Monday Photo Shoot #29: Black is the Color

"Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions."

-Pablo Picasso

New Monday Photo Shoot #29: Photograph something in black. That's it. The absence of color. It's actually a little tricky, because black things tend to appear gray or dark blue or really dark brown, or reflect other colors.

-Karen Funk Blocher, of the blog, Outpost Mavarin

Meet the Black Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio Polyxenes). Lovely it is, especially when you consider that the underside of the wings of this butterfly are so colorful. But that is always the nice surprise with butterflies, the fact that their markings on the front and back are so varied, it's as if they are wearing a two layers of clothing. :)

Here we have an unusual orchid. The black orchid is a fairly rare plant according to what I have read about them, so as you can imagine, I was thrilled to be able to see one in full bloom at the Conservatory of Flowers this past spring! You can read a little information about them here.

-OndineMonet

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Conservatory Of Flowers, GGP, San Francisco

Spring, 2008

Dream Figures

"Photography, as you know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world."

-Arnold Newman

I really liked how these two mannequins looked. I spotted them in the window of a boutique, just off Union Square, last December. As you can see, basic black still rules! :) It wasn't an easy shot to take, because I was in the car at the time, and while I was the passenger, traffic was still making me a little bit nervous. Traffic around Union Square is always crazy around the holidays, but knowing it beforehand didn't make it much easier to take. Still, my camera sees things I seem to miss, when I am just viewing the world with my eyes. As I was looking at this photo earlier today, it struck me about all the faceless people I seem to encounter in my dreams. Sometimes I dream about friends from my past, but the weird thing is that while I know it's them, I almost never see their faces. I see their clothing, or sometimes an arm, a stomach, but almost never their faces. Hmmm... I think I will ask Sarah about that! Anyone care to hazard a guess?

So tell me, do you see the faces of the people you dream about? Do you dream in color? What's your favorite type of dream? Have you ever had a dream come true?

-OndineMonet
"Dream Figures"
San Francisco, California
December 10th, 2006
Early Evening