Trails Across Space

There are going to be a good few dune photos spread through these early weeks, and maybe into the coming months.

So here we have a photo of part of a sand dune system, and like many of these types of dramatic, kind of minimal photos, this carries a sense of isolation and sparseness. Ideas of a sense of journey, perhaps without knowing direction. Trapped in openness. There’s some vegetation and their shadows draw long, but the space still feels empty.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-thirty-first Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Resilience“.

Dune systems are usually pretty resilient, and they need to be. The plants that form on dunes need to withstand sand abrasion, and normally they will also capture that sand. As they do, they’ll spread and more vegetation will appear. The more sand that is captured, the faster a dune system can be replenished after a storm. The less sand gets washed away, and the more stable the dune becomes. Sand is also prevented from blowing inland as the vegetation captures it, which allows different kinds of habitats to form, and also makes for habitable space.

There’s a lot of life on sand dunes and it too needs to be resilient to an extent, or at least adaptable. Sand dunes are pretty important, and so we need to do more to protect them.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Egídio

Ritva

This one is curated by Anne. The next one is curated by Ritva.

I recommend joining the community and participating in the challenges. They’re pretty straightforward, allow room for interpretation, and provide a good way to think about photography in general. If not, however, then at the very least you should check out what others submit to the challenges.

I hope you enjoy.

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Car Beach Day

A day where these cars were able to go to the beach and meet up and hang out.
Pretty sure I’ve shared a photo of this beach a while ago. Might link to it at some point. Not sure.

I hope you enjoy.

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A Mass Floating in the Sky

Another long day and so here’s a photo of clouds coloured by the setting sun as they sit above vegetation and terrain and all sorts of things.

I hope you enjoy.

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Church Spire

A church spire made to look… churchy? Grim? Ominous? I don’t know.

When processing this I tried to get something going with contrast. Didn’t work, but I like the sort of shaded texturing I got instead.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week.
This one is hosted by Dawn of The Day After, and she has chosen the theme of  “Places of Worship“.

This challenge is open to all, and I recommend joining in. If want to, check out more information about it here, and include the tag “monochrome-madness” when you share your photo. If you’d prefer not to join in, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography, and what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1443: Where’s my Silliness?

There’s a banana to the left of me, and to the right is a mouse. On this desk sits a laptop upon which I use to type these words.

Okay, this is absolutely brilliant writing right here. Couldn’t get any better.

I’m trying to work out where all my silliness went. Trying to find where all the ridiculousness flew off too. What is and is not absurd and how I lost it all. Where did my flippancy go off to. It has been lost along the way, and maybe that says I’ve been doing too much of this. I don’t know.

I do know that I’m sitting here and I’m tired, but that’s the norm, really, so not much to say there. I do also know that, by the end of today I’m going to be feeling even more tired as it’s going to be a bit of a blasting day, of sorts. Charging through the work and the drudgery, but it’s a nice drudgery to have. Having the boredom of stability is nice. But I also want my flair for silliness back.

Not saying I’m a good writer; just that I’m good at being silly.

I don’t think I lost it from moving toward the boredom of stability, mind, but rather I lost it along the way. Something happened and I guess I grew out of it, though rather in this instance I feel it was more that I kind of forgot how to be, or something. I don’t know; I’m just trying to work things out here.

But something has been lost and I feel I know what that something is, but I should be able to get back to it, right? I should just be able to work on it and pick it back up, without issue. Except, maybe I’m spending too much time thinking about how I’m writing and what I’m writing, and that gets in the way and I should stop, but sometimes things are better left behind, even if you miss them. There’s no point in trying to force something. There is a point in trying to work toward it, but forcing it to be, unless doing so is necessary, is not something worth doing.

Well, there are times when it is worth doing, but I don’t think so in this case. There are other things I want to work on anyway, and maybe I’ve changed enough that trying to pull that silliness back to here isn’t going to work, unless it too has changed and we’re in alignment. Who knows.

What I do know is that, perhaps there still remains a little spark inside somewhere, and maybe it’s waiting to turn into a nice warm fire once more. A fire of all these ideas and bits and pieces that make little sense, or make whole sense but aren’t considered serious enough. However, they might just have their day of return, but until then there is no silliness, and a spark shall remain silent.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:46:88

I went in just wanting to write and I got a little introspective.
Doing a little introspection this morning. Business as usual.

Written at work.

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The Shadow Line

Another long day, so here’s a photo of a shadow along sand dunes.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1442: Starting the Timer

Starting the timer, playing some Talk Talk. It’s a day. Or not. Just another day of work, and a quiet one before tomorrow, which is another day of work.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk. It was quite hot but I still went. I wanted to start stretching my legs a bit more. You know, work on getting fit again, as there is a lot of work that I need to do… to get fit again.

I went outside, walked around the park. Came back quite sweaty, but it was worth it. It was worth going around and dealing with the heat. But it wasn’t the happiest of walks. Lots of thinking about how much time I’ve wasted, those kinds of things. Knew it was going to be that kind of walk, but still did it, still embraced it and still let myself dip for about thirty minutes for no reason. Could’ve just been an appreciating of the mobility I’m fortunate to have.

