Judge

Over at "Geograph" one of my pictures was the winner for Week 4 in the 2023 Picture of the Week competition. 3321 eligible images were submitted that week so to come out as the overall winner was most pleasing.

There are no monetary prizes. No medals or shields, not even a holiday in the sun. Geograph is an amateur non-profit making photo sharing website.The only prize you get is to select the following week's winner. For Week 5, 2704 images had been whittled down to fifty by one of the site moderators. This was the shortlist I had to choose from.

In third place I put this excellent night picture of a shop window in Ross-on-Wye near England's border with Wales. The image seems quite surreal to me:-

In second position I put this photograph of a heron on the coast of Northern Ireland. I liked the lighting and the way the blown feathers look like hands - as if the heron is conducting an orchestra:-

Finally, the overall winner - "Mental Anguish":-

It is a quirky picture. The skewed horizon seems to echo the theme of mental desperation. The photographer is a Welshman called Alan Hughes. He has taken many wonderful photos in that part of Wales and beyond. This was his own description of the image: "On top of a small cairn on Southerndown beach someone has placed a stone with a poignant message. This beautiful, wild, forlorn area with its sheer limestone cliffs has several times been the scene of the last moments of people tormented by mental anguish. The car park above the cliffs even displays a Samaritans helpline number."

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/ldRgxVa

Dusk

 Apart from walking the dogs in the middle of the day ,I’ve slept the whole Sunday.

I woke at 5.30 with Dorothy gazing at me like a worried Buster Keaton, had a shower , got dressed and took the dogs out again, this time with Albert in tow

I leave the cottage for work around 6.30.

It’s silent at our part of the village. I presume Mandy & Sailor John are busy with family and trendy Carol remains a bit poorly. Their houses are dark and quiet. 

Only mine shines a light.

We walk down the lane and I look at the sky 

It’s a Gone With The Wind red and looks magnificent .

It’s at these times solitude turns into loneliness but fleetingly so.

The time when you want to say to another human 

“ Look at that marvellous sky “

So Instead I photograph it 

And send it to you my friends here

And from now on, no one will sneak in a comment of how indulgently depressed I am being, or now inappropriate  it is to feel a feeling and share it .

I’m not depressed , or generally indulgent. ( no more that most regular bloggers I guess.) but I am sharing a feeling and this wonderful photograph of the sky

Taken over the cold fields of Trelawnyd Village on Sunday the 12th of February 2023

Before I leave for work.

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/2P0GOd9

Thought

I never thought I’d be so open, letting you in. I’m shattering the glass. I’m tired of hiding the pain. I’m tired of not be authentic. I’m tired of pretending. To heal I’m doing things I thought I’d never do. Never say never. I’m discovering who I am within the confines of knowing that God holds the keys. I need healing. God Bless you all. 

from R's rue https://ift.tt/Zlt5zTr