This week Cee challenges us with – Circles, Curves and Arches
I think by now most of you will expect a photo like this for a challenge that even remotely mentions anything circular!
‘Stone girl’, Castlerigg stone circle, 2018.
Ken
This weeks challenge from the Lens-Artists is:
Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, and I [Amy] are looking forward to seeing your photos and reading stories of countryside and/or a small town.
I would say that at lest 50% of my photos could fit into this category as I live fairly rural, and my holidays usually take me to rural places, in search of ancient stones I tramp across wild open spaces, through forests, past lakes, up and down hill and mountain, and along public pathways. Farmland and the ever patient farmers with the walkers on the land are a recurrent theme. I live in Wales so I have access to some of the UK’s best countryside and small towns, even our big towns and cities are small :).
The countryside and our towns can be both wild and tame, so here are a few photos for you about what this means to me.
‘Cerrig Duon View’, Brecon Beacons, 2019.
‘Brecon stream’, Brecon Beacons, 2019.
‘Working’, Anglesey, 2019.
‘601555’, Anglesey, 2019.
‘Beaumaris’, Anglesey, 2014.
Ken
This weeks challenge from the Lens-Artists is:
But Magical can mean so many different things to everyone of us – At Lens-Artists, we have already had Magical Light as a theme, (last year) but this time it is all up to you! What is Magical to you? People, places, things, nature, adventures, moments… – this week we are looking forward to having some of Your magic!
I think it might be fair to say that most of you have realised that I find monumental ancient places magical. There is a mystery around their purpose, how and why they were constructed, in the locations they were. What went on here? would there architects approve of my visit, my capturing of this place, and my interpretation both mental and visual? Surely this would be seen as magic.
I still find the ability to capture images of what we see magical, it was magical when it was chemical and mechanical, and it is still magical now it is captured by a small electronic box. It is now made even more magical by the fact that I can perform so many interesting tricks after the image has been captured, a magic that once could not be performed at home nor in the studio in many cases. Once we had to send our undeveloped film off to the chemical magician, and wait for the sound of that small packet hitting the doorstep. For those lucky enough we could perform this magic in our own homes, the smell of developing fluid and fixative in our nostrils and under that magical red bulb. I do sometimes miss those days.
So here is a photo of the Merry Maidens in Cornwall, an especially magical place as this is where I proposed to my wife, the thought of asking someone to share their life with you, and the in the asking and answering a magical contract made between two souls.
Ken
This week Teri has challenged us with:
Blue
We are soon to off on another adventure into the wide blue yonder, so you can expect some photos from that, but first a photo from a previous adventure.
‘Adventures’, Castlerigg, 2018.
Ken
Yesterday was a special day for the Lens Artists Quartet, their 53rd post, the one year anniversary of their Challenge, and so we had a special challenge from Tina, Ann-Christine, Patti, & Amy.
Your Choice
They chose Friendship , A Country That’s Special to You , Imagination , and Connected. I like the fact that these posts all deal with the web that has grown between us all as a community across the globe, holding different views, and beliefs, but brought together every Saturday to share our pictorial thoughts. Each week a little of our personality is shared with the other members of our group, and we in turn learn a little more about our place in the world and how we relate to others.
Most of you are aware that I enjoy visiting ancient stones, often in remote locations, so once more I will share a photo of the ‘Druids circle’, Penmaenmawr.
‘Ancient view’, Druids circle, Penmaenmawr, 2019.
I like to think I am taking some of you along with me for the walk, inspiring some to visit such places, or simply showing you something you otherwise would not have seen. In my imagined world I publish a post and then members of our digital community that exists as ones and zeros to me on the whole, but who are indeed real people slowly make the trek to the stones with me.
‘Ones and Zeros’, Druids circle, Penmaenmawr, 2019.
Ken
This week we are challenged us with:
We look forward to seeing your unique and varied responses to this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #49: Favourite Things.
What are my favourite things? There are a lot when I come to think of it, but if there are so many, does that make them favourite, or just things that make me happy and those I love. And what should I group into the category of ‘Things’. Anyway enough of an early morning existential crisis, here is a photo that has a number of ‘things’ in it. My wife, friends, me taking a photo, Long Meg and her daughters, stone circles in general, wide open spaces, the country side, walking, nature . . . I’ve used a different edit of this before but it just contained so many favourites, that the opportunity to re-edit was too good to miss.
‘Meg is a favourite’, Long Meg and her daughters, Cumbria, 2018.
What is missing, well cats, our cats especially, music, dancing, visiting new places, West Penwith, St. Ives, sunsets, a roof over my head . . . just where do the likes stop and the favourites begin!
So I am going to choose just one more photo:
‘A wife and two cats’, 2014.
Ken
This weekend GC and SueW have chosen the following as the theme for their challenge.
What makes you feel comfortable, is it a favourite chair, a pillow on your bed, a roaring fire on a chilly day, or something else? How about your discomfort, what takes you out of your comfort zone?
I feel comfortable visiting stones circles, I also feel discomfort when visiting stone circles, it depends on the place, the space, and sometimes the time. Sometimes I want to rush up and hug the stones, sometimes I want to depart as quickly as possible. This was a comfy circle, a warm morning, I may have had a snooze while my wife did some sketching, she has a whole series of photos that could be described as – Ken asleep at ancient sites.
‘Circle of comfort’, Torhousekie stone circle, 2018.
Ken
This week Nancy has challenged us with the following:
Smile
Given the group shot I used as my final photo for last week was taken by my wife and had me in it, this week I decided I would use a photo of my wife. Smiling as we had reached our destination of the Maen Mawr at the Cerrig Duon stone circle.
‘Stone pixie’, Cerrig Duon stone circle, 2019.
Ken
For this weeks Friday Fun we have been asked:
Please share a few of your ‘cloud’ photos, poetry or stories?
Whether through your lens or with creative writing … go where the prompt leads!
Post a photo or get creative
… skies the limit, be sublime, fluffy or grey … please share that!
Well no food to tantalise you or make your stomach grumble this week. I love a good cloudy sky in my photos, so here is one from last year while we were on holiday in Dumfries and Galloway, the skies were just amazing the entire time we were there! So a 4 photo panoramic stitch for you this week.
‘Acres of sky’, Glenquicken stone circle, Dumfries and Galloway, 2018.
Ken
Well this week Frank challenges us with the topic:
Your challenge is to share those vistas that inspired you or simply left you breathless!
I recently posted that we had visited our 50th Stone circle of the 50 we were attempting to fit in before my wife’s 50th birthday this year. It was the Cerrig Duon Stone Circle near the Maen Mawr standing stone in the Brecon Beacons. This circle is egg-shaped, and measures about 60 feet accross, with roughly 20 small stones. The stones are quite small, and the tallest only 2 feet high, however this is in juxtaposition to a very large monolith, or standing stone, known as Maen Mawr, ‘the large stone’, some 30 feet north of the circle. The stone is about 7 feet high, nearly 3 feet thick, and about 4 feet wide, and outside it are two small stones in a row. West of the circle are two rows of very small stones approaching at an oblique angle there are 17 stones in the west row and 12 in the east row, but they are hard to spot. The east row is about 80 feet long while the west row is 135 feet, and the stones are about 16 feet apart.
All of this is set against a most magnificent vista. So here is an 8 photo panoramic stitch of the circle and landscape, from our recent travels.
‘On top of the ancient world’, Cerrig Duon Stone Circle, 2019.
Ken
