Art Soothes the Soul: Garden Images
When you think there is nothing exciting to photograph, just stop for a moment. And look. Just…look. Then steal the light and color. Click on the first to view as slide show.
Continue reading →Tag Archives: photography
On Nature, Loss, and Signs
Butterfly art ©S.Kalish 9/22 On the day that my friend/colleague/school principal passed, I had a dream. In fact it was early in the day, a day dream. This has happened to me many times. I was, in my thoughts, in a meeting with my team and the principal. A typical meeting, our group would meet for the purpose of helping children. And in that daydream I wondered. I thought that the other members of this team have been gone for many years. Sylvia. Jerry. I thought about the principal and what a wonderful man he was. Later in the day … Continue reading →
262→Husband Journey: Taking Leave
I plucked the last rose from the garden and decided to follow its stages from beginning to end. Then I asked? When does anything begin to be beautiful? Does beauty end? Does the aging process negate beauty? Does the life cycle we witness of flowers mirror our lives: do we come back? So much for polemics. Here’s what I saw. This hybrid rose had been choking from old Irises, weeds and garden clutter. Once removed, I found a new shoot and then the bud. What is living does not want to die. This rose changes color during its stages. … Continue reading →
Breaking Out
This post was initially going to be a note on Facebook with a few photos. It is, I feel, more appropriate as a blog. I have not been visiting Robert: there are Covid cases in the building and until this is under control, I’ll limit going: I need to break out, away from the stress and tension of what has become my life. Strangely, talking about breakouts, I had a close look at my aging, almost unrecognizable face in a magnifying mirror and gasped at “stuff” that didn’t belong. I poked and prodded and probably injured myself in a fruitless … Continue reading →
234.→Husband Journey: Emotion Linked by Photographs
Dear Alan and Jerri, Today I woke to sun and birds and rolled over, in peace and quiet, a moment of serenity, and fell asleep again until about 10:00. I am peaceful until I am officially “up” and I drag myself out of bed to face another day. I opened the door to find today’s The Times and a mailer tube, which I assumed was for Evan and then was surprised to find it was from you. On one end, there was criss-crossed tape and adhered to it were 4 tiny insects that somewhere along the journey had hitched … Continue reading →
A Digital Movie From 2002
JHS class of 1928 My father attended the Germain School of Photography on the G.I. Bill after WW II; there he learned all kinds of photography skills: the history, the how-to’s, darkroom skills and camera repair. He worked, doing camera repair, in my parent’s bedroom after his regular job as a shipping clerk. He had an ad in Popular Photography for his little business, Precision Camera Repair. The cameras would come in limping and he would fix them. My job was to take them to the post office on East 14th Street (Manhattan) to be shipped back. This is … Continue reading →
2a. Garden: Flowers, Bugs & Butterflies, 2020: Eggs to Pillars
This is how it begins: a black Eastern Swallowtail butterfly somehow finds you. If you have dill or parsley growing, you become its best friend. The eggs are laid on the tiny leaves. If laid on parsley, after the eggs hatches, the young caterpillar will only eat parsley. If on dill, the same. Mama knows best. That is the first lesson. And on the plant on which it’s been placed, the young caterpillar will begin its eating frenzy. … Continue reading →
1. Garden: Flowers, Bugs & Butterflies, 2020
Spring 2020 What I saw on Sunday, July 12, 2020 iPhone 11Max Pro native camera, Camera+ 2 app all iPhone editing
Continue reading →Pink In A World of Gray
Krauter Vesuvius plum Tree 2020 Every year I wait for this time: The pink buds are reassurance that winter had passed and sweeter times would arrive… But, winter never came. Getting back into the dirt, planting , flowers and the heady jasmine perfume, seem far, very far. I remember last year, I can’t imagine this year. Winter never came. An unexpected visitor did. Still, the joy of pink reappeared, defiant, earlier than normal, in the silence of the new days. With the reminder that nature will prevail.
Continue reading →New York City Photo Journal: A Visit To a City Agency: Visual Commentary
A recent visit to a branch of the NYC Department of Transportation, Access-A-Ride, March 4, 2020 This is where the disabled in the borough of Queens go to be evaluated for para transit. (Something we felt we should get as a back-up to driving due to health issues and limitations.) You bring an application, medical documentation and are interviewed and evaluated. You are picked up by a vehicle assigned by this department and returned home, but because they pick you up at least an hour and a half early, you end up waiting hours for return transit, and if … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: Garden Updates
Butterflies The 7th butterfly began emerging, spontaneously and the liquid soup he was part of spilled out onto the pot. What was happening? 2. Cactus There is Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus and even Easter cactus; this guy thinks he’s a Halloween cactus. 3. Snails Sheldon and Swirl try to take the subway.
