Midweek Moment(s) #56 & 57: The beauty of life

Life swept Louise and I up in a whirlwind last week so we weren’t able to share a Midweek Moment post … but we’re making up for it with a 2-for-1 special.

What’s my excuse? A combination of the paid job, running all-day Book Week sessions, Serenity Press meetings, promising I’d finish a scene in my novel … and the need to hang out with my lovely family. I’d taken photos, but needed time to download and process them.

My first photo is of a poppy that’s growing in our backyard. It was a little breezy, which is why the image has that Impressionistic, soft-focus effect … but that’s what I wanted. The red bursts out of the image and keeps drawing me back in. It’s almost hypnotic – the soft background makes me think of flowers in a field, rustling in the breeze, and I want to walk there and leave my life-worries behind.

My second photo is a lot sharper. Neighbours down the road have a beautiful native garden with everlasting flowers out the front so I popped down there to get a few pictures. My neighbour, who remembered my name (I still can’t remember hers, but it has been about three years since I’ve been down there and that was only once), invited me to look at her back garden. It was spilling over with flowers, like an English cottage garden. As for her vegie patch … wow! Her broad bean plants were 5ft high, even though they were supposed to be “dwarf” plants.

I took this photo in the middle of the day, so it’s very bright, but I’m hoping to pop down to my neighbours’ house later in the week (and later in the day) for some different shots. I love the papery look of everlastings, so they give me plenty of inspiration.

Louise had two book launches to attend, a trip down south, and kids’ commitments. She’s also trying to make inroads into Novel #2 and preparing her website for an update, as there are a few things happening behind the scenes in her attic.

Louise took her first photo at the same ‘secret’ spot she visited for MM #55. The best thing about visiting a place every day is that you get to know its hiding places, and where the best spots for photos are … I might have to get her to take me there.

“This spot is quite secluded so there were a million intact spiders’ webs (I’m allowed some artistic licence), all catching the sun at different angles. I especially liked the light in this photo—the way it dappled the water and caught the threads of the web, and made the scene look magical. Who would have thought a couple of tangled branches connected by a spiders’ web could look magical?”

Louise’s second photo is a macro of a caterpillar. In her words:

“At this time of year, the caterpillars are busy foraging for food before they tuck themselves away in their chrysalises (I checked and that is the plural form of chrysalis). I suspect this caterpillar will be stunning soon, after she’s metamorphosed (I didn’t check if metamorphosed can be a verb). She’s also beautiful as she is.”

I love the focus on the face.

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About Midweek Moment:
Louise Allan and I are writers who share a passion for photography. As a creative digression from the written word, we share our favourite photos each week in ‘Midweek Moment’. Please click over to Louise’s website to view more of her photography and to read her writing. We hope you enjoy!