View allAll Photos Tagged Selfreflection
136/365
Lightbox this with L!
The icons are whispering to you,
they're just old men,
like on the benches in the park,
except their balding spots are glistening with gold.
- from "Human of the Year" by Regina Spektor
Today I went out to the backyard/woods to shoot and my cat Albus followed me down. The entire time I was shooting he ran through the grass, under my tripod, and between my legs. So, I finally decided to pick him up and shoot with him. He's in some of my past photos here. He's such a sweet and affectionate boy. You can see him trying to play in my arms. :)
As soon as I got inside though, it started to pour.
This looks kinda silly, I think, but it has a serious meaning. This really is meant to represent the need we all have to reflect on who we are where we are going in our lives. The discarded mirrors littering the ground amidst the dying grass signifies discarded personas we may have once held up.
ETA: I couldn't get the colors right though on the mirrors in the grass. Alas.
Instead of a Christmas tree... On New Year's Eve, I want to congratulate everyone with this photo.
Bellow I wrote a short (actually not...) congratulation for everybody in Russian. It would be quite hard for me to make it in English with all meaning I want to share, so feel free to use translation services you prefer to get the ideas...
Искренне желаю всем (в том числе и себе) плодотворного нового года. Для тех, кто использует празднование нового года в качестве точки отсчета, желаю преуспеть в том, чтобы всегда и везде фокусироваться на том, на что можно повлиять, как-то изменить. Остальным же желаю получить прекрасные плоды вашего труда (в том числе и над собой). Пусть всё, что вы посадили в этом году, во всех предыдущих годах прорастет в этом году и даст свои плоды. Но также желаю вам помнить о том, что нужно ещё и регулярно поливать и ухаживать за растениями… Желаю всем принятия того, что вы можете повлиять лишь на малую часть от того, что вас окружает. И вдохновения для того, чтобы продолжать свой путь, продолжать сотворять свою жизнь, делать ваш внутренний и окружающий мир лучше, добрее, наполнять радостью. Пусть всё способствует вашему росту и слиянию с Природой, своим чистым Сознанием.
В эти дни непременно стоит отметить для себя и поблагодарить себе и окружающему миру за все пройденные уроки, приобретения, провалы, ошибки. За то, что ни смотря ни на что мы продолжаем наше космическое путешествие. А если нам до сих пор трудно понять кто мы такие и что мы делаем в этом мире - то это повод начать предпринимать маленькие, пусть даже крошечные действия… Стоит фокусироваться на действиях, а потом уже на размышлениях или рефлексии…
Пусть в Новом году будут только благостные последствия наших действий (или бездействия). Пусть окружающие вас люди и обстоятельства всячески помогают вам, а вы в свою очередь инвестируйте в них. Что стоит наша жизнь, если в ней отсутствуют другие люди?…
Мира, Гармонии и Целостности в Новом году!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Photo of Big Lagoon looking west (where the Pacific Ocean and lagoon are separated by a thin strip of land at the water horizon, and where the is on the other side of the water horizon) captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens and ND-8 filter in the census-designated place of Big Lagoon. Humboldt County. Early December 2013.
~ Ellen DeGeneres
Hello Flickr!!!!!! I hope you have been doing well! I have been super busy and the coming month or so is going to be even more full. I just wanted to stop in to say hi and that I miss hanging out here with you!! This was taken over the weekend at Bristol Renaissance Faire (was there for the second time this summer). It was a fun day there on Sunday after a fantastic day spent hiking and canoeing on Saturday.
Only two more days until the holiday weekend! Enjoy the downhill slide!!
Photo captured on Avenue of the Giants near post-mile marker 18.59 in the census-designated place of Weott. Humboldt County. Mid July 2013.
Photo captured along the beach at Dry Lagoon. Humboldt Lagoons State Park. Humboldt County. Early May 2013.
I slip away to where the soul unfurls alongside the first spring flowers.
A moment, a flicker of will, a pinch of imagination — and I melt into serene unity with nature, leaving the mundane rush behind. Here, breaths grow deeper, exhales turn whisper-soft, and thoughts slow their frantic dance, shedding the weight of needless noise. Whatever storms may rage beyond — I am anchored here and now. All that exists is mind, body, and the primal dance where I become spring’s partner.
