” — Roy Rolfe Gilson
“There are an awful lot of scientists today who believe that before very long we shall have unraveled all the secrets of the universe. There will be no puzzles anymore. To me, it’d be really, really tragic because I think one of the most exciting things is this feeling of mystery, feeling of awe, the feeling of looking at a little live thing and being amazed by it and how it has emerged through these hundreds of years of evolution and there it is and it is perfect and why.” — Jane Goodall
“Nothing endures but change.” — Heraclitus
“Let the rain kiss you.” — Langston Hughes
View other entries for this week’s challenge:
https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/almost-in-the-street-eats/
https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/zucchini-fandango-for-sally-ds-photo-challenge/
https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/mobile-photo-challenge-your-choice-2/
https://ohmsweetohm.me/2017/06/26/
https://angelinem.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-metamorphosis/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/the-old-and-the-new-and-the-not-quite-what-it-seems/
https://wordandimagecollages.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/on-the-edge-of-emptiness/
Lens and Pens by Sally 
Thanks very much for all your dedicated hard work over the years running the challenge, Sally. I’m looking forward to seeing more Monday montages!
Christine, that’s lovely. Thanks so much. See you soon.
First let me say that your challenge was so vital to my own journey when I began my own blog and a more serious pursuit of my photography. Thank you Sally so much for that. And change, even when we want it, can be so hard, but so very worth it. I look forward to the new direction you are traveling and with it, I know will come new adventures. It will not be dull. And on the day before the 4th of July, I see a *silent* explosion of color, light and delight with this beautifully done image.
Meg, I know that you are on your own new path, and we can watch each others’ journey. Thanks for your thoughtful response and your support. I appreciate your comment.
Wonderful post and quote by Gallileo!! Beautiful image Sally!
Cybele, I appreciate your response. Thanks so much.
There is a time for everything, isn’t there. And now you head into “new” territory with you blog. It’s going to be fun to see the further development and your focus on your creative energy. I look forward to keep following the blog. And as always your photos in this post are great – definitely full of creative energy.
Otto, you bring such joy to my evening. See you soon.
I look forward to seeing your future creative adventures. It’s amazing that you hosted the challenge for as long as you did. I started up a haiku challenge site just over a week ago and already I’m feeling burnt out with it. 🙂 You have certainly stimulated my creative work over the past couple of years and your writing has broadened my understanding of photography. All the best for your future endeavors.
Suzanne, thank you for your kind response. Keep up your challenge. It certainly helps one grow in directions unimaginable. See you soon.
I will miss this challenge Sally, but I totally understand your need to refresh and renew in your own work. I am really looking forward to seeing where your creative muse takes you. And (it almost goes without saying) that your images in this post are beautiful in their delicacy. You have truly made the photo-montage a medium of your own.
Su, I’m humbled. I’m also grateful to have you part of the photo challenge’s history. Your work is a joy to view and I will continue to watch your journey. Will see you soon.
Thank you so much Sally. I feel that my photography has grown in part because of my participation and in the things I’ve learned from you. I’m really looking forward to following the next stage of your journey.
Su, and I your journey.
Beautiful images, both of them! And I love the quotes about nature.
Tiny, lovely to hear from you. Thanks so much.
I can’t believe that we almost know everything. Can you, Sally? It sometimes feels like we know less than ever. I love that you try to venture further and hope you find joy that way. 🙂
Jo, I truly agree. I am a lifelong learner who understands a teeny tiny slice of humanity’s knowledge–recorded or not. I appreciate your thoughtful response. See you soon.
Sally…I will miss this challenge and your posts…but will still return to see your new stuff. You know, for me, it was that I never kept track of what was supposed to be submitted for the different weeks. Or what I posted didn’t quite match. Good luck in future ventures and photography!! Always LOVED your creative examples.
I’m not going anywhere, just moving along on a path to new challenges. Hope that we can continue to share each other’s stories and work. Your adventures coupled with your sense of humor is a strong combination that I truly enjoy. Thanks so much for your sentiments. I appreciate your response to my work. See you soon.
Hi Sally, I’m on the road again. I’m sorry to see the challenge end… looking forward to your new direction.
Thank you for introducing mobile photos to me and your posts have been inspiring!
Amy, I’m pleased that you have found mobile photography a way to express your creative energies, which I thoroughly enjoy viewing. Hopefully, we will continue to see each other’s work and results of capturing our individual vision of our universe.
So incredibly beautiful Sally! I read Angeline’s post first and was so worried you were no longer going to blog! I am so relieved that you will continue your blog. I LOVE reading each post when I get it. You always uplift me, inspire me and push me as well to view my creative insights. So thank you so much for being there! I’m also excited to see what kind of advocacy initiatives you are working on. Hope you will share more of those.
On another note, I have started doing this workbook called “The Artist’s Way”. Have you ever heard of it? It is an oldie but goodie but it intends to push the creative voice out from hiding. It has been a lot of fun and I hope it pushed me too to do more creative stuff.
Nicole, you brought tears to the surface. What good fortune to meet you and be witness to your work. Yes, that program (if it’s the one that I’m thinking about) has been around for eons, and is thought to be one of the best. I always think that if I learn one thing or am inspired by one idea such an experience is worth the effort. My many thanks for your kind thoughts as well as your response to my work. See you soon.
Oh thanks Sally! I’m glad. I wanted to let you know that you have inspired me and I look forward to reading your posts every week! 🙂
Enjoy the summery days and see you soon.
Sally, you will truly be missed in this venue, but I so look forward to seeing what your photography will touch upon now as your growth moves you forward.
In today’s photos, I think I prefer the second one for its darker hue towards the bottom, but hard choice to pick one.
Thanks so much for all the work you’ve put in to this challenge every week. My photography has truly grown because of it.
Angeline, I’m humbled and grateful that the challenge brought people such as yourself into my life. See you soon. I appreciate your response.
Beautiful photomontages, Sally. Sorry to see your challenges come to an end but completely understandable. It was one of your early challenges years ago that prompted me to have fun with my iPhone and start blogging to participate in your challenges. I haven’t been able to participate as much as I would have liked lately but have truly enjoyed visiting. I will continue to visit to see what you create! All the best! 🙂
Linda, I’m humbled by your response. Certainly, I also will see you on your journey. Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. Enjoy the week.
I’m hurrying now but will write more to say good by to Monday Challenge. I poste a second one for today. Just because it felt right
I’m off to see it.
Beautiful artworks, Sally. I prefer the first one a touch over the second.
Evolution of your photography and your blog is to be expected and the direction you are taking is no doubt influenced by political events. I look forward to following your journey and hearing your voice.
Lignum, you’ve touched my heart, and we will see each other as we continue our individual way of seeing the world.
Oh, Sally, I was afraid that’s where the post was going when I started reading. Although I completely understand, I will greatly miss the challenge and the people I’ve met here. Of course, I’ll see many of them elsewhere, but it won’t be the same. On the other hand, I’ll look forward to your new direction and wish for you all the best. Thanks so very much for having hosted this challenge for so long!!
janet
Janet, it was not an easy decision, but in order to grow it felt as though this choice was the right one. Certainly, I will see you and watch your journey. Thanks for all your participation and support.