Shared Focus

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
Ansel Adams

Welcome to the Shared Focus photography collaboration project!  Click on 'Who We Are" in the side bar to find out more about us. 

We will be posting our responses to a new word or phrase "challenge" every second Sunday, so we invite you to bookmark the site and come back often to see where the project takes us.  If you'd like to join in the fun and play with us, you'll have two weeks to post a photograph on your own site.  Don't forget to come back and leave a link in the comments so we know where to find you. 

Light

The theme this week’s for Shared Focus is Light and was suggested by Martie.

Martie:

Originally I was going to capture light through a prism, but ....   

My entry is my grandson.  We were together recently, and he was engaged in conversation about computer games with my youngest daughter.  While waiting to be seated at a restaurant the sun light was coming through the window lighting up one side of his face while leaving the other in shadow, and I took this.  I love the way he looks in this photo!

Kate:

My original photograph was of stepping stones through a Japanese koi pond.  As I was adjusting the light levels slightly, I was drawn to one small area in the corner of the photograph.  I cropped and enlarged it and the reflected light that was barely noticeable before, began to look like an abstract painting.  A happy accident!

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light.  ~Earl Nightingale

Fragment

This weeks theme is "fragment" and was suggested by Kate:

Kate:
 

 

This is a small fragment of Arbutus bark...a tree that grows prolifically where I live.  It’s actually better known for it's smooth, reddish bark that’s exposed when this outer bark (naturally) peels away, but I couldn’t stretch high enough to get a shot of it!  Just a few short miles from here...south of the border...this same tree is called the Madrona, so Americans will likely be more familiar with it by that name.

The Arbutus was important to the local Straits Salish people of Vancouver Island who used the bark and leaves to create medicines for colds, stomach problems, and tuberculosis, and as the basis for contraceptives. 

According to their mythology, an anthropomorphic form of pitch would go fishing, but return to shore before it got too hot. One day he was too late getting back to shore and melted from the heat.  Several anthropomorphic trees rushed to get him - the first was the Douglas Fir who took most of the pitch, the Grand Fir received a small portion, and the Arbutus received none - which is why, they say, it still has no pitch.

Also, according to the Great Flood legends of the Saanich people who are native to the area where I live, the Arbutus helped people survive by providing an anchor on top of a mountain. Because of this they don't burn Arbutus, in gratitude for saving them. 

These trees are still a protected species and we’re hoping that this particular one…in our front yard…will survive.  They don’t like their roots disturbed and although we were careful during construction, it’s situated just eight feet from the house and is looking a little stressed this year.  :(

 

Martie:

 

Sometimes a fragment can be more than a whole.  The light shines a bit brighter without the entire globe...

(lights located outside the local police station...one of which has been broken)

 

 

edit:  I'm having Typepad "issues" with uploading images which is why they're all over the place!

Faces

The theme for Shared Focus this week is Faces and was suggested by Martie.  Yeah, we’re back at it after a hiatus of, hmmmm….well, too long.  We needed a break after last year’s wild ride; both of us dealt with home moves and Martie also came out of retirement to work towards buying a home (which she recently did!) .  Things have settled down somewhat and life moves on.  My home is built and we’ve moved on to landscaping.  Martie is living and working in California now with a new home waiting for her in Louisiana.  Meanwhile, the creative urge was nudging us to begin collaborating again, so here we are contemplating the word “faces”.

 

Kate:

Faces speak to us in a language without words.  They speak eloquently of our pain, our sorrow and our joy. Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh has said that not only is our smile the result of our joy, but that our joy can also be the result of our smile…if we’re not “feeling the joy”, we can smile anyway and amazingly, we will begin to feel happier. 

(“Thay” as he is affectionately known, knows from his own personal experience that this is true.  He practiced “engaged Buddhism” as he lived through the destruction of his homeland during the Vietnam war and then after visiting the U.S. and Europe in 1966 on a peace mission, he was banned from returning to Vietnam.)

The face above is wearing a soft, spring sunshine smile of peace and quiet joy.  She is my daughter and I am her mother and this alone, brings a smile to my face. 

 

Martie:

I wonder, looking at her face, what is on her mind.
Why is that soft brow so furrowed?
What heart-ache can she know at such a tender age?
What sorrow?

Her face, so full of trouble, I imagine.
I ask her - and delight fills my soul as I hear her reply,
"it's too sunny out there, Grandma!"

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Week 07 - Hanging Out

The theme this week is Hanging Out and was suggested by Kate

Kate:

This photograph isn’t at all what I had in mind to begin with...I call this one “Mehndi Toes”!

I was planning on posting a photograph of my favourite cafe but time was running out and I realized that really, I’ve been hanging out at home a lot recently.  I’ve been living with my daughter and her family for seven months now and for the past three weeks we had another family friend join us.  It was a very full house but we’ve all had so much fun together and the laughter has been non-stop.  The feet above belong to “the girls” of the house who’ve been hanging together.