The chill breeze still carries winter’s echoes, but March sun kisses the earth with gilded rays. Light wraps around my being like a silken shroud. Flesh seems to dissolve into radiance — warmth seeping into every cell now surges outward, merging with sunlit sparks.
I am a ray caressing the meadow where snowdrops bloom skyward. I am a stem drinking the cold soil’s moisture and sunlight’s vital sap. My leaves, petals, veins — fragile bridges between two realms. I am Darkness and Light’s child, born of their eternal embrace. Is this not Love’s truest dance? Wordless. Unconditional. It needs no language — only colors splashed across thawing snow, only the tremble of a sprout straining toward life…
The wind brushes me, and I recognize an ancient companion. Then a new touch — a delicate tickle on my petal. Is it a bee, bearing my pollen in golden leg-baskets? Or a gnat weaving my essence into its flight? I no longer separate them from myself: their wings are my wings, their hum — my heart’s song.
I become the grass’s whisper and the woodpecker’s call in the distant woods. I am the spark within a dewdrop, the shadow cast upon a stone, the quiver of an aspen leaf. I am spring’s hymn, sung by every shoot, every drop of sap, every whirling pollen grain. Here and now, boundaries vanish — only life remains, flowing from form to form.
Time to return? But how can one depart from Home? I am where I’ve always been: in the roots’ murmur, the hawk’s glide, the earth’s steady breath. Here and now is no mere place. It is eternity’s heartbeat — where I am the world itself.
1) I’m a night owl...rarely go to bed before midnight and rarely get up before 8 a.m.
2) I love the experience of reading - not just the feel, texture, smell but losing myself in the lives of other people - real or fiction. Recently got a Kindle and love the instant gratification - maybe more than the feel, texture, smell.....hmmmm....wonder what that says about me...
3) I must nurture my creative side or I get cranky...photography, scrapbooks, music all quiet my soul.
4) I like a house that’s clean...enough.
5) I’m developing my own style of photography and I’m slowly accepting that it is what it is.
6) I would like to be remembered as.....well, I’m not sure.....I just don’t want to be forgotten.
7) I’m pretty computer literate for a gal my age.
8) If weight weren’t an issue, I’d eat chocolate ice cream every day.
9) I’m not a loner, but I do need my alone time...solitude and reflection ground me.
10) Without my faith or my family, I would be a mess!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Daily Challenge: Framed
113 in 2013: #81Copycat - copy a photo or idea you admire on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/gillettephotography/8378190102/) who copied from (www.flickr.com/photos/artistboutique/8343888713/)
Beyond Layers Day 13: Ten Truths About Me with Kim Klassen's happy heart texture
© Ruby Huang, All Rights Reserved
"Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."
-Mahatma Ghandi
What do we see in art but ourselves?
View On Black - Part of a triptych - Larger than life and The fountain of inspiration can be found here.
Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human. Viktor E. Frankl
And yet routinization is like spiritual poison: “This is the tragedy of every man: ‘to dim all wonder by indifference.’ Life is routine, and routine is resistance to the wonder.”13 One of the crucial tasks of religion, Heschel therefore insists, is to struggle against the anesthetizing effects of our over-familiarization with life and reality, and to instill in us a sense of “perpetual surprise,”
-Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence by Shai Held
/************************************************************************/
“ideological fervour is a distraction from the fundamental task of all seekers of truth which is to explore what lies in the complex and needy hearts of human beings – our own first”
-Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed by Patrick Woodhouse
/*************************************************************************/
Behind the Mask
Behind white beams I do hide
Within shadows will be a gaze
Never shall I step in front of the mask
To render a deeper truth
Reserved is this inner I
Spiritual flesh protected from tear
Securely, I have stepped back
Exposure held behind this concrete
Peering out I do perceive
Powers waiting beyond sight
Quietly, I turn my head
Where a vast desert invites
Am I torn between these worlds?
Preferred is this inward landscape
-Robert Cowlishaw
shot for Renato's challenge introspective/meditative/contemplative over at the clobal camel committee.
strobist info.
main photo: one flash to the right through 80cm umbrella, another on the left through mini softbox.
framed photo: single flash subject left, throug grid. used the umbrella from the main shot to reflect a bit of light to the dark side of my face. Both shots combined in PSE 8.
Self Reflection is the title of this mural along the Oosterkade in Utrecht. It's made by JanisdeMan in 2025. The artist himself is taking is making a selfie in the reflection of the tea pot.
