Tag Archives: light

Weekly Photo Challenge: Glow

Yeah…it’s cliche, but it is the holiday season. The days are short. The sunset comes early enough that I see that golden glow most every day as I drive home from work. Today on my way home I dropped by the beach because I heard there were high surf advisories (with sets up to 9 feet!). I caught the golden glow, but it’s hard to see that the surf is a bit larger than usual.

A few days ago I managed to catch the sun behind the lifeguard tower. The angle I caught created this red glow (along with the sun spot reflecting on my lens)…an interesting effect. (Does it have a technical name?)

Somedays the glow is less obvious, but there is something wonderful about this late afternoon light before the sun sets. The edge of the waves look so creamy and dimensional and the sand seems so flat and smooth in contrast. I love the beach this time of the year when it belongs mostly to those who can’t resist the lure of the sea.

Sometimes the sea and the sky seem to dance, intertwined as they swirl and swoop, partners in blue and gold. This particular vantage gives an expansive view looking out, looking down, and looking up.

And because it gets dark so early, we have lots of electrical light too. This tree was a-glow, lit from top to bottom, shining in the early evening darkness. There’s definitely a festiveness that comes with the wearing of the lights.

And there’s the sparkle and glow of indoor light. In this case, reflecting on the large glass globes adorning the tree. And if you look closely, you’ll see me glowing in there too. A nifty selfie reflected in the holiday glow!

So…what’s glowing in your world these days? Nature’s lights? Holiday lights? Or the warm smile of a friend?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!) I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #glow for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Be on the lookout for glow, and capture it through your lens! I’m looking forward to your interpretation.

Beach Hues: Monochromatic

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The beach offers me endless inspiration, stimulating my senses with the light, the life, the variety…and the sameness.

The ocean and the shoreline is an endless variety of blues, whites, and grays. Some days the colors are vibrant and fully saturated, other days, they are muted–layering hues of a single color in subtle textures like this image of a seagull taking flight toward the wave rolling in.

Sometimes the sky is reflected in the wetness of the ground. Clouds to walk in, waves to walk in…echoes of each other.

And look up and see the clouds like waves, a backdrop for a tiny airplane, perhaps a biplane, awash in blue and white.

It is the monochromatics of the beach that help me see texture, that force me to look closely to notice the daily changes and the endless variety of the cliffs, the waves, the sky, the shoreline…

Light and angle–twin photography tools–teach me about seeing and finding the beauty in the extraordinary sameness of the beach.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Golden

Documenting Light: July’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

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July is the heart of summer. Long days, warm nights, all filled with light. Morning light, light at dawn, midday and afternoon light, the dwindling light of sunset and twilight, and the glow of lights at night. July is a month to capture light.

Nature is painting for us, day after day,, pictures of infinite beauty.

John Ruskin

And inspired by the work of Paccarik Orue, I find myself thinking about documentary photography—photography that celebrates place, people, culture, and customs that uncovers and illuminates beauty that others may miss or dismiss.

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s light shining somewhere nearby.

Ruth Renkel

So let’s explore the light of July, in all its variety and glory and document the places and people we experience.

Light can be gentle, dangerous, dream-like, bare, living, dead, misty, clear, hot, dark, violet, springlike, falling, straight, sensual, limited, poisonous, calm and soft.

Sven Nykvist

The harsh man-made lights at the end of the pier,

midday light illuminating a wave and its surfer,

filtered light through the windows of your house for the cats to discover (that’s Jack!),

and looking up into the clear blue sky at wild fair rides.

Lingering seems most at home in the late afternoon. Other words belong to other times. But lingering (like dawdling and dallying) works best when the day is slipping away, and we don’t care.

Jim Richardson

Here’s some prompts to get us started this month:

1. Home

2. Shadow

3. Outside

4. Color

5. Bright

6. Undercover

7. Discover

8. Warm

9. Night

10. Dawdling

11. Misty

12. Clear

13. Dangerous

14. Bare

15. Violet

16. Dead

17. Gentle

18. Falling

19. Dream-like

20. Straight

21. Hot

22. Living

23. Sensual

24. Limited

25. Poisonous

26. Dallying

27. Soft

28. Calm

29. Lingering

30. Fear

31. Care

So let’s explore the light of summer and document the people and places and things we encounter. Our challenge will allow us to learn from each other as we shoot our own photos and study the photos others shoot. Every day of the month includes a word prompt to inspire and challenge you to document the spaces you inhabit as you explore the light. You are welcome to follow them in order, mix them up, or throw in a new word prompt for the rest of us to try. You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them! You can share on Twitter (follow me @kd0602), on Instagram (@kd0602), in the CLMOOC community on G+, on Flickr, or even link back to my blog here.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

Maori proverb

And don’t forget to play around with nighttime light too!

Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

What light will you see and document through your lens?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Black and White

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This week we’ve been plagued with the notorious “May gray,” days with a marine layer so thick that it’s as if the world exists only in black and white. And in these days of digital photography, I take all my photos in color…but find myself sometimes wondering if a particular image would look better (or different) in black and white. So since our days have been lacking in color anyway, what better excuse for exploring images in black and white?

I noticed these motorcycles lined up across the street from me when we visited Julian over the weekend. With the gray skies and their headlights on, I wanted a way to focus attention on the motorcycles and their lights.

I loved the light in this photo of the dark red tulip and wondered what would happen if it were in black and white. The light is still the focal point, even with the absence of color.

