photography

Waiting

/ Janna Hill / 5 Comments

I honestly didn’t know who this man was (I’m sheltered like that) until Sara’s post exposed him here on WordPress. No, I do not live in a cave though I have often wished I did.

The thing that moved me other than his world renown photography is that Steve McCurry’s Simple Act of Waiting  told in pictures is [chillingly] what I imagined when I wrote Waiting. I seriously got goosebumps.

If you’re like me (sheltered and horrible with names) or you are lucky enough to live in a cave, that doesn’t matter – I know you will recognize his photos when you see them. Who could forget the eyes of the Afghan girl starring out from the cover of National Geographic? Who would want to?

Waiting

For hopes that hung on a chicken bones
For hearts that lived in chains
For pods of green that died unknown
While waiting for the rain

For dreams left bare on empty prayer
For souls that wished in vain
For tears unshared in mute despair
While waiting for a change

For you and I and all mankind
For worlds where peace was slain
For faith and mind no man can bind
We wait and wait again

Poem first published in Interior Verse © 2012. Republished 2018 in Getting Me Back

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

/ Janna Hill / 13 Comments

Reflections. One could go in so many (deeper) directions with this week’s photo challenge. I chose a few simple mirrored images.
You know I have become somewhat of a procrastinator and [once again] goofed off all weekend. So now it is Monday and everyone has gone back to their weekly grind leaving me without a proven assistant, someone to inspire me and offer suggestions. Oh sure I have plenty of insects and dying foliage but they don’t seem to speak to me at the moment. Was it something I said? I don’t know. Nevertheless I found a new assistant. He is young and inexperienced, a bit awkward and doesn’t take directions well but he works really cheap. I mean really, really cheap. After a few belly rubs and a dog biscuit I had him eating out of my hand, literally. And now without further ado I present to you the reflections of Mr. Clyde Kadiddlehopper.

"Calm down Clyde or you'll break the mirror."

“Calm down Clyde or you’ll break the mirror.”

"Now you both have a biscuit. Good boy."

“Now you both have a biscuit. Good boy.”

"I know you're a little apprehensive but..."

“I know you’re a little apprehensive but…”

"Ponder Clyde... what does 'reflection' mean to you?"

“Ponder Clyde… what does ‘reflection’ mean to you?”

"It's okay you cracked the mirror. Cheer up -dogs aren't supposed to be superstitious."

“It’s okay you cracked the mirror. Cheer up -dogs aren’t supposed to be superstitious.”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Thankful

/ Janna Hill / 10 Comments

I’m a little late in getting this post out but still I am pleased to be able to participate in this week’s photo challenge Thankful.

There are so many things I have to be thankful for… to be grateful for. So many family members, friends and fans – you know who you are and I love you. I am thankful for you!

The photographs I chose have less to do with the colorful umbrella and more to do with the conversations held beneath it…

Nothing to do with the roof but the souls that have been sheltered under it…

And the door, well it’s just the gateway to another world. So many comings and goings and so many to be thankful for.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Renewal

/ Janna Hill / 19 Comments

Renewal… replenish, regenerate, rejuvenate or restore…
This week’s photo challenge was indeed a mental test, for me anyway. I considered a photograph of me in a warm tub of bubbles recharging my chakra with a glass of champagne but no such photo exits. I know that to be true because I rarely bathe and my chakra eloped with a bottle of Brut one dead winter night many Decembers’ ago.
There are a few photos of hubby napping in his recliner that seemed fitting but he wasn’t too fond of the idea. It’s not that I caught him drooling and snores can’t be heard in a snapshot. I think he’s concerned people will think he is Salman Rushdie and send a rocket into our living room. That or ask him for an autograph. He would prefer the rocket.
So with the first two options off of the table I mulled over the theme again.
Renewal… replenish, regenerate, rejuvenate or restore…
My thoughts continually returned to Spring, the natural season of renewal. To new blooms and young butterflies, abandoned cocoons and Cicada’s emerging. So I rummaged through my jump drives, blew off the digital dust and here you have it. My take on this week’s photo challenge: renewal.

How Autumn Came To Be & Where Baby Scarecrows Come From

/ Janna Hill / 9 Comments
Henry Fall was just chillin’ when he spotted a swinging little doll…
And she spotted Henry…
They went on a date and It was love at first sight…
Henry proposed and she accepted…
The marriage was consummated and…
Nine days later Autumn sprouted from a patch of leafy greens!
And they swung happily ever after.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

/ Janna Hill / 5 Comments

Geometry and Grandchildren.

The youngest grandson stayed with us over the weekend…

by himself…

There were no cousins to sword fight, wrestle with or act as the other meat eating dinosaur. It was only me and his Papa to contend with his six year old imagination.

When he grew bored with his grandfather it was up to me, the Disney channel or his PSP to amuse him. Hmm…

I said, “hey how about a geometric journey- you like to take pictures don’t you?”

He of course was thrilled with the idea snapping the camera at anything that had a line, an angle or might be used in measure.

Six year olds are really intelligent creatures. Give them a definition in terms they can understand (don’t call it learning) and watch them grow go.

This weeks photo challenge is geometry. We took over one hundred shots and settled on two.

The Stars & Stripes of Our Geometric Journey
It’s Cool to be Square

Move Over Rover – Bon Appitite

/ Janna Hill / 6 Comments

Give the dog that TV dinner. You don’t want it anyway. It’s loaded with sodium, tastes like cardboard and has little to no nutritional value. And that stuff you were going to give your furry friend, heat it up and save it for yourself. It is not only good it is good for you. Well, at least it’s better than the TV dinner AND it is cheaper.

Just add a little salt and pepper, dump it over some instant rice and ring that dinner bell.

Heck I might be the next Julia Child 🙂

Move Over Rover – Bon Appitite

Weekly Photo Challenge (Foreign)

/ Janna Hill / 10 Comments

This week’s photo challenge foreign fits right in to my current thought process, as in foreign language. As I mentioned in a recent post I speak Hick and a little French. My grasp of foreign languages is limited; thank goodness my imagination is not.

I sometimes watch Spanish television. No, I do not speak Spanish – that may be why I find it so entertaining. I like to guess at what they’re saying. My husband enjoys certain Latin channels because they show cleavage and midgets. I don’t know what it is about that combination but it humors him and he laughs at the plump jolly man dancing to La Cucaracha.

I try to discern what they are saying, I don’t want to fluently comprehend – that would take the fun out of my guessing game. Husband doesn’t even try to guess, his thoughts are, “They’ve got boobs, little people, a happy fat man dancing and a song about a cockroach – who cares what they are saying.”

Foreign Snapshot

This snapshot came from a program I was watching this morning. I gather the conversation had something to do with men cheating on women or leaving them and monogamy being a realistic expectation.

I’m guessing that to some monogamy is a foreign concept.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

/ Janna Hill / 8 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

They’ve flown south now for the winter. The last bottle of red colored sucrose hangs fermenting. The Petunia and Morning Glory have bid them farewell as the Four O’clock and Salvia prepare to sleep.

Seed and root resting in the shadow of nature’s understanding.

Oh that I might fly with you..

Until the next Equinox, buenas noches little bird.

A Brief Moment of Rest