Sunrises and Sunsets in Runaway Bay, Jamaica…Serenity times infinity.
The fisherman, in hopes of beating the heat of the day, fish early for schools of Sprat feeding in the waters. Jamaican Sprat Fishing The fisherman make no noise, barely any splashing, as they lower their nets into the water to capture the small gleaming fish.
Shine on Jamaican Sun! One of my favorite destinations.
Do you see the bird basking in the sun atop the nearest umbrella? He resembles a wood-carving, but he is real.
Sunset – West Beach, Block Island, RI
“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” ~ Psalm 147:2 (NIV)
This post so exactly fit the Serenity challenge for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, I was compelled to edit and enter it also.
I have been singing more. My daily to-do list has a smiley face with a big O in place of the smile, a reminder to me to sing, sing, sing.
I don’t want to let one day go by without singing praises to God. In the past year I have been reading a Psalm a day. They are filled with verses about music and song. In these days of ever-quickening changes the songs I sing give each day stability and remembrance of the awesome and mighty nature of the Lord God.
If I am anxious or troubled, I sing, and the load seems lighter. When Jesus and his disciples finished his last supper here on earth they sang songs of praise together. (Hallel Psalms) Even knowing what lay ahead for him, Jesus praised the Father. In all I do I want to lift a song of praise to his name every day.
“When they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Matthew 26:30 (NIV)
This post was originally posted October 30, 2011.
“Low-light photography can be difficult to get right, but sometimes the absence of light can make for a compelling, dramatic photograph. Experimenting with shadows can be a fun and rewarding way to push yourself to try something new with your camera and your surroundings, and look beyond the obvious shot.”
Shadowed: A WordPress Photo Challenge
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1
Snowfall…tranquil…hushed, an enduring remembrance of serenity for those who have stood with upturned face, encountering the caress of a snowflake’s kiss. The blanket of a gentle snowfall muffles even the loudest shouts of children sledding down a hill. The cold, though ever-present, is easily forgotten as you crumple into the soft embrace of a snow angel. The white shadows of snowfall convey a moment of peace to even the most anxious of souls.
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” Psalm 36:7
In the cold or the warmth, in the sunlight or shadow, may the love of God embrace you with a sense of His peace this Sabbath Day.
“Away with the colors of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. Show us what “Yellow ” means to you.” Photo Challenge at WordPress – December 19th
My first thought for this challenge was to choose a photograph of yellow flowers. I have dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of flowers on disc. Many of the photos have been taken in my own gardens, others at local public gardens in the area I live.
I decided instead to combine a favorite flower, zinnias, with a yellow swallowtail butterfly. Perfect. I love swallowtails. Lately, the weather and environmental issues have diminished their ranks, but hopefully their numbers will rebound in our area soon.
I love zinnias, and especially am entranced by the yellow ring of flowers surrounding their center. I always give this ring of small flowers, technically called “disc flowers” my own whimsical name of fairy ring flowers. This is where the butterflies find the nectar that they drink.
Zinnias have “Heads composed of both disc and ray flowers, with disc flowers tightly packed together in the head’s “eye,” while enlarged ray flowers function as petals radiating outward from the eye.” Composite Flowers – Backyard Nature
Here’s a closer look at the yellow “fairy ring” of zinnia disc flowers, this time hosting a Skipper butterfly.
I loved this photograph so much I used it as a reference for a 5 x 7 watercolor, and posted the finished results on this blog: Skipper on a Zinnia
Another visitor to the zinnias is a bumblebee in a fuzzy yellow jacket. Gorgeous insects all!
This post is definitely a tad out of season, but perhaps you are like me, and at the threshold of winter enjoy being reminded that Spring is only three months away.
Photo Challenge – Gone But Not Forgotten – Strathmere, NJ – X Marks the Spot
Show us something that is lost, but not forgotten.
My husband, our children, and our children’s children all love the beaches at Strathmere. The trouble is Strathmere beaches are prone to erosion.
I’ve always loved this picturesque grouping of pilings that form an X on the beach. I will joke with my husband and say, “There is buried treasure under there.” Several years ago these same pilings were covered over in a beach replenishment project. Strathmere beach, for a time, was a wide, smooth stretch of fine white sand and nothing else. The Atlantic Ocean had other ideas though, in just a few years, the pounding waves, and N’or Easters, much like the one we are experiencing this week, uncovered the pilings once again.
