Friday, April 19, 2019

recognition

honorable mention: conceptual photography, amateur division

Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) recently announced the winners of their 5th annual photography competition. They hold competitions in 20 different categories, both for professionals and amateurs.

I entered 5 images from my "Stroke of Emotions" series into the conceptual category in the amateur division. I was thrilled to discover that I received an honorable mention! Did I say thrilled? That doesn't adequately describe my feelings. There were 4100 entries from 87 countries around the world for these awards.

Here is a link to my page on the FAPA site listing my entry as a nominee:
https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/conceptual/hm/9563

Here is a link to the conceptual category in the amateur division:

https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/conceptual

And here is a link to the full winners' gallery:

https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/grand-prize/

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

the frustration of labels

Cover Me by Sara Harley
Cover Me
Photography means different things to different people. Like many other groups of people, photographers seem to need to label themselves and others.
When someone asks me what kind of photographs I like to take, I often find myself unable to define what I do. My photography has evolved in the past ten years and many people don't consider what I do to fall under the label of photography at all.
I still make images that are relatively untouched by post processing. But more and more I find myself enthralled by creating images using a combination of photographs.
I was compiling a selection of images of windows that I have taken over the past several years.Then I was inspired to create this image using three different photographs....a moth taken in 2012, lacy curtains from 2018, and a rainy window taken in March 2019.
Some people refer to this as photo manipulation, or photographic art. Whatever label it falls under,I enjoy the creative process.
Did you spot the moth right away? I find myself more and more attracted to images that take some time to appreciate. In this case, perhaps you looked at the image, then the title, and then took a closer look at the image and found the moth.
Or maybe you saw something completely different. That, to me, is the beauty of photography. We all see things in our own way.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

the promise of spring

Winter's Last Standy by Sara Harley
Winter's Last Stand
Winters in Nova Scotia are a roller coaster of temperatures. The worst thing about this winter has been the freeze/thaw cycle but all in all it hasn't been that bad. We haven't been whacked with a big snow fall....until the night before I took this photograph...shadows of dried hydrangea flower heads.

We received about 12 inches of snow, but it was light and fluffy and lovely. And it was especially nice because I didn't have to shovel it this time! I decided it was worthy of our snow plow guy to come and move it.

Late in the afternoon the outdoors beckoned and it was just above freezing so I put on my woolies and took the dogs out into the back yard. I pulled out a bench and sat in the rays of the setting sun. We live in a busy area of town, but it was quiet and the only traffic noise was in the distance.

I watched as the occasional breeze sent bursts of snow scattering from the limbs of the trees in the park behind us.

I listened to a woodpecker hard at work somewhere in the woods.

I felt the tiniest bit of warmth in the sun, the promise that spring will arrive.


And I could smell the faintest whiff of roast chicken coming from the house.

It was time to go back inside with the promise of spring in my heart. 

Update: That feeling has been tested lately. We received 2 days of snowfall in April and it seems like spring is a long way away.