Winter is a great opportunity to investigate, explore, or to visit a place you always wanted to see. One of those places for me was the Tribune Tower in Chicago.
Back when we still lived in Germany, my friend told me about it and highly recommended that I visit it. Now, that I had time to investigate it, I found it to be one of the most fascinating buildings I have ever seen. There is so much meaning in every single detail.
Another one of my Mail Box Stories …
“A man opens his mail box … “, my grandfather starts in his story-telling voice. He sits on my bed waiting for me to slip under the covers. As soon as I lay there, he smiles one of his big smiles that I love so much, “Ready?”
I nod.
“Okay – So, Mr. M opens his mail box to find an envelope containing a set of instructions. He takes it, slowly turns around and trudges back up the five steps to the old wooden porch. He takes his time to sit down on the bench and laboriously opens the letter. The word INSTRUCTIONS screams from a white sheet. Nothing else. What? Continue reading “Another one of my Mail Box Stories …”
No winter lasts forever …
No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. -Hal Borland
Borland’s quote is a good and necessary reminder for me. This season will end as it does every year and then transform my world into a wonderful spring, full of color and new beginning. And I’m soo ready 🙂
February is the snow month here in the Midwest – and my worst month of the year. Don’t get me wrong – it truly looks nice when it snows. Looking out of my window, I watch the quiet downfall of the powdery flakes, and observe how the snow creates a beautiful clean landscapes, covering up the dirt and all the imperfections.
On the other side, it takes away all the color.
The Old Staircase – A short Story
Sometimes, when I’m out shooting photos I come across places that intrigue my curiosity, my imagination.
I wonder about these places, … about
a forest and the animals that live in it,
a house and the people that own it,
a staircase, and those who climb it up …
Then, stories plop into my brain, characters evolve, and my imagination starts to come up with stories.
Sometimes I’m smart enough to write them down.
Bob Stromberg, an author and comedian calls these incidents ‘grabs’ and he taught me to interrogate them, write them down, and see if they make it into one of my stories or books.
While we strolled through the Old Town of San Jose on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico I shot a picture of this staircase and it became one of these places, and my ‘grab’ made it into the following story – The old staircase.
Enjoy!
5 Reasons to participate in a Photography Challenge
Last year I participated in several year-long challenges to – yes, you guessed it – challenge myself.
One of the challenges was a 52-week photography challenge held by a Facebook group for Photographers.
There were no cash prices. Instead, your picture could be picked to be the header of our Facebook page for a week, and then you would select the next week’s winner.
I was never selected as the winner, but I submitted all 52 pictures.
Some weeks it was easy to submit a picture, other weeks I had to work hard to get a decent shot – and some weeks I almost ripped out my hair because I could not come up with one decent picture.
So, why would I do such a thing?
Continue reading “5 Reasons to participate in a Photography Challenge”