Lest we forget

Today is Armistice Day, a day whose memory is celebrated in the UK and Commonwealth countries. Poppies have become a widely recognised symbol for those who lost their lives. The world as we know it now bears no resemblance to the world when they were fighting and events are now shaping ours in ways that were unthinkable until recently. We should give thanks that we have enjoyed peace for so long here in Europe and pray that it will continue.

The published version of the poem reads:

In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

By John McCrae

“The reproduction of the autograph poem is from a copy belonging to Carleton Noyes, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass., who kindly permitted its use.”

I couldn’t decide whether I preferred the version with the black or white writing so I have included them both.

Sally D’s mobile photography challenge: challengee’s choice

We’ve been on our travels again recently so I have plenty of images to choose from for this week’s challenge. For the fourth Monday in the month the challengee (a word I’ve invented to describe the person responding to the challenge) can choose the theme. As Sally has just added a new category – photomontage – I’ve decided to run with that.

This is a very simple one, with the two images blended using the Superimpose app and I reduced the opacity so that more of the flowers is revealed than the wooden texture which forms the background.

Sharing with Sally D

Sally D’s mobile photography challenge: black and white

Although I have been a subscriber to Sally D’s blog for some time now, this my first entry for Sally D’s mobile photography challenge

taken with Iphone 6S+ native camera app and edited in Snapseed

thistles in Provence

Cee’s black and white challenge: flowers

Photos of flowers lend themselves particularly well to being converted to black and white. These are hollyhocks, photographed in the seaside village of Talmont, in the Gironde, France. The village is tiny, blessed with a church that almost has its foundations in the sea and has what must be the most beautiful cemetery I’ve ever come across.

shared with Cee and other lovers of black and white photography

Texture Tuesday 31 March 2015

In Luxembourg there are few signs that Spring is here. It’s still bitterly cold and showers – more like April showers – continue to pour rain and sleet over the sodden landscape. However, the pollen-laden heads of pussy willow buds brighten the landscape, little beacons of light in the gloom.

This photo has been blended with Kim’s Mondays and I’ve reduced the opacity on the texture layer.

Texture Tuesday: spider lily

textured with Kim’s Waterfront

One four challenge: Feb week 4

Goodness, where does time go? I’ve just realised we’re already into March and I haven’t posted the final edit for the February challenge.
So, here’s the final edit and the original:

The flower is from a tree in Thailand. It only flowers at night/early morning and by 9am the flowers have all fallen; such ephemeral beauty.

One Four Challenge

One Four Challenge-February: 2 and 3

I realised I’d limited myself a bit with the choice of photo so here are my next two offerings in the series. The final edit is going to be quite a challenge.

For edit no. 2 I added a photo of raindrops on glass, applied a gradient map and reduced its opacity to 26% resulting in the silky-looking effect on the flower petals

For edit no. 3 I’ve added the ‘vitriol’ filter by Flaming Pear.

You can now see that the original photo was a flower.

One Four Challenge

One Four challenge February: week 1

This is a new challenge for me: take one image and edit it four ways and post one edit per week. It’s up to you whether you share the original image or not.
First contribution – a kaleidoscopic image

sharing with One Four challenge

Texture Tuesdays: free and easy edition

Sunflowers are such beautiful flowers and the sight of them always brightens the dreariest day. Last week I was staying close to a field where you can pick your own and made sure I had my camera with me.

I used Kim’s cool grunge texture on this photo and reduced the opacity.