#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Networks

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Networks

Networks

It’s all connected
Above the ground and beneath
Networks of nature

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Textured

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Textured

Textured

Behind the layers
Taking the rough with the smooth
These many textures

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Under The Ivy

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Under The Ivy

Under The Ivy

Here at last I rest
In grasping vines and grasses
Returned to nature

The lovely Mandy Watson, from Cloudbusting – The Music of Kate Bush, and Guido Harari, the photographer who worked with Kate for so many years, held a great live chat on Facebook today. Mandy sang Into The Garden and I was reminded of my favourite sculpture at Kew Gardens, Leaf Spirit by Simon Gudgeon. I just had to process this double exposure and add a bit of extra ivy, with textures and Photoshop brushes. To follow on from my haiku, here’s the talk with Guido and Mandy, and Kate Bush’s fabulous lyrics that have always spoken to me.

Kate Bush – In My Garden

It wouldn’t take me long
To tell you how to find it
To tell you where we’ll meet
This little girl inside me
Is retreating to her favourite place
Go into the garden, go under the ivy
Under the leaves, away from the party
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose
I sit here in the thunder
The green on the gray
I feel it all around me
And it’s not easy for me
To give away a secret
It’s not safe
To go into the garden, go under the ivy
Under the leaves, away from the party
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose
Go into the garden, go under the ivy
Go under the leaves with me
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose
I’ll be waiting for you
It wouldn’t take me long
To tell you how to find it

ShareMondays2020 – Circle Of Life

ShareMondays2020 – Circle Of Life

Circle Of Life

The circle of life
Constant in change
What begins
Must cease
We bud
We bloom
We wither
All too soon
Time is linear
Our pathway
Often twisted
Seemingly occluded
Cannot be resisted
Only forward
Straight backed
Stooping
Drooping
Fading
Decaying
Another will rise
And fall in time

I’ve spent the last week watching my tulips bloom and wilt, documenting their decline in photographs. Entropy is the constant in life. This composite is a visual representation of that journey. Every stage is beautiful.

ShareMondays2020 – For The Fallen

ShareMondays2020 – For The Fallen

Everyday we hear the statistics, the numbers. I don’t want to forget that every number is a person. An individual with life ahead of them. With loved ones. With hopes and dreams. This for them, the fallen. They should never just be a statistic.

As my roses started to wilt, I was reminded of a poem I wrote many years ago. I was newly diagnosed with the Crohn’s, and bit by bit, all my own hopes and dreams were stripped away from me. I survived though! I still have a life ahead of me and many loved ones. I have fought hard to live so they don’t have to grieve.

My sincere condolences to all the family and friends of those who have been taken by this dreadful virus.

Youth

A single rosebud,
Dew dropped
And heaven scented,
Plucked by its stem
As a gift presented.
A tainted token,
Its arteries broken,
Uprooted and taken.
To watch it now wilt,
All that’s felt is guilt
For natures treasures forsaken.

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Blessings

#FeelGoodPhotoOfTheDay – Blessings

Blessings

Enfolding petals
Love woven in to the heart
Bouquet of blessings

 

ShareMondays2019 – Interstellar

ShareMondays2019 – Interstellar

I’m actually judging ShareMondays this week so my image is only being entered into the Fotospeed challenge this week. I’m still keeping the ShareMondays title up there though as this piece was created very much in the spirit of our Twitter togs challenge. It’s really all about connecting photographers, generating discussion and inspiration. It’s for the love of art!

I spent a fantastic day with my godchild, Quinn, last week, sharing our love of creativity and photographic art. They’re currently doing an art project at school based on patterns in nature. It’s something I know we’ll explore more at RHS Wisley Gardens soon, but I thought we could try a “rainy day” project and create our own, imagined, cosmic patterns. For our subject we used milk, cornflower, food colouring, inks and a couple of straws to create the swirling patterns we wanted.

Our results really spoke to the science-fiction fan in me and I decided to take a couple of the base images a step further with two 3D rendered spheres as planets. I added some light effects in overlays for stars and bands of particles spiralling out from the planets. This one’s for you Quinn! Keep creating, keep seeing the cosmically-beautiful in the small and simple things x

ShareMondays2019 – State Of Decay

ShareMondays2019 – State Of Decay

It’s Sunday night, you’ve not had any camera time during the week due to illness, how do you produce an image for the following day? Decaying leaves and a scanner! These are from the sycamore tree that sits just out the front of our flats.

I thought I would try to do something creative, with processing, to help inspire my godchild, Quinn, who has an art project on patterns in nature. I had a bit of fun taking the natural patterns and then cutting them together in strips to create a new pattern. This next one is the most stylized, looking almost like a tile.

The fallen leaves are losing their colour as they rot down into a mulch on the ground. There are lots of creatures feeding on them already, particularly slugs and snails. I brushed and washed off the leaves before scanning them! I think my hubby would have had something to say to me if I’d left any slugs crawling around the bedroom.

ShareMondays2018 – Dahlia

ShareMondays2018 – Dahlia

My favourite display at the RHS Wisley Gardens Flower Show is ALWAYS the one from Pheasant Acre Plants! I adore dahlias so their display is just heavenly. They are multi-award winners, adding Best Exhibit 2018 at Wisley to their trophies, alongside a Gold Medal from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. My favourite dahlias are undoubtedly the giant decorative cultivars. I was too enthralled by the beauty of this flower to actually note it’s name! I have many images from the flower show this year but I keep being drawn back to this particular dahlia. It just has to be my entry for ShareMondays and the Fotospeed challenges this week! I captured this image with my mirrorless Sony a6000 and a vintage Helios lens. I really like the soft matte quality of the images I get. Great fun for still life, particularly floral subjects!

MBW

 

MBW

Abstract reflections in a car bonnet, at Mercedes-Benz World yesterday, for today’s Fotospeed and Wex Monday’s challenges. Thought I’d try going with something a bit different!