Welcome to Friday Foto Flogging, a place to share your photos and photography news. We were inspired by the folks at European Tribune who post a regular Friday Photoblog series to try the same on this side of the virtual Atlantic. We also thought foto folks would enjoy seeing some other websites so each week we’ll introduce a different photo website.
This Week’s Theme (hat tip to wilderness wench): “Open up the dictionary at random, point & shoot.” If you don’t have a dictionary at hand, feel free to use another book, or one of the words that wilderness wench found: involution (the detailed design), recollect (the web of memory), turbulent (rough seas, howling winds),
wanderlust (seek & ye shall find) or roof (a roof). This should be interesting! 🙂
Website of the Week: Digital Picture Zone Gallery. 30 Stunning Examples Of Shadow Photography
AndiF’s Choices
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Inweave. Def: intermingle The currents in the creek inweaved. Click image for larger version |
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Dandy. Def: splendid, first-rate What could be more dandy than my two boys? Click image for larger version |
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Profuse. Def: lavish, extravagant, abundant After the rains, the mayapples were profuse in the extreme. Click image for larger version |
olivia’s Choices
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Black. Def: of the very darkest color; the opposite of white; colored like coal, due to the absence of or complete absorption of light
Lavender inversion. Click image for larger version |
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Ugly. Def: unpleasant or repulsive, esp. in appearance
A face only a mother could love? Click image for larger version |
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Multitude. Def: a large number
Blowing bubbles … Click image for larger version |
- Next Week’s Theme: Green. It’s Spring! We’re going for the obvious but feel free to be sly and subtle.
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Previous Friday Foto Flogs
1.
A. The act of involving.
B. The state of being involved.
2 Intricacy; complexity.
…
Not sure if these would be acceptable examples of a visual representation of the partial definition above but here goes nothing.
For # 1…
For # 2…
The bottom shot is just stunning. Do you have any idea what kind of plant that is?
It’s a poppy of some variant is my best guess.
I think this is papaver somniferum (says the old grower). Beautiful!
Papaver orientale maybe …
I was thinkin’ somniferum because the pod seems pretty spherical, as opposed to the orientale’s more tapered shape.
I think you’re right … 🙂
Involved and complex seem quite perfect for those tow.
I love the bottom one — it look like someone gave it “bowl” haircut. 🙂
Like Jim Carey from Dumb and Dumber perhaps?
;p
It’s Moe!
Actually, if you think about it, the 3 Stooges’ heads correspond almost precisely to the poppy’s life cycle, if you start with Curly.
For reference, the top one was taken with my old Nikon S4 which had a great macro feature.
The bottom one was taken with (drum roll, please)….my new lens! Not the best, but it’s a Sigma 28-90mm mini zoom macro lens. $16 @ Ritz due to a slight “advertising” error and a sales clerk more than happy to just give me the reduced/sale/firesale price regardless.
For those in the area, check out Ritz @ 34th and Walnut. There may still be some deals there.
16! LOL … nice. Takes a great photo … 🙂
I have been out in the woods in the summer and watched wasps and hornets attack cicadas. They are so focused on their prey that they are oblivious to me.
The centers of poppy’s look like somethng Edith Head would have designed as a movie costume for Audrey Hepburn. Great shot!
Great close-up details!
Mileage, miles traveled.
Nice definitions. The perspective of the boardwalk in the second shot really does give me a sense of miles being traveled.
These seem to show the miles of a lifetime — time, distance, states of mind & being. Lovely, lovely shots — especially the second one. Love that strong form!
Beautiful … Hi Bob.
Love the shadow on the boardwalk.
Hi, I like the “Black” shot inversion. I like that type of infra-red black and white.
The boardwalk shot is so neat. I like all of the lines. The horizon, the boards of the boardwalk, and that center line shadow are such strong elements, and they are set off by the wispy clouds. Great colors too.
I’m glad everyone likes this one. I felt it was the strongest of the three.
Of or related to a son
The best definition of filial ever!
Beamish boy.
Andrew’s grown so much since I last saw him! As handsome as ever, too.
He is growing leaps and bounds lately. He’s eating 2-3 servings of whatever is on the plate. It’s like I’m feeding a teenager.
That’s wonderful!
LOL, perfect. 🙂 What is Andrew holding in that top photo?
