Photo Journal - Week 8 (2025)

Flickr21Challenge

The photo site Flickr is celebrating its 21st year of operation. I pay for this service as a a means to store and share my photos online. Most of the photos in my post are hosted on the Flickr servers. As part of their celebration they have posted 21 photos themes.

My Submissions

This is a lot more difficult than my daily picture themes. As of this posting I have added a few more entries. I was stumped on PLANET but ended up creating one of my own using a black marble orb. I have completed 13 of the 21 themes.

Luna & Raven

I have my share of scratches from these active kittens. They are not very good about retracting those claws when they get excited and race around the house. They provide great subject matter for photography, but I wonder if like a new parent I might be overdoing it a bit.

Gallery Talk with Jill Pottle

Carl Toko and I attended a talk by artist Jill Pottle at the Ashburnham Library on Saturday February 22, 2025. Jill had a number of her works on display throughout the library. Jill writes about her work.

"I work in the genres of the figure, portrait, and Landscape. The elements I look for in my artwork are in the abstracted areas of the subject(s), that ultimately describe realism; the reflections in metal or glass still life, the transparencies of windows, translucent shades in flesh, and the simplifications of the landscape. My curiosity is expansive and I delve into the unknown, letting go of myself and remaining ever so present. I work in oils, acrylics, pastels, and collages and these are my vehicles for expressing "Expressionistic Realism."

I photographed some of her work which I'm posting with her permission. These are plein air works done in  Vermont and Maine. My niece who lives in Maine recognized one of the locations. She describes her technique on her wordpress blog.

Daily Picture Themes

I've been keeping up with the Daily Picture Themes posted on the social media site Spoutible and posting them on my Improves with Age substack. Here are the latest postings for the week

window.SubstackFeedWidget = { substackUrl: "poltrack.substack.com", posts: 7, layout: "center" }; <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:pullquote {"style":{"color":{"gradient":"radial-gradient(rgb(238,238,238) 100%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%)"},"spacing":{"padding":{"right":"var:preset|spacing|20","left":"var:preset|spacing|20","top":"0","bottom":"0"}},"border":{"width":"3px","radius":"20px"}}} --> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-background" style="border-width:3px;border-radius:20px;background:radial-gradient(rgb(238,238,238) 100%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%);padding-top:0;padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:0;padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)"><blockquote><p>“There is nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule.”<br>—&nbsp;<a href="https://quotefancy.com/mark-twain-quotes">Mark Twain</a></p></blockquote></figure> <!-- /wp:pullquote --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item {"borderColor":"nv-text-dark-bg"} --> <li class="has-border-color has-nv-text-dark-bg-border-color"><a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Letters from an American - Helen Cox Richardson</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item {"borderColor":"nv-text-dark-bg"} --> <li class="has-border-color has-nv-text-dark-bg-border-color"><a href="https://hartmannreport.com/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://hartmannreport.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Hartmann Report - Thom Hartmann</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li class><a href="https://roberthubbell.substack.com/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://roberthubbell.substack.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Today's Edition Newsletter - Robert Hubble</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li class><a href="https://joycevance.substack.com/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://joycevance.substack.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance - Joyce Vance</a> - Legal</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li class><a href="https://www.jefftiedrich.com/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.jefftiedrich.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">everyone is entitled to my opinion - Jeff Tiedrich</a> - Snarky</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li class><a href="https://www.borowitzreport.com/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.borowitzreport.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Borowitz Report - Andy Borowitz</a> - Satire</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Practice self care</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"style":{"color":{"gradient":"radial-gradient(rgb(238,238,238) 73%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%)"},"border":{"radius":"20px","width":"3px"}},"borderColor":"neve-link-color"} --> <p class="has-border-color has-neve-link-color-border-color has-background" style="border-width:3px;border-radius:20px;background:radial-gradient(rgb(238,238,238) 73%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%)"><strong><em>"[Try to] accept with [grace] the things that cannot be changed, [maintain the drive] to change the things that [might and] should be changed, and [gain] the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."</em></strong> - Doug Waitt edit of the Serenity Prayer</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:block {"ref":16905} /--> <!-- wp:block {"ref":16878} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class>I have removed AdSense advertising from my site. The ads were annoying and cluttered up the page. However it does cost money (and time) to publish this website. If you enjoy the content, why not become a supporter? Think of it as buying me a "virtual cup of coffee". 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