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Lens-Artists Challenge #209 – Surreal

I was recently invited by the Lens-Artists team to be a guest host of the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, and now, finally, my turn has arrived! I am so excited. I’ve chosen the theme of surreal for this week’s challenge. I think of that word each time I exclaim: “Has the world gone mad?” It’s bizarre. Some might even say, “surreal“. It was therefore no surprise that a century ago, at another time of great societal upheaval, surrealism as an artistic and intellectual movement emerged. Photography too had its place in this avant-garde art form with notable photographers such as Man Ray, Dora Maar, Maurice Tabard, Raoul Ubac, Toshiko Okanoue, Florence Henri, Claude Cahun and Angus McBean, among others, arguably being among the very first lens-artists.

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Driving Me Crazy

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

The new hearing aides are driving me crazy. They itch. My concentration is even more shot than usual. I’m also afflicted with a new blogging glitch. I can’t comment on others’ blog posts. There is a time consuming work around which I won’t bore you with. Enough of my problems which are insignificant in the scheme of ruinous global conflict. Let’s sing instead.

My song today is dedicated to the internet, you, bitch. It is Fine Young Cannibals singing She Drives Me Crazy. Sing it with me. One, two, three, four ….

Have patience and be your most compassionate self, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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The Big Event

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you. This week I am also joining in with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Memorable Events.

I think some of the most memorable events in our personal history are those with which we have an emotional attachment, eg. having a baby, seeing your favourite band, winning a contest, producing something you love, etc. Bringing a new piece of art into the world is like giving birth. The arrival of every piece is a memorable event. The Lens Artists Memorable Event theme seemed a perfect time to reveal my latest work but I have a couple of days work left on it. She is going to be beautiful, that is, as beautiful as a piece of climate change protest art can be. Serious stuff. When I reveal it in a few days, I would like to know whether you would like its back story? Or would you rather I let the artwork do the talking? Let me know in the comments below.

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The Changing Seasons – October 2021

Canberra (Australia) – Mid spring and all systems go.

We had the luck of the Ken Behrens this month. Canberra avoided the damaging storms and tornadoes that have hit other parts of eastern Australia. Daily infections of Covid in the city dropped to single digits on the back of the highest vaccination rate in Australia. Non-essential retail businesses have begun to open for in-store shopping bringing joy to Canberra shopaholics. Students began returning to schools and next month, more people will be back in the office. Excitedly, Canberra is ready to welcome back travellers from other parts of Australia and from overseas. It was a good month for plants and animals too, and, of course, I was delighted about the return of daylight savings and warmer temperatures (albeit some days have been freezing). It was all systems go on my mosaic project too.

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The Changing Seasons – Sept 2021

Canberra (Australia) – The ground work has been done. Life in lockdown has heightened our senses. Spring tease, you flirty dear, we’re coming for you. [I am combining my Changing Seasons post with my Friday song day post. Enjoy.]

The days grow longer, the wind blows stronger, and my energy returns. There is light at the end of the Covid tunnel. Maybe. Hopefully. Not sure.

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Black And White Mental Health Day

Needing a distraction, I have taken to Photoshop to bring you a couple of black and white thingys in response to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Black And White.

Our host, Anne, has asked us to explain how we’ve processed the photos. I’ve only got a couple of photos for this challenge because my aim is to stay off the computer as much as possible due to injury. Both photos were originally taken in colour. As I don’t have any fancy editing software, I used basic Photoshop to convert both to black and white. Let’s see how I went.

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Serenity In Colour and Song

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you. I also have selected some blue and green themed photos for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. It seems appropriate to match the music to the photos. Let me know, is it a good match?

Blue and green are my absolute favourite colours. At least, I used to think that. These days my palette of favourite colours seems endless. However, like an old lover, I always come back to blue and green. I love them soft. I love them subtle.

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Seeing Spots

I’ve lost my photography and blogging mojo, ladies and gentlemen. This is unfortunate because I do enjoy participating in the Lens-Artists weekly photo challenges. This week’s theme is Spots and Dots. I thought if I could just manage two photos – one I took yesterday and one from the archives – then I could ease myself back into it. Also, I swapped my computer mouse over to my other hand to see if that might bring some relief from the recurring muscle pain. That’s another story but it hurts to do computer stuff. Other stuff too. Ah, the joys of getting old and creaky.

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