Out of the shadows

We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul.

John O Donohue

It wasn't a great summer; grey skies, too much rain, cold seas. But for a couple of days the golden sun lit up our lives and we all came out of the shadows.

Photographers call it the "golden hour".  It's that time of the day, early or late, when light slides in at an angle casting lanky silhouettes and tinting the world with warmth. When you study light and peer endlessly through a lens, you are drawn to this like a moth to a flame.

But the best part? In the gloaming, back doors, front doors, windows and hearts are opened to the light. Glasses of wine and cups of coffee are brought down to the shore. Youngsters are chatting, perched on the low walls, barbecues are set and smoking. Our small community is united by staring into the light show of an evening sky.

This golden life force, our sun, makes us smile, feeds our souls and entices us out of the shadows. And this is even more true for photographers!

Wild honeysuckle is the thing

"If you don't love things in particular, you cannot love the world, because the world doesn't exist except in individual things"

Thomas Moore

The ditches are a jumble of briars, a tangle of weeds, a mess of curling browning leaves. They cascade onto the lane, in the subdued light of early autumn. 

A heady scent draws you into the middle of a phenomenon. The wild honeysuckle is budding, flowering and fruiting all at once. In the darkening days of autumn this climber is still in it's stride, an exotic reminder of life cycles. 

The young ones on the lane have returned to school, a trio of thrushes are practicing their skills at the top of a tree, the now enormous cattle are munching the EU grass.

And wild honeysuckle is the thing today; absorbing, beautiful, tender.

More life cycles of flowers here in the Petals Gallery

And if you have a minute, you can still vote for Foxglove Lane in the Blog Awards here 

Thank you! 

 

12 minutes in Bruxelles Nord

Up the wide stairs onto the platform of Bruxelles Nord Station. The clock said 7.43, the train would arrive and leave by 7.55.  

In the golden light filled space there were constant comings and goings. For twelve minutes I am pure presence. Absorbed in what I miss most about city living.

Straight lines, edgy shadows, bits and pieces of the lives of others. My last 12 minutes in the city of Bruxelles.


Visit the Gallery here to join in the full 12 minutes.



And then if you have another moment I would LOVE your vote in the Blog Awards for Best Photography Blog

It's OK not to feel OK : 10. 9. 15

Blue is never more blue than it is when paired with orange. And the orange is never bluer than when eaten on a cloud in the sky.  

Jarod Kintz

It started from the first view of the Montbretia filled hedgerows along the Dingle Peninsula, now orange is everywhere.....

Opposite colours on the colour wheel, orange and blue will always zing zestily together. Colour theory says that combining these complimentary colours creates maximum vibrance and impact. Think yellow and purple or red and green too.

Orange glows with warmth and fire. It's the colour of summer, sunsets, hope. The Cycle against Suicide Campaign have adopted orange as their colour for World Suicide Prevention Day. Their slogan "It's OK not to feel OK" is simple and brilliant.

Look out for their #LetsGoOrange projects this week, and embrace the orange and the blue......

And just before you go, I have been shortlisted for the Best Photography in the Blog Awards and I would love your vote in order to get to the final stage. You can vote here and THANK YOU dear friends!

Those dark elements : 4. 9. 2015

You are on your knees in a lavender patch, following the music of bees. In the distance a harvester is droning, and the evening sun highlights wings and petals.

You are obsessing about the need for a soft bed and a warm hearth as the autumn sets in; for a safe place to pause, for a warm welcome. And you can't imagine leaving all this, leaving your own home and setting out on foot, to walk for miles to who knows where?

And you can barely grasp how thousands of them are walking through fields full of lavender and don't have even a moment to watch every last flicker of this season's sunsets, or to photograph bees in the evening light.

And you find that "$50 will provide high thermal fleece blankets to help protect a family from the elements." And you can't help imagining those dark elements as the chill of a September breeze, rustles through the leaves.

Please donate to the urgent appeal for humanitarian relief in Syria here at the UN Refugee Agency  

In other news.....Foxglove Lane has been shortlisted for the Blog Awards 2015. Would love it if you could vote here It only takes a minute. Thank you!!