I used a texture on this that was full of swirls and curls and it reminded me of the beautiful Mehndi  patterns used by the women of South Asia, and parts of Africa to decorate their hands and feet.  In Arabic speaking countries like Morocco and central Asia, it’s done for any special occasion; during the seventh month of pregnancy, after having the baby, weddings, engagements, family get-togethers, and Diwali.  It became popular here in the west in the 90’s where it’s known as a henna tattoo.

The idea of women gathering together to share, support, celebrate…and yes, decorate themselves…has always appealed to me and it seems to be a universal activity, common throughout most cultures.  When I was young my friends and I often got together for an evening of painting toenails, putting on make up and trying out new hair styles.  Do girls still do that?  I guess Spa parties for groups of teenage girls are the current version, only a lot more sophisticated!

There hasn’t been a lot of “spa” happening around here but we’ve been relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

We’ve been “hanging and chillaxin”.

Martie:

This week's theme was hanging out.  Sharing a photograph of a place I enjoy hanging out in.  I thought about my favorite coffee shop, so warm and cozy and filled with wonderful smells and friendly folks.  I thought about my favorite Mediterranean restaurant - where I feel like I'm dining in my own home.  I thought about my comfy purple chair where I curl up and read, knit, watch TV.  But in the end I decided on the place I go to when I need to recharge.

Just outside my dining room is a little "courtyard".  It's very private.  It's still "under construction" but I have a little, old, mosaic table and two chairs out there.  And that is where I go to recharge my batteries, spirit and soul.  I sit there, face to the sky and enjoy the kiss of the sun, the gentle caress of the breeze.  At night I star gaze and wonder who is looking at that one bright star at the same time.  It's my little piece of heaven on earth and it's what I need to ground myself. 

Who knows, perhaps one day you will join me.

Week 06 - Orange

The theme this week is Orange and was suggested by Martie.

Martie:

This week's theme, "Orange" was a lot of fun.  I decided to celebrate the fall harvest by attempting to photograph a "still life" with all orange fruits and veggies.  I also decided to push my photography a bit and shot with totally manual settings.  And, except for the yam appearing more like some horrid mole, I'm  rather pleased with the results. 

So, in celebration of a bountiful harvest - here is my tribute to ORANGE.

Kate:

 
  
Piles of Orange Squash at a local farm stand

First of all I apologise for this “wordy” post on a site where the focus is on photography!

We’re on orange overload at this time of year – at least in the northern hemisphere.  Everywhere I look there are patches, blocks and swathes of orange, both inside and out.  It’s never been a colour I’ve particularly enjoyed but this year on the Canadian west coast, fall has been wonderfully vivid and rich in both colour and texture – and many of them are of the bright shades of autumn orange.  I have to admit that I’m rethinking my bias.  Even London’s online Sunday Mirror declares that “Orange is the New Black” this winter.

And so, because I want to look at Orange from a new and more positive perspective, I’ve done a little research and come up with a list of randomly interesting (or interestingly random), facts about “orange”:

1. Orange in general represents Hinduism and Hindu swamis traditionally wear orange robes. The significance of orange as the colour for swamis is commonly thought to be connected to the idea that orange symbolizes fire.   Their fiery ochre robes display outwardly the inner transformation - the burning of ego, their former selves, and their personal wants.

 The Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Thailand also wear plain saffron or ochre robesThe orange colour originally came from staining the material in vegetable matter and spices like saffron which were readily available.

2. Deluxe International orange is the colour of the paint on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.  

3. The orange fruit is technically a hesperidia, a kind of berry. 

4.   In energy medicine, orange is associated with the second chakra which is located just below the navel.  Orange is the color of joy and creativity and promotes a general sense of wellness.  It provides emotional energy that you can give to others, including compassion, passion and genuine warmth.  When this chakra is blocked we experience fear, anxiety, attachments to material things and a lack of compassion, and distrust.  A balance of orange will let a person handle the ups and downs of life with finesse, quickly recovering from disappointments or wounded heart or pride. Orange is out going, busy, cheerful, bright and stimulates enthusiasm and creativity.   Bring on the orange!

5. The complementary colour to orange is azure, a slightly greenish blue.  Orange pigments absorb mostly blue light.

6.    Hypercarotenemia is an excess consumption of carotene that turns one's skin orange. The places that become the most orange are the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and the whites of the eyes. Oddly enough, it only takes about 3 normal-sized carrots (8-9 inches) per day to come down with hypercarotenemia. This translates to about 20 mg of carotene.  The condition is harmless, unless you have something against turning a bit orange. Think of all the money you'll save not buying fake tans.

