Photography

Bahamas bound…

/ Sherry Galey / 16 Comments
pic of Bahamas beach

The beautiful pink sand beach at Harbour Island, where we spent New Year’s. This kind of beauty draws us back to the Bahamas, this time under our own steam.

We’re looking at Monday to “sail away from our safe harbour” in Florida and cross the mighty Gulf Stream to cruise to the Bahamas on Windsong II, our Hunter 356 sailboat.

We’ve been preparing for this for what seems like a very long time!

Last year we weren’t able to leave the marina at all because our little Westie Angus was not well enough. This year we were delayed for a few months because we needed a new mast to replace one that had been damaged.

So we’ve been patiently waiting for the right time. There has been much to do to get ready, though, and a long list to work through in recent days. Now most of it has been done.

The fact that this is actually happening  is exciting and definitely even a little scary. But it’s finally time to “throw off those bowlines” as Mark Twain exhorted and “explore, dream, discover.” (That quote is a bit overused, but still apt, I think.)

We’ve been watching the weather carefully as it’s vital to choose the best possible conditions to make what is usually a 10-hour trip covering 55 nautical miles. Monday and Tuesday are looking good. We’re planning to leave Lake Worth at West Palm Beach and then clear customs at West End in the Bahamas after a Gulf Stream crossing. After that, we’ll make our way to Marsh Harbour in the Abacos on the Bahamas Banks.

My plan is to be back here when I can to post some favorite images, but if you’re interested in the day-to-day details of the voyage, come on over to Our sailing blog where you can see what we’re all up to. Hopefully we will have enough Internet access to keep it up.

I wrote a guest post on the blog Focusing on Life with a bit of background on our life afloat. Have a look if you’re so inclined.

I’ll look forward to catching up with you and all your wonderful blogs once I have reliable communications. In the meantime, take care and enjoy your lives and all the goodness in them!

Abstract discoveries…

/ Sherry Galey / 14 Comments

 

dish towelsI devoted the month of February to experimenting with abstract photography. Guided and inspired by the generous and talented Kim Manley Ort and accompanied by an enthusiastic group of kindred souls on Flickr, I challenged myself to see reality around me in a very different way.

Here are some of my key discoveries:

  • Abstract photography is a vehicle to get more in touch with your own instincts, emotions and passions. It removes the literal from your images. You don’t need to know what the subject is to like it. For example, I connect with the image above not because of what it is  —  dish towels, actually — but because of how it makes me feel: energized, empowered and part of the earth. The green, deep blue and orange are to me the elemental colours of fire, water, sky and earth.
  • Abstract photography is just plain fun. It is a doorway to joy. It gives you permission to play, to bend and break the rules, to follow your bliss and not worry about the result. Like a child with finger paints, sometimes you make a big mess — and other times you are unexpectedly delighted by a beautiful and meaningful image. It doesn’t really matter; it’s all good.
  • In the future, I think I’ll come back to abstract photography any time I’m in the creative doldrums, when I want to shake myself out of habitual and stale patterns. This secret antidote might just work for you too. Part of what freezes us up when we pick up the camera is a desire to make “good” or “popular” images, and we often judge ourselves against similar types of images made by others. But when we free ourselves to create something that is not at all recognizable, then we are liberated from judging it against criteria that are not our own. And since we’re also not so bound up by needing to achieve the perfect exposure, composition and framing, we are released to take more risks and experience the possibility of creating something new and different. Just that excitement alone can reinvigorate our photography. 
  • Abstract photography can also help you improve your “regular” photography. How is that? Making abstracts trains you to see more directly what lies at the base of any image — lines, shape, patterns, light, colour.  When the image is something you are familiar with, you can become distracted by your ideas and preconceived  notions of the thing, and your perceptions are not as pure as they might be. But when you remove the label from what is happening in the frame, you see only how light, line, shape and colour are dancing together. That is all. This heightened awareness can make for fresher and more exciting images, abstract or not.
  •  I commented in an earlier post that “one of the things I love the most about this form of photography is that it keeps revealing just how varied and mysterious the world really is when looked at through different eyes — there is so much more to see and enjoy than we usually let ourselves. And you don’t have to go far. It is astounding how many surprises you can find even in your own home — in the few feet around you.” (I doubt I would have seen the creative possibilities of light on dish towels before this course!)

Now, you definitely don’t need a course to play around with abstracts. You just need an open mind and a desire to try different things. Going really close up on familiar objects is one technique that can yield interesting abstracts. So are deliberately blurring your images and even adding camera movement (ICM) while you are blurring them. And if you are near water, even puddles, do try out abstract reflections. These were some of my favorite images this month.

But I would highly recommend taking Kim’s online course if abstract photography appeals to you at all. You will find her a wonderful catalyst to creativity. The course was a perfect balance of reading about abstract artists, techniques and ideas and real practice. The feedback from Kim and the other participants is always supportive and encouraging. And I found seeing such a wide diversity of abstract work emerging from the group to be exciting and inspiring. The course has started me — and many others — on a continuing journey that I know will deepen and change and keep me engaged for a long time to come.

