Photography – Page 4 – Retirementally Challenged

Thursday Doors: Vibrant Oaxaca

Just as it was two years ago when we first traveled to Oaxaca, a good number of the pictures I took on our recent trip were of the beautiful and varied doors we saw. Colorful doors that hint at equally artistic interiors; grand doors of churches and historic buildings; decaying doors that wear the patina of time; iron gates and open portals that invite you to step inside. The doors found in Mexico are rich in color, diversity, and history – just like the country itself.

The first set of doors were among the most colorful ones in my collection. Either the door itself was painted a vibrant hue, or it was surrounded by colorful frames and walls.

Thursday Doors is a link-up of fellow door aficionados generously hosted by Norm Frampton. Head over to his blog to view all the amazing doors he and others have posted.

Sunday Stills: Pets in this life… and the next

In addition to the human skeletons that are ubiquitous during Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead celebrations, dogs and other animals are also represented in the colorful murals and sculptures found all over town.

Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced show-low-eats-queen-tlee), also known as Xolos or Mexican hairless dogs, are believed to play a special role in the afterlife. They are revered as spirit guides that help us journey from this world to the next. If you’ve seen the movie Coco, you might remember Dante as the Xolo who accompanied the little boy to the land of the dead.

Here are a few of the creative representations of the animals we’ve seen on our Oaxaca wanderings.

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Hop on over to Second Wind Leisure Perspectives to read about the joys of adopting older animals and to see pictures of Terri’s beloved dogs. You can also click on links to other blog posts on this week’s photo prompt, All About Pets. Feel free to join the paw-ty with your own post about the animals in your life.

Sunday Stills: Powerful Pink

When I was young, I avoided the color pink. To my mind, it meant girly, frivolous, and fragile; none of which were attributes I desired. I was not a “princess,” nor did I want to look like one.

Lately, though, I’ve begun to see pink – in all its tints, shades, and intensities – as much more than a color to be shunned for its cautious nature. In fact, now pink is associated with feminine power and protest (think pussy hats and pink triangles), doing battle against breast cancer and, in the last few years, a shade that has been adopted by a whole generation (check out #millennialpink with its 71.8K posts on Instagram).

Mother nature is also a big fan. She uses pink’s many shades to decorate much of her flora and fauna, stones and shells. And, just to show off, she frequently paints the early morning and late afternoon skies with a splendid array of pinks that are both glorious and powerful.

The pink color of flamingos comes from carotenoid proteins in their diet.

Budding flower at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens.

I even wear pink now and, when I do, I don’t feel frivolous and fragile at all.

For more visions of pink, visit Terri Webster Schrandt’s blog, Second Wind Leisure. She has some great examples of her theme as well as links to photos by other participants. While you’re at it, why don’t you submit a few of your own?

Sunday Stills: Patterns all around us

I have always been attracted to strong patterns in my photography. The play of shadows across a surface, close-ups of textures that reveal more than our eyes first see, colors and shapes that contrast and compete. So, for this week’s Sunday Stills photography challenge, Lines and Squares, it wasn’t difficult to find a few photos in my files that fit the theme.

The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Nevada

Sculpture in Space Needle Park, Seattle, Washington

More light and shadows in La Paz, Mexico

Spiral staircase in the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California

Lines and squares. University of California, San Diego

Lines of vines, squares of stones. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Palms trees and steel reaching for the sky. San Diego, California

Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California.

For more Lines and Squares, visit Terri Webster Schrandt’s blog, Second Wind Leisure. She has some great examples of her theme as well as links to images by other participants.

While you’re at it, why don’t you submit a few of your own?

Sunday Stills: The Sanctuary of Stillness

As my blog has been still for longer than I anticipated, I figured this would be a good time to join Terri’s Sunday Stills photography challenge. Her theme this week, Stillness, has a special appeal to me. I have always been more comfortable in quiet than in noise, prefer writing to talking, and, although I enjoy social interactions, I need a certain amount of solitude to recharge my batteries.

All but one image that I’m sharing this week are from my husband’s and my travels. Although it can be a challenge to find quiet and stillness when traveling nowadays, it is possible. Sometimes you just have to get up earlier than normal.

Early morning glass on the Spokane River in Washington

San Miguel de Allende’s iconic Parroquia at 5:30 am. In a few hours, the central square will be full of people.

Other times, we get lucky and manage to find a spot that feels as if it was set aside just for us.

Desert view along the Palms to Pines Highway in Southern California.

Arches National Park… all to ourselves (for a brief moment).

I found the (not so) little gal below hanging out on a Sticks on Fire succulent plant in my yard. After weaving her beautiful web, she remains very still until some unfortunate prey blunders into her trap.

As scary as she may look, she is harmless to humans. Unfortunately, this isn’t true for the male spider. They are much smaller than the females and up to 80% are cannibalized after traversing the web to mate. That doesn’t seem very nice, but I guess she prefers to enjoy her stillness alone.

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Sunday Stills is a photography challenge hosted by Terri Webster Schrandt on her blog Second Wind Leisure Perspectives. Please visit her site to see how other bloggers have interpreted the weekly challenge or add one of your own.

