For this weeks’ Cosmic Photo Challenge we were to get up-close and personal with our subjects. This worked out well for me, since I took some pictures early last week that fit the bill.
The first I cropped and sharpened. I left the flowers in the distance in the shot, to show the contrast between near and far.
This second shot is completely unaltered. It doesn’t fit into the challenge, but I like it.
I love it, but I felt like it needed something extra done with it. My camera washed the scene out; while it looks hazily romantic, it’s not clear enough to see what was there.
Here’s what I came up with: first, I darkened it to make it look closer to the actual scene.
Then, just for fun, I took the colour out of it.
I like the way the swans pop out of the picture in this last one.
Which do you prefer?
For this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge, the prompt was “Into the woods”, giving you a pretty broad theme of trees, woodlands, forests, leaves, anything arboreal in fact. You can find it by clicking
here.
Today’s theme for Song-Lyric Sunday is Moms. I wanted to share something a little different. I’ve always loved the song, “The Way,” by Fastball. It reminds me of carefree days before kids, when the world was my oyster and the road was paved with gold, at least in my mind. It also reminds me that there are people in the world who never grow up, who never submit to the responsibility of the children they bear. What the couple does in the song is a fleeting fantasy. One I admit to occasionally having. In me, it only lasts a split second. For some…
“The Way” – Fastball
They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down they started walking
Where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?
[Chorus:]
Anyone can see the road that they walk on
Is paved in gold
And it’s always summer
They’ll never get cold
They’ll never get hungry
They’ll never get old and grey
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won’t make it home
But they really don’t care
They wanted the highway
They’re happier there today, today
Their children woke up
And they couldn’t find them
They left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off and left it all behind ’em
But where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?
This picture was taken at sunset on a dull, rainy night at Jolly Beach, Antigua, January 23, 2013.
Reality
By first lightening the photo, and then enhancing the reds and blues, and decreasing the greens, I ended up with a much more stunning sunset than I saw in reality.
I was lucky enough to see Pink Floyd live in Toronto, in the summer of 1994. It was an outdoor concert on a beautiful evening; a soft breeze blew and the music was absolutely heart-wrenchingly wonderful. I was about six months pregnant at the time, and the baby, my eldest son, did somersaults to the beat of the bass guitar. This was one of the songs they played.
I dream there will be a day when it’s no longer relevant. In the meantime, there is no better reminder.
Copied and pasted from AZLyrics.com:
“On The Turning Away”
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won’t understand
“Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away”
It’s a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it’s shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we’re all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
Mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?
Good news! The pingbacks were working yesterday. So go ahead and give it a try, but make sure you check a minute or two after you post to make sure your pingback is in the comments.
Anyone who would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do,
you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
The poll is now closed for your favourite entry in the One-Liner Wednesday badge contest, and we have a winner! In an unprecedented landslide with a whopping 42% of the 26 votes, you chose…
Wes’s badge!!
#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com
Thanks again to all the contestants. You all did a great job!
And congratulations to Wes!! Because you can’t spell “awesome” without Wes!!!
You know that feeling when you’re trying to come up with something to write before a 2am deadline but you just can’t think of a damned thing and just the trying feels like this?
Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
I received a nice email from one of my son Christopher’s teachers the other day, explaining that if he didn’t get an assignment completed he would fail the course. The course is photography. The assignment, landscapes.
I only had one chance this weekend to get out with him, and that was at 7:30 this morning. So we went to my favourite spot, the Waterfront Trail so he could take some pictures. I couldn’t resist getting a few myself.
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