Thursday, July 19, 2012

Light Brigade

My friends' house in Halifax is beautifully decorated, filled to bursting with all sorts of original art and craft.  Just before apéritifs one afternoon, I noticed a little patch of ephemeral art being created on the wall by the sun peeking through the blinds.


The shadow stripes turned red against the picture frame, echoing the colour of the flowers in the foreground.



Stray rays spilled beneath the shelf, 
continuing the light play above 
and repeating the stripes on the clay pot.



The clay sculpture in the corner looked on,
 laughing  in delight,  albeit rather hollowly.



The red flowers demanded a dramatic moment in the spotlight




and then burst into their solo act of art imitating art,
doing their best to look like a painting.




Not to be outdone, the clay flowers (photo on left) transmogrified into a painting of themselves (right)
(with a little editing help from me in Photoshop, that is).

Wherever you may be this weekend, I hope it is in a place filled with de--light.

***

Linking up with Bonnie's Photo Art Friday whose theme this week is "light."


50 comments:

  1. Sheer magic. The capture of light - magic in itself! Then the transformation to art!! How lucky we are to have the tools at our disposal that allow us to become alchemists. So pleased you share your talents with Photo Art Friday, Lynne.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave such a flattering comment.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous20 July, 2012

    the picture with the red flowers with black background is stunning!

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    Replies
    1. Momphotog,
      And that picture happened just like that! No tampering on my part--what I saw was what I got. Right light, right second.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous20 July, 2012

    All the images are wonderful!
    Stay inspired!

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    Replies
    1. Michelle,
      Thanks for visiting and leaving words of encouragement. Life is inspiration.

      Delete
  5. Oh my what a wonderful post. First your photo's were amazing. I love both the Dramatic Piece of the Flowers by themselves and then the full bouquet given the paintery feel. Then I also enjoyed your post itself, it was fun to read and quite creative in itself.

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    Replies
    1. Ida,
      I'm so pleased you enjoyed my pictures and little commentary. It was so unexpected to see the light playing on the wall like that at my friends' house; pure luck at having been there at the right moment.

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  6. Anonymous20 July, 2012

    What gorgeous shots. You#ve really captured the magical light.

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    1. LadyFi,
      That reminds me of a line in a song from The Sound of Music when the nuns are singing about the problematic novice, Maria: "How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" Only in this case it's a sunbeam.

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  7. Nicer than a painting, really- a piece of kinetic art!

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    1. Jenny,
      Now if I could only manage to make it blink on and off like a neon sign!

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  8. What a wonderful house with all that unique art and yes transient light art is beautiful in its ephemerality....greetings from london

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    1. Catherine,
      I know how very well acquainted you are with capturing ephemeral light, from having seen your gorgeous shadow shots on your blog. I hope the rain is letting up in London: talk about light being ephemeral!

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  9. I have seen de-light, Lynne, thanks to this post! Grazie mille! I love the hollow laughter of the sculpture, the stripes spilling onto the wall, and especially your transmogrification of the whole scene. Brava.

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    1. jannina,
      Your sunny comments soaked in that sumptuous Sicilian light always leave me beaming!

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  10. These are beautifully captured. The effect of the slanted rays on the frame and pots is magic, as is your commentary. The photoshopped image is a piece if art in itself. Love this series,

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  11. Gillian,
    I was so in love with those slanted rays! Glad you like them, too, and that you see these pictures as a series rather than mere repetition. I couldn't stop myself from posting all the variations on the theme.

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  12. Love the painterly flowers!

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    Replies
    1. Pat,
      And there's no messy clean up involved! Thanks for visiting.

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  13. Really love how you have captured the nuances of this play of light. Great post!

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    1. Jeanne,
      Thank you! I really did feel like I was "capturing" the light, rather like trying to catch soap bubbles floating on the air.

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  14. Love all the effects. So cool. Valerie

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    1. Valerie,
      Ooh, I'm always happy when someone likes the effects I use because I sometimes feel guilty about using them (not being a "real" photographer).

