June 1, 2019 • 66

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #48 Wild

This week, Tina asks us to visualize “Wild.”  What does “wild” mean to me?  Well, for a city girl like me, “wild” has several connotations.  Ready?  Here we go.

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first idea that comes to mind is the great outdoors.  Even though I prefer to live in the city, I still treasure our forays into the wilderness.  On our road trip last year, we spent some time in the California desert, where Joshua trees thrive.  These wild, other-worldly trees fascinated me.  Here’s a shot taken at sunset in Joshua Tree National Park.

Sunset at Joshua Tree, California.

I know a place where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.~William Shakespeare

Here’s another look at nature in the wild in Holland, Michigan.  One of our favorite walks near the beach took us through high grasses where plants send out feathery bursts of seed pods that float through the air every autumn.

Wild Pods. Holland State Park, Michigan.

Ooh baby, baby, it’s a wild world, it’s hard just to get by upon a smile.~Cat Stevens

Here’s “Wild” in a totally different context.  On a trip this winter to the Getty Museum in California, I spotted this friendly monster made out of burnished wood.  I processed “him” in black and white to heighten his “wildness.”

The Friendly Monster. The Getty Collection, California.

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?~ David Attenborough

It’s easy to overlook some of nature’s wild creatures that live in close proximity to humans.  These seagulls were captured on a trip to Hollywood, Florida several years ago.  They are happy to share the beach with us.

The Wild Ones. Hollywood, Florida

And when he came to the place where the wild things are, they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said, “Be still” and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once. And they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things.~Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
And finally, here’s something wild that happened to us when we visited the Harry Houdini Museum in New York City.  The owner of this small and quirky museum was telling us about his collection of Houdini memorabilia and his interest in magic.  But, I couldn’t stop staring at the ring on his finger.  You might say it caught my eye.  (Pun intended.)  When I asked him about it, he said he bought the ring from a man who crafted glass eyeballs on the Lower East Side.

Wild Eyed Ring. Houdini Museum, New York City.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of “Wild” things.  A special thanks to Tina for this week’s “Wild” theme.  It was a lot of fun creating this collection.  I am looking forward to seeing all your interpretations of “Wild.”

Stay tuned next week when it’s my turn to host Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #49. 

Have an inspiring week, everyone!

Categories: Lens-Artists Photo Challenge

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66 replies »

  5. Great gallery of wild things, Patti! Beauties and …slightly frightening wildness. The Friendly Monster converted to B&W was a good choice – made him even wilder, and that Wild Eyed ring is almost a bit creepy…I don’t know if I could have worn it.

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    • Hi, Tina. That ring is weird, isn’t it?? The owner was so proud of it. 🙂 🙂 I’m so glad you like the shots. You picked a great theme this week, Tina.

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  15. I so love how you have captured the beauty of the bird life..in the sense that whilst birds may be the most accessible to our eyes, and the closest to the ‘wild’ that we humans generally are….it would be a ‘wild’ irony in and of itself to take the aforementioned for granted…wild can be ironically close!!!

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  18. Pingback: Lens-Artist-PC-48-Wild – WoollyMuses
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