The wedding day – Lens Artists Photo Challenge #42 – Creativity

This week Laya challenges us with:

This week’s challenge is all about Creativity – hobbies, crafts, creative spaces at home or places you have visited – show us your creative post…unlimited

Well last week I mentioned my wife was delicious to me, so I thought I would continue with that theme.

I mentioned in another post that I enjoy sewing, and have mentioned a fair few times my love of playing and writing music and song.  So this week I thought I would use a photo from the archives (not my own photo, but a friends), that is full of creativity.

I was our wedding day, a creative moment in its own right, however in this photo we see my wife’s lovely dress, crafted for her by a good friend, we are marching to a tune lovingly written by another friend, surrounded by other friends who are creatively weaving the tune into more than the ‘dots’ can convey.  And finally you get to see a bit of my creativity as I am wearing a suit which I made myself, in a semi regency style.

‘The wedding day’, Rudry, 2011.

Ken

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Faluda – Lens Artists Photo Challenge #41 – Delicious

This week Patti challenges us with:

This week, for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #41 share what “Delicious” means to you.

Well my wife is delicious to me, and this is what she finds delicious.  Faluda, an indian drink made of milk, rose syrup, vermicelli and poppy seeds.  This one made at the very special ‘Vegetarian food studio‘ in Cardiff, a dream for us vegetarians as very rarely do we find such an extensive menu, it takes a while to decide what we are going to eat, by which time we may have drunk a Faluda!

‘Faluda’, Cardiff, 2014.

Ken

Warp and weft – Lens Artists Photo Challenge #40 – Something Different

This week it is Tina’s turn to challenge us with:

So lets see something out of the norm in your world.  Show us something different, something unusual, something we wouldn’t normally expect from you.

Well this is quite a hard challenge to fulfil, where to start? What might you not expect from me?  Well my posts are often full of ancient sites, flowers, landscapes,Cornwall, Cumbria, Wales, woodlands, beaches, gardens, music and cats, so all of these are out.  There are also quite a number of ‘oddities’ thanks to Kamie’s oddball challenges, so that takes care of ‘something unusual’ to a fair degree.

So I am off to have a think about this one!  Perhaps the most different and unusual thing would be not to post at all, not include a photo, that would be out of the norm in my world, however this is a ‘Photo Challenge’!

So some three hours on and I have decided what I want to place before you, some of you that follow my blog might remember we recently bought a new table.  Well the seats are solid and therefore we need some cushions.  Now I have not posted about this, but I also enjoy sewing, and therefore the answer was to make some seat cushion covers, and while I was at it quilted place mats and coasters to match.  So far I am two down and two to go.

‘Softer seats’, 2019.

Also I thought I would show you what else I recently started.  In the past my wife has sewn a few patchwork bedspreads that I have then quilted.  Here is the latest completed at the end of 2018.

‘A gift for friends’, 2018.

Well I thought I would have a go at the patchwork as well this time, prompting the comment, “Very manly colours!”.  In my defence, a) I am a man, b) I do want it quite muted, c) There will also be red toned squares.

‘Muted’, 2019.

Ken

Days out – Lens Artists Photo Challenge #39 – Hello April

This week it is Amy’s turn to challenge us with:

Look forward to seeing and reading your “Hello April” interpretation. It can be a change of seasons in your part of the world or a wrap-up of the previous season or month.

Well what an interesting topic!  In the end after much deliberation I have chosen to use a photo from the very end of last April, mainly because I liked it.  So now I have to convince you why it fits the brief.

Well March and April are the months we first start venturing out to visit places, and my years snapping begins in earnest again.  So this photo represents one of the first places we had a ‘day out’ to visit last year.  April might be where the fun begins, spring has begun to spring, and in my part of the world the nights have just got a whole lot lighter with the clocks going forward.  Daylight hours are getting noticeably longer, and therefore so to the chance to get out and enjoy ourselves, though the threat of rain is ever present, but when is it not in the UK.

At home it becomes time to maybe get out and do some gardening, ours is nowhere near as big as the one below, though it is still big enough to be a challenge.  So I am hoping the photo below can sum up some of the thoughts above.

‘Days out’, Tyntesfield, 2018.

Ken

Over my head – Lens Artists Photo Challenge #38 – Weathered or Worn

This week it is Leya’s turn to challenge us with:

Are you one of those who love things weathered or worn? I am. I love driftwood, old houses, old furniture, toys, the grey cottages up north – things with patina. Clothes with a story – leather jackets, jeans. And people? Only your fantasy sets the limit!

This week’s challenge is Weathered and/or Worn.

