https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/a-photo-a-week-challenge-from-the-back/
From the Back: A Photo a Week Challenge
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Category Archives: photos
The Lonely Haciendas of Mexico : Which Way 2015, Week 35
The Lonely Haciendas of Mexico
Although not obvious to the unschooled eye, the haciendas of Mexico are everywhere in my part of Jalisco. Some are retained by the children of former owners who live in Guadalajara or farther away. The descendants of families who have tended these haciendas for hundreds of years still reside there with no money for maintenance and owners who forget their pay for months or even years at a time. This, although sad for them, is fortunate for those of us who wish to witness the ruins of times gone by, for a few hundred pesos is a godsend to them and wins us admittance to see these aging ghosts.
One of the haciendas depicted was purchased by a Canadian couple who donated it as a boy’s orphanage. Another is a former horse-raising hacienda with all its original furniture, drapes, tackle and games room, complete with a horse racing game. The hacienda in better repair was purchased by a Spanish company and is now a hotel.
All of these haciendas are within an hour’s drive from my home in San Juan Cosala, Jalisco, Mexico. Just one of the eight or so I’ve visited is still being used by the family to raise horses. Formerly it contained a sugar refinery and the tall tower still remains.
I’ve chosen to abide by the theme “Which Way” and to show windows, doors and pathways. Perhaps in the future I’ll show some of the interiors.
For more every which ways, go here: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/09/02/cees-which-way-challenge-2015-week-35/
The Beautiful Children of Mexico
The Beautiful Children of Mexico
The beautiful children of Mexico
shed music as they come and go
see how they dance and how they flow–
the beautiful children of Mexico?
Long hair held back out of the way,
womanhood fastened there at bay.
They’ll loosen it another day,
but for now they need to play.
See how the big boys stand aloof
in the shadow of the courtyard roof?
Yet their guard lets down as they sing and dance,
with an occasional sideways glance.
They lean and banter, jostle and
cavort like puppies as they stand.
But see how the smallest one of all
suddenly seems to stand so tall?
See the talents they all display–
victorious at the end of day.
So clever, given half a chance,
they show their bravery in dance.
Intelligence in the written word–
a painting of a flower or bird,
these beautiful masks they’ve put in place
obscure the beauty of each face.
Mothers and fathers, heed me well
as the truth of it I seek to tell.
As they lift their masks, end their parade,
see the beautiful children that you’ve made!
I’d been asked to read a poem at the children’s performance at the end of camp tomorrow night, but nothing I’ve written seemed appropriate, so I wrote this poem that I will read at the end of the animal song and mask presentation as they are about to take off their masks and leave the stage for a party and dinner prepared by Agustin, the owner of the restaurant where we held this six day camp. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of a few of the over 600 pictures I took. Too many photo opportunities!!! I guess I’d advise that no one else try to sift through this many pictures to adorn a post. It has taken me from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.–with a few diversions..two one hour phonecalls and a few email interruptions! So, a very late posting, but appropriate for this prompt: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/well-i-never/
Twins: DailyPost Half and Half Challenge
Twins
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/half-and-half/ This week, share an image that has two clear halves, literally or figuratively. You could focus on composition, like me, and take a photo with an explicit dividing line (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). Or take the theme in other directions: zoom in on a pair of objects that together form a whole. Show two people whose demeanor or personality complement each other. Or bring into balance two opposing visual elements — light and dark, color and its absence, sharp focus juxtaposed with blurriness.
Islas Ballestras of Peru: Cee’s Travel Theme Land Meets Water
Islas Ballestras: Peru’s Galapagos
Sometimes where land comes together with water, that land is an island; and in Peru’s Ballestras Islands, it furnishes a wonderful preserve where millions of penguins, boobies, gulls, seals and other animals are able to live in a protected environment.
To see Cee’s incredible panoramic coastline view and other photographers’ work, go HERE.
Sand Storm: Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge
You’ll just have to imagine the wind blowing–and you would have one colossal sand storm! These dunes are in Peru, Taken from the oasis shown in the aerial view.
http://jennifernicholewells.com/2015/07/07/one-word-photo-challenge-sandstorm/
It’s A Crock!–Travel Theme Old Fashioned
It’s A Crock!
Most of these are my Grandma Dykstra’s pottery, although some were my Mom’s, I think. The Murdo Elevator gift crock was from my home town. Its owners lived next door to us and the granddaughter of its founder was Patty Peck, my sister’s best friend. I wrote a poem about us all ( sister Patti, Patty Peck, my friend Patty Martin and I) all floating in my pool on my queen-sized airbed mattress the year I moved to Mexico 14 years ago. It’s posted somewhere on this blog. There are also a number of poems about my grandmother, my mother and my home town, Murdo, South Dakota. If I’ve tagged them well enough, you should be able to find them.
All of this crockery now resides atop my kitchen shelves in Mexico, mixed in with precolumbian replicas and other crockery found in a trip to the Pyrenees long before I moved to Mexico, pieces from Africa and antique wooden implements from Lombok, an island off the coast of Bali. This is my memory shelf, for sure.
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2015/06/19/travel-theme-old-fashioned/
One Word Photo Challenge: Hot
Can’t get any hotter than this globo (hot air balloon) falling from the sky over Ajijic, Mexico.
The admittedly augmented hot lamp was in Morehouse, Missouri. Can’t blame a girl for cheating to meet a prompt.
These may not be the hottest chilis on your plate,
but I can attest to the fact that it was HOT both days I took these two pictures at the beach.
http://jennifernicholewells.com/2015/05/19/one-word-photo-challenge-hot/
A Doll’s Life
I rescued this doll, my pride and joy at age 6, from my sister’s attic. I thought it had been lost to a tornado forty years ago, but it seems my sister had whisked it off from my parents’ basement prior to the tornado that ripped its roof off a few years later. Minus her shoes and socks and a bit dirty of face, she shows the wear and tear of two more generations of little girls. She is a near-life-sized walking doll. If you lift one arm and lower it, it causes her legs to see-saw and if you hold on tight, she walks with you. One eye has come loose in the socket, but she retains the full-cheeked youth that most of the little girls who have played with her have since forfeited. I no longer remember her name, but I do remember which corner of my yellow-walled, green linoleumed and dormered room she resided in.
Oops–just found this one I have to add. Found at the beach recently:
These pictures and this story are in response to this challenge: http://teepee12.com/2015/05/20/serendipitous-photo-prompt-2015-6-toni-plastic/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 