SharpFocus photos on Flickr

Captured in a professional studio setting, this clean minimalist portrait centers on the subject’s poised expression and natural posture. The composition utilizes a sophisticated high-angle, feathered key light to create soft directional dimension, natural catchlights in the eyes, and a gentle roll-off into the shadows. A neutral, seamless gray background perfectly isolates the subject, ensuring the color harmony between the cool denim, black crop top, and warm skin tones balances beautifully across the frame. The structural lines of the black metal barstool introduce strong overlapping diagonals that guide the viewer's eye, while the foreshortened foreground perspective of the lower sneaker adds a subtle layer of visual depth.

The Autumn Firebird by Natalie Panga

20 45

"These are the soul's changes. I don't believe in ageing.

I believe in forever altering one's aspect to the sun.

Hence my optimism."

Virginia Woolf

"He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sun rise."

William Blake

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Déjà Vu by Natalie Panga

17 40

"We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time - of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances - of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it!" (quote from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, chapter 39)

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The Air Of September by Natalie Panga

28 22

"September arrives and Autumn begins.

The Summer then bows to Fall.

...

September arrives,

And the sky loses brightness.

Winds start to whip..."

Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Plums Community by Natalie Panga

20 35

"Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious."

Ruth Reichl

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Glassified Color Dreams by Natalie Panga

26 16

"If you treat glass right, it doesn't crack. If you know the properties, you can make things; the color of dusk and night and love. But you can't control people like that and I really, really wish you could.

I want the world to be glass."

Cath Crowley, Graffiti Moon

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Branch Sunday by Natalie Panga

21 24

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels.

In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday includes a procession of the assembled worshipers carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, yew, willow, and olive. The Sunday was often designated by the names of these trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.

(from Wikipedia)

The date of Easter in Ukraine and Russia - May 5, 2013.

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Yin And Yang by Natalie Panga

25 17

"The dance between darkness and light will always remain— the stars and the moon will always need the darkness to be seen, the darkness will just not be worth having without the moon and the stars."

C. JoyBell C.

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I need more of this film by Ben Seidelman

32 9

seriously, both the P3200 and the Sensia 400 are incredible.

A-flutter With Poppies by Natalie Panga

20 35

“Your ghost will walk, you lover of trees

(If our loves remain)

In an English lane,

By a cornfield-side a-flutter with poppies.”

Robert Browning

"Drowsed with the fume of poppies...”

John Keats

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Champignons by Natalie Panga

19 30

Definition of CHAMPIGNON: an edible fungus; especially: button mushroom

Origin of CHAMPIGNON: French, from Middle French, alteration of champigneul, ultimately from Late Latin campania. First Known Use: 1670.

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/champignon

"Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terror, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them."

Anaïs Nin

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The True Soldier by Natalie Panga

23 30

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."

G.K. Chesterton

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A Season Of Velvet by Natalie Panga

23 28

"This is beautiful, what is this? Velvet?"

"And I'm lost behind

The words I'll never find

And I'm left behind

As seasons roll on by"

Chris Cornell

"...one of the seasons of the clandestine year"

Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies

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The Wistful Gardener by Natalie Panga

23 28

“I walked abroad,

And saw the ruddy moon lean over a hedge

Like a red-faced farmer.

I did not stop to speak, but nodded,

And round about were the wistful stars

With white faces like town children.”

Thomas Ernest Hulme

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To Pass Through The Lightness by Natalie Panga

17 40

lightness

1. The state or quality of having little weight or force; weightlessness.

2. Ease or quickness of movement; agility, legerity, nimbleness.

3. Ease or cheerfulness in manner or style.

4. Freedom from worry or trouble.

5. Lack of appropriate seriousness; levity.

6. Delicacy or subtlety in craft, performance, or effect.

7. Having a light color.

8. The visual effect of illumination on objects or scenes as created in pictures.

9. The attribute of an object or colour that enables an observer to judge the extent to which the object or colour reflects or transmits incident light .

www.thefreedictionary.com/lightness

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Grapes Triumph by Natalie Panga

27 21

While table, wine, and raisin grapes come from the same family (Vitaceae) and genus (Vitis) of plant, there are about 60 different species of this plant type, and within these 60 species, there are literally thousands of grape varieties. (In the country of Italy, for example, more than 1,000 varieties of wine grapes are found in hillside vineyards.) Table grape varieties are most often larger in size, have been propagated to be seedless, and have relatively thin skins. Wine grapes are usually smaller in size, contain seeds, and have relatively thick skins.

