I’ve run across alot of people recently who are just worn down, exhausted and overwhelmed by information and social media. Is disconnection and a realignment of hands-on priorities the solution or just a few days in a warm climate dipping our toes in the surf? A change is as good as a rest…
Someone asked me whether I really use the 100+ editing apps that are on my phone: yes, I just can’t always remember what they do…
Across the Bored was diagnosed as myopic quite early in life – not because we were unable or unwilling to act prudently or exhibited that nasty trait of lacking tolerance and understanding but rather in the opthalmological sense – we were a small, curious child with the distinct inability to see distant objects clearly. Anyone who wore glasses in school in the 1960s clearly remembers the agony of choosing one of four available frame shapes in either black or brown and the horror of knowing the coke bottle lenses placed therein would bring taunts, cruel rhymes or worse. Like most things, we suffered through it and to this day are still plagued by less than perfect vision.
Some recommend laser surgery which seems like a fate worse than death due to the underlying fear of having needles and sharp scalpels placed anywhere in the vicinity of our eyes. So we stick to a regular prescription for just being able to get about, reading glasses for computer work and contact lens for vanity’s sake. All those people you notice taking their glasses off in the grocery store to read the fine print on the label? We are now one of them…
An odd realization struck recently, that being nearsighted had coloured the way we view the world – that we tend to see the beauty of things up close, focusing on the small details and often breaking down the larger picture into components that stand alone on their own merit. Across the Bored has written previously of the multitude of photographers and artists to be found on EyeEm – a fast scroll through our own gallery proved that indeed there were quite a few close-ups of our favourite subjects, including the one below.
It was selected to appear in NEM Painterly – Featured Art 6 curated by MaryJane Sarvis – NEM, the New ERA Museum, “takes shape mainly to spread the concept of pristine Art, affordable and available to everyone by potentially forging new artists to new techniques of digital mobile processing.” What a thrill to be included among this group of talented and groundbreaking photographers.
If you would like to see more in our gallery, click on the EyEm icon in the sidebar. The bounty of autumn’s harvest only begins…
Across the Bored has written previously of the inspiration to be found on EyeEm, the global photosharing community where one can find a wide range of styles and genres by artists and photographers of all levels. It gives people a chance to get more exposure for their work and also gets one interested in playing around with some of the nifty apps that are available for smartphones. Many offer filters and effects that, if executed by traditional means on canvas with paint and brush, would take considerably longer. Applied to photography, their application is relatively fast, the possibilities for correction forgiving and the creative permutations endless.
That said, we uploaded the photo below.
Photo notes: iPhone 5 native camera, snapseed, camera awesome, glazed, and distressed fxIt was selected to appear in NEM Painterly – Featured Art 4 curated by MaryJane Sarvis – NEM, the New ERA Museum, “takes shape mainly to spread the concept of pristine Art, affordable and available to everyone by potentially forging new artists to new techniques of digital mobile processing.” We are truly honoured to be included amongst this group of talented and groundbreaking photographers.
If you would like to see more in our gallery, click on the EyEm icon in the sidebar. The fruit of summer is sweet indeed…
still making us smileWe always swore to never repeat those awful catch-phrases our mothers (and fathers) would fling out at opportune parenting moments but every once in a while we catch ourselves with very similar words on the tips of our tongues. The platitude that sprung to mind today was “things were simpler when I was a kid”. It doesn’t take a degree to deduce how this can’t, in fact, be anything other than historically accurate as we grew up pre-electronic diversions, pre-colour television, pre-headphones, pre-pretty much everything.
Entertainment was basic but there was no lack of it. Inside or out, alone or with friends, our choices were limited by the little available on the market or what we could scavenge and throw together in a pinch. We certainly didn’t have as much stuff as children today and some of it has survived the long haul of adolescence, leaving home and starting our own families to sit in their own place of honour amongst our prized possessions. Our own bears have seen alot of action, now they watch us compose and create, revise and revisit, like talismans of permanence in a rapidly changing daily life.
