speaking stories of us into water
whispers become wanderings
look outward, lean inward
watch raindrops race time
square windowpanes, falling
pooled hope, softened palms
say something about rum rivers
while I drink old coffee
touch lace lines, anywhere
forgive becomes forgotten
think blankets, thick fog
old birds underneath
hidden
forward, backward, pretend
time is the same
warmth seeks warmth
close becomes closer
find me
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the imagination is worth a thousand pictures.” —J.E.B. Spredemann
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to photograph something meaningful to you. As it’s Christmas Eve, I decided to share some decorations around my house that hold meaning for me and my family.
I hope you enjoy these photos and you have a wonderful holiday.
52 Photo Challenge
Week 1: Bokeh
Week 2: Silhouette
Week 3: Black and White
Week 4: Motion Blur
Week 5: Texture
Week 6: Framing
Week 7: Leading Lines
Week 8: Negative Space
Week 9: Patterns
Week 10: Symmetry
Week 11: Green
Week 12: Sidelight
Week 13: Sense of Scale
Week 14: One Lens
Week 15: Series
Week 16: Flat Lay
Week 17: Behind the Scenes
Week 18: Water
Week 19: Blurry Foreground
Week 20: Unique Perspective
Week 21: Shadow
Week 22: Food
Week 23: Abstract
Week 24: Reflection
Week 25: Contrast Color
Week 26: Think in Threes
Week 27: Starburst
Week 28: Low Perspective
Week 29: Macro
Week 30: Backlight
Week 31: Big Sky
Week 32: Dominant Color
Week 33: Fill the Frame
Week 34: Spot Metering
Week 35: Handheld Long Exposure
Week 36: S Curve
Week 37: Shoot Through
Week 38: Faces
Week 39: Blossom
Week 40: Environmental Portrait
Week 41: Texture Overlay
Week 42: Details
Week 43: Season
Week 44: Fog & Steam
Week 45: Nighttime
Week 46: Analog
Week 47: Sunrise/Sunset
Week 48: Lens Flare
Week 49: Panorama
Week 50: Street
sitting across me
hands breathing fire
you burn sunflowers
into moonless shadows
remember
touch inky waves
scream amber light
open every sunroof
rotate back to you
For anyone struggling right now, but especially Cin.
shaking from pride or nerves
never can I tell
press wound
apply greater pressure
still don’t feel it
forget deep, give me soft
fault lines carved from neglect
don’t take much to shift
plates want to move
quakes mean I’m alive
“What I want is for the two of us to meet somewhere by chance one day, like, passing on the street, or getting on the same bus.” —Haruki Murakami
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was street photography. I waited until I had a reason to go downtown tonight and it happens to be pouring rain. And dark. I did what I could to take advantage of those aspects and find something interesting to share. Let me know if you have a favorite. I think I’m turning in #6, but feel free to change my mind.
Only two more weeks of this challenge. It’s been a big year of growth for me and I’m so grateful to those who have been cheering me on the entire time. I hope I pass you on the street one day and you stop to say hello.
52 Photo Challenge
Week 1: Bokeh
Week 2: Silhouette
Week 3: Black and White
Week 4: Motion Blur
Week 5: Texture
Week 6: Framing
Week 7: Leading Lines
Week 8: Negative Space
Week 9: Patterns
Week 10: Symmetry
Week 11: Green
Week 12: Sidelight
Week 13: Sense of Scale
Week 14: One Lens
Week 15: Series
Week 16: Flat Lay
Week 17: Behind the Scenes
Week 18: Water
Week 19: Blurry Foreground
Week 20: Unique Perspective
Week 21: Shadow
Week 22: Food
Week 23: Abstract
Week 24: Reflection
Week 25: Contrast Color
Week 26: Think in Threes
Week 27: Starburst
Week 28: Low Perspective
Week 29: Macro
Week 30: Backlight
Week 31: Big Sky
Week 32: Dominant Color
Week 33: Fill the Frame
Week 34: Spot Metering
Week 35: Handheld Long Exposure
Week 36: S Curve
Week 37: Shoot Through
Week 38: Faces
Week 39: Blossom
Week 40: Environmental Portrait
Week 41: Texture Overlay
Week 42: Details
Week 43: Season
Week 44: Fog & Steam
Week 45: Nighttime
Week 46: Analog
Week 47: Sunrise/Sunset
Week 48: Lens Flare
Week 49: Panorama
velvet cheek pressing against me
pink lips sucking air
my body knows this
memory becomes language
speaking not words but sensations
primal swaying
songs of ancestors
tenderness blooms here
sweet milky breath
tiny fingers grasping shirt
seedling, daffodil drops, skyward
Mother Earth swells larger
willow trees dancing
petal skinned waters
paper cranes taking flight
you sigh
it becomes a smile
now a laugh
are you chasing winds?
riding swollen ocean waves?
smelling ancient ferns?
moonlight sings your name
sunshine whispers its secrets
lean into softness
stars remember everything
you will tell me someday
you will tell me
all of it
He had a picture of me
on his work desk. A boa
constrictor wrapped around
my neck. He’d say,
“She wasn’t even scared.”
His framed pride
didn’t match my fear,
so I pretended.
Not a snake charmer,
I learned to drink venom.