Kim Manley Ort offers a wide range of equally exciting online courses as well. Why not sign up for her newsletter so you will be the first to know what she has coming up next?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned

/ Sherry Galey
…The secret is, it’s all love.
It’s all doorways to truth.
It’s all opportunity to merge with what is.
Most of us don’t step through the doorframe.
We stay on the known side.
We fight the door, we fight the frame, we scream and hang on.
On the other side, you are one with the earth, like the mountain.
You hum with life, like the moss.
On the other side, you are more beautiful:
wholeness in your bones, wisdom in your gaze,
the sage-self and the surrendered heart alive.
From Even in the Struggle by Tara Sophia Mohr

Photo Heart Connection: January

/ Sherry Galey / 26 Comments

little kid

In January, we were fortunate to spend some time in the beautiful Bahamas. The light was so stunning and energizing. And so I settled on my word for the year.

To celebrate the New Year and my word, I gorged on sunrises — an obvious place to capture light.

But there are so many others. Children can be beings of light can’t they? And they don’t have to be our own to capture our hearts, do they? I cherish and honour the free and pure spirits of young children wherever I see them. That feeling is something that can connect us all in our common humanity…

I just fell for this little guy. His uninhibited street dancing during the New Year’s celebration of Junkanoo absolutely delighted me.When I get too serious in 2014, I will think of him!

little kid2Sharing with Kat Sloma’s Photo Heart Connection…

Through the window…

/ Sherry Galey / 6 Comments

window2square

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked.

Anais Nin

When I saw this vignette, it immediately captivated me and transported me to another time and place…maybe one that I had read about in a novel or had travelled to in my imagination.

This was a place I knew…

Colours of the Bahamas…Part 1

/ Sherry Galey / 15 Comments

Our grandson and granddaughter had never seen the ocean before or been to the tropics. It was delightful to see them enjoying this warm and beautiful environment.

Harbour Island is one of the Bahamian archipelago of islands.

The beach at Harbour Island is judged one of the best in the world, featuring pink sand the texture of cornstarch.
Love the colourful and fun signage.
Our beach house was a feast for the eyes.
Flying over the Bahamas Banks you can clearly see the coral reefs. I thought seeing rainbow was a good omen.
Uplifting colour was everywhere.
My favorite colours…

On our recent trip to the Bahamas for a family reunion, I was presented with a bit of a photography dilemma. There was so much beauty around me that I wanted to capture — not to mention wonderful images of family members enjoying themselves — it was tempting to never let my camera leave my eye!

But knowing that other family members would be taking shots and portraits to remind us of events and activities, I gave myself permission not to be everywhere at all times with my camera — and chose simply to focus my camera in directions that delighted me. It turned out to be a good decision; I got the images I most wanted and was able to be a participant as well as an observer. So I took no pictures of the scavenger hunt that was organized for us — I simply got into racing around the island with the rest on golf carts.

While it is true that used well, a camera can be a tool for slowing down, being present to your experience and seeing in a new way, if used without discernment, it can also separate you. I tried to keep this in mind..

As anyone knows who has spent time with a camera, the light changes constantly — and some light is more pleasurable to shoot in and makes for softer, more appealing images. I no longer try to fight with it and choose my shooting times more carefully. I also bracket my landscapes more often these days to allow for exposure fusion and making HDR images.

Two things I strive for in my photography are simplicity and harmonious colour palettes. The combination of blue and green is my all-time favorite colour combination — as well as the tones of turquoise and teal that result from a mixture — so I was in heaven in the Bahamas.

Here’s a rhyme that sailors share to read the colour of the water.

“Blue, blue, go on through.” The blues are safe water.

“Green, green, nice and clean.” Greens mean it’s starting to shoal, but still safe for all but large ships.

 “Brown, brown, run aground.” The browns are trouble-don’t go there.

“White, white, it just might…” White water, as in gin clear, is most confusing of all. It marks a sand bottom that might be inches or fathoms deep.

I’m fortunate to have been to the Bahamas a couple of time before, as well as all over the Caribbean — and the colours  I love are of course everywhere in the region. That’s why I’m an island gal at heart…

For now, I’ll leave you with an impressionistic portrait of an unforgettable trip — in blue and green.

Let there be light…

/ Sherry Galey / 18 Comments

good one-tweakedsmall

The soul should always stand ajar ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

Emily Dickinson

It came to me in a flash — my word for 2014. LIGHT.

It’s a great word for someone besotted with photography, of course, but it’s also an all-round great word, being a verb, a noun and an adjective. It’s a perfect word for someone who wants to simplify and pare down and travel lighter in the world. It will also be a good reminder to light the way for others, make choices that light me up, and lighten up…

Last year my word was DISCOVER, and it led me to so many great places. I explored and experimented and discovered so much about photography — and myself too. It’s amazing how a simple word can infuse and guide your life.

This year I want to study light, chase light, follow light, learn how to capture light — all those things. Light is complex; it has so many different qualities  and it appears in so many different ways in photography. It can scorch, shimmer, reflect. It illuminates and casts shadows. It can be a softly lit pool in the gloom or a full-blown radiant sunset. Light helps us see the full catastrophe of life (as Zorba the Greek would say). To take a long, loving look at the real…we need light.

In 2014, let there be light.