Amy puts us to the test this week with the theme of Contrasts. In many ways, photography depends upon contrast for context: light/dark, smooth/rough, curves/straight lines, color changes, color opposites, and the list goes on. My photo selections for this study are images taken this year, 2023. Some you may have seen before, others are fresh from my visit to St. Louis, last week.
With the sun lowering behind a bank of clouds over the Pacific Ocean in January, light shifts from soft yellow to gold on black, as two youngsters caper in silhouette along the beach.
The Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, was on the last week of a Chihuly in the Garden exhibition when my sisters and I visited. This was my first ‘live’ contact with Chihuly glass art, and it was absolutely wonderful to experience the sculptures in a landscape setting. Above, across the Japanese garden pond, Red Reeds, stand in stark color and texture contrast with the evergreens along the shoreline.
As I climbed up the stairs inside the North Head Lighthouse, the lines of railings and steps, plus the view to where once the big fresnel light had been suspended, captured me. Geometric shapes, light and space are all at play in this photo. (Ilwaco, WA)
Bright curls from the Chihuly Vermillion and Canary Yellow Tower, dance upon the bright blue sky; a vibrant meeting of primary colors.
Fluffy soft clouds in the bright blue sky beyond and reflected in the windows of this straight steel St. Louis building stopped me. Catching the contrast between nature’s free flowing forms and man-made structures is a favorite subject of mine.
Lindy Low LeCoq 
I love Chihuly! I saw a similar exhibit in the Dallas Aboretum a few years ago–daytime and at night! Also, his wife is from Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City art museum has a lot of his work. Nice reminders.
Thanks Jill. We wanted to go to the night exhibit, however they had stopped them before we were in town. A girlfriend told me I need to see the exhibit in Seattle – just need another excuse to go there!!!
Perfect choices for the challenge, perfectly shot!
Thank you, for the compliment and for dropping in to visit!
Beautiful photos. I love the clouds reflection on the building, well captured.
Thank you, Sofia. My sisters waited for me while I stopped to get the shot. I know better than to pass up opportunities like this one!
I love all of these!
Thank you, VJ!
welcome
Excellent selections! Love Chihuly’s displays, the last one is my favorite. Love how you captured the lines and steps, great angle. Beautiful window reflections.
Thank you, Amy. This was a fun and rigorous challenge. So glad I had the Chihuly photos to chose from!
Terrific response Lindy – I loved the Chihuly of course but my favorite this week was the spiral staircase. Excellent capture!
Thank you, Tina. Sometimes those spiral staircases shots turn out better than they look at the time!
Excellent selections Lindy. I like ’em all.
Thank you, John. I had so much fun trying to decide which were the better examples from my recent photos. The Chihuly shots jumped out at me!
Wonderful contrasts, Lindy! Love Chihuly of course – and I was in Seattle some weeks ago and saw them live – fisrt time for me as well. I made two posts on them in Thursday Thoughts if you want to check it out.
Love all your choices, the staircase is exquisite!
Thank you Leya! I will take a look at your Chihuly posts.
Your contrasts are fantastic! I love them all, especially the spiral staircase and the silhouettes on the beach. Disclosure – Full disclosure – I had just picked a beach scene at sunrise with silhouettes before I saw your post! I promise I didn’t copy you!
Thank you! And, it’s not a copy when it’s your own photo!!!
I love your architecture, and the lighthouse stairs, but Chihuly just brings it, doesn’t he? I would love to visit his shop in Tacoma one day.
Thank you, Donna. I felt so blessed to be able to walk through the lovely Botanical Gardens and be greeted by Chihuly glass sculptures.