Worldwide, about 30,000 square miles of land are planted with grapes, resulting in the annual production of 150 trillion pounds of grapes. Grape production in five countries - Italy, China, Spain, and France - accounts for about half of all commercial production, and about one-third of all world vineyards are found in the three countries of Italy, Spain, and France. Other important grape-producing countries include Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Iran, South Africa, and Australia.

www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=40

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But Burn, Burn, Burn by Natalie Panga

24 29

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"

Jack Kerouac

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Shine by Natalie Panga

23 26

"An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it."

James A. Michener

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."

Francis Bacon

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A Hidden Treasure by Natalie Panga

24 31

"Every heart has a hidden treasure. A secret wish. A silent dream. A special goal to long for."

Jill Wolf

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Love Like Rain II by Natalie Panga

20 45

"Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots keeping itself alive."

Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

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Cardinal Grape by Natalie Panga

26 23

Cardinal is a table grape first produced in California in 1939.

The grape is a cross of the Flame Seedless (or Flame Tokay) and Ribier table grapes. In the United States, Bulgaria France, Italy, Romania, and Spain the grape is used as a typical table grape for eating and making raisins. In Thailand and Vietnam it is used widely in wine production.

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."

Galileo Galilei

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Catkins Blue Dream by Natalie Panga

22 27

"Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely."

William Faulkner

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Hope Smiles From The Threshold by Natalie Panga

20 25

"Hope

Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

Whispering 'it will be happier'..."

Alfred Tennyson

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Scarlet Sail by Natalie Panga

20 32

"And since the wind blows in my face,

I sail with every wind.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

"“On life's vast ocean diversely we sail,

Reason the card, but passion is the gale”

Alexander Pope

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Luxury Colors Of Summer by Natalie Panga

19 31

"I try to construct a picture in which shapes, spaces, colors, form a set of unique relationships, independent of any subject matter. At the same time I try to capture and translate the excitement and emotion aroused in me by the impact with the original idea."

Milton Avery

"The colors I use may clash or vibrate against one another but this is done intentionally."

Frank Bruno

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The Colorful Chaffinch 🌟 by Jarco Hage

4

Vink - Common Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs - Vinken (Fringillidae)

A close-up portrait of a beautiful Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). I love how the soft light catches the delicate textures of its feathers and brings out those wonderful natural colors.

It is always a joy to watch these energetic little songbirds from up close.

What do you think of this little beauty? Let me know in the comments! 👇

Maple Roses (Golden) by Natalie Panga

27 10

"...And softly through the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf!"

Emily Dickinson

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My Top 20 Interesting

Life Is A Flame by Natalie Panga

23 27

"Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born."

George Bernard Shaw

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Summer Grasses by Natalie Panga

23 30

"Summer grasses

all that remains

of soldiers dreams."

Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694)

A Never-To-Be-Forgotten Summer by Natalie Panga

20 27

"All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world."

L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

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And That Is Our Attitude by Natalie Panga

20 24

"We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude."

Charles R. Swindoll

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Kai headshot-2 by Howard Deihl

72 8

A high-quality studio portrait captures a young woman with a joyful, radiant smile as she poses against a solid dark gray background. She is tilted slightly backward with her hand resting on her hip, exuding confidence and a cheerful energy. Her shoulder-length, curly blonde hair is styled with subtle highlights and frames her face beautifully. She is wearing a sleeveless, light blue knit top featuring delicate texture details along the neckline, paired with denim shorts. Her accessories include a thin silver necklace with a small pendant and a silver chain bracelet on her left wrist. The professional studio lighting is focused from above, casting soft shadows, highlighting her facial features, and adding depth to the portrait.

Ritorno Di Giovanna by Natalie Panga

22 26

"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"

Albert Einstein

Urban Pathway – Class of 2027 Senior Portrait by Howard Deihl

22 1

A gorgeous full-length outdoor portrait featuring a high school senior from the upcoming Class of 2027 graduation year. She is captured walking confidently down a shaded city sidewalk lined with lush green manicured hedges and tall trees. Wearing a stylish charcoal gray long-sleeve crop top and relaxed-fit, wide-leg light-wash denim jeans, she strikes a natural pose with one hand gently resting on her head. The soft, dappled sunlight filtering through the trees creates a beautiful, warm ambient backdrop.

Love-Apples, Me Dear! by Natalie Panga

25 22

"Love-apples, me dear. Love-apples, they be; though some hignorant folks be a callin’ 'em tommytoes. But you don't want any o' they—nasty sour things, they be, as only gentry can eat. You have a nice sweet orange wi' your penny." But Laura felt she must taste the love-apples and insisted upon having one."