7. Orange peel is used by gardeners as a slug repellent.

8.   Terry’s Chocolate Orange of Yorkshire, UK,  dates back to the 1920s, when the "Chocolate Apple" was first produced. The orange was launched in the 1930s and was much more popular than the apple, leading to the apple's phasing out in 1954.   They were bought by Kraft Foods  in 2005 and are now produced in Sweden, Belgium, Poland and Slovakia.

9. Creamsicle is a brand name for a frozen dessert which resembles an ice pop, with a center composed of vanilla ice cream and an exterior layer of flavoured ice (all around a wooden stick). The most popular flavour is orange.  Here’s the cocktail version of this treat:

1 ounce triple sec or cointreau

3 ounces vodka

12 ounces orange juice

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

blend and serve !

Orange you glad I’ve enriched your knowledge of all things orange?  As further evidence of my move towards introducing this cheerful and creative hue into my life, I’ve shocked almost everyone I know by ordering two lime green chairs for my living room with ORANGE pillows.  Match that with hot pink and turquoise against various shades of grey backgrounds and you’ve got the colour scheme for my new home. 

Whatever happened to my subdued earth tones?

Gone.  Vanished.

It’s a whole new me.

Week 05 - Buttons

The theme for this week is Buttons and was suggested by Kate

Martie:

This week's theme was "button", and when Kate suggested it pictures began to dance through my mind.  I composed hundreds of shots in my head, but when I tried to put them into practice - nothing.  So I kept thinking.  Slowly, darker images began to emerge.  And finally, "button" became "button up" which was synonymous with lack of speech.  This then became lack of freedom of speech.  

This caused me to think about how lucky I am to live in a country, and time, where free speech is not only tolerated, but encouraged.  I feel great sorrow for those who live in a society where the simple act of stringing a few words together may cost someone their freedom - or their life.

And so while this photo is on the funny side, I ask you to take a minute and think.  What if the button really did represent the closing of free speech?  What if you had to have your lips buttoned shut so that you would not suffer a greater loss?  What if mere words could mean your death?

Kate:

My name is Kate and I`m a buttonaholic.

I love buttons.

I’ve been intrigued with their colours, shapes and sizes since childhood.  Both my mother and grandmother kept button jars in their linen closets and while they were ironing or mending clothes I loved to tip the jar upside down, sorting through the stash and picking out my favourites.

I still go through the button racks in fabric stores, wishing that I sewed so that I could justify buying the buttons…and sometimes I buy them anyway, just because I love them.  My passion for buttons led me to find these handmade beauties and these  and these.  I`ve also recently indulged my button love with this sweet bracelet from Sparrowsong on Etsy

Buttons…they`re an everyday functional item but they really appeal to my sense of design.  I`d never thought of button designing as a career choice before but  someone is out there designing all those amazing buttons!

…I think I missed my calling.

And some more button candy  here, here and here.  OK, I`ll stop now but you know I don`t really mean it.  I`ll always be on the lookout for more beautiful buttons. 

I can`t help it.

It`s an addiction.

Week 04 – living on the edge

This weeks theme was suggested by Martie and came from a quote she found on the internet…”If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space”.  Neither of us are adrenaline seeking junkies but “the edge” can mean pushing the limits and living life to the fullest, in many ways.

Kate:

Ocean Shores, Washington

I love this week’s theme and the opportunity that it gives me to examine where it is that I live “on the edge” in my life. 

Living on an island naturally situates me physically on the edge, where land and ocean meet.  Both remind me daily that I live within certain physical confines that I occasionally have to push beyond.   Life requires much more of us than just taking up physical space though….it also requires pushing to the edge and beyond, both emotionally and spiritually (whatever that means for you).

I’ve spent most of my life pushing beyond boundaries…always pressing to know and understand more of myself.  It’s required much questioning of both myself and others and frequently ending up in extremely uncomfortable situations…yet still the pushing continues.  I completely understand why some people are driven to climb mountains, scale cliffs or jump from airplanes.  There’s something inside each of us that says we’re capable of more…be it sky diving, public speaking or opening to vulnerability.  Living life to the fullest requires me to be open to all that intrigues me, challenges me, stirs me and even frightens me.

Will I ever come to the moment when I say “enough…no more pushing past “the edge”?  Maybe, but I doubt it. As Richard Bach, the author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and One said “Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.”.

Martie:

What is life on the edge?  For each of us this phrase probably has a different meaning.  For some, risk taking.  For others, extreme sports.  For me it means living the fullest life possible.  Following a dream, giving your all to what you do.  Living with passion.
On my way to work the other morning I was able to capture this sunrise.  It just blew me away.  I pulled off the road and watched as the sun came up and took it's place in the sky.  And I was so happy to be alive and there to witness the birth of a new day.  Yes, this is living life on the edge.  Being there for the edge of the daybreak, and again on the edge of night.  I hope you are living your life to the fullest extent possible!