This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Toys – suggests that everybody’s got their something…
Last week, Across the Bored was curious – “What form do toys take for you?” – That fuzzy bear, a game of solitaire, pick-up sticks or camera clicks, beads and baubles, stereos sweet, nail polish for toes on pretty feet, shiny cars, long telescopes to see the stars or best of all – a cardboard box and simple ball… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Colour your world with the entries in
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Vibrant.
A huge thanks go out to OhmSweetOhm who not so very long ago directed Across the Bored to one of the newer (free) photosharing apps available for iPhone and Android. As an iphoneographer concerned with IP, and not having the desire or time to wade through the #selfies mire of some other sites around, this one in particular stood out – EyeEm is a global community of photographers and artists posting their work in a wide variety of categories. Whether you download the app to your phone or cruise through the galleries online, it offers a glimpse into how and what the rest of the world is seeing.
That said, we uploaded the photo below.
It was selected to appear in the NEM scifi -selection 02 curated by Fabio D’Andrea – NEM, the New ERA Museum, “takes shape mainly to spread the concept of pristine Art, affordable and available to everyone by potentially forging new artists to new techniques of digital mobile processing.” We are truly honoured to be included amongst this group of talented and groundbreaking photographers.
If you would like to see more, click on the EyEm icon in the sidebar. It has finally stopped raining – things look just that little bit better today…
Once upon a time, and it was a very, very long time ago, there was a young woman who had received a gift of more tomatoes than she could possibly ever eat in one sitting – or even four. Being somewhat frugal and hoping to earn some brownie points in the domestic arena, the maiden (against her better judgement it must be said) consulted “she who is never wrong” for the best way to preserve the quickly-ripening fruit for the long, cold winter ahead. Complex instructions were dictated, interspersed with anecdotes of how “she of the bad temper’s” recipe was not up to snuff and why “she who never listens” methodology was questionable, amongst other digressions.
The process was supposed to be an easy one but like so many culinary endeavours that masquerade themselves as “a pleasant afternoon” spent in the quest for the authentic flavours of yesteryear, it wasn’t. It was tedious and messy, labour-intensive and messy, dangerous and messy. From knife blades sharp enough to slice a single hair lengthwise to industrial-sized pots of boiling water threatening to erupt at a moment’s provocation, it was not fun. The young lady was not pleased but completed the task, placing the many precious jars in a very high, very dark cupboard.
Three months down the road and well before the first snow, the hint of an odd odour in the kitchen began to tease the maiden’s nostrils. She was told it was all in her head, that she had an over-active olfactory system, that it was the age of the building, the damp weather or, heaven forbid, the possibility that something had reached an unforeseen demise between the walls. The last option was not to be tolerated and so “she who always persevered” crawled up to the top rung of a very tall ladder, gingerly opened the cupboard door and discovered the unthinkable – no rotting gypsum, no black and creeping fungus, not even a nightmarish rodent corpse – worse. 42 jars of fermenting tomatoes oozing a slick and noxious liquid out from under once-tight metal caps and down their sides to corrode eighty years of paint off the shelf in perfect circles. A crucial step had obviously been omitted – or not transmitted…
Conserving a summer’s harvest is much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – it doesn’t hurt to make sure that everything is really – Clean.
Last week, Across the Bored put forward an age-old question – “How does clean appear to you?” – The lines of a Countach or curve of her back, fresh laundry on the line or graphics of a sign, raindrops, old-fashioned string mops, even spinning tops, is it sudsy or soapy, stringent or strange, glossy and glassy, fancy or plain… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Mine the precious in the entries of
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Metallic.
We have been watching Star Trek in its many incarnations for longer than we care to admit. From the cardboard sets and shaver-communicators of the original television series to NextGen, Deep Space Nine and the many movie spin-offs and fill-ins, it has been a long sometimes upsetting loyalty to the Roddenberry’s idea of beyond, what it held and how to get there in the most exciting way possible. Not always thrilled by casting choices or certain plot progressions of the sci-fi classic’s metamorphosis, there was always some technological innovation, some snazzy new way of presenting deep space and its denizens that kept us hooked and hungering for more.
