This week Tina from Travels and Trifles creates a Lens-Artists challenge focused on Spiritual Places. While many associate spirituality with religion, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as “relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things”, a much wider interpretation.
While photographing buildings, I inevitably find myself in front of a religious site. It may be a church, temple, or synagogue. There is a quietness to these places. Some may call this respectfulness.
One place that gives me a sense of peacefulness is located in Grass Valley. Ananda Village and Crystal Hermitage Garden exude calm.
Many visitors enjoy the tulips in the spring.
Looking over the Sierras.
Churches
Rio Linda, CaSacramento, CaJackson, Ca.
Churches that started as a different building, and churches that have been repurposed.
Saw this in Lincoln, Ca.
On the main street in Zionsville, Indiana this Methodist Church transformed into an art gallery. It sits vacant and is looking for a new purpose.
Congregation Beth Shalom in Marysville, California. This building was once a boarding house. It is now making another change.
Donner PartyGround Zero 911Rosie the RiveterRosie the RiveterMemorial sites let us remember
Cemetery
Walking through a cemetery, looking at the gravestones, imagining the history, and taking in the flowers provides me with some quiet reflective spiritualness.
I end at the gravesite of my parents. They both are Holocaust Survivors.
My brother pays respect to my parents. There are no markers for my family from Poland for at least 3 generations due to World War II.
Many ask why stones and not flowers are left at Jewish graves. Upon researching this I found that there are many plausible explanations for this tradition. I would like to think of the remembrance of those who come before me.
Brian said “What has been happening recently is a bit of fragmentation around the world, a disconnect. But we always have been made up of pieces.” He wants to see some of my fragments photographically.
Forgotten History
Bodie Historic State Park in California is a photographer’s dream location for fragments of history. Located in the Eastern Sierra Mountains it now is a historic ghost town. Left as it was.
An outside look. Here I tried some photo editing. HDR, Adobe Photoshop, some B&W
A look inside
Bodie Cemetery. Many children among the gravestones.
This week, Donna of Wind Kisses is hosting the Lens-Artist Challenge with a focus on, What’s Bugging You? She thinks that the true challenge here is that encounters are rarely purposeful, and bugs are never willing participants. Some will flitter around and finally land on a leaf. Some pollen collectors will ignore the photographer and some will look straight at you.
Plenty of things are buggin’ me, but this post is strictly about the ones found in nature. I captured most of these images in California. The arachnids I discovered on The Big Island and in Kauai. All except the first one were found outside of a dwelling. Unfortunately, last night as I sat down to watch television, my Moxie kept looking at the lampshade. And there I discovered a VERY unwanted intruder. I captured it in a jar and took a photograph.
Who is this uninvited intruder?
Now I get to the real purpose of this particular blog. Insects I come across in nature. They are usually found around flowers, and I do appreciate their reason for being. The only one that I did not capture, and I have found no reason for being is the mosquito. In some seasons I appeal to them more often. Other times, I can go a long time before their nasty bite comes along. I am not a fan of putting on insect repellant either.
Busy Bees
Photography leads to learning about my images. I did not know the difference between honey bees and bumble bees.
This is the first photograph I sold. It was taken at Effie Yeaw.
Anne challenges me, to find fascinating structures that capture my attention, tell a story, or are just beautiful.
This gives me the opportunity to look at photographs from my New York City trip. I am originally from New York. Born in Manhattan but lived in Queens, and after the age of ten, I lived a suburban life on Long Island. Plainview to be specific. There is a vast difference between those 2 views. In 1978 the family left Queens, New York, and moved to Southern California. This was fortuitous since my husband worked on the 82nd floor of the World Trade Tower 2. Two years later we relocated to Northern California and settled in Sacramento. Did I know that my apartment in Northridge would be flattened in an earthquake? I now live in Fair Oaks part of Sacramento County for over 5 years.
In March 2020 we had tickets to New York City. At the very last minute we canceled, and New York City closed down. I don’t know why I don’t buy lottery tickets!
Leaving Kennedy Airport in Queens for Manhattan.
The architecture of the old TWA building.
But I still feel like a New Yorker, and when we visit we stay in New York City at The Lucerne.
This is a landmark building on the upper west side
The Lucerne on 79th Street
A condo was built in the space between
We made sure to visit different parts of the city each time.
Skyscrapers
The Empire State Building
On this very foggy day, we were told that there would be nothing to view from above. We came back another day for the view.
One World Trade Center
2014 was too soon to visit the site. There were still a lot of memories and a lot of construction.
One World Trade Center in 2014. Lots of construction in the area
2023
2023 we visit One World Trade Center
World Trade Center Memorial
Bird’s eye look at Manhattan
Going up to the One World Trade Observatory. Look at the view.
Amazing architecture
Inside the Guggenheim Museum
Madison Square Garden
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The Met”
This full facade was moved to The Met from Wall Street
Macy’s on 34th Street. Just think of the Thanksgiving Parade.
So much remains, and so much changes. A couple of weeks after we visited The American Museum of Natural History an addition opened up. I visited this museum often when I was growing up. My Aunt Li, Uncle Henry, and Cousin Ricky lived about 10 blocks away. And as it happened my mother selected an orthodontist around the corner. So trips to the city were frequent. Without the new addition, I was still in awe of the changes made to this museum and the Hayden Planetarium located there.
Walking up to the museumSurrounding buildingsHayden PlanetariumHayden PlanetariumNew Gem & Mineral exhibit in The American Museum of Natural History
Transportation
Grand Central Terminal – outside and inside
The Oculus
2014 The Oculus under construction
The Oculus
So many memories, and so many new places to see.I hope you liked this whirlwind tour of New York City.
A Photo's Worth 