“This week, share with us a layered image of your own. The topic is wide open, as long as you focus on the interplay of depth, density, and texture (or just choose one of these elements if you’d like).”
A tangle of metal plant hangers and broken flower pots. A lizard. A mirror. Layers. Where do the objects end and the reflections begin?
Diversions, distractions, and delightful detours….What is guaranteed to distract you? What is your “Ooh, shiny!”?
I cannot resist sunlight on things…on flowers…
…on new leaves…
…on lizards’ dewlaps!
“This week, share a photo that represents focus to you. Are you a stickler for getting in close to your subjects and capturing every detail, or do you prefer a more ethereal look that illustrates the sensations of the moment? Or both?”
I had left the cup out overnight. In it was a little leftover ginger tea sweetened with honey. In the morning, something else was in the cup…a little lizard.
Having climbed in, it couldn’t get out again.
I like the way in which the tea and the glass and the lizard’s translucent skin affect the focus…
PS I’m adding this a few days after publishing my blog post to assure readers that the little creature was fine after its ordeal. Right after taking my photos, I rested the cup on its side on a window sill and the lizard crawled out and ran away.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Focus
“This week, share an image of a friend.”
I first noticed him hanging out in my dining room and living room sometime towards the end of last year. He was so bold, walking all over the walls, leaping onto the furniture, scurrying across the floor to snap up an unsuspecting beetle. Totally unperturbed by the people in the rooms, chatting or eating or drinking tea. This beautiful Turquoise anole (Anolis grahami), a species originally endemic to Jamaica.
When I posted his picture on Facebook, Yolanda said he looked like a Bernie. My brother Michael said, “He has a lean and hungry look”. So he became Bernie Cassius Anolis.
Can a lizard be a friend? By some definition, I have decided yes.
“This week, share a surprise with us, as you see it through your lens.”
I saw the lizard on the window ledge and, as I approached, I wondered when it would see me and run away. But, surprisingly, it didn’t move. Perhaps it was staying still as a strategy.
And then I realised that actually it was dead, frozen in this active pose, looking through the glass louvre, as though still trying to get inside.
I know nothing about what causes lizards to die, other than old age or being eaten by predators. (What is the expected lifespan of small, brown garden lizards?) They must also die of diseases too, like us. But in midstream like this? Waiting to get in. Surprised by death. How strange.
Sometimes the journey up the rock/mountain/current challenge can seem long and all-consuming.
You may be tempted to turn back.
But you keep going till you reach the top.
And suddenly a whole new world, with new horizons, comes into view!
She sat there in the rain. Little brown lizard, shiny droplets on her skin. October afternoon. Who wants to come in out of the rain anyway?
Lizards are not the most popular animals in Jamaica. In fact, many Jamaicans have a positive dislike for these reptiles, sometimes bordering on a phobia.
The other day, I spent some time observing a lizard in my garden, taking some photographs while he let me.
Anolis lineatopus. The Jamaican Grey Anole or Stripefoot Anole, which is endemic to Jamaica. (I learned more about the classification of Jamaican lizards, while trying to identify this little chap, than I have ever known before! The internet is a fascinating place.)
When I first spotted him, there was a female nearby, but she scurried off as I approached. He stood his ground, however, and looked at me askance.
In fact, he stared at me face to face, not backing down at all…
He even stuck his dewlap out at me, though I wasn’t quick enough to take a picture of him with it fully extended.
Eventually, when I wouldn’t go away, he decided to. He hopped down off his perch and scampered away into the nearby bushes.
If you are interested in seeing lizards with their dewlaps fully extended, take a look at this delightful series of short video clips of Caribbean anoles. I laughed out loud a few times!
And do you want to know even more? Then watch this video about a study of Anolis dewlaps. Lineatopus comes in for specific mention!
Right Steps & Poui Trees 