At the centre of your being you have the answer, you know who you are and you know what you want ~ Lao Tzu

Friday, February 22

Focus on Life - Week 8


This week's prompt from Sally was Monochromatic - consisting of one colour... (help, this is getting technical!) 

Thankfully, Sally gave us more information:

Monochromatic photos tell a story, evoke emotion and uncover the soul with the simple contrast of one color. Monochromatic photos enable the viewer to see a deeper meaning behind what may be concealed by multiple colors.

Wanting to 'evoke emotion', 'uncover the soul' and 'enable the viewer to see a deeper meaning', I give you these images from a frosty morning in our back garden earlier this week...

 


For me they evoke wabi sabi...
 
built on the precepts of simplicity, humility, restraint, naturalness, joy and melancholy as well as the defining element of impermanence. Wabi sabi art challenges us to unlearn our views of beauty and to rediscover the intimate beauty to be found in the smallest details of nature's artistry.
(Andrew Juniper, Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, p. ix)
 
If you enlarge the photos, you can really see the exquisite details of the frost and the decaying leaves... even more so without the distraction of colour!

I've learnt such a lot this week - thank you, Sally :)






23 comments:

aneri_masi said...

These are gorgeous photos! I like how you picked a different color for all three of them. I want to do that too!

Islandgirl said...

Love that middle picture! I'm patiently waiting for green buds to show up on the trees and the snow to be gone. Not too many decaying leaves visible here at the moment!

Mary K. McGraw said...

Great photos. Love how you captured the frost on the leaves.

Mary Harding said...

Gorgeous photos. Beautiful detail in the black and white photos. Love your Wabi Sabi quote.

Adrienne said...

I like the second one it almost looks like fuzz instead of frost. I didn't realize it until you pointed it out. Awesome!

Courtney Breul said...

I love your shots. The leaves are works of art - the macro shots share that.

Cyndi J said...

What a perfect description on Wabi Sabi to go with the prompt this week. And your leaves captured that description beautifully. Love the lacy texture in the last photo especially.

Tanya said...

Those are stunning. I love how the frost looks on the ground first thing in the morning. You captured it perfectly. And you are right, full size is necessary to really appreciate the detail. They are perfect in black and white.

Karen Williams said...

What beautiful shots! The frost highlights even the tiniest little details. And you captured them so perfectly.

AntiquityTravelers said...

oh yes you are right! the black and white really brings the lines and texture into focus! beautiful photos

Shel said...

These are exceptional - I do love the details!!

Beti Horvath said...

I do like what you did with these shots. The "green" one gives a new meaning to the concept of a green leaf!

Meeling said...

Very nice! The bottom one is my favorite.

(no. 43 this week)

Juli Cannon said...

Fantastic photos~ I love how the frost clings to the edges of the leaf, a few moments of preservation for the life that was.

Excellent.

Becky Pancake said...

Outstanding pics. It's cool to see just the edge of the leaf frosted and the decay on it.

koko said...

Oh I think these are amazing! You could have shot these through a microscope lens!

Annette said...

You really do see the details when you take away the color! I love the last macro shot!

Unknown said...

Just simply fantastiic!

Lori P said...

How beautiful! They look like lace.

brokenteepee said...

I love frost. It makes the ordinary beautiful if only for a moment.

A Polymer Penchant said...

Beautiful Claire, love the frost - love the conection to fleeting beauty and art

Honey from the Bee said...

The frost is beautiful. The crinkly leaf tells such a story, doesnt' it? love the post.

LoriF said...

Amazing! I love the "lace" in the last one..