Love and Light

flooded by love and light
                  darkness  r
                           e
                          c                  l         
                        e                   l
                      d                    u
                   e                      f              d
                s                        e           e            
                                       p          l                
                                     o        a               
              a new day follows,  h       e                     
                                      h   
                                         and   b   r   i   g   h   t

copyright ©2016 Terry Boswell

Viewing the New York City Skyline and the George Washington Bridge from the scenic overlook on the Palisades Parkway in New Jersey. January 2016.

In response to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: One Love.

Bronx (Zoo) Bears

Click an image to view it larger or to scroll through as slides.

In response to Jennifer Nichole Wells’s One Word Photo Challenge: Bear, and Wordless Wednesday.

Gritty Graffiti, Posh Vintage

Rivington Street, NY, NY. 2016.

 

In response to Jennifer Nichole Wells’s One Word Photo Challenge: Basement, and Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors.

Water Lilies

It’s completely impossible for me to photograph water lilies, or even to look at them, without thinking of Claude Monet’s incredible paintings.

Because my nearsighted eyes, when unaided by glasses, see the world very much the way Monet painted it, I can’t help but assume that his failing eyesight influenced his work.

Alas, I may have Claude’s “vision,” but not his ability to paint!

This is my response to the Daily Post Weekly Photo challenge: Life Imitates Art. I took the photographs above at Harriman State Park in Harriman, NY and at the MOMA Museum in New York City.

 

Window Of Words

While keeping up with my family last month on a day trip to New York City, I paused to take this photograph. I really enjoyed seeing the massive block of freeform, painted, print letters, forming words merging into thoughts, in contrast to the small, stark, very legible, to-the-point No Smoking sign.

Window at The Modern, New York City. January 2016.

This is my belated response to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Alphabet.

Time Passing

A series of consecutive nows

unified

colored by experience and point of view

culminate in expression

A Lifetime

 

copyright ©2016 Terry Boswell

 

Seven photo-frozen moments captured on the corner of Rivington and Ludlow, New York City. January 16, 2016. Click an image to view it larger.

This is my response to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Time.

Allen Street Crossing Delancey

Sometimes there’s something I see in one of my photos when it’s large on a computer screen that I missed in real life. I’m not usually visually unaware, so perhaps this is because I’m nearsighted. Then again, perhaps I become so focused on certain aspects of a scene that I miss others.

I was trotting along to get myself across Allen Street and catch up with my family when I stopped to take this photo on a cold day at the end of December. As I was rushing across the street, I glanced to my left and saw this…

The camera hanging around my neck begged to come out from under my coat.

I was taken with the curve of the bike path, the straightness of the walkway, the orange “No Pedestrians” sign, the street lights beginning to glow in the dimming light, and the center line of trees, along with the buildings on either side receding to a vanishing point.

What I missed that day was the Empire State Building slightly to the left of the vanishing point.

If I had seen it, perhaps I could have gotten a quality shot of Allen Street crossing Delancey instead of this version which I cropped from the photo above.

Then again, maybe I wouldn’t have. I had left the zoom lens, along with its extra bulk and weight, behind thinking I wouldn’t need it being hemmed in by large buildings without a panorama in sight!

What about you? Have you ever found something in one of your photos that you didn’t see when you took it? Have you ever intentionally left behind a piece of equipment and then regretted it later?

To see another photo that includes a little surprise that I initially missed, click here.

This post is in response to Cee’s Which Way Challenge: 2015 Week #10. Thank you Cee!

I’m also including it in Lucile De Godoy’s Photo 101 Rehab Clinic. Thank you Lucile!

Writing 201: Hero(ine)

“Grab your verse by both ends (or hands; your call), like a hero with extra big hair. Week 2 here we go!”

The poetry prompt is “hero” or “heroine.”
The form is “ballad.”
The device is “anaphora/epistrophe.”

Rather than writing about a “hero with extra big hair,” in response to today’s poetry prompt, I’ve chosen to write a ballad honoring the invisible hero within each of us that perseveres through life’s daily struggles.

I didn’t use anaphora, the repetition of words at the beginning of a line, but did use epistrophe by repeating the phrase “persevering every day” at the end of a few lines.

Unsung Heroes

Unsung heroes of every day

facing the

responsibilities of life

 

Mouths to feed

and bills to pay

warmth, shelter

love to provide

 

Such small players

in a big world game

persevering every day

 

Grace be given

fortitude, wisdom

persevering every day

 

Living life simply

dawn ’til night

 

Grabbing joy

where it’s found

 

Persevering every day

 

Fishmongers, the Algarve, Portugal, 2014.

Goat herder, Portugal, 2014.

Street musician, China Town, New York City, 2014.

Click on the images to see them larger.

 

Pictures and writing
copyright, © Terry Boswell

 

One Word Photo challenge: Ultramarine

This photo is my response to the One Word Photo challenge: Ultramarine, taken while visiting New york City a few weeks ago.

For a daily, weekly or annual fee, you can pick up one of these distinctively blue Citibikes, ride it, return it to the same location, or drop it off at yet another Citibike station. The bikes are shared all year, twenty-four hours a day, from numerous locations throughout the city.

I myself have yet to ride one. I doubt my nerves could handle navigating New York City traffic while mounted on a bike. I’m decidedly less than the best at cycling and prefer to propel myself through traffic with the solid shell of a four wheeled vehicle around me or to pick my way through it with the predictable control of my own two feet. Unlike when on a bike, I don’t totter or weave when I walk or drive!

Perhaps one day I’ll seek out a Citibike station near a bike path (no cars allowed 🙂 ) along the Hudson River or through Central Park and give it a go, but for now I’ll skip the Manhattan bike experience!

Thank you Jennifer for this One Word Photo Challenge!