There was a time when once a week I did a blog post consisting of a photograph and a few words. It was in response to an online photo challenge. I really enjoyed the practice but when the photo challenge ended, my weekly photo post ended too. I’ve sometimes thought about reviving it. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. But just for today, here’s a photo and a few words…
A bird and a plant called Old Man’s Beard…on wires…at sunset…a view from a window of my house….
“Welcome to the final installment of the Weekly Photo Challenge. In wishing you a fond farewell, we wanted to share our all-time favorite photos with you. We welcome you to share your favorites with us. Happy photographic trails!”
One of my favourite photos is of my granddaughter at the beach. She has such a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world around her, a sense which is sometimes a bit dulled in us as adults. Photography is one of the things that helps me to keep that sense sharpened!
I have really enjoyed the Weekly Photo Challenge prompts, the first of which I responded to in October 2016. I don’t think I missed one since. It has really been a fun way to look back at photos I’ve taken and to share them on my blog. And it’s been wonderful to see the incredible photos shared by others! Good luck going forward, everyone! 🙂
“This week, show us something that doesn’t maintain a straight line.”
Love bush or dodder (Cuscuta spp) is a parasitic vine that is often seen growing on hedges and other plants on the roadside in Jamaica.
It is called love bush because folklore has it that if you want to know if someone is your true love or returns your love, you can break off a piece of the vine and say the person’s name as you throw the vine on another plant. If the vine catches and starts to grow, then you know the person you named does indeed love you. Unfortunately, this childhood game helps to spread the parasite to new plants.
The vine twists around itself, other plants and fences as it spreads from place to place…
Twisted indeed…
“For this week’s challenge, share a photo of liquid in whatever state, shape, or color you happen to capture it in.”
You are at the beach. The sea is always moving. You take a photo. And the sea stands still.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Liquid
“Where do you belong? In the hustle and bustle of a big city or amongst friendly faces in a small town? For this week’s challenge, show us your place in the world….Where’s your safe space? Where do you go when you need to feel inspired or cheered up?”
Yard is where I belong….Jamaica…right here…home.
Looking north…
…south…
…east…
…west…
Weekly Photo Challenge – Place in the World
“Maybe you can’t predict it, but you can still take a photo of it.”
I slowed down when we approached the pink poui in bloom. She is a beauty. As we drove past, Elizabeth asked what the big bird in the tree was.
“What bird?” I asked. “Or is it a piece of stick?” she said.
I reversed the car so we could get a better look. It was a Northern potoo, on its daytime perch. (And just to note that it’s not a patoo or owl, but a potoo.) I will always remember that day as the day we saw the potoo in the pink poui.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Unlikely
“This week, share a photo with a composition dominated by lines — hard or soft, straight or curvy, vertical or horizontal, or made in nature or as part of a cityscape.”
Boardwalk Beach…35 to 40 minutes from Kingston, depending on the traffic…the horizon…the wooden bench and fence…the shadows in the afternoon sun…
“This week, show us your interpretation of prolific.”
It is still poui season and a poui tree in bloom is certainly prolific! Last week I shared photos of a yellow poui tree. This week it is the turn of a pink poui tree. (I declare my bias in favour of yellow poui trees, but I would never say this out loud in the hearing of any poui tree!)
Masses of blossoms on the tree…
…and on the ground….
Beautiful, even when fallen…
“This week, show us renewal.”
At first glance, this may not look like an image of renewal…
…a poui tree, bare, after the blossoms have fallen.
But it is a time of regeneration and renewal, preparation for the next poui season…
…when the tree again produces masses of yellow sunlight flowers! Awakening!
“This week, show us a smile (yours or someone else’s), make us smile, or both. Share a photo of something that has brought a moment of joy into your life recently, or focus on the outcome of that joy.”
Wordsworth wrote, “My heart leaps up when I behold/ A rainbow in the sky”. And rainbows reliably evoke a moment of joy in me, bring a smile to my face. One morning earlier this year, I saw a double rainbow when I was up on my roof. Bliss! Far…
…or near….
Right Steps & Poui Trees 