Monday 26 July 2010

Nature - on my doorstep

I am not and probably never will be one of the world's best photographers. Still, I console myself that I am better than my mother, who used to regularly chop off important parts of a photograph, get fingers in front of lenses or shake the camera at the crucial moment. At least digital cameras mean you don't waste film these days and you get instant feedback on how your picture looks. But generally, I shoot what I see and I'm rarely inspired to go find something to photograph. Spontaneity is definitely my style. I don't plan good photographs, they just happen. I'll never make my fortune from photography.

When I first read Tara's prompt for this week's Gallery post, I must admit I was stumped. My heart sank because I have skipped the last two due to a lack of inspiration and time as my extensive (ha!) collection didn't run to anything that I could fit into the prompt and I couldn't think of anything to do; nothing hit me in the face. I really wanted to join in this week's prompt, not least because there is a prize for the best entry of a Green and Black's hamper. Incentive enough, I love a good competition! But still, on looking at the prompt, I had no idea what I was going to do.

And then, that same evening, I was at our neighbours' house across the road. It was their son's 6th birthday party, which had continued into the evening as a barbeque for family and friends. As the sun started to go down, the children were out on the front lawn, playing football and I was watching them idly. I turned my head and looked up. There, on that front lawn, I was greeted with a view that fitted the prompt perfectly. I grabbed my phone and quickly took two pictures. The other people there probably thought I was some kind of lunatic, but here is the best one:
Shame I can't make this any bigger - my blog layout won't let me!

Blue skies are always more interesting with a bit of cloud, don't you think? Skies in Lancashire are rarely this gorgeous but there it was. Luminous feathery white clouds brushing with the lightest of touches across a sky that graduates from its daytime shade through to darker shades of cobalt and ultramarine as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Really, this could be anywhere, were it not for the tiny corner of my next door neighbour's roof that I managed to get in shot, and it took my breath away. Here, in front of me, was Nature in all its glory, reminding me that wherever we live, it really is all around us and we don't always have to look that far or that hard to discover it.

I wonder how many others at the party noticed the sky last Friday evening. Judging by the amount of alcohol that was being consumed, probably very few, but I saw it and there was my photo for the Gallery. Like I said, spontaneous is my style. I hope you like my interpretation of Nature. It's there on our doorsteps, yours and mine. We just have to look harder and notice it more, or it passes us by.



This is my entry for week 21 of the Gallery on Tara's blog, Sticky Fingers. If you have chance, please visit the page and look at some of the other entries. Hopefully, you'll discover some great new blogs along the way. Give it a go; you are bound to see some great pictures.

54 comments:

  1. That's beautiful Kate. I love looking at the sky, but never think to take photos of it. I'm trying out my new camera today - I might give it a whirl!

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  2. maggy, red ted art28 July 2010 at 11:09

    How beautiful and what a perfect post! You shouldn't skip any more prompts!!! This is lovely!

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  3. Your sky shot looks great! Nothing beats a blue sky with traces of fluffy white clouds just reminds me of a gorgeous sunny day :-)
    Your words sum up how you felt seeing it brilliantly.

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  4. beautiful clouds. sometimes you just need to stop and look, don't you?

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  5. Great photo - the early evening sky ending a lovely day! We live quite near an airport so we're constantly looking up at the sky (for aeroplanes - my boys are 3 and 2!)

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  6. Great photo. I love lying on back back and watching clouds in the sky, it's so relaxing ;)

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  7. One of our very favourite things to do is to lie on the grass and look at the clouds. Lovely photo! :)

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  8. That's a beautiful photo :)

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  9. That's a lovely pic. I went for some clouds on mine too. Great textures and contrast of colours. Don't be so harsh on your photography skills either. It's all about capturing the moment, which you did brilliantly. :-)

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  10. Clouds are fascinating. Lovely pic x

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  11. "It's there on our doorsteps, yours and mine. We just have to look harder and notice it more, or it passes us by." I love that!

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  12. Cathy @ NurtureStore28 July 2010 at 19:24

    Beautiful. Hoping for lots of skies like this over the summer ;)

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  13. Lovely post and photo, you brought it together beautifully:) Jen

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  14. Skies are definitely more interesting with clouds in them....I love trying to 'make' pictures/objects out of them ;0)

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  15. Beautiful photograph. I remember seeing skies like that, although not recently!! x

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  16. You need clouds for a good sky scene for sure. Is that really taken with your phone camera?! Lord,I really need to get a new phone... I like it when you see things that others don't notice, makes it a bit more special.

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  17. There is something so relaxing about the sky isn't there - think we should all just lay down and watch sometimes x

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  18. Gorgeous! I think it's easy for us to forget to look up sometimes and appreciate the beauty of the sky.