Flora Thompson

"Of the tomato or love apple, I know very little. It is chiefly employed as a sauce or condiment. No one, it is believed, regards it as very nutritious; and it belongs, like the mushroom and the potatoe, to a family of plants, some of the individuals of which are extremely poisonous. Some persons are even injured, more or less, by the acid of the tomato."

William Andrus Alcott, "The Young House-keeper" (1846)

Food Encyclopedia: Tomato

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Hungry For A Juicy Life by Natalie Panga

21 21

"I'm hungry for a juicy life. I lean out my window at night and I can taste it out there, just waiting for me."

Brigid Lowry, Guitar Highway Rose

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The Tulips Are My Speech by Natalie Panga

19 30

"The tulips are my speech. The grass and trees are my speech.”

George T. Delacorte

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Flowers Don't Tell, They Show by Natalie Panga

21 25

"Yes, just like those flowers. There's something strained, but there's beauty in that. Something like that."

Koushun Takami

"Let a thing be but a sort of punctual surprise, like the first cache of violets in March, let it be delicate, painted and gratuitous, hinting that the Creator is solely occupied with aesthetic considerations, and combines disparate objects simply because they look so well together, and that thing will admirably fill the role of a flower."

Hope Mirrlees

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A Bowl Of Plenty by Natalie Panga

22 27

The cornucopia (in Latin also cornu copiae) or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form.

From my archives: just the sketches. I'm a little busy now...

Sorry for the pause, my dear friends.

Blue Slides Into The Room by Natalie Panga

23 19

"Love is a blue balloon that wants to be orange.”

Jarod Kintz

"You cannot get a grip on blue.

Blue is the sky, the sea, a god’s eye... It’s a butterfly, a bird, a spicy joke, the saddest song, the brightest day.

Blue is sly, slick, it slides into the room sideways, a slippery trickster.

This is a story about the color blue, and like blue, there’s nothing true about it. Blue is beauty, not truth. ‘True blue’ is a ruse, a rhyme; it’s there, then it’s not. Blue is a deeply sneaky color."

Christopher Moore, Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

Shy Presences by Natalie Panga

20 32

"It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought."

James Douglas

"I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day."

F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

This photo was taken on September 24, 2011 using a Canon PowerShot G10.

Baranki by Natalie Panga

19 38

Bublik (also Booblik or Bublyk) (Russian and Ukrainian: бублик) is a traditional Ukrainian, Russian, Polish (obwarzanek) and Lithuanian (riestainis) bread roll, very similar to bagels; however it is somewhat bigger, has a wider hole and a much denser and 'chewier' texture. Bubliks are members of a class of bread products made from dough that has been boiled before baking, which also includes bagels, baranki, sushki, and other similar breads.

Baranka — a dough ring somewhat smaller than a bublik, but much thinner and drier. While bubliks originate from Pale of Settlement (Ukraine and Belarus), barankis are an original Russian dish, their very name, baranka or baranok, being a contraction of a word obvaranok, "scalded". They are also far harder than bubliks, thus requiring dipping them into tea or coffee before eating. Sushki are an even smaller and drier type of baranki, generally about 50 mm in size, and have the consistency of a hard cracker.

(from Wikipedia)

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An Aspect Tenderly Illumed... by Natalie Panga

20 37

"Departing summer hath assumed

An aspect tenderly illumed,

The gentlest look of spring;

That calls from yonder leafy shade

Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,

A timely carolling."

William Wordsworth, September

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The Red Pear by Natalie Panga

21 20

"The pear is the grandfather of the apple, its poor relation, a fallen aristocrat, the man-at-arms of our domains, which once, in our humid land, lived lonely and lordly, preserving the memory of its prestige by its haughty comportment."

Francois Pierre de la Varenne

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Flowers Have An Expression by Natalie Panga

15 45

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men and animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock."

Henry Ward Beecher

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In Our Quiet Time by Natalie Panga

22 22

"In our quiet time

We do not speak, because the voices are within us.

It is our quiet time.

We do not walk, because the earth is all within us.

It is our quiet time....

We rest with all of nature..."

Nancy Wood

"O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark.

The vacant interstellar spaces......

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love

For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith

But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."

T.S. Eliot

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The Light Of Memory by Natalie Panga

23 26

Chernobyl. 1986-2012.

The Chernobyl disaster (locally Ukrainian: Чорнобильська катастрофа, Chornobylska Katastrofa – Chornobyl Catastrophe) was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then officially Ukrainian SSR).

"Sweet is the memory... Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart."

Washington Irving

"He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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