Awhile back some friends and I went to Glendale, California, to do some street photography, and then have some excellent Persian food! We tend to do this a lot as one of our little group seems to know all the best places between here and Mars to eat. And to photograph.
Roses, this spring, are doing well. The first round of blooms has begun to fade, but new buds keep appearing to continue the cycle. I don’t remember the name of this rose, but it has a light, delicate fragrance, and rather loose, floppy petals, much like a wild rose.
… a rose embower’d
In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflower’d,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet . . .
Black and white can be very difficult if not done properly – contrast has to be there, whether long scale (lots of grey between the blackest black and whitest white) or short scale (little grey between black and white). Long scale images may never reach black or white, and may not work at all. Certain colors work better in b&w with a filter. So much more stuff, it seems to me, needs to be learned when shooting in b&w! I struggle with it. Above is longer scale; below is shorter scale. The red leaves were really difficult to render.
If you have been following this blog of late, you know I have been – and am – in a funk. Being discontented with one’s life can lead to getting lost amongst the lemmings, or choosing the proverbial other road. I don’t really need to do one or the other, in a way; what I need to do is to make the choice!
Last night I went out with a friend – one of those great friends where no holds are barred, and you can just ramble and expose your thoughts and feelings without being afraid. We both were into it, and I came home feeling really good – refreshed mentally. So did she. Working so late and so long has prevented my having much contact with people I like, and now try to do something like this on a weekly basis. I’m stealing back all the little pieces of my life that disappeared over the past year.
Sure, the argument can be made that I shouldn’t have let it happen, but the fact is, it did happen. There is only so much time in the day. And there is only so much energy, too. As an introvert, “me time” has to be there before I can deal with people and be a nice person. No “me time” and I have no idea who I am.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of sleep, probably as my subconscious was working through whatever it does in dreams, the elusive word – the one-word description for what I am trying to regain – came to me: Integrity.
These photos in the “texture” series are from several years ago on a walk through the neighborhood. They were taken with a little point-and-shoot camera with limited capabilities, but they still provide visual viewing pleasure for me. More bits and pieces of things, rather than the grand vista . . .
Ink, Yarn & Beer 