Welcome to the second round of Hanna’s spotted photo challenge. A challenge that doesn’t require going out shooting images but instead sit in your comfy chair and going through your archives finding images fitting this month’s prompt. PAIRS is the prompt for February. And while I never shoot anything with this prompt in mind I did end up with a section of contenders. I picked 5+1 header image to share. We are traveling thirteen years back in time and cross oceans too.
A Pair of Sheep – Header Image
Vacationing at the North Sea of Germany. It was my first time ever being at this part of Germany. I had only ever been to the Baltic Sea but never on the other side. We had some fun times here. It was still rather cold and windy but we spent a lot of time outside. I had specifically bought some outer wear in order to hang around the sea for some photo sessions during sunsets. One day we rode the bikes up towards the border of Denmark. The path was mainly on the dikes. Which were inhabited with lots of sheep which is very common. It was close to easter and I felt this shot a lot. I witnessed a sheep that was not able to stand up – looked like a broken leg. I tried to figure out how to contact the shepherd but never did.
photo taken April 17th, 2018 on a dike of the North Sea
A Pair of Umbrellas
Summer in the city. Strolling around Berlin in the summer you can spot multiply balconies with a pair of umbrellas. Often colorful. I have a few of these kind of photos in my archive. I am not sure what draws me to it. The pop of color on grey-white-eggshell-colored walls? The playfulness? The atmospheric feel of summer in the city? Whatever it is I love hunting the shapes. This one was shot while out with my niece and nephew on a colorful excursion.
photo taken March 3rd, 2024 in Berlin
A Pair of Raindrops
Rain can be a beautiful thing. Specially when it is happening during spring and summer. This one day last year we had the windows open while it was rising and the drops made some wonderful sound on our new outdoor furniture. The drops becoming bigger and bigger and I decided to get out my camera and do a little rain photo shoot. It took a lot of snaps to get some decent raindrop images but I managed a few. And I caught two drops in one image which tells you it was raining hard.
photo taken May 19th, 2024 in Berlin, home terrace
A Pair of Colorful Blazers
I started blogging in 2013. By May I spontaneously decided to join a blogger conference that was being held in Berlin. I knew no one but met a few people I stayed in contact with (until today). in 2015 I write in my goals list that I am thinking about going to another blogging conference and had researched a few options. One girl, Elisa, from 2013 said she would go with me to London. And so we did, shared a room and spent the weekend together. I happen to win one of the rare seats in an Instagram walk (the reason I signed up for the app. HA!). We walked around London to some instagramable spots and took fun photos. I happen to also look for the odd perspective and managed to snatch this shot. We bloggers were all dressed colorful – without any official memo. We made quite the impression. Chatty colorful ladies with cameras roaming around London. So fun.
photo taken June 13th, 2015 in London, Great Britain
A Pair of Rock Cairns
I have already sneaked in a photo from this trip in the last spotted photo challenge but I couldn’t pass up on this. Before this trip I had never seen the practice of stacking stones on beachings. We were on a biking tour around Stanley Park and stopped somewhere around Second and Third Beach for a break. We sat there watching this one guy – he might have been a native – stacking stones. It took him a few attempts but he was persistent. I did take a lot of pictures of this practice and the already build cairns.
photo taken July 28th, 2012 in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada
A Pair of Grey Herons
This year we were living on the waterfront. I miss the opportunities it gave me watching wild life specially the aquatic birds. It was cold that year and the little canal our home was located froze over. Only a few spots were open and the grey heron sat there hunting day in and day out. Until a rival showed up. At first they hunted on opposite ends of the open water but soon enough one realized he wasn’t very successful moving in closer. Well, that wasn’t happening the other one thought and so they started fighting over hunting rounds. The ice made it even more interesting because they were sliding off when landing. It was a whole spectacle I was able to photograph from the warmth of my room. I have shared some more wild life photos back then if you are interested.
photo taken December 17th, 2022 in Berlin Tegel
Have you ever seen these rock cairns? Maybe even tried to build one? What comes to mind when thinking PAIRS? What’s your favorite of these images?
9 comments
Thanks for sharing your take on pairs, Tobia! I like all your photos and the little stories about where you were and how you were thinking when you shot them.
I think my favourite is the lamb pair, so pastoral and sweet. Also your umbrella photo, because it’s fab!
I think that is the kind of photo that artists & creatives take when out and about but that most regular people will miss/think strange. But those photos are the real gems!
Yes I totally agree with you. Seeing art and beauty in random objects and situation is a gift and I am happy I can draw on it every once in a while.
Thank you for this challenge it is really fun and I enjoy it a lot .
Tobia, you are such an incredibly talented photographer. When I saw the raindrop pictures I was like…DID SHE ACTUALLY GET THAT SHOT!!! Wow. It’s stunning. And the lambs! And the herons!! Wow. Incredible.
What beautiful photos, Tobia! I love all of them! The raindrops are truly amazing. I loved reading the stories behind the images. The colorful bloggers’ meetup must have been so much fun. I have never seen rock cairns before. The herons are so beautiful. It must be so much fun to go through your old photos to find these!
Yes I managed that shot. But it wasn’t the first attempt at it. It’s is not easy and it took me a bit to understand how to shoot this. And then I took a a gazzillion photos to get a few decent shots.
This is such a great challenge and you found so many beautiful and interesting pairs! I love the two herons — I never see more than one at a time!
Oh really? I’ve seen so many along the river but rarely close together. That’s true. The fight was a rare thing to witness.
I love herons. Today I spotted a white one. I think I need to seek him out.
I think we all want a tutorial on how you did that raindrop photo! It’s so amazing!
The honest truth is probably I took a gazillion photos and a a handful turned out good.
And I used my big camera. Don’t think I would have made this shot with my phone camera.