Photography – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Bokeh mystique: Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #194

This may be my one and only true confessions post, but when I saw Sofia’s theme this week, I knew I was in trouble. Bokeh is one of those “real” photographer terms, one that I hardly understand, let alone use intentionally. As Sofia says, “It literally means ‘blur’ in Japanese.” And let me tell you, […]

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Architecture in the city of big shoulders: Chicago

With Tina’s theme — Interesting Architecture — for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #173, our photos from a recent trip to Chicago couldn’t be more fitting. After all, this city of big shoulders, immortalized in Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” sets the standard for skyscrapers, old and new buildings, artsy collections, and riverboat tours just begging you to […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #171: Weird and Wonderful

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. Sir Francis Bacon With Ann-Christine’s choice of topic — Weird and Wonderful — for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, we were reminded of a recent trip to Lexington, Kentucky, and a stay at 21c Museum Hotel. It’s not that the hotel was weird by […]

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Running his 200th: Jim Miller at Chicago Marathon 2021

It seems such a short time ago that we shared Run, Jim Miller, Run, a post celebrating our friend Jim Miller’s 100th marathon in Boston in 2014. And now, here he is again, a mere seven years later, not just running — but finishing well — his 200th in Chicago, October 10, 2021. It’s an […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #168: Seen Better Days

I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue, and what you are becomes the point. Susan Sarandon It’s not unusual for one of us to pull over while driving country roads to take a closer look at an abandoned barn, rusting farm implements, or anything that […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #167: Colors of Autumn

Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and rust, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies. Sharon Kay Penman This adventure just happened — as many of our adventures do. We were driving home from Lexington, Kentucky, and noted what looked to be a farm selling pumpkins […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #166: Artificial Light

With the publication of Ann-Christine’s challenge this week entitled “Artificial Light,” we noted from the entries posted on her site that light sources other than natural ones can actually be quite magical indeed. To tell the truth, we tend to take pictures mostly in natural light, generally the glow from the golden hours of sunup […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #165: Going Wide

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy. Henry Ward Beecher Patti Moed of pilotfishblog.com offers the topic for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge: Going Wide. Her post and the delightful shots taken both with wide-angle lenses and a cellphone follow the advice she gives: Before you […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #164: Looking Up/Down

With an interesting theme by a new host for the Lens-Artists Challenge — Sofia Alves of Photographias — we’re exploring the idea of looking up and down this week. And one of our favorite towns — Manarola — in Cinque Terre, Italy, came to mind. Although we visited on what must have been one of […]

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One peaceful drive: Blue Ridge Parkway from Blowing Rock to Asheville

Although we’re living in stressful times in America right now and travel to faraway destinations seems a distant memory, we’ve found an antidote to fill our urge to get out and about: a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Billed as “America’s Favorite Drive” by the National Park Service, this beautiful winding highway offered at […]