I immediately thought of this set of photos when I saw the challenge title this week.  They are of a barn roof near the Men-an-Tol in Cornwall, each time we visit the weather has taken its toll on this roof and the surrounding buildings a little more, just as I am a little older each time.  Every time we walk this path this roof catches my attention, have I every reached out to touch it with anything other than my sight, I cannot remember, it looks so rough yet I feel I want to experience the feel of its weathered and worn texture under my finger tips, well there will always be next time.  I realise that I may have shot myself in the foot with this one as someone is now bound to choose ‘rusty’ as a topic, but oh well, they were the first photos to come directly to mind!

‘Weathered lines’, West Penwith, Cornwall, 2016.

‘A hole in two’, West Penwith, Cornwall, 2016.

Ken

Stones, stripes and happiness – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #37: History

This week Patti challenges us with:

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #37, we invite you to capture history.

History can be personal or public. It can last for a moment, a decade, or a century. It is local, national, or international. It can be a monument, a relic, a person, a place, or a memento. It’s totally open to your interpretation.

Well where to start, and how to limit my response!  When we are away visiting places they are generally ancient or historic sites – we are keen consumers of the heritage industry, though we do not limit ourselves to those places that are handed to us on a plate.

Therefore my first choice will be unsurprisingly, one of the many stone circles we have visited, under the category of ‘Ancient history’.  This is Glenquicken, in Dumfries and Galloway, where we visited last year.  While not the hardest to find, it certainly was not the easiest to reach, and if it had not been for the dry summer we would not have been able to reach it.

‘Stone histories’, Dumfries and Galloway, 2018.

Given I have been scanning a number of old photos recently, and some of you will have seen my posts about them, my second choice will be from the category of ‘Family history’.  This photo is probably of my paternal grandmothers father, I will have to find out.  He definitely served in India, in fact I was told he had been everywhere apart from Germany!  He was a Sergeant, becoming a colour Sergeant eventually, the initials in the top left are JAH, but I am a little less sure of those on the bottom right, so I will hunt down his name and find out!

‘Uniform histories’.

And finally under the heading of ‘Personal history’ a photograph of my wife on what was our first visit to Castlerigg stone circle, when we were on honeymoon.

‘Happy histories’, Castlerigg stone circle, Cumbria, 2011.

Ken

Reality and Dreams – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #36: Around the Neighborhood

This week Tina challenges us with – Neighborhood.

We’re looking forward to seeing what you found interesting this week in your own neighborhood or another that caught your eye and your lens.

So first a recent image of the sunset from our own street.

‘Home wonders’, 2019.

And then secondly it may come as no surprise to those of you that follow my blog that we would live in Cornwall given half the chance.  And therefore here is an early evening picture of St. Ives.

‘Maybe in the future.’, St. Ives, 2017.

Ken

Spiral up – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #35: Architecture

This week Amy challenges us with:

I’m looking forward to seeing your photos and stories of architecture.

On the very few times we have visited countries outside of our own, and indeed even between different counties in the UK, I am always impressed by the difference in different architectural vernacular, and therefore end up taking oh so many photos.  So choosing for this was quite hard.

So here are a few pictures of the Church of Our Saviour in Copenhagen, a lovely piece of architecture.  Unfortunately we did not get to climb the 400 steps to the top, as the queues to climb the tower were truly massive, and given our time was limited we went to explore other areas.

Ken

The cat, the imp and Bela Lugosi – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #34: Close-Up

This week Ann-Christine challenges us to get closer.

Your own home is an endless source of motifs – and maybe a look into new worlds. So, this week’s challenge is Close-ups.

So here are a couple of odd shots that were taken around the house.

‘DVD Guardian’

‘Devilish Imp’

Not applying the quote below to my own shots, but I am sure that it will apply to many of this weeks entrants.  And the inclusion of the quote below made for an interesting title for this post!

My close-up was magnificent! – Bela Lugosi

Ken

Raw and Tamed – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #33 – Nature

This week Patti has posted:

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #33, it’s your chance to showcase Nature–including plants, animals, landscapes–and other features of the physical world–either close to home or far away.  It’s up to you!

So here are two shots for you.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  – Albert Einstein

‘Raw stone’, Zennor, 2016.

‘Tamed wood’, Newton House, Llandeillo, 2016.

Nature is not, of course, always benign and beautiful. It can be frightening and terrifying also.
Not too many generations ago, raw nature and wilderness tended to inspire fear and dread in “civilized” people.
They represented Otherness and the Unknown. That which is “wild” is also “bewildering”.
Today, wilderness is usually considered to be something good and in need of preservation.
The beauty and awesomeness of it dominate our attention.
We are attracted by wilderness, the Otherness of it, the sense it is something inevitably outside of us.
Always beyond us, it is what is ultimately real.
We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense.
It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other.
To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.
In Wildness is the preservation of the world.
-Henry David Thoreau

Ken