Today's Picture to Ponder Photo As I walked, one recent morning something caught my eye
on the dull concrete. I got closer and saw it was a pond apple, fruit
from a tree, rather than a small animal, as I had thought. I picked it
up and then started playing, setting it up and photographing it in
different environments. One close-up view is quite brilliant in color.
Should you wish to see the latter two photos, simply click on the underlined links. Wow, it's not alive.
A Pond Apple on the Boardwalk Railing at Wakodahatchee Wetlands
Because,
I so love the peacefulness, the mystery and the fun of today's featured
photo - the impishness of the personified fruit - as well as the
aesthetics in the repetition of textures and flowing patterns and
color, I am choosing to leave it as a stand-alone image for you to
enjoy.
Self-Reflecting Queries
Today
I invite you to pay attention to something in your environment that you
usually ignore, have never noticed before, or maybe pass for the first
time. Be it a thought or a visual, describe what you are seeing - in
writing or simply in thought. What is it that brought it to your
arrention? Play with it. Does anything change?
For me, after taking many photos, I did come home and write down the
thoughts that had been rambling in/scrambling my brain. Mildly censored
for here, the self-deprecating deleted, I wrote:
Rainbows and Pond Apples
Rainbows and pond apples,
Alerting to my senses
Awakening that "mired-in stuckness"
The stuckness of apathy.
Negative thoughts bombard the brain,
Slow my body as I trudge along and
Then, Rainbows on an early morning walk
Open me up to excitement.
Glad I responded to the nudge -
"Early morning walk. You're up. Go to Wakodahatchee!"
Reaching up brightly in the sky.
Reflecting in the water too.
Camera time.
Walk some more.
Fatigue back.
Then, "What is that snail(?) on the concrete?
It's a dropped pond apple."
Pick it up.
Move it.
Photograph it in different places.
Energy is back.
Creativity sets in.
That's my name, my game.
What's yours?
©2008 Sheila Finkelstein
There is something really appealing about this photo - it has a brightness, and "aliveness," to it. Your poem inspired me to write about the fires we are experiencing here in northern California
Hills that I see each day
green or golden
depending on the season
now silhouettes
behind a gray curtain
Would that it were some fairy mist, come to lull us
into sleepy bliss
so that we might frolick
through the night
join in song and dance
and games of play
But this twilight shroud
no joy brings
It stifles breath and
tears the eye
sends feathered and furry friends in search of
bluer skies
Doors shut tight against
acrid fingers
Windows as though winter winds blow chill
No free spirits
dancing in the night
but prisoners are we
Fire and smoke rule the day
The hills have vanished
into ghostly gray
Posted by: Lauren Strouse | June 26, 2008 at 11:39 AM
What a poignant, powerful and tragic picture you paint, Lauren. I can see it, feel it, the imagery permeating through my soul.
Amazing contrast as you start out suggesting the "fairy picture", that much more heightening the tragedy of what's happening.
Have you submitted this to any papers or publications in your area?
Lastly, thank you for acknowledging my small part in your creating this masterpiece.
Love,
Sheila
Posted by: Sheila Finkelstein | July 02, 2008 at 09:03 PM