Let's take a break from all the flower photos recently. This is probably my weirdest photo so far :D I shot it while standing on one leg in a yoga position + it was dark in the room and I pretty much shot it while losing balance, hence why it's so blurry. But in this case I think it gives a nice mysterious effect. At least something different. :)
In a time when nature and well-being are seen as ideals to strive for, it's hard not to be drawn to them, yet the pressure to follow through can feel overwhelming. The image reflects an internal struggle—between desire and inertia—where the urge for change exists, but taking the next step remains just out of reach. The lilies, symbols of purity and renewal, contrast with stillness, embodying the tension between aspiration and hesitation.
Photo of Luffenholtz Beach captured via Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF Nikkor lens (~f/8) in the census-designated place of Westhaven-Moonstone via Scenic Drive, County Road 4M310. Humboldt County. Mid August 2013.
Photo captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens from Samoa Beach in the census-designated place of Samoa. Humboldt County. Early November 2013.
I have been reviewing some Vietnam scans and came on this one which I never bothered with before because it was kind of ordinary. Until I realized it might be an accidental selfie. (A word that did not exist in 1967) If you look closely at the very right of the frame you can see me, reflected in the window.
Photo of Mount Lassen captured at Lake Manzanita--Lassen Volcanic National Park via the HDR method of photography. Shasta County. Late October 2012.
Sure I believe in all the right things. I even try to do the right things. But really now. Is it real? Is my heart into it? How many times a day do I say to myself, "that wasn't how it is supposed to be?" I don't try to be a saint. I just wish I could really be me!
There is a story about a saintly Rabbi who lived about 300 years ago, Rabbi Zushia of Anipoli. He was very very modest and humble. He would say, "When Zushia goes to the heavenly court, they won't ask why you were not like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Moses. They will ask why you were not Zushia!"
This is a self-portrait from a few years back when I was photographing an old Cotton Gin. I found myself gazing across the landscape.
Why is it that we find self reflection easier when we are gazing across farm land? Does it reflect on our ancestral background? Or does it reflect upon a simpler life, allowing for easier self reflection?
You may notice the ghostly appeal of this photograph. Partial credit goes to my choice of using infrared photography and the other are choices in my exposure and timing.
Location: central Arkansas.
Photo # IMG_2032_2039mod1b.
(c) Kelly Shipp.
from time to time one cannot resist, especially when being surrounded by such superbe piece of architecture :)
Photo of McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park captured via the HDR method of photography in Big Sur. Monterey County. Big Sur. Late January 2013.
Photo captured via Minolta MD Celtic 28mm f/2.8 Lens from the Woodley Island Marina on Humboldt's waterfront. City of Eureka. Humboldt County. Late October 2013.
What beliefs are you hanging onto that are weighing you down?
One of the most beautiful parts of creativity IS the ability TO CREATE. Creativity is not bound to something or limited by something. It is free, ever changing, ever growing. Only you can set the boundaries of how far you wish to explore your creativity. Some choose a smaller piece to work from and grow to be amazing at their craft. Others will have no bounds and be forever curious as to what their imagination can create.
My art is entering a very exciting period of freedom. This freedom has come from freeing myself of beliefs that I have accumulated that don’t serve me. You see, opinions can be a valuable tool to be taken into consideration but they are just that and not a life sentence. You are not sentenced by what someone thinks or feels about you. Of course, unfavorable opinions can hurt and as human beings we want to fit in… but at what cost?
Up until this point in 2020, I was accepting every opportunity that I could and clinging to it because I felt like I was not doing enough to support my family. Quarantine taught me how wrong I was. I started to work on myself and on the idea of setting myself free by releasing what no longer serves me or what has never served me – whether that be material possessions, thoughts in my mind or emotions. Let me tell you, this kind of purging is not easy. It takes a great deal of work and courage but the key is to take it one day or layer at a time. Yes, my mind is still cluttered and yes, so is my home but every day I take one step closer.
@dandapanillc taught me this year that one’s call in life should never be dependent on someone or something and this just struck such a strong chord with me. He went on to say, “What happens when that one thing or person go away? You find that you have no purpose now.” For the longest time, my purpose was to help others and then it changed to “be a successful artist.” But after giving this some thought, my life purpose is to love myself just as I am because the being that I am is perfect. And so, with that insight, I was able to set myself free.
✨What is your life purpose?✨