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  15. Very nice! The red flowers as a painting is my favorite.

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    1. Jean,
      Thank you so much. It would be tempting to actually do a painting based on the painterly photograph.

      Delete
  16. My day has been enriched by your sleuthful adventure. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Janith,
      Sneaking up on light is not for the faint of heart! I'm glad you came along for the adventure.

      Delete
  17. very interesting artwork. :)

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    Replies
    1. Naturefootstep,
      I'm glad you enjoy it as art.
      :-)

      Delete
  18. Anonymous20 July, 2012

    Just wonderful !

    Please have you all a kind weekend ahead.

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    Replies
    1. Robert,
      The weekend has been very kind thus far! Hope it's been like that for you, too.

      Delete
  19. Oh, you had me at aperitifs...loved the colours in this post, red is an all time favourite of mine and I loved what you did with the almost negative!

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    1. Saj,
      There's nothing like the sound of ice cubes clinking in a glass to get you to poke your nose in to see what's shakin'! Oh...sorry...poor choice of words. What's being stirred up? Hmmm...maybe not...what's going down? ummm... Bottoms up! no, that doesn't work either... Don't want you to leave here seeing red or feeling all negative!

      Delete
  20. Those sunbeams travelled quite a way, past planets and through vast empty space before they entered your friends living room where they caused quite a stir, it was a delight to read your report of the occurrence,,,M

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    1. Michael,
      And now they've been beamed to far distant corners of the world and other people's living rooms or home offices on computer screens, even prompting a few kind souls and kindred spirits to leave markings in a box and leave it on my blogstep. Simply amazing what a little display of light can inspire. I love your description of the sunbeams' voyage to that particular place and time; I hadn't thought of it in that light.

      Delete
  21. You have a gallery of wonderful digital photo art...I like the "painting"!

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    1. KKKKaty,
      Making digital photo art is such fun! And it takes up so much less room than paint on canvas. I'm pleased that you like my virtual painting.

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  22. Shadow and light is what it's all about, isn't it? And being in the right place at the right time. And recognition. You sure had everything working for you at this time. I love the concept of "stray rays." That makes me think of a wispy strand of hair that needs to be caught and put behind the ear. :)

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    1. Hilary,
      I hadn't really thought much about shadow and light until I saw to what great effect you, among others, use it in the photos you make. The light play on the living room wall caught my attention with its stripy-ness--the pattern being made. I startled my hosts by suddenly bolting out of the room to fetch my camera.
      Your stray rays (of hair) is a fetching image. I see the sun shining on those strands, illuminating them as fingers tuck them tenderly behind the ear. "Stray rays" make me think of sting rays swimming aimlessly about in the ocean, looking for some trouble to get into.

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  23. These are all wonderful! My favourite is the dramatic image of the red flowers.

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    1. Prairie Jill,
      That picture just came straight out of the camera (for once.) I could hardly believe it when I downloaded it. I'm glad you like it.

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  24. I love it, wonderful play of light and shade with excellent tones. A very creative compositions.

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    1. Leovi,
      I'm so pleased that you like this series.

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  25. Ah, after de-lighting us, you have enlightened us, re-lighted us, yes, such a plight to have to bear again and again, the pleasure of alighting here after a long and lonely flight across oceans through the night... but oh how your work proclaims : Let there be light ! Banishing darkness from benighted eyes with bolts of lightning...

    In what wonderful ways works the mind and eyes and artful soul of your good self...

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    1. Owen,
      Your comments light up my (blogging) life!

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  26. what a witty but also sensitive post, such a tender attention for the little details of light and colour... that light play is truly amazing, but i love the way you "framed" it into the decor, as if it were a work of art as well, as you said - very clever! :-)

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    1. Roxana,
      It was visually stunning. I saw it, it delighted me, I had to try to catch it. That stripey light at play offering itself up as a gift. The hardest part is to wrap the vision up in words.

      Delete