INSTANTS out of TIME...

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still..." -Dorothea Lange

"Varied Thrush"

JULY 2026 "Untamed Nature Contest" Nominee Award

I never planned on being a photographer. Never considered myself to be one. It just sort of happened gradually, "seeing" as time went on, everything framed. Observing. Waiting. Standing perfectly still. In rain. In the shade. In snow. In the quiet. Worth waiting for. My photo totals each month are between 700-900 stills. Never thought I would ever enter any contests, never thought I would even place, never really thought much about it. Just kept working and improving, always taking suggestions from the seasoned photographers how to "feel" the images, to stop trying and just letting it happen. How to grab that moment. That instant. Always changing, always something new to learn. To keep on learning...

July 2026 "Rufous Hum Hum" #22 out of 13,391 pics world wide in the "We Love Birds" Contest. In the top 25. Every year the Rufous returns to buzz around the yard, only taking a break on the feeder. My one chance to capture him and his beautiful red coat. Hold your breath, or he may dive bomb you.

June 2026 "Marshmallow the cat" "Pause Award" Comments were: "Image is calming and causes the viewer to stop and feel the peace, in a world where there is so much chaos. It is a much needed break."

June 2026 "Violets" #1094 out of  17,427 submissions  "Spring Photo Challenge" First look at spring. First blooms. New. Pale blue. Fragile.

June 2026 "Finch" #3640 out of 17,427 submissions. "Spring Photo Challenge"
  The birds are the coolest, I think. Difficult to recreate at times, but worth the time it takes. What is the Finch  looking at? (Probably the cats)

June 2026 "Peace Rose" ( Image of the Month) #3536 out of 15,732  Full bloom rose in the heat dome year, drooping in the heat of the evening, melting colours.

"Pale Rose" ( Image of the Month) #4294 out of 15,732 Pastel painted rose, water coloured, drooping in the rain. I have a thing for rain... 

"Lavender Poppies" ( Image of the Month) #1110 out of 15,732 ( Top 10%)  Random poppies  just at the side of the road, just floating around, like lavender feathers.

June 2026 "Sugar" (Capturing Hands Contest) #970 out of 4025 submissions. Sweet pic of Sugar the kitten being soothed by a comforting hand.

June 2026 "Piano hands" (Capturing Hands Contest) #554 out of 4025 submissions. I took this at a rehearsal where two pianists were getting ready for a concert. I thought their hands were so interesting. Years of practise, years of experience, and technique. Beautiful hands.

June 2026 "Side Rose in rain" (Image of the Month) #3501 out of 15,732. Peace rose gathering rain, as it edges on the end of the bloom, on a hot, muggy summer day.

June 2026 "Sweet Simon" (Image of the Month) #2509 out of 15,732 submissions. Sweet Simon, looking to see if the coast is clear. (The cats are great subjects)

June 226 "Rose shade" (Image of the Month) # 3340 out of 15,732  Rain perches on the edges of the variegated rose. (I definitely like  rain)

June 2026 "Courtyard" (Image of the Month)  #3390 out of 15,732 The golden cat (Rona) centered in the quiet, green world, in the early evening. 

"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment..."-Robert Frank

Photographs 2026. Contests from the View Bug Photography Site. See my extended portfolio on the site.

Also, check out my You tube Channel: Idylldirt ( @2BoTube2)

COSMOS/SWEET PEAS..

                                                    

"A black and white photograph speaks volumes by saying less..."-unknown

“Black and white allows you to focus on JUST the emotion. It also allows me to focus on shapes and silhouettes more easily.” - Milly

1. “The world is in color, you have to work at black and white.” – Andrew Maclean

Photographs 2026

                                                                 Rufous hum hum

ERASING TIME...

"Black and white photography erases time from the equation..." -Jason Peterson

"I love black and white. It's abstract and interpretive..."-Herb Ritts

"Black and white creates a dreamscape...

                         ...that colour never can..."-Jack Antonoff

"In black and white, you suggest...in colour you state." 

                                                                                                             -Paul Outerbridge

"Black and white are the colours of photography...

...They symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair..."

                            -Robert Frank

"The simplicity of black and white is the complexity of the extraordinary..." -Vikrm

"I find that colour distracts the eye, but black and white retains the essence..." -Dominic Rouse

"It allows us to see with a different eye..." -John Dado Loori

"We must not let colour destroy this image..." 

                              -Patrick Summerfield

"Removing colour from the world makes us see deeper into the essence of things..."-Rob Sheppard

"Black and white is an ongoing dialogue between the past and present..."-unknown

                   Timeless...

Photographs 2026

 

CHERRY LEMONADE DAYS....

I remember those endless, warm summers when we'd make cherry Koolaid, poured over ice, and drop a few cherries on top. My mother called it Cherry Lemonade...

She grew a few wild roses, pale pink ones that eventually were smothered by tree roots over the years.

There was tea. On those warm summer days. On the old blue and white Mikado china, and grapevine cups, steaming with amber.

Bees hummed around Caraway Seed cake, thick cream, and the sugar bowl.  They were always hopeful. Usually, drunken flies landed on the Cherry lemonade, spilled over on the table.

One, or both of our cats wandered by the porch, sleepily looking for a place to flop.
 

My mother hummed tuneless tunes. Her favourite was "Let me call you Sweetheart"...

She told me how my dad liked to sing it to her, years ago. Long ago. In the summertime. She missed him. She never said as such, but I knew. 

After seed cake, the koolaid and tea, we'd pick sweet peas. They grew like ivy, all over the side of the house. So tall. I'd get a chair to stand on, and pick handfuls for the old white pitcher. I still have that pitcher. It waits, yearly, for sweet peas...

"I heard a red-winged blackbird singing down where the river sleeps in the reeds: that was morning, 

 and at noontime a hummingbird flashed on the jewel-weeds...

...clouds blew up, and in the evening a yellow sunset struck through the rain, then blue night, 

and the day was ended that will never come again..."

                                                                                  - Sara Teasdale ( A June Day)

My world hummed with the heat.  Ants marched back and forth, stealing crumbs of seed cake.

Trees rustled. The sprinkler sprinkled.  Sweet peas and nasturtiums bloomed at the side of the old porch steps, where my mother sat with her tea. 

We'd slurp frozen Koolaid popsicles, mixed with cherry jello, a melting frozen treat on a stick. Bare feet on hot pavement. End of day.

It was summer. Every summer...

Photographs 2026