…deepen the connection between your photos and your heart and soul by participating in this monthly review of your images, to find the one that best connects to your heart.

This is my PHC from my May photos.

I have watched the Robin for a number of days now. When either of us is at the door watching her, she sits here until she thinks we are not looking before she makes two more stops before taking the food for her chick. She is so wary and still that I was able to use my long lens to make a number of pictures without disturbing her.
Tirelessly she flies backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards to feed her demanding chick squawking in the ivy.

I have an idea how she feels. My chick is forever hungry and I admit to complaining but I watch the Robin and wonder what have I to complain about?
At least I have the required number of legs.

Her chick is in the bottom picture.

Thank you Kat, this is such a lovely practice each month.
If you click on the PHC thumbnail you will be able to see some beautiful Photo Heart Connections

At the beginning of the month Kat Sloma invites us to look through our photos from the previous month and choose one that stands out and speaks to the heart.

I had a couple of ‘dates with my camera’ in April, we have had some beautiful sunny days, the dog is getting the hang of me saying “hang on I need to make a picture”, I have been practicing using my macro lens and I have had a lesson on making some better pictures with my phone. All this activity resulted in 728 pictures in my April folder!
And the one that speaks the loudest?
This one.

I took it with my iPhone. It is out of focus, due to camera shake (hence the lessons).
But I think it is beautiful.
The evening I took it was fun, full of love & laughter and a gorgeous meal.
On the way back to the car, I noticed this Quince in the half-light, which amused my family. They wanted to know how someone with such poor eyesight could see anything let alone recognise a plant in the dark?

My grandmother had a quince out side her front door when I was a child. She made quince jelly with the fruits but I loved the flower in the spring.
The Owl and the Pussycat ate slices of quince didn’t they? At my (primary) school, in our English class, we learnt Edward Lears rhyme for a spoken poetry and prose competition.

How could I not choose this picture? I am smiling at the memories as I type.

I took the picture and put some digital magic over it.
I saw the possibility of beauty within the blur.
Look longer. Look harder. Look deeper.
You might just find what you’re looking for…
Or something better?

I enjoy participating in Kat’s monthly practice and there are always beautiful Photo Heart Connections there.

Kat Sloma hosts a lovely practice she calls Photo Heart Connection. The idea is, at the end of each month, review the images you worked with in that month for the one that gives you the strongest connection to your heart and soul.
Of the 305 pictures I made in March, six are self portraits, three are of next doors black cat (you will see him on Thursday) two are of my son and the rest are flowers and plants. I was tempted with one in particular that aroused a strong connection to my mother but…
In the end the connection to my heart and soul this month wasn’t difficult.
The image I started with was dreadful, orange and dark, taken on my phone in a dimly lit restaurant. I lightened it to see if I could salvage anything. I love that my camera captured more than I first saw.

I love the look in his eyes and his easy posture. Every time I see the finished picture I hear Eric Clapton singing…
…you just don’t realize how much I love you…

Thank you Kat.

February and January because I forgot to post it!

I have two pictures for this exercise this month. They are linked, both taken on the same day.

February

The landscape was taken in the morning at 11:20.
The morning started so dull with a very heavy mist. We were on Salisbury Plain, which is very beautiful when not shrouded in grey.
I decided to take a few landscape pictures with a kind of hopeful attitude, not being able to see much at all apart from a few dark shapes in the distance.

I used a texture on the sky to give it a bit of life.

The birds were taken in the afternoon, 16:00.
As we drove over to Longleat the mist began to lift and by the time we arrived we were looking at blue skies! I forgot about my hopeful pictures in an instant.
I was overjoyed, taking pictures of very photogenic and obliging giraffes; so close you could touch them.
Then I looked up and saw starlings swirling in the blue sky. I have always wanted to see the clouds of these birds IRL, you know the ones that you see in photographic magazines? I know this isn’t quite a cloud but the sight of them lifted my heart.

The landscape reminds me to stay optimistic and the birds remind me why.
From a murky misty morning to a beautiful blue, bird filled sky, all in one day. And it was my birthday.

January

My photo – heart connection for January is from the farm on a day the sheep were lambing.
My son was there with his girlfriend. He rang me and asked me to join them. “…and don’t forget your camera” he was calling…
I choose this, of a sheep and her lamb, just 30 minutes old when I made the picture.
Yes it is so very cute but when I saw the picture on my screen I also saw her looking at her lamb, ever watchful like every new mother.
The picture tells me it’s a new life, but it speaks to me of a new start, change and hope for the future as is happening in my life right now.

This picture speaks right to my heart, of hope and love and joy that he called me to share his morning.