The South – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Close and Closer: Lens Artists Photo Challenge #190

Patti’s challenge this week invites us to share dual photos of the same subject — one closer than the other. And if you haven’t seen her post, please take a look at the examples that show that one may not be better than the other, but a new perspective nonetheless. More and more people seem […]

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Love in bloom: Lens-Artists Challenge #189 Odds and Ends

Don’t get upset with me. It’s not what you think. I’m all for Tina’s interesting challenge this week called “Odds and Ends.” It’s just that I’ve been totally self-absorbed in something else — something I’ve written about before. Something that makes me grab my camera and head outside my back door several times during several […]

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A little night magic: Lens-Artists Challenge #186 Low Light

Any time on the beach at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, is magical for us. But with this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #186: Low Light from Sofia, we only had to look back to a brief stay in December 2021 to find that we were truly in love with night-time at the beach. The night is […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #172: A Day at Bald River Falls

It was a beautiful, bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it. Diana Gabaldon The last week of October 2021 offered us a day that we should have spent years ago and then again and again each recurring year: a day at Bald River Falls off […]

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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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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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Sit a spell or shop? Your choice at Valle Crucis, North Carolina!

With fall approaching and the urge to “git outta town” hitting us all, you might consider Western North Carolina for many reasons — colorful leaves, winding highways, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and clean country air. But one place in particular has it all: little ol’ Valle Crucis. We’re calling it little because if you want […]

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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 […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #162: It’s All About the Light

The host of this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Tina Schell, couldn’t have made a more profound statement for photographers at any level: it really is all about the light. To love beauty is to see light. Victor Hugo Whether it’s soft, early morning light or rays turning everything gold just before sundown, light transforms ordinary objects […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #160: Your Inspiration

In quoting Agnes Martin, Patti Moed “pinpoints two key elements of inspiration–the quality of light in a place and our feelings at that moment” and invites us to share something that inspires us. And it was that phrase “the quality of light” that brought me to a source of inspiration that those of you who […]