Alone at the edge of the forest. Sap quietly circulating everywhere, like a myriad of creeks finding their way through every twist and turn. Rising through the trunks, splitting at every crossroads, distributing itself through the branches all the way up. Feeding everything. A sea of trees communicating and cooperating through subterranean networks of fungi. One giant organism living, breathing, regulating itself, interacting with the environment. A web of life bringing together plants, fungi, insects, animals. Lifeblood flowing everywhere, unseen and unheard.
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We say that somebody sees the world in black and white when they seem to be lacking nuance and attention to detail and specificity. But there’s a whole world of shades between black and white. A spectrum of nuances and possibilities. And sometimes it’s exactly because we restrict ourselves to black and white that we can better express visually what is unique, interesting, or unusual about our subject.
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A short story from the forest, somewhere on the border between France and Germany. I discovered it during a hike, like so many other things we discover while being in motion.
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We are all faces in the crowd unless somebody looks at us with the kind of attention and care that takes us out of the crowd. The attention and care that reveals what is unique and lovable and just ours. Or unless we can look at ourselves like that. Tough call. In this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, John asks us to explore what it means to be a face in the crowd. Or to be portrayed as one.
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I woke up suddenly in the dark. Somebody had just called my name. Was I dreaming? A long time ago, when I was living at my grandma’s and I couldn’t sleep, I used to listen to the noises coming from the attic. Mice looking for food. I knew that, but I couldn’t help imagining other things going on at night. Things that materialized when the conditions were right and began manifesting themselves in the world. Things that were not exactly alive but could make themselves felt among the living.
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This week, Amy invites us to explore different ways of framing photos. What is framing? For me, it’s how we use physical delimitations, leading lines, light, color, texture, and focus to highlight the photo’s subject matter and to create a coherent narrative.
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A little photo story from a city I love. Alfama is the oldest neighborhood of Lisbon. It lies on the hills between the São Jorge Castle and the Tagus river. Its name comes from the Arabic al-ḥamma, meaning “hot fountains” or “baths”.
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In this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Ann-Christine invites us to share some work in progress. She is the first to notice that, after all, everything and everybody is work in progress. Endless choices seem to be opening up here. But too many choices can make it as difficult as too few choices.
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It just so happens that yesterday I started this writing challenge in which there are tasks to be accomplished each week. And the first task is to pay attention and write down moments and situations without getting bogged down in explanation, justification, interpretation, and narrative. It’s harder than I thought.
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I’ve been hiking along the seashore on Cote d’Opale for the past three days. Walking on the high cliffs. From time to time, descending on small rocky beaches. The breeze is strong. It carries with it smells from near and far. Salt, seaweed, myriads of small sea creatures rotting on the beach, memories of long-lost joys and sorrows, forgotten loves, and sea voyages with no return.