To my Valentine

Views from the plane

On a flight from Christchurch to Wellington, I got to shoot the magnificent Southern Alps and also managed to get bit of Wellington.

Just out of Christchurch

Cook Strait, blue and gleaming in the sun

Wellington, in sight

Coming of the camellias

The first camellia of the season has bloomed ---

Views from my window

Winter is here and so is the ice on the mountain ranges. It's such a joy to look at them in all seasons, like an ever-changing kaleidoscope. Right now the reigning colour is white....

winter is here

I try hard to keep the cold 

out of heart spaces

then the rainbow peeks

like a playful child in mirth

chanting 'I see you' 

After the rain - haiga

Creative February 12 - Agapanthus effects

Same flowers - different effect! (best viewed large)

Creative February 10 - Low-key selfie

The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is to post a selfie.

I thought I'd give low-key photography a try ...

Photo of the day - New shining baby toms

Baby tomatoes sparkling in the summer sunshine ....

Photo of the day - Beans at sunset

A bean stalk against the sunset sky (best viewed large)

Flow

There's a dam near where I live that overflows in the most beautiful manner....

What are you full of and what overflows .... joy, bitterness, love, hate, resentment, peace, cheerfulness?

Orchids at Singapore

I spent a pleasant hour at Singapore Airport shooting the orchids.

(click on the image to view the album)

Orchids at Singapore

Oranges, anyone?

Just showing off my orange tree :)

Fireworks - haiku

 

blackbird in bird bath
splashing sparkling water drops
silvery fireworks

 

After a lot of missed ops, I finally got to photograph a bird bathing scene :)

~~~

Lotus - haiku

an angel it must be
rising spotless from the mud
wings blooming fragrant

~~~

Branch meeting - haiku

 

treetop meeting place
blackbirds pondering over
the day’s agenda
 

~~~

 

tulip - haiku

light lay laughing lithe
in the tulip bulb, transformed
into glowing orb

~~~

Let there be light

through the leaf filigree
a playful sunbeam sparkles

triumphant
on spotting me

and I
just grateful

on being spotted
and splashed upon

by wayward strands
of light

~~~

Kerala Kaleidoscope

These last two months that I have been in Kerala, I have been taking lots of photos. I finally managed to put them into an album (of sorts)

Kerala kaleidoscope


Even though the photos were high quality, uploading the movie on to YouTube compromised the quality somewhat, Even so, view in full-screen, if possible.

Being solitary

An Excerpt from The Stations of Solitude by Alice Koller

Philosopher Alice Koller explains the benefits that ensue from solitude and the creativity that is birthed there. Here is an excerpt on nurturing.

"I surround myself with silence. The silence is within me, permeates my house, reaches beyond the surfaces of the outer walls and into the bordering woods. It is one silence, continuous from within me outward in all directions: above, beneath, forward, rearward, sideward. In the silence I listen, I watch, I sense, I attend, I observe. I require this silence. I search it out. The finely drawn treble song of a white-throated sparrow is part of it. Invasions of it by the noise of engines are torments to me.

"This is my solitude.

"I do not cloak it among other persons, and I know how it appears. No sign of submission, in the eyes of most men; too assured, in the view of most women; not properly respectful, to the gaze of all those in authority. I have become that third gender: a human person, the being one creates of oneself. I fell in love with my work, became fiercely protective of my freedom, started to make new rules. In this, Sartre is surely right: persons are not born but made. The choice lies escapably within ourselves: we may let it wither away, or we may take it and run."

Raindrops - haiku

broken string of pearls

laughing, hey! come on! catch me!

raindrops on my deck