Weekly Photo Challenge: One

By Rowena Mynott

Photography is always something that I have been passionate about. I was seven when my Great Auntie first introduced me to it using a Box Brownie camera (which I still have). Since then I have amassed quite a collection of both cameras and images, but I have never dedicated as much time to it as I would like. When I came across the weekly photo challenges I decided to sign up and give it a go. I have tried daily photo challenges in the past – they started out great for a while but life got in the way as it inevitably does. I’m hoping a weekly challenge might be more achievable … lets see shall we?

The Challenge

Each week we are given a different theme and need to post an image that fits that theme. This week the image needs to depict ‘One’:

“This week, we want to see photos that focus on one thing. Maybe you’ve got a stark photo of a single tree silhouetted against the setting sun, or a lone sandpiper wandering the beach as waves crash. Perhaps you’ve caught your mother sitting by herself in a moment of quiet contemplation. Maybe you saw a basket of wriggling puppies, and got a photo with a single fuzzy face in focus.”

One

I have always had a fascination with the ocean and old structures. This jetty in Western Australia was particularly striking set against a setting sun and such a calm ocean.

“There is just one life for each of us: Our own!”

– Euripides

The lonesome jetty in Western Australia

Weekly Photo Challenge: Community

By Rowena Mynott

 

Photography is always something that I have been passionate about. I was seven when my Great Auntie first introduced me to it using a Box Brownie camera (which I still have). Since then I have amassed quite a collection of both cameras and images, but I have never dedicated as much time to it as I would like. When I came across the weekly photo challenges I decided to sign up and give it a go. I have tried daily photo challenges in the past – they started out great for a while but life got in the way as it inevitably does. I’m hoping a weekly challenge might be more achievable … lets see shall we?

 

The Challenge

Each week we are given a different theme and need to post an image that fits that theme. This week the image needs to depict ‘Community’:

 

“Community. When I think of this word, I imagine all sorts of scenes: A family sitting and chatting in a living room. Crowds gathering in squares to watch a holiday tree lighting. Or even some of the spaces on the web that I frequently visit, like The Daily Post.”

 

 

Community

As the brief mentions, the term community conjures images of many different things. For me it’s a warm word full of memories of laughter, togetherness and support.

The word itself derives from the latin word of communitas: com meaning together and munus meaning gift. The image I have selected to share today encapsulates the original meaning of this word. It shows two children on the shores of a beach on Espiritu Santo  in Vanuatu. At a very young age they had been out to sea together on their handmade outrigger canoe held together with various colours and thicknesses of string, to gather fish for their family and friends. Together they were bringing gifts for their community.

 

Children in Vanuatu haul in their boat after a successful fishing trip

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Light

By Rowena Mynott

Photography is always something that I have been passionate about. I was seven when my Great Auntie first introduced me to it using a Box Brownie camera (which I still have). Since then I have amassed quite a collection of both cameras and images, but I have never dedicated as much time to it as I would like. When I came across the weekly photo challenges I decided to sign up and give it a go. I have tried daily photo challenges in the past – they started out great for a while but life got in the way as it inevitably does. I’m hoping a weekly challenge might be more achievable … lets see shall we?

The Challenge

Each week we are given a different theme and need to post an image that fits that theme. This week the image needs to be ‘Light’:

Take a look around you. Choose one of the light sources you see, and make it the focus of your challenge entry. It can be a dramatic chandelier or a pair of dying candles; the moon, a row of glaring lightbulbs in the parking lot, or a gaudy lava lamp stored in your attic: anything goes. The light doesn’t even have to be switched on: some lamps are just as fascinating for their shape as for the photons they emit.

Light

I have had to dig through the archives for this one as time isn’t my friend this week. It was taken in the good old days of film so may be a little grainy as it’s a scan of the original image. In 2000 I travelled from England to Morocco with about 20 other people on a bus held together by sticky tape, string and a few prayers! I lost count of the times we broke down. It was an incredible trip, we drove through France, Spain and Portugal before finally arriving in Morocco. The guy who brought us all together had travelled throughout Africa extensively and could speak arabic which came in particularly handy. Chefchaouen was our first stop, beautiful blue and white streets, hammams and kazbahs. We climbed Mt Toubkal, rode through the high Atlas sitting on the roof of our bus, snake charmed in Marrakech, galloped horses down the beach in Essaouira and found fossils in Erfoud. There is a future post scheduled on this trip if you would like to hear more.

These lights are one of the classic symbols of Morocco. They evoke romantic images of white flowing clothing billowing around tanned bodies that alight upon richly embroidered floor cushions. Sumptuous food served on silver platters whilst moroccan music plays in the background … or is that just me and my long term love of Indiana Jones?

 

Stunning light in a kasbah, Morocco

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

Photography is always something that I have been passionate about. I was seven when my Great Auntie first introduced me to it using a Box Brownie camera (which I still have). Since then I have amassed quite a collection of both cameras and images, but I have never dedicated as much time to it as I would like. When I came across the weekly photo challenges I decided to sign up and give it a go. I have tried daily photo challenges in the past – they started out great for a while but life got in the way as it inevitably does. I’m hoping a weekly challenge might be more achievable … lets see shall we?

The Challenge

Each week we are given a different theme and need to post an image that fits that theme. This week the image needs to be ‘Unexpected’:

 

Unexpected. The world is an interesting place: we stumble upon unexpected things each day, like signs that are unintentionally amusing, bizarre sculptures, or even strange evidence of a miniature world on the side of a building

 

Unexpected

I spend a fair bit of time at the beach. It’s my place to reconnect, to think, to find solitude and  to let my son be free and run wild.  The beach and the ocean are places that my son and I can really connect – we are both water babies and love the feel of the wind on our faces and sand between our toes. If we are having a cranky day we head to the beach regardless of the weather and everything seems to have been cleansed away when the time comes to head home. It’s at times like these I realise how lucky we are to be living in Australia and to have access to such pristine beaches.

This one particular day we had just popped down for an hour or so.  I usually head to less crowded beaches but today we found ourselves on Main Beach in town. I’ve been there thousands of times, seen thousands of different cloud formations but never anything quite like this. Initially I thought my polarised sunglasses were playing tricks with my eyes, but even when I removed them and looked to the skies it was still there: a rainbow cloud. No, not a rainbow in the sky,  it didn’t extend out either side of the cloud, it was simply a rainbow inside the cloud. And what a cloud. Wispy flames licked the sky, the colourful interior like hot coals and all taking place above the iconic Byron Bay lighthouse. It was quite impressive and very ‘unexpected‘.

 

 

 

I have yet to look this up to see why this occurs. If you have any ideas I would love to hear from you in the comments below. Have you ever seen anything like this before?