Posted on by Anne Sandler · 36 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #407: Celebrations

What gives us cause to celebrate? Birthdays, anniversaries, travels, friendships and more. This week Patti encourages us to share celebrations from historical festivals, various travels, religious events and more.

I won’t say that we are not world travelers, but much of our visits to other countries were done when we were much younger and I wasn’t taking pictures. So I’m doing the twist again and celebrating family and friends.

Here’s a blast from the past when our children and their children helped us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We toasted this special milestone at the Spaghetti Factory, basically because that was the one place the kids could agree eating at!

This was taken 13 years ago, and we are now married 63 years. Oliva (in her dad’s arms) is now 15 and her brother Ryan (falling asleep on his cousin Madison) is now 17. My how time flies by! My older two grands are now in their 30s. Also in the picture from left to right: daughter-in-law Teresa, her husband Will; daughter-in-law Jessica and my son Greg; Richard and I; and grandson Christopher.

Birthdays are another cause for celebrations. We celebrated my son Jason’s 40th down in Southern California.

Regarding religious holidays, Passover was always one of our favorites. I’d make chicken soup and matzo balls. It being course number three of the celebratory meal. We had to move our living room furniture around to make room for the number of people gathered around our table.

Weddings are a reason to celebrate, especially when it’s your granddaughter getting married and you are playing the photographer. Madison and Ryan!

Last but not least are friendships. Here are 10 women whose friendship I hold dear. Sadly two of them have passed away, but I hold them close in my heart.

I celebrate my family and friends each day. When I turned 50, I remember my Mom saying, “I can’t believe my baby is turning 50!” Well, soon my baby will be turning 50! Another reason to celebrate!

Do you celebrate family and friends? Have you found special celebrations during your travels? I look forward to reading about all your causes to celebrate. When you post, please remember to link to my post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Thank you Patti for this wonderful challenge. Next week Egidio will be leading the challenge. In the meantime, stay safe and be resilient!

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 101 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #331: Resilience

Help, I’m in a deep rabbit hole—again! I was trying to find a simple definition of resilience for you, but I got into an environmental and scientific discussion on the subject. The simplest definition I could find: Resilience refers to the ability to successfully adapt to stressors, maintaining psychological well-being in the face of adversity. It’s the ability to “bounce back” from difficult experiences.

Are you resilient? I’ve made this my intention for 2025. I think we will need it as we face a troubled world, especially here in the U. S. To me, resilience is the ability to make your way through adversity, finding happiness along the way.

How does that apply to photography. As photographers, we find resilience in nature and interpretate it in our photos.

Mountains in Lassen National Park can be 27,000 years old. More recent volcanic activity has created changes in the ecosystems in the park. Some haven’t changed in those years. They are resilient.

Another natural example are our trees. The General Sherman Sequoia tree in Sequioa National Park is 2,200–2,700 years old. It’s still growing taller and wider. Yes, resilience.

And what about those plants, given a small amount of dirt, that seem to push through rock and survive.

We can also photograph metal. I love to photograph metal when it ages and becomes rusty. Metal is strong and resilient, used in gates, trains, cars and more.

People are resilient also. Just ask any mother about resiliency!

Families show resilience through traditions carried through generations, like Christmas and Chanukah.

History teaches us about resilience. Wars, natural disasters, rising out of poverty, and more. Although horrific to some, in 1846 the Donner party showed survival resilience. Their story is told at the Donner Memorial State Park, and nearby Donner Lake is named in their honor. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=503

The current fire storms in Southern California are testing people’s resilience. People have died, more are displaced and homes are gone. When the fires are out, residents will have to muster up more resilience as they rebuild their lives.

My challenge for you this week is to find how your photographs portray resilience. How do they speak to you?

We had a lot of fun in last week’s challenge, Favorite Images of 2024, and I enjoyed seeing and reading about your selections. Thank you John! As you respond to this challenge, please link to this post and use the Lens-Artists tag. I do want to see all your resilient images. Next week, Ritva will lead our third challenge of the year. Be sure to look for her post. In the meantime stay healthy and live in gratitude.