Continue reading →NYC Photo Journal: The Bounty of Images From A Garden
My neighbor has a tree that hangs over her backyard. No one has claimed it; it is likely a “volunteer” tree. It has delicate frond-type leaves and yields green baseballs. Now I know that these heavy projectiles are actually black walnuts. For a few years some iris bulbs took over an area of the garden and choked a little rosebush. I thought it had died. Soon after we removed all the stuff that was sapping it of water and light, it began to bloom and bloom. There’s a lesson there. I brought these lovely roses in this … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project: Transformation: #4
When you least expect it. The day began with mother-issues (the aide didn’t show). It took a few hours for things to resolve … Anxiety over having to get into Manhattan for a medical appointment in a predicted rain storm. The rain never came … I let Hèrmes, our “community kitty,” in for breakfast, and in passing the butterfly house, I was surprised, if not gifted with the fourth butterfly. We NEVER expected any more emerging beauties at this time of year, we anticipated having to wait until next Spring. Nature knows. Somehow. In this narrow window of opportunity … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Snail Project: Sheldon and Swirl Meet for the First Time
Today was a day of firsts: when I clean out and refresh the snail condos, I let Sheldon and Swirl have a stroll. It takes them a while to come out of their shells but in due time they begin to explore and if I don’t keep an eye on them they manage to escape their confines which is eventually what happened: they managed to come out of their dishes, onto the tray and off the tray, however before that happened, they met, for the first time in the middle of their walk! They appeared to be going toward … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: Transformation
At this point, there were seven pupae in the little tree we constructed and about a week went by. Then, one morning, this happened: This was our first “baby.” We weren’t sure how to proceed: we ended up waiting a day to release it, it might have been the weather. The wings have to dry; this guy was ready to go and was very active. We gave it sugar water but it didn’t drink. And then the time came for the ceremony. The shortened version. It was very touching to let it go. We had done our job. … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: Part 2: Fat “Cats …”
What you witnessed in the previous blog post was the hatching of little egg gems and the morphing into tiny barely visible creatures, which, when fed well, grew and grew into chubby green multi-legged hungry guys, with black, white and yellow markings. In short, it was amazing. Life is a series of transitions and growth: Caterpillars are programmed to transition and they adapt to each stage so well, relying on innate messages to move on with their lives. We watched this occur with eight caterpillars. The eighth one was rescued after we explained to our neighbor that it was a … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: part 1: Tiny Pearls …
This bright green and black fellow was noticed as we were about to pick parsley. A few years ago my over-the-fence-neighbor was lingering over his parsley and espied one of these guys, plucked it from its grasp on the little leaves, declared it a plague and dashed it to the ground. I thought it was the precursor to a monarch butterfly and my heart was crushed. My son and I did some research and learned that this was indeed going to be a butterfly: a black swallowtail. The research began and there was a lot to learn. Step-by-step we … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: The Backyard Observations
I noticed the sound of little birds lately. It is October 1st, and it sounds like spring. They chatter and twitter, unlike the mockingbirds of a few months ago that would sing, non-stop day and night, mimicking every sound they ever heard including car alarms. No, these are the sounds I remember from my childhood. Here’s a memory: We are in Brooklyn visiting my grandmother and aunt at #1 Tennis Court. (How’s that for an address?) And it’s time to leave, the sun is going down, the shadows are lengthening, the light is gold, the air is full of spring … Continue reading →
Nurture Nature: iPhone Photography Series: Sheldon and Swirl, The Snail Project
When you come fact-to-face with nature you are changed. We didn’t go away this year for the first time. Just not able for health reasons to deal with a vacation. So what does one do? Look for an adventure. You saw my green beetle portraits, now you can visit with Sheldon and Swirl who have been living in their glass condos since June when I discovered them while gardening. I come across snails now and then but never thought to have them as guests. They are brown-lipped garden snails. They can live three to five years. iPhone XS/max Moment … Continue reading →
153. Mother-Daughter Journey: All That is Left Behind
All that is left behind … On a recent visit to my 101 year old mother, she thrust an old plastic baggy of stuff into my hands and I was told to “take it home before one of the aides steals it.” Sometimes my mother is so right on, it is scary: she’ll name all her teachers, sing you a show tune and tell you about any actor you want to know about. She still refers to herself as a “flapper.” Other times her paranoia is frightening for me, the child, to witness. My mother had been referring on the … Continue reading →