Monochromatic Memories

 

I love black and white photos.

Whenever I found a picture I liked, I’d immediately change it to black and white. Sometimes I’d switch to sepia. They’re gorgeous and kind of artsy.

Lately, though, I’ve been looking at life (and photos) in a new way.

Last week I wrote about hiding by being covered up, but is removing something a way of hiding, too? Is getting rid of colors just the flip side of covering them?

I still love sepia and black and white but I’m going to give myself a moment to appreciate what the colors have to say before I make the decision whether or not to strip them away.

Now that my children are older, I flip through albums filled with colorless photos of newborns. They’re beautiful but I want to see my babies as they really were—spit up, cradle cap, rosy cheeks…everything.

I found this picture from last autumn. My husband snapped it as I was about to pull wisps of wind-blown hair out of my face. Upon closer examination, I thought it looked cool. So I turned it black and white. Taking away my skin tone and purple streak. Taking away my true colors.

 

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Which image do you like better–the black and white or the color? Which photos do you generally prefer? I still love the B&W and sepia filters. There’s something about them. But I’m being more careful about keeping color in my life and in my photos.

 

Where’d You Get That Photo?

 

All the images on Lemon Shark (and Lemon Shark Reef) are mine. Meaning I took them. With my camera. You’re envious, I know.

Some blogs have a credit under the photo or at the end of the post. Some have a copyright. I hadn’t thought much about it but, when I did, I figured it’s my blog and my photos are on it so people will know they’re mine. Of course they don’t. I’ve even been asked where I got them.

I feel like I should credit myself just like I would credit anyone else if I downloaded it. (Part of me just wants props for setting up and snapping pictures to go with specific posts. Pun intended.) For this story about Princess Penelope, I defrosted some frozen peas, picked out the really round green ones, and did a photo shoot on my son’s old toddler mattress. I did. Let’s move on…

Does it spoil images to write on them? I’ve seen poems and quotes but also copyrights and URLs. I wonder if I should leave them alone. On the other hand, mine are window dressing on my blog, not a photo contest entry. Are they really ruined?

Do you copyright your pictures? How? Put a note in the ‘caption’? Write directly on the photo? What do you think of the one below?

 

 

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

 

* After I wrote this Thought Bubble, I found this amazing post by Sacha Black (with a note from Geoff Le Pard) on how to create the gorgeous pictures she uses on her blog. (Notice she puts her URL on the photos.) I tried it on this page and I don’t think it takes away from the photo. Actually, I kind of like it.

* Update: 10/6/15 Those photos with poetry and quotes on them? This is what I was talking about. Sue Vincent posts these on her blog. They are stunning—check them out.

 

Summer Solstice: The Shortest Night

 

The first day of summer is here. We like to think about sunshine and light and warmth when, in fact, this is the beginning of the dark half of the year. Today is the longest day and each day that follows will become incrementally shorter. Darkness is slowly edging its way into our lives.

We can wonder, while sitting on a sandy beach or swimming in a pool, how June could herald a decline of sunlight. Or we can savor and appreciate what we have.

This flower, purple, delicate, and perfect, showed up in the midst of the mess of old pine needles and weeds in our backyard. I have no idea where it came from. We didn’t plant it so the seed flew to us on a breeze or was carried by an animal. (I like to think it sprouted magically from the ground or the fairies brought it but believe what you must.)

Regardless of how it arrived, it stayed and blossomed just like that. One day there was nothing, then there was this. I’ll leave you to admire the beauty of the petals as well as the thought that it appeared somehow, some way, for some reason.

 

Flower From the Fairies

 

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

 

Family Photos: What’s Happening Here?

 

Flipping through our phones, my husband and I look at pictures. There are soccer games, piano recitals, and little boys bundled up in winter jackets building a snowman together. There are adoring parents (that would be us) smiling at the camera.

“Aww, how cute! The one of the kids at that holiday festival.”

“Look! I love this one of us at The Nutcracker.”

“Oh, yeah,” we cringe. “That was the time when…”

We have our arms around each other. All of us are smiling. I am beaming. I will not excuse my clichéd word choice here because I am simply beaming, people. My happiness is bursting through the pixels.

Yet I know that I had just barked at one of my boys after he had a meltdown and turned Hulk on the other one after he wandered away from us into a crowd of people (again). And yet there I am all smiles.

Especially during the holidays, when we’re snapping pictures more often, I’m reminded of this.

Sometimes, what we see in a photograph is the honest, beautiful truth. But other times, it is a lucky snapshot of a moment we wish were true.

That’s life – beauty and bullshit.

 

The reality of the family behind the picture isn’t always pretty. Then again, sometimes it’s beautiful.

 

 

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.