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  19. Yep, chocolate gets us all involved doesn't it?! I really like this photo, don't knock yourself - you're pretty decent with the old camera!! Right - next week we'll both be entering again, no excuses lol.. x

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  20. Am often driving in the car with my son when he says things like; 'Mum, look at that horse' and I'm thinking 'What horse? Where?' Then I realise he's looking up at the clouds and seeing animals, patterns - just basically observing. And I realise how easy it is to let it all pass by without looking up

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  21. It's a beautiful photo!
    It reminds me of word swritten by Christopher Reeve, when he was wheelchairbound, that he had developed a great interest in watching the clouds, and that one could spend hours doing just that.
    All we have to do is look up, and you did!
    Thanks for dropping by my entry!

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  22. That's a fabulous photo. I love cloud watching. =)

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  23. Lovely post and stunning sky. You're right we should definitely make time to look around, and up, at nature. We always wonder what activities to do with kids and we could just watch the clouds.

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  24. Thanks Rachael. Hope you have fun taking sky pix. :)

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  25. Thanks Maggy. The last couple were just a bit too hard for me and they coincided with end of term busyness, I guess. And this was pure fluke!

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  26. Thanks Jenny. I am glad you like it. Thanks for stopping by.

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  27. Absolutely. Stillness makes you more observant, for sure. Thanks for commenting.

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  28. LOL, I bet you are. We are not close enough to see lots of planes - we get helis and the odd fighter on testing from Warton.

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  29. Oh most definitely. I love clouds. I've heard that Gavin Pretor-Pinney bloke who wrote the book about clouds. He always sounds so calm!

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  30. Thanks Chris. Lying on grass would make us quite a lot wet atm. If it stopped raining in Lancs for longer than a day, we might get the grass cut!

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  31. Thank you Dawnie. Not bad for a phone, eh?!

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  32. Hi Garry, and thanks for commenting. I am not a fancy arty photographer but I do admit this one didn't turn out bad. I saw your clouds too on your post; there have been an awful lot of lovely cloud pix today!

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  33. Thanks queenie and thanks for stopping by. :)

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  34. Why, thanks, Elizabeth - I stopped by your blog and I loved your pix too.

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  35. Well, that was last week so I think it qualifies as summer. We had it for a day last week here, lol.

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  36. Thanking you Jen. Lucky I got the inspiration so quickly!

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  37. Honestly, Sandy, it was last Friday right here, which is not that far from you. They lucked out on the weather - it was the one dry day recently!

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  38. Yes, it was taken with a Sony Ericsson W880i. No fancy schmancy smartphone but it does me for now as it does camera, email and mobile web! It's unusual for it to produce such a good image but that that could be sticky fingers over the lens bit. Whoops. ;)

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  39. Absolutely, Lisa, we definitely should. thanks for visiting and commenting. :)

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  40. Easily done, Jenni, easily done. Had I not been looking for a pic, I might have missed it too!

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  41. I'm not big on chocolate but it's nice to have another incentive. I'll try to do another but am limited by chasing kids around over the holidays. Thanks for visiting and commenting.

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  42. Ooh, oh yes, it is so easy when your life gets in the way. Kids are so much better at creating stillness out of chaos. Rare as that can be with my son! Thanks for the comment anyway.

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  43. No problem, mimi and back atcha! Cloud watching is great to do when you want to calm down and pass a bit of time.

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  44. Thank you and thanks for commenting!

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  45. Unfortunately, uniform grey ones aren't much fun as is often the case in Lancs but yes, you are right. If you can make them stop long enough, it's interesting for them and fun! thanks for the comment.

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  46. Yes, I must play that game more with the children. Thanks for commenting.

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  47. That's a stunning photo and brilliant words to go with it! I'm always amazed at the quality of photos taken with phones these days. It makes me want to lie on the grass and gaze upwards! :) x

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  48. Simply beautiful.

    I miss 'big' skies - you don't really get them that often here in London as they tend to be dominated by buildings!

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  49. Yep, I'm going to do it more with mine. If the weather ever clears up again, that is. :)

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  50. Why thank you. My photos normally end up fuzzy off my phone as I get muck over the viewfinder. Whoops. Glad you like the picture and thanks for commenting.

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  51. Thank you, Kerry and thanks for stopping by.

    True, London is not conducive to big skies, unless you get yourself in a park or walk across a bridge, or at the top of a tall building, I guess!

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  52. Hi there - Love your photo I blogged on exactly the same theme - skies are wonderful and so much more interesting than focusing on what is right in front of your nose! My post is at http://nowrigglingoutofwriting.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/why-i-love-to-look-up-sometimes/

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  53. Oh yes, I did see you pic before. Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment. :)

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  54. It's a wonderful shot, don't do yourself down! Lovely post :)

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