I wasted a lot of time during my break time, and sure, you don’t always get to do what you want when you’re resting. You don’t get to do what you want most of the time anyway, and that’s the way it is. But this was a time I wanted to do more, and needed to do more and it didn’t happen, so… yeah. What do I do about it, other than try to maximise my time as it is currently? Because that’s all I can do, really.

Tomorrow I will be driving once more, but I’ll be going for a walk when I get to work. Going to keep walking, going to keep relying less on the car wherever I can, because as convenient as it is, this urban driving is really taking it out of me and it’s more stress than it’s worth, I feel.

Years and years ago I wrote about how much time I was saving by cycling, and how much time everyone would save if they cycled more (obviously for those who can). I stand by that more now, and I do miss cycling a lot. I also miss being productive, but the only way those things are gonna happen is if I work on them happening, and I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I can. If I don’t, nothing changes, so I’ve got to keep on doing it if I want the change.

But yeah; I walked, and I reflected, and I listened to some sad music. It was hot and I was sweating heavily, and people were out playing and enjoying their time in the park, and it was a nice bit of time spent. Sometimes you wish these things went on for longer, and sometimes you don’t, but that was the right amount of time. Would’ve been better had there been no heat to deal with, but I’m not complaining too much. It was just a good way to cap off an overdue work break.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:43:55

I wanted to try and write something a bit happier about the end of the break, and instead I wrote something that wasn’t quite about it. Oh well.

Written at home.

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Morning of the Year’s First Day

On the first day of this year my partner and I got up early in the morning to drive to the sand dunes we were at the evening prior. We had a picnic at sunrise, and then I went wandering across some of them. Saw this.

I think there’s something striking about this. It’s almost quiet, and still, and there’s something almost barren about it too. The sand is disturbed, but it feels like the only thing disturbing it is this bit of wood which I believe is the remnant of a tree. At least I think it is a remnant. But the thing is sand dunes are full of life, even when it’s not obvious.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1441: Trying to get Words Down

Last day of being on break. Am struggling, but mostly due to lack of sleep than anything else. Such is life, I suppose, or something, or so they say.

Sitting here, drinking my TEA. Trying to get words down but I need to sweep and clean. This week and next are very large ones. Going to be getting a lot done, whether I want to or not. But they’ll be good weeks. I hope they’ll be good weeks, at least.

So I sit here and I sweat. There’s a storm coming, and I am really looking forward to it. Looking forward to the relief it’ll provide, but I need it here now and not later. Later still is useful, but it’d be more useful here now.

I haven’t done as much as I’d have liked during this break. That’s the way things go. It could be far worse. I could’ve done much less. I did relax, and that was important. Relaxation was desperately needed, and so is a lot more. To be honest, I don’t know how much longer I can keep on working. Too much of my life already spent doing it, and I’m in a good environment, but those prior years might be catching up so I’ve just got to keep on pushing on. But I don’t know how much longer I can.

So today is the last day of being on break and I need more rest, and nothing changes whilst everything changes. I’m sitting here, sweating and I’ll be doing some housework shortly. Right now I’m not but I’m also trying to make sure I won’t be doing stuff until late in the evening, because I can’t be doing that anymore. I can’t be sitting here with my thoughts failing due to heavy fatigue until the last minute. This year is going to be a big year, but it only will be if I get moving on things. If I don’t do anything, then nothing will happen. Nothing will change.

Essentially I’m gonna have to push through all the fatigue. I’m going to have to keep going through the exhaustion, but it’s years of buildup. I was somewhat non-functional at the start of this break, and I’m slightly less so now.

So really the first thing I need to do is start taking better care of myself, and then start saving, and then win the lottery so I can really rest and take it easy for a good long while. Just a lengthy, massive break from everything, be more nomadic because part of the reason why I’m so tired and drained is that I do better when I’ve more room to move, and that is something I’m highly lacking at the moment, and it’s not great. But looking after myself and getting healthy will, naturally, have to come first.

The days trickle away and I need more rest. Don’t know how much longer I can keep working, but I have to keep going, until I can’t.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:15:22

This was more dour than I was hoping what I wrote would be. Way it goes and all that.

Written at home.

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Watching the Sunset

This is my favourite photo of 2024. It’s also the best photo I took in 2024, and it was taken within the last four hours of the year.

My partner and I went on our first holiday in six years. It was short, but it was pleasant. On the first day we drove to where we were staying (with a detour before we arrived at the motel), had a little rest. Went out for dinner, then soon after drove to this sand dune to watch the sunset.

I took a good few photos, and at one point turned around to my partner and saw her sitting as she is in the photo. I asked her to hold it, took a few shots and this is the best of those.

I think the photo captures how fatigued and in pain she was feeling, even though she was looking at and appreciating the colours in the sky and on the sand. It was a long year and we both were feeling it, but she was feeling it quite a lot. That said, I think she also looks comfortable, or at least like she’s trying to get comfortable. Trying to find a moment to relax.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-thirtieth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Favourite Images of 2024“.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Egídio

Ritva

This one is curated by everyone. The next one is curated by Anne.

I recommend joining the community and participating in the challenges. They’re pretty straightforward, allow room for interpretation, and provide a good way to think about photography in general. If not, however, then at the very least you should check out what others submit to the challenges.

I hope you enjoy.

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