Designing abstract images from nature photography can be creative fun. When you play around with your photos to highlight shape, colour, texture, etc., you can come up with some interesting captures.
In this post, I share images from the four seasons.
All but one were taken here in Newfoundland.
Winter in Newtown
Spring
Summer
Autumn in Newtown
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
~ Albert Einstein
Hey, Newfoundlanders! I’ve added a brand new page for you and for anyone who wants to take a look around our beautiful province. There you will find my local posts in easy-to-find links. Click the Link below or where it says Newfoundland and Labrador on the right of my menu banner above. (About Jennifer, Home, Categories, Newfoundland and Labrador)
This page will be updated as new local posts are added.
Please scroll to the bottom for Newtown posts.
You’ve probably noticed I’ve changed the theme to my blog since last time. As they say, a change is as good as a rest! I’ve been looking for a new look, but I also wanted to let you know that my journal will have a dual purpose soon: as my author website as well as my usual blog. I’ve ponied up with a new domain and lost the ‘wordpress’ so now my address is jenniferkellandperry.com. Stay tuned for news on my young adult novel Calmer Girls in the coming days.
Have an inspired week, everyone!
Earlier this fall, Paul and I visited the Eastport Peninsula in the central part of Bonavista Bay. With an economy that traditionally focused on its rich natural resources, it has become one of Newfoundland’s most popular tourist destinations. The peninsula is home to sandy beaches, motels, cottages, campgrounds, bed & breakfasts and inns, and is part of The Road to The Beaches tourism region.
This pretty peninsula extends from Terra Nova National Park and follows the coastline along Newman Sound to the south, around the community of Salvage, around Salvage Bay to the east and then following Damnable Bay, Morris Channel, Fair and False Bay, Bloody Reach and Northeast Arm on the north.
Don’t you love the funny place names?
After Paul finished his work in Eastport and before we retreated to our cabin for the night, we took a drive out to the farthest point of the peninsula. This drive brought us through Salvage, population 174. Most of the residents there are retirees.
Canadian radio host Michael Enright calls the 9 kilometre walk from Salvage to Eastport “the most beautiful in the world.” Even though it was on the damp side during our visit, I could certainly see why he calls it that. With its peaceful winding road lined with trees, foliage and gorgeous, tidy properties, I could also see why someone would choose to spend their retirement years there.
Of course being a fan of all things feathery,
I had to stop to get up close and personal with the lovely ducks in the area.
I told Paul – and the ducks – that I would love to return to the Park next summer. A longer stay in this area of the island is a highly anticipated holiday for me when the weather warms up again.
Luminous: radiating or reflecting light; shining, bright.
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Direct observation of the luminous essence of nature is for me indispensable. – Robert Delaunay
Be luminous. Don’t adapt yourself to the circumstances around you but change them to be better. Always take your sunshine wherever you go. – Islam Elnady
I believe there is luminosity hiding in the shadow of the mundane. And things that hover on the periphery of our vision. If that’s magic, then I believe in it. – Natasha Mostert
Although the calendar tells me it is now officially fall, I am enchanted by these last few days of beautiful temperate weather we are enjoying in Newfoundland. Paul and I even had a chance to lie in the sun and read yesterday evening. It was so gorgeous on our deck that we didn’t want to go inside for supper until the sun sank low on the horizon.
As much as I love the summer temperatures, it’s nearly time to say good-bye.
Happily, I have a nostalgic affection for fall and everything it brings.
Here are a couple of pics I snapped of ripening apples
on our recent trip to Springdale in Green Bay:
The view beyond the apple trees:
We stayed overnight in nearby King’s Point.
Here is the view from our room the next morning:
Before leaving, I made sure to visit the pottery and craft store to browse and to buy a few things:
If you ever get the opportunity to visit the area, do stop in here. You won’t be sorry.
One of the perks of my husband’s job is joining him on these road trips.
We love any opportunity to visit the many corners of our island.
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Two evenings ago, I had to run for my camera again.
The sunset on Perry’s Point was so stunning,
I think Maisie and Vivian were even spellbound:
After the sun disappeared, the sky took on a strikingly different quality:
Another good-bye…
That same evening, I received a call from my sister.
My beloved aunt in the U.S. had passed away suddenly.
I am inclined to let imagination take hold,
to fancy that as she went to join my dad (her brother),
she painted that sky as a farewell to her loved ones here at home.
Rest easy, Aunt Irene. All is well.
❤
My master and I are best buddies
time together we do love to share
I have proven my “dogged” affection
For a cat, I am told, that is rare
So it gives me great pleasure to flaunt it,
how I’ll follow behind my fine friend,
stay with him as long as I’m needed, then…
…make a bed of his shorts at day’s end.
***
*Photo credits go to Paul Sautter Jr. – except for the last two 😉
“It came to him in rainbow dreams,
blent with the wisdom of the sages,
of spirit and of passion born;
in words as lucent as the morn
he prisoned it, and now it gleams
a jewel shining through the ages.”
* Ailsa’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Gleaming
When you look up at the stars, what do you see? Does the panorama of tiny infinite lights give you answers, or, as it does for many of us, raise infinite questions?
Every point of light in this sky is a star or an entire galaxy. Each galaxy holds billions of stars, with solar systems like ours orbiting each of them. Is it the Great Unknown or the Meaning of Life?
Because we are born egocentric, the prospect of our personal insignificance, and thus no afterlife, is disturbing.
Fear of our own mortality creates a need to believe in something greater than we are and that our death is not the end. In addition, if there is life after death, there is the belief in reunion with those we loved, lost, and grieve for.
But if you hold an atheistic view, you accept and may even appreciate the notion of your own insignificance. If this was your attitude, would it make you feel that everything you do is futile?
Or is it simply the freedom and beauty of seeing our world, and our lives, from an omniscient perspective? The universe was here in all its immensity before we arrived, and will be long after we’re gone. Doesn’t that make our time here on earth all the more exquisite?
Are we forgetting the value of living in the moment, the desire to improve the world for others, and the joy and privilege of telling those we love how much they mean to us, because one day our time will be up?
Alas, this is just a blog post, not a lofty dissertation.
Tell me what you think of, when you look up at the stars.
*Photos in this post were taken by my husband’s cousin, Paul Sautter Jr., on his recent visit with us. His superior camera, lens, and photography skills allowed him to capture the night sky on Perry’s Point in a way that is “light years” beyond my ability. I have so much to learn!
On the 2nd of August, we had a thunder and lightning storm that lasted for seven hours, the longest one we’ve witnessed since we moved to Perry’s Point (nearly) five years ago. There was torrential rain off and on throughout, but these pics were taken during the dry lightning act of the show.
This time, I can’t take credit for the photography. My daughter Denise and her husband Dave captured parts of the electrical event on their cellphones during their visit with us. I had no idea smartphones could take such great pictures!
Notice, in most of them, the phenomenon of shelf clouds with the bonus of the setting sun in the shrouded background.
Tomorrow we have a high Humidex warning with values approaching mid-thirties.
More unsettled weather may be coming.
Eek! Could another thunderstorm be on its way?
Iceberg Alley is what we call the area stretching from the coast of Labrador to the northeast coast of the island of Newfoundland, and the best time for viewing bergs is late May and early June.
Saturday was beautiful and sunny, so Paul and I decided to drive to Greenspond to see if there were any icebergs close enough for good snaps. Before we entered the town, we were delighted to meet a few of them next to Greenspond’s causeway.
We drove on into Greenspond to discover even more of the frozen beauties from the North.
Have you ever gotten up close and personal with an iceberg?
Jennifer's Journal 