PumaSkyLily

It's Monday and I'm teetering on the verge of organized photo files. This is also my Monday morning lie. I must tell myself these things to avoid the deep depression that comes with self burial. 

When I began learning Photoshop in 1994 I needed a suitable subject to work on, something to see me through the trials of patience and exasperation.  We had just arrived in a new home and were about to experience life in a 3 br 1957 rambler w/ pool. 

The resultant photoshop collage was PumaSkyLily, a salute to my working wife. I took images from what was happening at the time. (1) landscape pix and (2) pool snapshots were combined while learning the tools and filters of photoshop 2.5. 

Doing what the computer does best, her figure was duplicated and suspended above a filter distorted sky. Lilies twirl above their pads and fill the active four corners. The bird landscape framed the mandala.

Another flower shot

Yes, it's another flower shot and what makes such photos so repellant to some photographers is that flowers are too easy; the natural beauty of the subject can overwhelm the senses and misguide judgment. Yet the mesmerizing thing about a still photograph is that you can return to it again and again to study it in greater detail.

After viewing this noisy red bromeliad for awhile I began to see the mandala. The flower took on other qualities: long green leaves became protective arms and the red flower burst forth like a child of the greenery. A closer look reminds us that natural beauty is never perfect. Nor does it have to be.

I can only strive to accept the imperfections of all flowerings, the dried leaves blowing in from elsewhere, the drops of water not yet consumed, and the tips of earlier flowerings already turning to green.