light & shadow

out the back

Learning clouds

Memories of Naples

Ten months with my Olympus OM-D E-M5

📷 Digital Art Photography 🎨 : "Paintography" ✈ 👍

Hi,

I know I’m VERY late to the party in writing this but I don’t really post much about camera equipment. Back in March of this year I purchased my Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera. Photographically speaking this has been somewhat of a life-changing event. I’d compare it to meeting an old friend that one hasn’t seen for years, a mixture of nostalgia and the re-discovering of old interests but with a contemporary twist. I’m part-referring to my Olympus OM film camera days but also to enjoying the latest in technical innovations like the amazing five-way image stabilisation and electronic viewfinder .

For some years I sort of existed in what I’d describe as a photographic “limbo”, caught somewhere between my lightweight, go anywhere, Olympus OM film camera days and what I’d consider to be a true digital  camera system successor. During this time I abandoned my film cameras and was…

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Rubens and his Legacy, at the Royal Academy

Just add pictures

Tiger, Lion and Leopard Hunt (c1617)

If you choose to reach for the stars, you will on occasion overreach and fall to the ground. And that, I’m afraid, is what has happened to the Royal Academy with its new exhibition Rubens and his Legacy. Like many others, I have been keenly anticipating this exhibition for some months and the opportunity I thought it would provide to revel in some fine masterpieces by Rubens and those who followed him. My sense of anticipation had been further heightened by Waldemar Januszczak’s recent and fascinating BBC4 programme on Rubens as painter, counsellor and diplomat. This exhibition was surely going to be up there with the National Gallery’s Veronese exhibition as a global ‘must-see’ exhibition. Alas, it is not to be.

This is not of course to say that there are not a few wonderful pieces in the exhibition and, once my initial disappointment…

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My Life as a Dog……..

My Life as an Artist (2)

Last time I watched the Swedish film, ‘My Life as a Dog’ was a long time ago…..and I loved it.    It is one of those films that always stayed with me.

I watched it again yesterday, and it’s even better than I remember…a charming, bitter/sweetevocation of childhood, set in Sweden during 1958-1959.     Exquisitely directed by Lasse Hallstrom based on a novel by Reidar Johnsson.

Due to the terminal illness of their Mother, two brothers are separated and have to live with relatives.

The younger brother finds himself in a small rural village filled with generous hearted eccentrics.

In the village he enjoys a whimsical, unconventional life…..which is quirky, funny and at the same time poignant. 

After watching yesterday, I felt totally uplifted and highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the unusual. 

Without any question, this is a place where the Magical Hummingbirds hang…

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You should have seen the one that got away!

MBK Wildlife Photography

/featured/you-should-have-seen-the-one-that-got-away-mr-bennett-kent.html”> Nankeen or Rufous Night heron Near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

Click the link below to see photographs from many talented folk around the world and feast your eyes on our fine feathered friends!!

I am not sure how well this title translates globally, but this is a dig at the pub boasting of fisherman using their arms to show just how big the fish they ALMOST caught was!!!

Taken near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, this is the Nankeen or Rufous Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) coming in to land.

I seem to have gained the confidence of this beautiful specimen and I spent the best part of an hour, just sitting in his company and it really was an honor.
It is one of those experiences which can make wildlife photography so much more than simply pressing the button :0)

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Acting like a M-A-D dog?

Jo Ann Tomaselli ~ Visual & Verbal Reflections

MAD DOG

Jo Ann Tomaselli ~ Fine Art Photography

When I find myself mad at global events the 1st thing I do is complain,
and this is followed by the question: But what can I do about it?
Not often enough do I ask:
How can I put my wishes for a better world into action? How can I serve?

“Our present time is indeed a … critical time
hovering between the wish
and the inability to believe.
Our complaints are like arrows
shot up into the air at no target and,
with no purpose,
they only fall back upon our own heads
and destroy ourselves” William Temple

I imagine Martin Luther King said it best when he wrote:
“Anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.
You don’t have to know…

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SAILING TO P-A-R-A-D-I-S-E!

Jo Ann Tomaselli ~ Visual & Verbal Reflections

SAILING

Jo Ann Tomaselli ~ Fine Art Photography

On this particular morning the colorful clouds at sunrise swept across the sky and formed, what looked to me,
the angular shape of a boats’ sails.  The long exposure added a dreamy movement to the sky & water
and I felt I could peacefully sail-away wrapped in the beauty of the day.

Sometimes the landscape brings to mind a particular song which inspires the image title.
On this morning I found myself humming the Christopher Cross song ‘Sailing’

Well, it’s not far down to paradise, at least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility

It’s not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again

Well it’s not far back to sanity, at least it’s not for me
And…

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