That had me looking for an image with movement…like this one of the waves breaking under the pier. I miss the beautiful turquoise of the water, but love the vibrance of the splash against the pilings.

And there’s the ever iconic UCSD Geisel Library…this most recent photo was my attempt to capture the clouds behind it. There is something timeless about black and white images…

So this is your week to explore with the absence of color. What images will you capture in black and white? Which work well…which need color to bring out their beauty?

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #blackandwhite for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Even if you are not immersed in the gloom of “May gray,” experiment with black and white. I look forward to seeing black and white through your lens!

Looking Beyond Ugly

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When I walked into the house today after work I noticed that the tulips in the vase on my dining room table were ready to throw out. They were leaning over, their dried blossoms hanging upside down nearly touching the table. I started to move them to the trash can…and then the afternoon light through the window shining on the near-dead plant caught my eye. And suddenly I could see the beauty in the crumbling blossoms that had seemed so ugly only moments before.

A photography tip aside: It was just last week that Joy from Joyfully Green had posted an article where she described the place–her dining room–that served as a photo studio because of the light it offers. (Joy has many tips to share…about photography and about living green.)

As a teacher, it’s my job to look beyond the ugly–the spaces where learning isn’t happening in the ways we want or expect–and figure out how to find the light that transforms. And it isn’t always easy. Sometimes it just seems easier to place blame, give in to frustration, or pass the buck. But then the light shines through my dining room window and I can look beyond the ugly and find the beauty.

(Five Stories…not sure if I followed the rules, but thanks for encouraging me to tell a story today!)

Silent Sunday: April 19, 2015

Weekly Photo Challenge: Light and Shadow

Minimalist Pleasures

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I love the beach. I love to walk. I love to take pictures.

And a perfectly timed super low tide, summer-like weather (in November!), and the just-right prompt set me off for a meditative adventure (is that an oxymoron?) this afternoon that combined the three.

I’m always surprised by how much the beach changes from week to week…sometimes even day to day. When I arrived today, I noticed right away that the fairly flat beach had been replaced by a large berm, seemingly to protect the permanent lifeguard structure and upper sandy area from the late fall/winter tide patterns. And as I began to walk, the super low tide revealed rocks that have been covered by sand all summer. What was a smooth sandy beach a few weeks ago, is now rocky.

The simple, minimal beauty of rocks and water and sky is profoundly calming and relaxing. I found myself breathing deeply, soaking in the peace.

Walking further, I found I could walk on sandbars that put the open ocean on one side of me and pools and rivers of sea water on the other. I was mesmerized by the reflections of light and the soft ripples as the wind played with the water.

A recent Huffington Post article entitled Why Being Near the Ocean Can Make Your Calmer And More Creative seems to confirm my experiences with the beach.

The monochromatic shades of blue, a minimalist masterpiece of blue sky, blue water, blue shadows…caught my eye as I caught this bird in flight.

As I turned around to head back to my starting place, the sun had moved lower in the sky, painting the landscape with warm light.

Oranges and yellows replaced the blues as the sun painted the sky.

A lone bird, the sun multiplying as it is reflected in the water and a minimalist portrait of solitude emerges.

A perfect, peaceful ending to the work week.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Time Change

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Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

I’m not a fan of the time change in the fall. I mean, I love getting the bonus hour…for sleep, walking, exploration, photography…but I hate getting home when it is dark, especially when it isn’t even 5pm! But in this first week of the time change, I have found some interesting images BECAUSE of the time change.

I’ve been trying to squeeze more time for physical exercise into my life…and this week I’ve been carrying my gym shoes so I can take the time for a walk at the end of the day. Earlier this week I had a late meeting near UCSD, so when I finished my regular work day I put my gym shoes on and took a nice long walk around the campus. As the sun dipped lower and lower into the sky, I loved watching the way it caressed the buildings and played hide and seek through the trees.

In this image, the low sun found its way through the tall buildings, lighting up the midsection of the eucalyptus trees in front of them.

In this shot, the harsh setting sun created a flare of light as I shot directly into it. Using an app to convert it to black and white created a neat effect with the light.

The Geisel Library at UCSD is such an architecturally interesting building that I couldn’t resist framing some shots. You can see the sun setting behind the building in this shot focused toward the west. Again, I changed it to black and white, creating lines of light framing the building.

And as I walked I noticed the moon rising. I chased it through the trees, tracking it down when it hid behind buildings. And as I circled back toward the library, I found the moon sitting on its shoulder with the colorful afterglow of sunset in the background. This image is almost otherworldly!

Yesterday I was at school late, after all, it is report card season. And it’s hard to stay focused on work as the classroom gets darker and darker as the sun sets. About a half hour after the sunset, my teaching partner and I headed out…and looked out toward the end of the hall and saw the most incredible colors in the sky. Brilliant oranges sat on the deep turquoise sea, and even as I took the time to snap a few images I knew that my camera would not do justice to the intensity of the colors.

And here is one more, looking across the field at the baseball backstop with the ocean just beyond.

How has the time change impacted you? What are you seeing and capturing in your photos that are because of the time change? My pictures happen to take place as the sun went down, but I can imagine that the morning light is also different, changing what you see.

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #timechange for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

How did you take advantage of your extra hour? What are you noticing now that our days are shorter and our nights longer? I look forward to seeing the time change through your lens!