His obsession with all things leaf like (though not the Maple Leafs) is back. In that picture, he is holding maple tree buds that he picked up on the way home from school.
Too bad that boy never smiles… 🙂
No dictionary handy, and not feeling terribly clever, plus am having trouble uploading some of the pictures I want, so, maybe you can find the right words for these snapshots through the train window on the way between Damascus and Aleppo and back again. :o}
At Dusk, Just north of Homs on the way to Hama
A Few Miles Outside Aleppo on the Way to Hama
Between Hama and Homs
At Dusk, Around Homs
No dictionary. No problem. We’re always glad to see pictures from your travels — they provide their own definitions.
Beautiful views to pass the time!
Three Kurdish Students
These three girls got on the train at Homs where they are first year students studying Arabic-English-Arabic translation. They all live in the Aleppo area. There were six altogether, three girls, three boys, all Kurdish, all very attractive, all very kind and nice and friendly. They stayed with me until we finally got me a taxi to my hotel, which was not easy as all the taxis were very busy.
Universal Appeal, No Comment Necessary!
You’re very good at getting people to let you take their picture and you reward them by doing very good portraits.
Thanks again for allowing us to stay with you on your travels, Hurria. You have the gift of making your experiences immediate for us.
I really like both of these. Train travel has always been my very favorite way to go. As a group, people who take the train seem a bit different to me somehow, a little more interesting, not in such a hurry as air travelers.
Somewhere recently I heard that the train is the “greenest” form of transportation available. I like being able to watch the scenery go by, and have also gotten better at getting decent snapshots through the window, though I still have a good way to go.
The taxi driver who took me to the train station in Damascus for the trip up to Aleppo thought it was odd that I was taking the train and not flying (implied was “since you are obviously rich”). I told him I like the train because the scenery is nice, and it is relaxing, and there are always interesting people to talk to, and anyway, I was not in a hurry. It’s all true.
NIce that you had such a friendly group to keep you company.
There are always nice social opportunities on the trains (and buses) here, but these kids were exceptionally friendly and fun.
Mrs. ID has good memories of a similar group of teens in Italy who were all anxious to practice their English-speaking skills.
I find that a lot here, and sometimes it is a bit of a struggle, because these visits are my only opportunity to emerse myself in Arabic so that I don’t forget it completely. Usually I absolutely insist on speaking Arabic, but in this case we ended up speaking about half and half Arabic and English.
I like the way you get people to share themselves with you and your camera. You don’t let the camera separate you (and us) from the experience.
Wow – what an extraordinarily nice thing to say! Thanks.
Thanks Hurria,
For making friends so we can all appreciate them.
You are a very important ambassador.
The images of the people you meet, are to me, the most important ones, for I can see that they could easily be my new friends also.
It’s my pleasure, KH. And thanks for getting it. :o}
things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time.
Ephemeral Bebo
Click for larger
Ephemeral Sky
Click for larger
Ephemeral Web
Click for larger
What a beautiful set! Most especially, ‘Ephemeral Bebo’ just makes me pleased to be alive. Such a lovely shot, in so many ways. I truly love this picture.
Most of my photos of Bebo look like that.
Nice angle on the spiderweb! The Bebo shot is pure fun. I’m imagining The Call Of The Wild.
I was pleased with that shot. There was just enough of an erratic breeze that day to make it difficult to get one in focus.
I’m with ww … that shot of Bebo is just delightful! It makes me happy looking at it. 🙂
And the other two shots are amazing – the contrails photo is a great capture, and the web is simply beautiful.
Great set Jim.
Bebo is our clown.
Really funny.
A hasty exit out the back way of milady’s boudoir?
Is this where the song “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus”, comes from?
That’s the post-censorship version.
LOL … 🙂
That was 1952. Everything was euphemism in those days 😉
“Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph, which one of you clowns moved the ladder!?!”
What a beautiful shot, LEP! Very elegant.
Love the lines!
I’m sure he was very appreciative to be so well-greeted. 🙂
The story behind Andi’s photos —
The man and the dog noticed the strange inweave in the water’s ripples. In a dandy fashion they beat a retreat after they saw the approaching profuse mayapple army which was shaking the Earth!
Andi’s set is truly, truly dandy indeed. The Mayapples impress me enormously.
lol … the mayapple army is spot-on.