Sunday Stills: Texture

When I saw this week’s Sunday Stills photo prompt topic, I knew that I wanted to participate. My first thought was to share a photo – or two, or three – of the wonderful texture found on the buildings, doors, and objects that we’ve encountered on our travels. I find old much more interesting than new, textured more intriguing than smooth. I love the peeling paint, the patina of age and weather, and the character that is created – layer upon layer – with the march of time.

Then, I remembered a woman I photographed last year in the central square in Oaxaca, Mexico and knew that would be my picture. Her clothes were typical of the older indigenous women we saw in Oaxaca: flat black shoes, a simple, long-skirted dress, and an apron… always an apron. She was quite small and stooped, and her hair – thick and wiry, mostly free of gray despite her obvious age – was worn long and braided. It was her face that intrigued me the most. Her strong features told of her Zapotec ancestry and the lines on her weathered skin was a roadmap of her life.

Sunday Stills is a weekly photography link-up co-hosted by my blogging friend Terri Webster Schrandt. Each week there is a new word prompt to inspire a shared photo (or photos). Follow this link to learn more about it, see other submissions, and to share your own.

Thursday Doors: Not Doors

When is a door not a door? When it is ajar.

Many of us learned this little riddle as children, right? Well, there’s another time when a door is not a door: when Norm, the host of Thursday Doors, is away on vacation.

Over that last several Thursdays, I’ve been sharing doors from my recent stay in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. San Miguel is rich in unique and beautiful doors, but it also has lovely windows, intricate iron gates, and exquisite stonework. With Norm safely off the continent (and, hopefully taking lots of pictures of the doors he finds in Italy), I thought that I would take advantage of his absence and share a few openings I found in San Miguel that aren’t really doors.

This sounds so much better in Spanish… basically it says Gated Community of the Sun.

We saw ribbons tied above windows all over San Miguel.

Not the most beautiful window, but how cute is that dog?

Now, head on over to Manja’s blog to see her beautiful collection of doors. Since she is guest hosting Thursday Doors in Norm’s absence this week, you will find that cute little blue frog at the end of her post that will take you to links to see other doors… and maybe even share a few of your own.

Thursday Doors: Chapel Doors

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about an amazing experience we had while visiting San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. In that post, I shared photos of the riotous colors and fantastic mosaics we found all over Casa de las Ranas and the Chapel of Jimmy Ray, the property owned by artist Anado McLauchlin and his husband Richard Schultz.

As anyone who read that post can imagine, Anado’s creativity didn’t end with his fantastical wall mosaics and fanciful art assemblages; the doors, gates, and portals on their property were just as enchanting, playful, and full of whimsy.

Although these may not look like doors normally found on chapels, they are rich with a joyful spirit and offer a salvation from boring.

The front gate leading to their courtyard and Casa de las Ranas.

One of the colorful gates on the walls surrounding their property.

Whimsical collection of weathered wood and whatever.

This colorful archway led into a small meditation room.

There were a lot of symbols from eastern religions incorporated in Anado’s art.

Yikes… not sure what’s behind this door.

A happy skeleton wearing a skull necklace.

Don’t forget to head on over to Norm’s blog to view more of his beautiful collection of doors from Nova Scotia, then click on the blue frog at the end of his post to see what others have shared.

Thursday Doors: Open Doors

We saw so many unique and beautiful doors in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and I often wondered what was on the other side. Was the interior as colorful, whimsical, weathered, or artistic as the door would suggest? Although we didn’t get to see inside of many private residences (darn!) the open doors we did see always encouraged us to glance inside.

Most of the doors in this group could have been included in one – or more – of my other Thursday Doors collections (carved, rounded, weathered, adorned), but that each of these were open gave them a unique character.

Don Taco Tequila… pretty sure this was named with tourists in mind.

The door’s weathered teal paint and aged lace curtain made a charming combination.

This was one of several beautiful doors we saw in an artists’ colony.

This door was weathered, rounded, and adorned… but it was open, offering a peek inside.

Don’t forget to head on over to Norm’s blog to view his beautiful collection of doors from Nova Scotia, then click on the blue frog at the end of his post to see what others have shared.

Thursday Doors: Adorned Doors

When we returned from our trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and I started to look through all my pictures of the beautiful doors we encountered, I decided to separate them into bite-sized Thursday Door post chunks. This week’s group of doors stood out because of their unique hardware. Some of the hardware has a practical purpose (door knockers, hinges, etc.) and others are purely decorative. Some – like the traditional hand knockers – were found all over the city (including for sale in shops) whereas some looked custom designed and fabricated.

The faces on this door seemed part human, part demon, and part animal.

The knocker was traditional but the teal painted hardware gave the door an artist’s touch.

Look closely and you will see multi-legged lizards guarding the entrance.

A close-up of the lizard-shaped door lock with the sun peeking out underneath.

This hand on this traditional knocker is holding what appears to be a small apple.

The intricate design of the metal frame, stone surround, and terra cotta paint made this door a stunner.

A knocker made out of bicycle parts. This picture was taken by my husband and hasn’t been edited… the door was really this gorgeous color.

Don’t forget to head on over to Norm’s blog to view his collection of doors, then click on the blue frog at the end of his post to see what others have shared.