good advice to duke ellington

"first, find the logical way,

and when you find it,

avoid it

and let your inner self

break through and guide you.

don't try to be anybody but yourself."

~will marion cook

{friend and mentor to the duke}

makes me wonder

“the beginning of love

is to let those we love be perfectly themselves,

and not to twist them to fit our own image.

otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves

we find in them.”

{thomas merton}

hello + a reminder to "slow down"

well,

hello there.

i'm back temporarily.

still running around like a busy bee.

will try to catch up with you this weekend.

until then, i hope you are all well.

guess what...tomorrow

is friday!yay!

{photo caption: sis walking through her living room

while i sit in the corner without her knowledge

taking pics of her fabulous living room.

i liked how this shot turned out.

click on the image to see

her new barcelona

{{reproduction}}

leather chair.

cool, no?}

also,

here is a shot

that i took last weekend,

that i thought would be good to post

in response to today's shutter sisters post.

i needed this reminder.

synonymous : zenith

on her blog in last tuesday's synophotography post, angela picked the word for our next synophotography word challenge. she chose the word solstice.

with that, i choose the synonym zenith. and here is my syno-photograph.

in case you can't read the words at the top of the photo, click on it to see my favorite definition of zenith.

her solstice photo is not posted yet, so i don't have a link. but as soon as she posts it, i will link to hers, and she will link to mine.

if you don't know what synophotography is all about, you can click here to read about it. or you can click here to see all previous synophotography posts.

feel free to join us. post a photo that goes with solstice, zenith or any synonym of these two words. if you do, let us know, and we will post a link to yours, too.

for next tuesday's synophotography challenge, i choose the word texture.

{about this photo: have you ever spun your camera as you were taking a picture in low light? it can make for some cool effects if you do. that is what i did here while out taking pictures of a sunset. spin the camera on a central point to keep what is at the center of the photo somewhat recognizable. the farther away from that point on the photo, the more blurred the photo becomes, but also the more movement and cool circular lines there are. who needs the photoshop radial motion blur when you can do this? {{wink}} just make sure you spin it on a central point to get the best effect--if you also move the camera left, right, up or down while spinning it, it won't turn out the same.}

sorry i've been so absent around the blogosphere. and it will only get worse today, tomorrow and thursday, for i have lots of painting to do. wow, when it rains, it pours. i've had so many requests to paint for various people lately. and it's been very rewarding. for helping a friend from high school paint their guest room, i'll get paid. for helping a friend from a previous job paint their dining room, i got a free vintage herman miller chair. {i'm sitting in it now.} and for helping my sister paint the many walls of her house, i'll get to see her adorable chihuahua and stay in the guest room.

"blocks of colour, balance, interplay"

oh, wow. this post took forever to prepare, but i really wanted to do it, because today over at shutter sisters, kate posted about chicago... along with some wonderful photos that she took, her post said, "i couldn't get enough of line and shape. containers of electricity all standing poised, perhaps slightly forward, into the wind."

she then said "today, think like picasso. show me photographs that crackle with line and shape—and not just explicitly. blur your eyes from simple subjects and see blocks of colour, balance, interplay. and share!" so i'm doing just that--sharing them here!

although i posted once already today {below}, i decided to do another post--a long one. and with pictures of chicago again, but i tried to be less wordy than i was in my last chicago post. {wink}. although this time there will be a lot more photos. {sorry}

i'm happy to finally be posting my favorite shots from my day long photowalk/photoshoot trip to the city with some high school friends a few weekends ago. i have not had a chance to go through them until now. but this worked out good, because so many of my shots go with this s.s. post, as i really felt like many of my pictures from the day were more about lines and shapes than they were about the actual objects or subject of chicago.

i love to take pictures that are obscure and feature more shapes and lines then they do what it is that is creating or holding those shapes and lines. chicago is a perfect city to go to for such—especially if you know of some really great out of the ordinary places to go take pictures. we tried to hit the usual spots as well as the unusual.

the best places we went that were unusual were a couple of train yards in run down areas. i took the most pictures there, and will have to save those for a whole post of their own. {if you've been reading for a while, you know how much i like trains.}

anyway, here are the rest of the pictures. {the above shot was my favorite of the day.}

{i had posted this one last week, but here are more.}

{this red-winged blackbird photo reminds me of a similar milwaukee shot i took.}

{buckingham fountain above and below}

{some really interesting sculptures that i thought were so photographable}

{there were some really interesting industrial areas.}

{an old, brick warehouse building}

{i love how this greenery was growing out of the glass, brick and steel structure.}

{the stock exchange arch}

{miscellaneous photos around chicago}

{millennium park}

{and finally, shots from under the el tracks.}

i hope you enjoyed a little walk through a big city. while doing this post, i realized that it has been a while since i posted some florida series pictures, and i still have so many more to go from that trip! {later this week, i hope.} i'll also have to do my next synophotography post tomorrow. my sister really gave me a challenging word for this weeks assignment, so i better get right on that. it will probably have to be tomorrow night.