France: black and white

Bon jour!  I’m back from another excellent trip to France, where I was treated royally as always by my s-i-l and b-i-l.  During the trip, my b-i-l, who’s been doing ultra marathons (any race longer than a traditional marathon of 26 miles or 42.195 kilometers) did something a bit different: a vertical kilometer.  Taking place on a very steep ski run, the contestants “ran” to the top and took the lift down, repeating this a total of three times.  Final time was the total of the three uphill segments.  It was grueling!

The morning was cold and foggy, although the fog eventually burned off and the sun arrived.  Fortunately for the participants, it didn’t get hot, at least from a weather point of view.  I took this shot at the beginning of the race.  My b-i-l is on the left, an unknown runner on the right.  The black and white called for on the third Monday of Sally’s Mobile Photography Challenge seemed just right for both the foggy morning and the difficulty of the competition.

A delight for the soul

As much as I enjoy color, especially after a long winter, sometimes only black and white will do.  For me, this is such a case.  Every third Monday, Sally asks us for a monotone shot taken with a mobile or none-traditional camera.  This was taken pre-iPhone some years ago with my iPad.

“To see in color is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul.” – Andri Cauldwell

“There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.
”– Stefan Kanfer

Abandon hope

“All hope abandon ye who enter here.”

OK, this isn’t the gate to Dante’s hell, but it looks much more ominous in black and white than it did in real life and since Sally wants black and white today, that what she gets.  🙂

The Easter ravioli were a big success with even a few left over.  I’m definitely ready to relax a bit after a wonderful church service and good food with good friends.  So I shall say farewell for the evening and good morning to all of you who will read this tomorrow.  I appreciate all of you as well.

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black and White…leaf or jawbone?

How can it already by the third Monday of March?  It’s truly March Madness* and not the basketball sort!  However, the third Monday means it time to go retro with a black and white photo and here’s my choice for this week. I hope you enjoy it.

This may be my last post for a while, as I head for California tomorrow morning for a visit with our older daughter.  A short trip to Yosemite is in the plans, weather willing, and I’m taking my Nikon as well as my iPhone.  I’m quite sure you’ll see some of whatever I see during the trip at some time in the not-to-distant future.  🙂  I’m very excited about that trip, as I haven’t been to Yosemite since I was a child, more than a few years ago, and I’ve never been there at this time of year.

Until then, keep well.  I’ll miss you! (I’ll respond to any comments, just not post or read other posts.)

*For those of you not from the US, March Madness is what they call the men’s college basketball tournament that determines the national champion.  It runs for a good part of March all over the US.

 

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black & White…carousel

You gotta do something while waiting for luggage to emerge from the bowels of the airport onto the baggage carousel.  In my case, after choosing just the right spot, I take photos of the carousel.  🙂  Sally’s Black and White theme for the third Monday of the month seems like the perfect place for this shot.  We’re making  12+ hour trip today from Philadelphia to Chicago, but we’re driving, so our luggage is all with us and flies free, just like it does on Southwest.  Yes, that’s a shameless plug for my favorite airline.

Happy Monday!

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black and White…reflections

It’s certainly easy to try a photo in black and white when shooting digital!  Some photos don’t need much help, though, as in these reflections I found one cold morning on the river.  This reminds me of something the Impressionists might have done had they not worked in color.

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black and White…fountain

In the summer sun with blue skies, this fountain has the look of an abstract dandelion.  In black and white, it takes on a different look, although no less attractive.  Again I marvel at the ease of seeing how a color shot looks in black and white, accepting or rejecting, cropping, etc. with a digital camera or phone.

Although I’ll see many of you throughout the week, I want to wish everyone in the US a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  Take some time each day to count your blessings.  There are so many.

Randy asked to see the original, so I’ll include it here.

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black and White…waspish

I tend to see the glass as half full, but I prefer my wasps’ nests completely empty!  It has the delicate look of handmade paper, which I guess, in a sense, it is, although wasps don’t have hands.

Sally is the hostess of the Mobile Photography Challenge, an excellent photographer, and a wordsmith as well.  Each week she highlights and links to another talented photographer.  Drop by.  You’ll come away better for it.

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black & White…from the CIA

Yes, a bit of trickery in the title, but the Chicago Institute of Art IS also known as the CIA.  Here are two shots from it, the second naturally B&W with only a bit of edging added. Stop by Sally’s site to find more beautiful examples of black and white photography from talented photographers.

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Black and White…black (and white) Beans

August is flying by with indecent haste, bringing thoughts of the colors of fall, even though green is still rich and abundant.  However, it’s the third Monday of the month, meaning we eschew color for a trip back into the time of black and white photography.  So simple now to play not only with color/monotone, but to edit, undo, redo, do more and different things.  I’m hearkening back to earlier this year when I took the train into “the city”, Chicago proper, and while waiting for the Art Institute to open, enjoyed a distorted view of the city and my fellow humans courtesy of The Bean.

In photos of the outside of The Bean, the city appears to bend and curve, but when shot from underneath, The Bean hints strongly at Escher and his contemporaries.  It also translates easily into monotone showcasing that distorted, other-worldly, impossible world.