When I first started looking for people to model for me, I met Katie. This was one of the first pics I took of her- color enhanced a bit! (Notice anything amiss?!)
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/photo-challenge-saturated/
West Seventh Freelance
Photography, seeking, writing…and learning along the way. Want to come along?!
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Do the avatars we choose suggest something about us? What if someone interprets an avatar as a negative symbol; in this case a cat’s eye? I just changed my avatar in solidarity with someone who was asked to change theirs…
(You will recognize the model from a post I did on Feline Rescue. With the exception of a bad rap during the middle ages, cats are generally revered.)Some interesting info from: http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2009/03/at-sign-of-cat-feline-symbolism.html :
Indeed, according to Egyptian mythology, the cat owes its eyes’ shimmering phosphorescence to the sun-god Ra, who entrusted to it the sun’s brilliant luster, to be guarded and diligently transported by it throughout the night – so that our planet would never be entirely without light, and as a promise that the sun would itself return every morning.
As an emblem of the moon, which is traditionally portrayed in many mythologies worldwide as feminine in comparison with the masculine sun, it was inevitable that the cat too would become a symbol of femininity and associated with a number of important female deities. Most familiar of these is Bast, Egypt’s golden-eyed cat-headed goddess of the moon (again) and fertility, via whom the cat has also become linked symbolically to childbirth.
Indeed, ‘Ru’, which is the Egyptian hieroglyph representing birth, was based upon the shape of a cat’s eye, and when placed upon the Tau cross, representing time, yielded the famous ankh – symbol of life and immortality. This later became synonymous with Venus, the Roman goddess of love, thereby reinforcing the cat’s link with femininity and fertility.
Similarly, Venus’s Norse counterpart, the goddess Freya, not only symbolizing love and passion but also ruling the dark, mysterious kingdom of the night, rode through the sky in a chariot drawn by a team of cats (originally lynxes). And in Hindu mythology, Shasti, goddess of childbirth, is borne aloft not upon a horse or elephant, but upon a cat instead.
Happy Saturday! Christine
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When one reaches a certain age, some of us like to test the boundaries. For me it meant leaving a structured environment to reacquaint myself with activities about which I felt passion as a teenager and twenty-something: photography and writing.
It is now nearly a year since I took the leap and I have stumbled upon an Internship posting; one that melds my old skill set with my passion. Ahhh… What do I do to navigate the question of age? There are programs for career changers- adult internships, but those are a rarity. Is it OK to elbow in on the other opportunities? It is challenging to fit oneself back in- especially into tight spaces where there are too many bodies with so much talent. Who am I? Will it work out this time? I know I will keep exploring! -
Not long ago, one of our fellow bloggers, http://ohgodmywifeisgerman.com/, wrote about the baby boom he and his wife are noticing all around them. I am seeing it too, but through the lens. I am recruiting babies for “photo practice” and having a great time! There is an inevitable warm up period and then, I am learning, one must take hundreds of photos to find one or two that you might really like- not to mention the parents!
This little one had me laughing out loud. The second photo is quite suggestive of his initial thoughts about the whole photography idea…
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lines and swirls into shapes I just liked these posts today…not all are part of the challenge, but they brought a smile, or gasp, due to the sheer beauty…
http://urbanmosaicnyc.com/2013/09/20/city-skies-6/
http://follygirlsphotoworld.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/weekly-photo-challenge-from-lines-to-patterns/
Love the spider webs by Folly Girls Photo World…one of my favorite memories of my dad is a B&W photo he took of a dew covered web.
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Working with new found friend and mentor, Ceil, I hope to continue to improve my photography. Every Thursday I will post my weekly “assignment”! Today I was at The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory Gardens of Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, MN
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“Inside”…indoors, ‘what’s inside the box?’, ‘what’s inside the little girl with blue fingernail polish’s head’, OR- (she’s thinking) ‘What’s inside that lady’s head and why is she on the floor with us?’Pre-photo session for a good friend’s 70th birthday party. Her grandchildren are amazing!
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On a cloudless August day, Richard W., 65, navigates his pontoon on the waters of Jennings Bay, Lake Minnetonka. Pulling a laminated map from beneath the pilot’s chair, he points out Dutch Lake, where he, and wife Carol, raised their two girls.
Dick was definitively diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, but the couple, and a colleague of Dick’s, noticed changes when Dick was just 52 years old. Once a full-time therapist, Dick was unable to keep up with the myriad of details of a private practice and tells of a “convergence of issues”. Regarding the diagnosis, Dick says, “it’s a cold shock, but knowing is better than denying it.”
My father, pictured here, also had Alzheimer’s. My mother suffered a different form of dementia. I post this as a tribute to mom, who would have been 99 on September 11. I wrote this profile while volunteering for the Alzheimer’s Association on MN-ND.
For the Wagner’s, the Alzheimer’s Association is at the center of their new reality. “I think the Association has really helped us come to terms with things,” observes Carol. “Through education, the relationships we have, and, building Dick’s self-esteem. There is something so comforting…everyone understands.”
A momentous event for both Dick and Carol was an invitation to speak at the 2012 Meeting of the Minds Dementia Conference. With Carol at his side, Dick spoke candidly about living with Alzheimer’s. They were both amazed how his words, and presence, moved the 1300 people in attendance. “Dick had a huge impact!” Carol recalls. “People came up to us all day long; telling us about spouses who wouldn’t talk about it- people whose spouses had died, and it had gone unspoken.” For Dick, the conference was a unique opportunity. “I feel blessed that people asked me to speak…with the things falling away from me, I could still give a talk.”
Dick also volunteers his time as a mentor for newly diagnosed individuals. “People can call, if they want to talk. I know how important it is to let them talk to someone who understands…”
“I think it gives people heart,” Dick says softly, “and we take heart from other people.”
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