Sunflowers and Death

Winding down a long weekend, a tough work week looming.

Sunday began with the bright promise of an early morning visit to McKee-Beshers Wildlife Refuge in Maryland to photograph in the fields of sunflowers. The weather was cool and clear, lovely for an almost August day. We got in early enough to enjoy long periods of silence with the flowers. We left as the crowds started to arrive with their loud voices and selfie sticks.

A rush home to attend the memorial viewing of a friend's wife. Death's timing is hardly ever good.

This day was bracketed by life and death, and now as it closes I'm lead to try and make sense of it, but I cannot. The bright morning with sunflowers stretching to the sun, and with the evening, time to mark the passing of a life. Light to dark, life to death.

This is a passage all living things must take - still, if I could have a wish it would be to return loved ones to those who miss them, to make broken hearts whole.

Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Dreams and Exercises

The clouds lay low and the air is August thick with humidity. I waded through the morning, dragged down by the lingering threads of the night's dreams and looking for inspiration.

I decided to complete a photography exercise as a way to keep working on my 365 project, and doing work, my work, would help me shake the dreams.

The Exercise:
Stand in the center of a room, or wherever you happen to be.  Make photographs only of subjects that happen to be within 15 feet (or 10, or 5) of where you’re standing.  Give yourself a time limit. Exhaust all possibilities. Get as many images as you can using only that area before moving on.  This kind of exercise forces you to really look at things and work to compose interesting images.

I chose my basement, aka "studio," as a room to start in; and I gave myself 30 minutes. I struggled with the light and spent a lot of time worrying over composition.

If you would like to see my work on a daily basis, as well as other projects I undertake, please follow me on Facebook at tART - Photography and Art by Terry Rowe,  https://www.facebook.com/tarrowe. If you'd like to purchase a print of any of my images please contact me or visit my website, http://terry-rowe.artistwebsites.com/.