The ocean is fickle though, and just as easily could throw a blanket of sand back over the pilings during a wicked storm or hurricane. So these pilings, and this beach on the Jersey Shore, were the perfect answer to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge.
More information about Strathmere beach erosion can be found at Philly.com. Erosion – and what to do about it – worries Strathmere homeowners
Geometrics? Concrete? Yes, I’ve photographed actual concrete…house, steps of brick, shutters…rectangles with a few bushy circles. And then, smack in the middle of it all…the ABSTRACT! This globe full of stinging fire just doesn’t belong on the front of a house. Yikes! The vanishing point…anyone who rings that doorbell will “vanish” quickly. I know I’m taking some liberties with the challenge…oh well! Couldn’t resist using this as my “vanishing point.”
“WORDPRESS PHOTO CHALLENGE – Geometry in photography — shapes, diagonals, vanishing points — fascinates me.
Angular – Not to put too fine a point on it, though this week, we challenge you to show us what “angular” means to you.
Angular Challenge – These photographs were taken in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. Boats in the water always appear sleek and swift, out of water, they appear angular and cumbersome.
There’s some excitement afoot in the Square Foot Gardens; the seeds have sprouted underneath the newly built Hoop House. The peas and arugula are doing best, the lettuces (Mesclun varieties) are sprouting too, but at a slower rate. Hooray!
The Daily Post for this week is: Achievement.
“Have you just run 26.2 miles, finished a long-term project, or met a personal goal? This week, show us an achievement.”
Growing cold-season vegetables is not new, but it is a first for me. My new Hoop House is everything I had hoped. Yes, I consider my vegetables sprouting in mid-November’s very cold temperatures quite an “Achievement.”
– An afternoon walk in a November woods yielded some beautiful “Minimalist Photographs”. Most of us are so entranced by the grandness of the colorful trees in Autumn, we miss the tiny, simple treasures at our feet.
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real after all.”
~Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain; it was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his scarf and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
And a voice said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
~ I Kings 19:11-13 (TLB)
Minimalist photography is characterized by a large portion of negative space, a fairly monochromatic color palette with good contrast, and an interesting subject that is able to stand on its own to capture the interest of the viewer. At first thought, it may seem like it would be easy to shoot an engaging minimalist photograph, when indeed it can often be the opposite. A minimalist photo can also effectively tell a story, in spite of its relative simplicity, and it is anything but “plain”.
Photo Challenge – Descent
DESCENT
This week, show us your interpretation of descent.
Where does the morning fog find its birth? Does it descend from the sky, or ascend from the waters?
Do birds draw the mist to earth after leaves abandon the trees? An ethereal silken shroud descends from leaden sky, blanketing summer feathers from the assault of Autumn’s winds.
WordPress Photo Challenge – Cover Art
“For this week’s Photo Challenge, stimulate your creative process and imagine which of your images you would like to see gracing the cover of a book, an album, or a magazine.”
My photograph is a perfect accompaniment to the song “Echoes From the Burning Bush.” It is a gospel tune based on the Bible verses in Exodus Chapter 3, that tell of Moses seeing a burning bush on the mountain, investigating, and finding God.
My husband called me out just this morning to see the trees alight with the rising sun. I grabbed my camera and the photo challenge today was the perfect opportunity to use one of my images.
“One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, suddenly the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush.” Exodus 3
Echoes From the Burning Bush was written by Bryon Foust & V. O. Summar in 1943
CBN TV – Moses and the Burning Bush: 'The Bible' Miniseries.
October 4th – WordPress Photo Challenge – Signs
This week, publish an image of a sign — from the signs you encounter on the street to more personal, less obvious signs that hold meaning for you.
This is my first attempt at taking part in the WordPress Photo Challenge. I chose to take photographs of Alcyon Park. I have visited Betty Park (another name for the site) since I was about seven years old. Once an amusement park, the same land now hosts a gentle playground on one side of the lake, ball fields and walking trails on the other. I loved this place as a child. I watched many a July Fourth firework show from its grassy banks. When I was a young mother I played with my sons in the park, now I bring my grandchildren for outdoor fun. Thank you Alcyon Park in Pitman, NJ for many years of happiness.
Park Signs