Week 03 - Bicycles

This week’s theme is bicycles and was suggested by Kate.  The inspiration came from browsing through a book shop and coming across a book of love poems called Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni.  It was actually the inscription inside the cover that inspired her…Bicycles: because love requires trust and balance.

Martie:

I remember.....

When I was young I used to shout with glee, riding my bicycle down the hill - legs sticking out, bare toes splayed, wind rushing through my hair.

As I matured the fun of riding my bicycle faded, turning from joy to drudgery as I toiled to and from the office, the shopping and a million other errands.

Now I'm older and the bicycle is unused, propped up collecting dust like an abandoned ornament.

Maybe one day I'll dust it off, walk it to the top of a hill and climb back on for the descent, legs stuck out, bare toes splayed, wind rushing through my hair.

This bicycle theme certainly turned out to be much more of a challenge than I ever anticipated!  Do you know that when you live in the desert not many people ride bides!  I even went to the school and there were hardly any bikes there either.  But one turned up at an unexpected location (propped up outside a shop) so I captured that one.  Turned out to be fun looking for a bike, and I really enjoyed coming up with the words this time.

Kate:

  

Do we trust ourselves to recognize when love is present?  Can we take that free wheeling, wind in our hair, ride into love and know that however it turns out, we’ll be OK?

Do we have the innate inner balance that’s needed to believe that even if we veer off in unexpected directions over bumpy terrain, we will always come back to our own true north…that our own guidance system will lead us back to our truth?

The first ride we must take is one of self love…perhaps tentatively at first and with training wheels of support…but eventually, with complete trust and wild abandon. 

Close your eyes and imagine yourself as a child…riding your bicycle…hands free, with arms outstretched for balance.  Feel the sun on your back, the wind in your hair, and the joy that moment brings.  Be in that moment and smile with remembrance. 

You’re not doubting yourself and you don’t fear falling.

That feeling of joy…of the utter perfection of life…that is self love.

 

I’ve been wanting to get a bike for the past year, yet the year has flown by and I still don’t have one. 

But I will. 

It’s time. 

To recapture the joy.

(This photograph was taken outside of a bakery in the village of Cowichan on the east coast of Vancouver Island.  I especially liked the sticker on the bar that say’s “share more”!)

Week 02 - Reflections

Our word to “reflect” upon this week is Reflections and was chosen by Martie. 

Kate:

I struggled a bit with this one…I had lots of ideas to pursue but none of them were working out quite the way I anticipated.  In the end, I chose this image which reflects the sky and a floating dock which was stacked with dark blue kayaks.  Because I live on an island and am surrounded by the ocean, water is a constant in my life; I look out on it from my windows, the main street of our small town ends at the water’s edge and I walk along the beach almost daily…it permeates my life. The reflections on the water are constantly changing as the landscape, the weather and the seasons themselves, shift and change.

The text is from the song “Long, Long Journey" by Enya and for me it reflects the life long journey that we all make to come home to our hearts.  As I grow older it becomes all the more important for me to connect daily with the sacred space within my own heart.

Martie:

“She walks through her life and wonders what happened.  The face in the mirror that returns her stare is unfamiliar.  The woman in the shop window wearing her clothes is a stranger.  She looks back, sorting through her memories and wonders if they  are as distorted as the reflections in the water, based in fact but grown softer and gentler over time.”

I was really challenged by this one - wondering if I should take a photo of reflections in a mirror or a shop window.  In the end I decided on the water because I love water.  This week I have really pushed myself and written my own words.  I think they may be something that is just beneath my conciousness, a growing thought/reflection as I grow older.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  If you’d like to play along with us, you’ll have two weeks to post a photograph on your own blog or website.  Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments to let us know where to find you, as well as a link on your own site redirecting your readers back to Shared Focus.  We’d love to see where “reflections” takes you.

Week 01 – Wandering

Kate suggested “wandering” as the word to begin our collaboration and here’s what we came up with…

Martie:

  

I am haunted by images of my youngest leaving home.  She is spreading her wings and I feel so happy and sad at the same time.  I am hoping that this photo, although not creative, will help me put these feelings to rest.  I am the one who is now earthbound and she is wandering!

* * *

Kate:

 

The inspiration for this photograph came from family stories of my grandparents emigrating from Scotland to begin a new life in Canada.  My mother was ten and her brother just seven when they left Aberdeenshire by boat in 1924, taking with them just a few precious belongings.  I imagine them standing on the dock waiting to board their ship…the SS Merloch.  The parents…nervous about leaving their families and all they have ever known to step into the unknown, and the children…excited by the adventure but not grasping the enormity of how their lives are about to change. 

I am awed by their courage.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you’d like to play along with us, you’ll have two weeks to post a photograph on your own blog or website.  Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments to let us know where to find you, as well as a link on your own site redirecting your readers back to Shared Focus.  We’d love to see where “wandering” takes you.