Walk through glass. Palms
up, always. Let me prove
how good I am, like sweet
orange trees. Climb. Take
cover beneath my limbs,
I’ll take all the blame. Sorry
for the storm, for freezing
pomegranate hearts. Orphan
without warmth—I know.
Look, watch me spin so
bright. Sing to the moon.
Ride through a rice field, kick
dust onto the snow-white
cranes. See me create starlight
babies with magical breath—
lean in. Smell them.
Part me.
Part you.
Us.
Branches. You see?
Beautiful are the buds
bearing your blue eyes.
Maybe you had to move
away. Once, no twice.
You needed to be further
from this mess; this me.
Further and further.
I see.
Neck, boa, constrict—
my words press like sap
pushing through bark.
Not fearless, but what
will too late feel
like when words sit stuck
inside. No, say it all. Look,
do you see? “She wasn’t even
scared.”
“The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it and, ultimately, to vanish”. —Federico Castigliano
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to take a panorama shot. We were given two options—the photograph-and-stitch method or the panorama setting on your iPhone. I didn’t have the time and/or energy to learn something new this week, so I went with the easier option and used my phone.
The top image shows what normally happens when I use the iPhone panorama feature—the distorted bend and uneven spots. For the rest of these, I tried to avoid such a huge distortion. #1 is my absolute favorite and #7 was just to show you my cute Christmas decorations in my front yard.
I’m getting toward the end of this challenge and I’m ready to be done. Next week is street photography with all the examples being amazing street vendors in foreign countries. I’m not sure yet what I’ll be able to do…but I hope to end on a high note. Hope you have a wonderful week.
52 Photo Challenge
Week 1: Bokeh
Week 2: Silhouette
Week 3: Black and White
Week 4: Motion Blur
Week 5: Texture
Week 6: Framing
Week 7: Leading Lines
Week 8: Negative Space
Week 9: Patterns
Week 10: Symmetry
Week 11: Green
Week 12: Sidelight
Week 13: Sense of Scale
Week 14: One Lens
Week 15: Series
Week 16: Flat Lay
Week 17: Behind the Scenes
Week 18: Water
Week 19: Blurry Foreground
Week 20: Unique Perspective
Week 21: Shadow
Week 22: Food
Week 23: Abstract
Week 24: Reflection
Week 25: Contrast Color
Week 26: Think in Threes
Week 27: Starburst
Week 28: Low Perspective
Week 29: Macro
Week 30: Backlight
Week 31: Big Sky
Week 32: Dominant Color
Week 33: Fill the Frame
Week 34: Spot Metering
Week 35: Handheld Long Exposure
Week 36: S Curve
Week 37: Shoot Through
Week 38: Faces
Week 39: Blossom
Week 40: Environmental Portrait
Week 41: Texture Overlay
Week 42: Details
Week 43: Season
Week 44: Fog & Steam
Week 45: Nighttime
Week 46: Analog
Week 47: Sunrise/Sunset
Week 48: Lens Flare
“If it is time that you are talking to
Don’t forget the path you are walking through
Sudden flare of past might stalk you
Never allow moments to mock you”
—Munia Khan
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to capture a lens flare. Still craving water and a beautiful sunrise, I woke early and drove to Folsom Lake. It was chilly and cold but incredibly peaceful. I hiked for a long time to reach the water’s edge, and then I savored the sound of the waves. If I closed my eyes I could pretend I was still at the ocean.
Not all of these photos stay on topic, but I’m okay with breaking the rules a little bit. Well, I’m trying to be. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a fantastic week.
52 Photo Challenge
Week 1: Bokeh
Week 2: Silhouette
Week 3: Black and White
Week 4: Motion Blur
Week 5: Texture
Week 6: Framing
Week 7: Leading Lines
Week 8: Negative Space
Week 9: Patterns
Week 10: Symmetry
Week 11: Green
Week 12: Sidelight
Week 13: Sense of Scale
Week 14: One Lens
Week 15: Series
Week 16: Flat Lay
Week 17: Behind the Scenes
Week 18: Water
Week 19: Blurry Foreground
Week 20: Unique Perspective
Week 21: Shadow
Week 22: Food
Week 23: Abstract
Week 24: Reflection
Week 25: Contrast Color
Week 26: Think in Threes
Week 27: Starburst
Week 28: Low Perspective
Week 29: Macro
Week 30: Backlight
Week 31: Big Sky
Week 32: Dominant Color
Week 33: Fill the Frame
Week 34: Spot Metering
Week 35: Handheld Long Exposure
Week 36: S Curve
Week 37: Shoot Through
Week 38: Faces
Week 39: Blossom
Week 40: Environmental Portrait
Week 41: Texture Overlay
Week 42: Details
Week 43: Season
Week 44: Fog & Steam
Week 45: Nighttime
Week 46: Analog
Week 47: Sunrise/Sunset
“I am a tiny seashell
that has secretly drifted ashore
and carries the sound of the ocean
surging through its body.”
—Edward Hirsch
Sometimes a place can be familiar to you but still hold secrets. People are like this too. I look for what is true. What is real. That’s where magic lives.
On this beach trip, the ocean was angry. It pounded the shore and never receded enough to reveal the tide pools. The beauty took my breath away. Come with me.
Bridgette Tales 