Armchair astronauts of the best kind, we fondly said goodbye to to those we had come to know and love (or hate) and learned to embrace the unknown and unexpected. Small screen or big, each director’s artistic vision gave us the characters, conflicts and very world of Star Trek much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, larger than life, bursting with energy – Bold.
Last week, Across the Bored pondered “What shape does bold take for you?” – A flash of chrome, the walls of home, an umbrella bright or neon light, a favourite font, fishing cat or fearless brat, challenging or conspicuous, brave or brassy … We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
It’s not all straight lines in the entries of
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Angle.
◊
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, edited in Glaze
for iPhoneography Monday: Challenger’s Choice – Food Photography.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, edited in Snapseed, WoodCamera and Camera! for iPhoneography Monday: Black and White.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
Get up close and personal with the entries in
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Face.
¿
toto, we’re not in kansas anymore…↔
Climb to the top with the entries in
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Mountain.
★
❀
Celebrate the new equinox in the entries of
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Season of Spring.
There are two silver bowls that sit on our desk: one that holds that day’s rings and earrings so we won’t be searching like a wild woman for them in the morning and another that holds various small bits in need of repair, buttons waiting to be sewn back on and unthrowawayables on their way to a project. Ioanna at life portOfolio wrote unabashedly about her box filled with “unnecessary things”, our neighbour has a garage filled with questionable objects unceremoniously dumped on her by down-sizing relatives, some of us even have warehouse space filled with the flotsam and jetsam of good intentions and plans yet come to fruition.
Everyone has an equivalent, whether it is that odd wedding gift stuffed in the back of a cupboard, the weird plant thriving in the midst of a carefully tended garden or the out-of-place addition on the renovator’s house down the street, we all own, know of or have at least seen in passing things that are right at home in this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, stuff that is – Random.
Last week, Across the Bored inquired “How does random look to you?” – A mess on the floor, wildly painted door, clouds in the sky or the reflection in her eyes, an arrangement of fruit or toe of a boot… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, no edits
for iPhoneography Monday: Macro.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, edited in Luminar
for iPhoneography Monday: Nature.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
Let the bright entries catch your eye at
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Orange.
…
Those of us with a penchant for garage, boot and estate sales are more than well aware that the bits and pieces once held dear collected over a lifetime often wind up in the hands of strangers. It is always odd to see things coldly lined up on display, away from the groups of objects they were once a part of and, in a sense, out of context. What kind of voyage have these pieces had over the course of the years and what tales of love and strife, harmony and discord, laughter and tears would they tell us if they could?
These collectables have a monetary value based on age, rarity, curiosity, desirability and provenance but rarely is the sentimental worth taken into account. There can be no price attached to memory. It is only when we ascribe a history to those things that have made up the backgrounds of our lives, why they were important, how they came to us, were created, found, bartered or haggled for, that they become truly interesting to those we would pass them down to, and like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, a part of our – Heritage.
Last week, Across the Bored asked “How does heritage look to you?” – A stately building on the street, long-lost cousins that you meet, a silver tea pot or favourite recipe, a packet of heirloom seeds or string of coloured beads… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, edited in WoodCamera, framed in PhotoToaster
for iPhoneography Monday: Nature.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
See what the Sandman has wrought in the entries at
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Sleep.
…
•
Find illuminating entries at Where’s my backpack?’s challenge Travel Theme: Light.
Everybody does something in the entries at
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Worker.
Δ
Still Life shot with the iPhone 5 native camera no edits
for iPhoneography Monday: Challenger’s Choice.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
Get up early to browse through the entries at
A Word in your Ear’s Word A Week Photo Challenge – Dawn.
∞
Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera no edits
for iPhoneography Monday: Black and White.
Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme. You may also join the challenge by clicking here.
ACROSS THE BORED 