Olivia, each picture is stunning, but one is stunning like a Taser. 😉
LOL, hopefully not too painful … 😉
Miss Olivia! I love that laveander inversion. I think of the spears of ghostly armies. Quite beautiful!
Thanks ww!
Firework. Def: Any of various combinations of explosives and combustibles used to generate colored lights, smoke and noise for amusement.
(Some of us have ideas for amusement that are a little out of the mainstream)
Wow!
I was reading your comment to ww below about the training time. How often do they do this hands-on work w/ real fires? And I imagine they have difference scenarios for different kinds of combustibles?
There are several fairly large, mostly home fires in our district every year. This particular training is dedicated to LP gas emergencies, as so many homes here are heated with it.
The last one I was involved with, a fairly good-sized shed had caught fire from an outdoor trash fire and fallen over on the LP gas tank. We had a few nervous moments on that one, since the pressure relief valve was already venting when we arrived, a sign of possible impending tank failure. Luckily, we were able to get set up and cool it off before it scattered throughout the neighborhood (and us).
Ah, does my heart good to see you guys training — makes me think that maybe my house won’t burn down to the ground if it ever catches fire. 🙂
Its actually fun, for those of us twisted enough to enjoy that sort of thing;-)
Could have been “heat” too.
Turbulent.
I would be proud to frame and hang number 5 ! Looks like something Matisse would have done!
That’s a pretty high compliment, ID. Thank you!
I’m still looking for words for yours. Wow!
The most important words (for a trainee) here are, “Do exactly as your instructor tells you.” About 4 hours of classroom time precedes an exercise like this.
Much agreed ID. Though I do have a thing for lost pieces of paper. I love to pick them up and read them.
I can satisfy your curiosity this time, Toni. This was actually an old posted sign (No Trespassing, Hunting, Fishing, Farting etc) that blew down & was somehow covered by a rock.
The woodland creature in me always rejoices to see these signs destroyed — I think they’re obnoxious & no one pays real attention to them anyway.
Thanks for the sign reading ww. I am constantly picking up notes in the hallway at school ans reading the kids gossip. I never have any idea who wrote the note, but anonymous is better.
Hi ww … always look forward to your photos. The care w/ which — or maybe it’s a sense of meaning behind — the photos you select, your subjects, the way you capture them … that comes through for me when I look at your photos. I get a peaceful feeling when viewing them …
Thank you, Miss O! This makes me happy.
Love ’em all, but especially #5 — though I really have to say it looks more like the definition of meditative than turbulent. Now the very #1, that’s turbulent. 🙂
Yes — the story of my life.
😉
#5 is a beautiful impressionist shot. I like the sense of motion in #2, 3, & 4.
Thank you, Jim! This is the kind of motion you can perceive if your environment is relatively still. I like to try & capture that.
It is so weird in a way… to read and see what people have to share in such a public place … to develop such a sense of “knowing” people who I would not be able to recognize in this place called “real” … to eagerly look forward to what others have to offer … to want to share what I see with others who share bits and pieces of their “real” world … to so appreciate the encouragement to use tools that make this possible … to wish to convey how very real this feels … and how very valuable… no words from the dictionary (maybe tomorrow) … just a huge THANK YOU…
Buddha Babe made from sculpey clay, tucked under a red Barberry bush …
Hi tampopo … wise words to go w/ your buddha babe. 🙂 It’s very interesting how much we come to know one another through the small glimpses we share of our worlds outside these tubes … but wouldn’t recognize each other as you say. And in some cases, the inverse is true – that those in the ‘real’ world wouldn’t recognize our inner/’net selves necessarily …
I think it not only feels real, it is real; it’s just a different species of real. And should I ever have the great pleasure of meeting you “in the flesh”, we wouldn’t feel like strangers for even a second. That’s what happened every time I’ve met someone from my online life IRL — well except for the required “Oh, you don’t look at all like I imagined”.
Love the Buddha. 🙂
Hope to see some pictures from you.
‘A different species of real’ — absolutely agreed.
And I hope that one day we’ll get to experience the other species of real as well. I’d love to go tramping through the woods with you.
O yes! Wouldn’t that be fun!
I told your friend Jum that the trail to those high Red Hill outcroppings is always available, should y’all find yourself out this way sometime.
