Bars of Light

ss 1/80 f 4.5 ISO 500

About this photograph:  I am teaching a teen photography camp this week.  I have 15 students ranging from 11 to 15.   The camp sessions are from 9am to 3:30pm Monday through Friday.  During the morning hours, we simulate a classroom setting and I teach the students about photography.  Thus far we have reviewed manual settings and the technicalities of cameras, which none of the kids had previously been using, composition and light.  Today well talk about posing human subjects.   After the lessons, we venture outside to experiment with cameras and use the information learned.   After talking about light yesterday, we took a hike to a near by covered bridge.  In between answering questions and guiding the teens on how to use their cameras, reminding them of compositional “rules”, and pointing out light and it’s qualities, I took a few shots myself.  This photograph is taken of one of the walls of the bridge.  I noticed the light peaking through the slats, between the boards.  Instead of focusing, I intentionally decreased the focus so that I could create a bit of blur to capture the circles of light in each strip, which the shallow depth of field helped create.  As I was shooting, my intent was to convert the file to black and white.  I do think I like that edit better than the original, but the green and white strips of light are also appealing to me.

To see the photograph in black and white, please visit my Thursday post on Monochromia. Which do you prefer?

Complexity and Simplicity

Complexity and Simplicity of Nature and Light

“To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” – Emily Dickinson

Lines

Life is composed of lines.

The lines are often distinct,

Distinct lines are definitive

Definitive lines are easy to follow.

Following definitive lines leads to a direct path

A direct path means clear thoughts, no interference.

Distinct Lines of Life

♥

But life is never consistently direct.

If life were consistently direct there would be no times of turmoil,

No times of doubt,

No times of indecision.

Blurred Lines of Indecision

♥

Blurred lines come into play.

Blurred lines distract along the way.

It’s the approach to blurred lines that determines

Whether we coil,

Or stand strong and press on.

When the soul stays strong,

And faith is relied upon,

The lines merge,

And become one,

An eternity

Of love.

Indistinct Lines Merging

♥

Generations of lines;

Lines of

love,

trust,

forgiveness,

And embraces,

That pass strength from one to the next

And grow the bonds

That come back,

Back to the eternity of love.

Generations of Lines Becoming One

♥

The eternity of love

Which is Christmas.

copyright Robyn Graham

Life as a Whole

Hard at Work

“LIFE is a mosaic of pleasure and pain – grief is an interval between two moments of joy. Peace is the interlude between two wars. You have no rose without a thorn; the diligent picker will avoid the pricks and gather the flower. There is no bee without the sting; cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless.”

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba

“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.” – Robert Green Ingersoll

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others”

 – Saint John Chrysostom

Enchantment

“Only those who truly love and who are truly strong can sustain their lives as a dream. You dwell in your own enchantment. Life throws stones at you, but your love and your dream change those stones into the flowers of discovery. Even if you lose, or are defeated by things, your triumph will always be exemplary. And if no one knows it, then there are places that do. People like you enrich the dreams of the worlds, and it is dreams that create history. People like you are unknowing transformers of things, protected by your own fairy-tale, by love.” – Ben Okri

Enchantment

 

2013 Lily Series – 03

 

“Oft expectation fails, and most oft where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest; and despair most sits” – William Shakespeare

 

“I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can’t be helped.” – Frederick Perls

Expectation

 

It is somewhat ironic that expectation is the word that came to mind when contemplating this evening’s post.  Why, you might ask.  Because tonight I am filled with both excitement and anticipation, and trying not to escalate my expectations of the gallery opening I am participating in tomorrow evening.  The Buck’s County Project Gallery has its debut tomorrow night and the owner, who is also an artist and photographer, asked me to participate when she saw my sunflower series earlier this year.  I was very honored and am filled with gratitude that she found my work worthy of her gallery featuring fabulous photography by Buck’s County artists.  Even more ironic, is that the author of the second quote above was born in Germany,  as was Stephanie, the gallery owner, who, I believe, lives by the philosophy so eloquently stated in the quote.

2013 Lily Series – 02

“A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life.” – Lewis Mumford

Mystery

Love of Others…

“Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.”

– African saying

The Love of Others Helps us Stand Tall No Matter What We Think of Ourselves  – Robyn Graham

A Bit of Cheer

After several dreary days I felt the need to post some cheer this evening.  The images below were taken in August (no chance of seeing this quality of light here this week).

Different plants, different lighting, all hibiscus. May they brighten your week.