August 6 – Sparkles! Look at all the beautiful sparkles on these butterfly wings
I’m continuing my daily August Mindfulness Challenge with my photo a day prompt list that I created last week. It’s funny how when I first think about the word prompt for the day I often have no ideas about what I might photograph. Then as I begin pondering the word and the day unfolds it seems I’m presented with multiple ideas and opportunities to make an image related to the word prompt.
Dark, Sparkles, and Dog Days
Here are my photos for Dark, Sparkles and the Dog Days of Summer.
August 5 – Dark
Dark
My first idea for the word Dark was to photograph this batik fabric that is dark and beautiful. But as the day progressed, the weather outside went from bright and sunny to dark and overcast and the living room which is normally bright and cheerful became dark and eerie looking.
August 5 – Dark 2
Looking out the window the dark clouds and rain created another dark scene.
August 5 – Dark 3
Sparkles
On August 6 the word prompt was Sparkles. Having a couple of ideas in mind (sunlight sparkling through tree leaves and sunlight on water) I headed out to Noerenberg Gardens on Lake Minnetonka.
The first thing I saw as I walked into the garden was a lovely swallowtail butterfly flitting from flower to flower. I couldn’t resist stopping to photograph it as I was wandering in the garden. Imagine my surprise when I edited the photos to see how the blue color on the butterfly wings was lit up like iridescent sparkles!
August 6 – Sparkles 2
Walking on I noticed the sun peeking through the trees overhead. I’ve always thought that the sunlight shining through tree leaves was a sparkly kind of light. I love finding the right angle to capture the sun starburst through the tree.
August 6 – Sparkles 3
I love the way that the bright sunlight creates reflections on the leaves of the trees overhead and the way that the green color of the leaves varies depending upon how much light is reflecting off of them. This is another kind of sparkle for me.
August 6 – Sparkles 4
As I gazed out at the lake, the waves hitting the rocks at the edge of the lake sparkled delightfully in the sunlight. If you look closely you can see dozens of tiny sparkling starbursts in the water.
August 6 – Sparkles 5
As I was walking back to the car I noticed the water droplets shining on this interesting fuzzy leaf, still one more example of sparkles. These tiny shining droplets remind me of a magical experience I had while I was living on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was swimming at the beach when a light rain began to fall. As the droplets of fresh rainwater hit the surface of the ocean, they floated for a moment on top of the water, shining and sparkling with light. Then ever so gradually the droplets dissolved into the ocean. What a transcendent experience that was! As the droplets of water dissolved into the ocean I felt palpably that we are all one despite the fact that we feel as if we are separate and unique.
August 7 – Dog Days of Summer
Dog Days of Summer
I googled the today’s prompt, Dog Days of Summer to see what sort of images I might find. Everything had dogs in it. Not having a dog I felt at a distinct disadvantage creating a Dog Days of Summer image. But when I went to the pool today to exercise I realized that I could think of no better place to be during the dog days of summer than in a lovely swimming pool. I remember when I was child and we did not have air conditioning in our farmhouse, that my mother would occasionally take me into town to spend the afternoon at our local swimming pool. For the rest of the day I felt cool after spending my afternoon in the pool, even in the hottest weather.
May you walk in beauty.
Here are a few more butterfly photos from the garden.
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