As for me, whenever I step outside the boundaries of the Catskill Park I become like the Wicked Witch of the West hit by water.
As for me, whenever I step outside the boundaries of the Catskill Park I become like the Wicked Witch of the West hit by water
In that case, I’ll definitely come to you. 🙂
And now we’re off to go tramp in our woods.
Later.
I feel privileged and lucky to be a part of all this too! How right you are, tampopo.
Buddha Babe is great! What a fine portrait, too.
I find this very true of artists in general and it really comes through when one’s work is shown in a public forum. Each of us put an awful lot of ourselves in each photo we take, whether we are aware of it or not. I had a prof. in college that was big on what was going into the photo, the emotional aspect or motivation, not just the subject matter.
Hmm. To me, that seems like a false differentiation — because what ‘informs’ the photo is exactly what expresses itself in the photo. There’s no other way to perceive or understand that input ..
Not necessarily. Try taking product photographs of, oh, a box of Tide or any product, it is mind numbing, technically precise, but devoid of any feeling. It has to be to be neutral. P&G does not want my take on what their box looks like.
Opposed to what is posted here, subject matter that is emotionally important to the photographer. As a viewer the viewer(s) can have many different reactions from viewer to viewer. Often the motivator is unknown to the viewer, it is up to the artist to convey and the viewer to interpret. You kind of see where I was going? Or am I digging a hole?
Apologies for dropping out, Bob. ‘Net time is limited.
OK. I think you’re saying that the artist’s emotive input is, in fact, distinctly measurable; in the case of product photography, using your example, it’s measurable by its absence.
(Not that emotion isn’t a component of product photography; we’re meant to respond emotionally to these images, as consumers.)
I guess that I don’t really see the artist’s emotive input, something once invested by the artist & unchanging ever after, as particularly important to the livelihood of the work, which is really a matter of collaborative experience.
I think of the famous Zen koan of the fallen tree in the forest. Placing the focus on the artist’s emotional motivation with regard to the life of an artwork would seem to be like attempting to answer the koan by examining the lumberjack.
Was the word you found in the dictionary eclectic? 🙂
No mattter — as always, your choices are highly enjoyable.
I think you mean dyslectic.
I thought it said pictionary.
Thanks Andi, you`re always such a good sport.
You’re welcome … though I’m not sure how much a good sport one has to be to get loads of pleasure from a wonderful bunch of photos. 🙂
Hard to pick a favourite this week — 🙂 I really like the second from bottom … the bright against the darker sky.
bombinate (BOM-buh-nayt), intransitive verb:
To buzz; to hum; to drone. dictionary.com
Couldn’t resist adding this as I had just fooled around a week or so ago trying to get a photo of a hovering bumble bee.
Great word. Great photo. 😀
Thanks – A good place to slip in and compliment you on your photos. Your water photos inweave the complex surface reflections and the world below the surface – I always find new things each time I look at them.
BTW, it would be a pleasure to meet you and JimF – Manny had asked me if I had met you, saying you both were great people. Pretty high recommendation 😉
I’d be delighted to meet you too (and it’s a mutual admiration society with Manny — Jim and I really enjoyed meeting him). Do you live in the same area as Manny?
I got to meet Manny in D.C. – I’m a Manny fan too. 😉
So what we need to do is find out when Manny is going somewhere fun and then meet up. 🙂
[ringing ears]
as long as it’s not triple-digit weather outside! is it winter yet?
Hiya Manny. As far as I’m concerned triple digits temps ≠ fun.
So you’ll just need to keep me and tampopo (oh yeah and Mary) informed of your travel plans. 🙂
can I come too?
It’s about time you came to!
(Sorry — I remember that gag from an old “Goon Show” episode and couldn’t resist.)
Excellent idea!
Now that’s something you don’t see every day! A fun perspective.
Thanks ID – it would hover near a pine tree in sunlight, then zoom around. I have no idea why. It was rather comical trying to get a photo. I would look at the bee, put camera to eye and try to find it again, then focus and shoot. I had lots of photos of blue – teased by a bee.
LOL … nicely captured tampopo.
Thanks olivia. I wanted to tell you of all your wonderful photos, I was charmed by the bubbles – all the shimmering reflections, sparkle lights and hints of other colors – oooh!