Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #47: Five Elements
Our challenge this week is about five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. These five elements are based on the Chinese theory of the composition of the world. The theory has influenced Chinese medicine, philosophy, etc. for more than two thousand years.
“In nature, nothing exists alone.”
— Rachel Carson
This giant copper sheet is displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “Dynamic forces, set in motion over a billion years ago, created this copper sheet. Later, hot water dissolved copper from those rocks. The solution seeped into overlying layers of shale, depositing copper in sheets like this one.”
Metal
The woods are never solitary–they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life.
–L.M. Montgomery
Wood
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.”
–Lao Tzu
Water
“The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.”
— Carl Sagan
An ancient Greek concept of earth, water, air, fire, and aether dated from pre-Socratic times. The Buddha’s teaching regarding four of the elements (water, earth, air, and fire) can be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy.
Fire
”To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
—Carl Sagan
Earth
This week you have an opportunity to interpret metal, wood, water, fire, and/or earth with your favorite photos to express “…the only home we’ve ever known”. Feel free to choose one, two… or all five elements.
Note: The above earth image was captured in Peru. Converting image into black&white was inspired by the stunning photo– “Mountains Beyond Mountains” of Mount Everest.
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Have you seen these:
A Delicate Waterdrop Umbrella “Colliding waterdrops create a delicate umbrella — here for a brief instant, then gone forever.”
Janet’s This, That and Other Thing “Outside the rain is pouring down, putting drops on my mind, although those outside are anything but delicate. “
fotosbykarin “I love it to search delicate things in nature. They are beautiful, tiny, extraordinary….”
We look forward to seeing your responses to this week’s challenge. Be sure to link to this post and to use the LensArtists Tag so that we can find you in our reader section. Be sure to stay tuned for Tina’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge next week.
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Small Subjects
These swallows are pretty tiny. Their body length ranges only from about 10–24 cm (3.9–9.4 in).
Cee’s B&W Challenge topic is Small Subjects
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Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #46 – Delicate
As many as 1,400 whooping cranes migrated across North America in the mid-1800s, by the late 1930s, the Aransas population was down to just 18 birds.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the population of whooping cranes is at 505 in 2017.
They are 4 ft 1 inch to 5 ft 3 inch in heights. It is the tallest North American bird. They mate for life, but will accept a new mate if one dies.
Their diet consists of blue crabs, clams, frogs, minnows, rodents, small birds, and berries. These long-lived birds can live up to 24 years in the wild.
This crab looks too big for Mr. W to chew. 🙂
They migrate more than 2,400 miles a year, from Canada to Texas’ coastal plains in and around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. They stay here from November through March, according to Texas Park and Wildlife.
The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is one of their favorite places. The wildlife refuge makes sure whooping cranes are happy during their 5-month staying.
Their beautiful black wing tips are only visible when fly.
It was a chilly morning, we were there 3 hours on a small boat. The captain handed me a couple of hand warmers so I could keep clicking. Finally we got a few shots of these cranes in flight.
Whooping cranes are still one of the rarest birds in North America.
Ann Christine hosts this week’s L-A theme. She offers us an array of opportunities to interpret “delicate”. Take a look of her beautiful post, both in photos and words. Hope you’ll join us.
I will be hosting next week’s L-A Photo Challenge #47.
Cee’s FFPC: Feathers
Little guys were taking their first field trip.
A couple minutes later, they ran into a dead wood in water.
This little guy tried hard to climb over. “Boy, it’s slippery.” he quickly found out.
But he kept trying…
“Almost there…” After trying four times, he finally made it.
Submitting to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge:
Take a tour of the street art around the world. It’s amazing!
Thank you for visiting!
Catch Me If You Can
When I was holding my camera standing by those photographers with a long/wide lens and heavy duty tripod, I didn’t think I had a chance to capture these tiny birds, especially when they were hopping and flying from branch to branch on a tree. And these birds were like “Catch me if you can!”.
This one was showing off his speedy diving skill. A second ago she was climbing on this tree.
Swallow was hopping on the grass for a little while.
The other Swallow decided to take off:
The Red-winged Blackbird was easy to spot:
I was lucky to capture this Red-winged Blackbird in flight:
The Yellow Warbler is striking in woods. I was happy to capture him stretching his beautiful wings.
Set my camera focus on AI Servo, I was able to capture this bird in action. 🙂
This cute little guy (Ruby-crowned Kinglet?) was determined to fly high.
My friend in Ohio said that many places were crowded with serious photographers last weekend. To get some cool shots of these birds, you do need a lot of patience. You definetly need strong arms to carry these gears. 🙂
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #45: Street Art
This week Patti gives us an opportunity to show our street art discoveries.
The 1980s could be summarized as the “Jekyll and Hyde” period of the subway system. As the decade began, it had the filthiest trains, the craziest graffiti, the noisiest wheels, and the weirdest passengers. By the end of the decade, it had cleaner trains, … —New York Transit History
Today, these subway art installations allowing riders to enjoy various creative art works in many subway stations.
This glass mosaic weaves its way along more than 100 feet of undulating wall. It suggests an alternate universe unrestricted by time and space:
Riders can also enjoy subway art inside of a train:
Some tell culture and fun stories of the city:
Elizabeth Murray’s “Stream” brings an otherwise long and barren hallway to life. The bright reds, blues, oranges and yellows are meant to energize riders as they go about their daily commutes.
“The message of ‘I Amsterdam’ is that we are all individuals in the city. We want to show something different: diversity, tolerance, solidarity.” said city councilor Femke Roosma. But, it has been removed from the city center to reduce the tour traffic.
This 17th century style tile mural with a fleet of ships on water is located at theAmsterdam Central Station Tunnel:
To me, the bicycle parking in Amsterdam looks like a unique street art display. 🙂
Patti says, “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #45 is your chance to highlight Street Art in any form, such as posters, graffiti, prints, stencils, sculptures, or installations.” You are invited to share photos of the street art you found.
As always, make a l
*** Next week Ann-Christine will host Lens Artists Photo Challenge #46.
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