Penning Photography Daily

Today was a rainy and cold day here. One of those pre-Winter blustery, wet days that could put a damper on one’s outlook. If I let it, that is.

One of the nice things about taking bunches of photographs, is that I have a library of sunny days to dive into when I need an antidote for the weather I cannot control. I dipped a toe into those files for this photo from an August journey into Washington Park.

This is a beautiful salvia flower in full bloom. The background of red flowers and green leaves makes a nice backdrop for the brilliant royal purples of the salvia.

I used my Vivitar 28mm f2 Close Focus lens (Thanks Monica & Dick!) for this one. The wide open aperture gives that creamy out of focus backdrop, known as bokeh, which comes from the Japanese boke, which means blur or haze.

No matter what the weather, what matters most about my mood, is what my internal weather is doing. Am I fair or foul? Depending on what my internal view of the world is, that’s how I’m going to perceive what’s going on outside of me. That’s one reason I spend time in meditation, every day. I find that practice has helped me have a more even and centered interior view of life. The result, I view the world with a more even and centered point of view. ‘Tain’t easy, not at all. I’ve been working on the meditation for a couple years now. I’ve just scratched the surface of where that could lead me, but the results I’ve seen, have given me the encouragement to keep at it.

Tiny increments in positive improvements, make a huge change, given time.

The mountain is reduced to nothing, one scoop at a time.

In the mean time, I’m happy to have this flower to pull out and make my day.