My lack of spark drags on. I am without inspiration. Some consolation comes from looking back at a few images from last year and thinking they weren’t so bad after all. Another trawl through the Macau images and I offer you two images, one colour, one black and white. I leave you to guess which is which. Both taken in temples.
All downhill from here 
Nothing wrong with taking some time and going through the oldies but goodies. Those are indeed rather large joss sticks! I rather like the contrasts in what Steve cleverly discerned as the colour image. There is the contrast of blue smoke coming from yellow incense, then the human created symmetrical spiral of the incense compared to the chaotic spirals of smoke. It works a treat!
I didn’t know photographic processing needed substances from dead animals. The things we learn reading this blog.
Snap out of it!!!
(Sorry, but that’s what my 6th grade teacher used to say–and snap her fingers for emphasis–we the winter blahs made us drag around.)
I really like the black and white picture. You do good work for someone who needs to snap out of it! 😉
I have been out today, Marylin. Still dreary but I tried stacking and will post the result.
Ah ain’t NEVAH seen joss-sticks that big!!! Imagine what the smell must be like …! Crikey … :-\
Try Texas, M.R.
Isn’t everything bigger there?
So I have heard, indeed …
Blue wafts of incense gently rising to create a beautiful scene. Excellent capture. The B& W is very interesting.
Thanks Yvonne.
I can almost smell the incense Andrew… (colour) and the B&W one I’m backing off in case the lighted incense , touch ignites without warning. (Is there a prize? 🙂 ) xx
No prize Pen. Just a warm feeling of satisfaction 🙂
I’m relieved to hear that I’m not the only one suffering from creative constipation. That said, these are excellent photographs, I particularly like the first one with the whisp of blue smoke.
Thanks Lottie. I promise I didn’t inhale.
Lovely shots Andrew. no lack of inspiration there.
I think we all lack inspiration at times – I know I do. Or is it motivation? Are the two intertwined, I wonder. For instance – I have a writing deadline to meet if I want something considered for inclusion but at the moment the word count is way over the limit. Serious editing/re-writing is called for and I just can’t seem to get going with it. Ho hum …
Looking for inspiration Birds in awkward positions. Waders, Warblers, enviro shots, dogs of Hong Kong. I know how you feel though
I love them both. I think they are very evocative. I love the smoke in the coloured one – incense burner? I don’t lack inspiration (well, I can always churn out some sort of drivel but perhaps that isn’t the same), just time. Oh, and functioning cameras would help too for picture posts.
A functioning camera is always a bonus. You need a good old fashioned film camera with no batteries or chips to go wrong. Can you buy & develop film, still, in Gib?
Indeed, I was walking out of the door thinking that very same thought and that life was much simpler with my old Pentax. Although it did need a tiny little battery which lasted for years on end. I suspect you can actually, we are pretty old fashioned here. But then I would have to pay to get photos developed, and to do what with them? Throw them in the drawer with all the others? And the process uses gelatin which doesn’t suit me, also explains why there was a vast gap between taking photos in my life. I’ve been promising myself a decent DSLR for ages, but am too mean to part with the money when I can use an iPhone 5 (when it chooses to work).
Developing is dirt cheap and you can ask for a contact print then only print the ones you want. Last time I checked you were supposed to admire the photos not eat them 😉
iPhone5??? Wow, I still have a 2.5 year old 4S. I am so retro.
Yeah but what would I do with them? I have enough junk as it is, photo albums and loose ones that I rarely ever look at apart from to scan in for blog posts. Defeats the object printing them.
I’d still have a 3 if it hadn’t been nicked. Our other is a 3G or whatever it is. Big difference in the camera capability though.
The five was because the 3G packed up – except it hadn’t, it just needed a new lead 😀 So I ended up with the 5C anyway. But still it’s a nice little ‘phone when it works.
I am not privy to just how the seasons change in UK, but hereabouts the end of winter can really be depressing and cause serious lack of creativity. Nothing wrong with a visit to the vault of better days, Andrew.
I sure would have liked an incense coil back in the old days. 🙂 That is very cool and, I think, might be the color image???
Are those candles or fireworks in the second image…..or something else entirely?
Steve, you are very perceptive. It is the colour one. They are all incense sticks – neither candles nor fireworks.
Not too perceptive if I can’t recognize incense.
Welcome the lack of inspiration. Let it wash over you and soon you ‘ll be up and running again. It is the waxing and waning of everything.
The black and white is superb.
Thank you Gerard. I appreciate the compliment on the B&W image very much.
I know how you feel, nothing is really inspiring me to post either 😦
I think I need a holiday or at least some good weather for inspiration……SAD has set in 😦
I think it is SAD, Vicky. As I look out I see grey, mist, low contrast light with cloud down to the hill tops. I should take up landscape photography.