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The power and beauty of art that heals | St. Tammany community news

Vibrant waterscapes, woods, florals and fields greet website visitors to the Christwood retirement local community as bimonthly artwork reveals return to its Atrium Gallery for the first time in extra than two yrs.

Dozens of oil paintings, watercolors and pastels by 23 regional artists — all meditations on the healing homes of mother nature — comprise the major and most diverse exhibition in the gallery’s nine-year historical past.

Organizers marked the situation with music, foodstuff and festivities at the June 4 opening. The present will continue to be on show to the community at the Covington campus by means of July 30.

“Our art gallery is opening for the very first time due to the fact the pandemic,” mentioned Ann Loomis, present curator and director of local community life at Christwood. “Everybody is so fired up about that, the citizens and the artists.”

The present also marks the launch of a new initiative that advocates for the arts as resources for therapeutic, as well as the not-for-earnings retirement community’s 25th anniversary.

In March, Christwood introduced its new Therapeutic Arts Initiative to enrich the lives of its citizens by means of music, dance, visible art and far more. The initiative is backed by a foundational fund earmarked for programming and a new gallery board created up of citizens and neighborhood leaders, of which Loomis is president.

The shift makes formal the arts-forward method Christwood organizers have taken for several years at its Covington campus, which serves impartial retirees as very well as seniors with superior health care and memory treatment requires.

Although the gallery may be the coronary heart of the arts at Christwood, the bimonthly artwork reveals are just a person of several colors in the Loomis’ palette.

In the previous, collaborations with the neighboring Christ Episcopal Faculty — like caroling at Christmas, pen pal exchanges and storytelling situations — have introduced generations together by means of the arts.

Two yrs in the past, with the widespread spaces shuttered by the pandemic, Loomis and her team acquired inventive and took gain of Christwood’s 117 acres. Historian Peggy DesJardins developed an out of doors labyrinth out of cedar needles modeled after 1 inlaid into the flooring of the Chartres Cathedral outdoors of Paris in the 1200s. As inhabitants and site visitors alike meandered the circuitous routes in contemplation, they were accompanied by harp new music or tonal audio baths.

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The Healing Arts Initiative will give Christwood a lot more area to work arts opportunities into day-to-working day daily life at the senior residing local community. A arms-on art and tunes program for residents of the memory treatment facility is in the operates and will be in place by the finish of the calendar year if all goes to prepare, Loomis mentioned.

Both of those disciplines have been revealed to enliven all those having difficulties with dementia, she mentioned.

“We’ve usually assumed this way. Now we’ve just named it,” mentioned Loomis, previous director of the St. Tammany Art Affiliation. “The considered is, all of the arts — visible, new music, literary, culinary, poetry and more — are essential. They give which means to our body, soul and lifestyle.”

Several of these actions also give citizens and the outside globe an justification to blend and mingle, yet another healthful gain.

A great deal of the community’s arts programming is open to the general public, as are the on-internet site spa, health centre and cafe, which continue being well known shared areas. General public programming also includes pop-up marketplaces, lecture collection and Mardi Gras parades.

The over-all intention is relationship, irrespective of whether it be by means of arts or other implies.

“Christwood’s mission is to provide more mature adults, and it is a reflection of real everyday living to have wide-primarily based associations,” reported Director of Communications Elizabeth Jackson. “These relationships improve the quality of lifestyle for all who be part of together.”

Or, as Loomis puts it, Christwood wants to be aspect of the local community at huge, not just sitting down on the sidelines. And after being benched by the pandemic, Christwood organizers see the Healing Arts Exhibit as a colourful and welcome return to the motion.

“This demonstrate is a little something to draw men and women to campus. It’s really enjoyable to have gathered this caliber of artist,” Loomis explained. “My task is to generate a flourishing local community of connection. The arts are pretty considerably component of that.”

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Creating An Oasis of Color and Beauty Around the Pool

Pools are a lot more than just a place for swimming or lounging: They’re an integral part of the garden.

A great landscape design considers the pool as a h2o aspect, fairly than just a leisure space and incorporates it into the structure process at a pivotal stage, notes Frederico Azevedo, award-winning landscape designer and founder of Unlimited Earth Care of Bridgehampton.

The addition of crops around the pool, says Azevedo, brings colour into the water and allows integrate the pool into the garden.

“Even if I style and design a rectangular pool, I don’t want it to be just a size of h2o missing in the middle of the landscape, so I changeover it into the garden, making use of strategically placed and scaled plant beds,” Azevedo suggests. “I blend the corners with rectangular flower beds or design a prolonged plant bed to parallel the size of the pool, so scale does not visually separate the pool from the flora.”

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A flowerbed that’s the same length as the pool gives total floral views for swimming and interrupts the rectangular flatness swimming pools typically impose, landscaped by Frederico Azevedo of Endless Earth Treatment.Courtesy of Unlimited Earth Treatment

Bouquets for reflection and screening

Views of a pool can be carefully curated by using flowerbeds positioned strategically with an awareness of the sights from the property, the pool property, and the rest of the garden, notes Azevedo.

Positioning flowerbeds correct up to the edge of the coping can produce views from the house and pool residence of the drinking water peeking through the flora, he states.

“This is my interpretation of a formal garden, which typically features geometric axes that conclusion in ornamental elements such as fountains or ponds,” explains Azevedo. “Here, florally framed views of the h2o act as the centerpieces, and the axes are formed in the straight grass paths involving the flowerbeds.”

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White Calamintha veils the elevation of the deck and blends flawlessly into the garden.Courtesy of Unlimited Earth Care

Bordering a lifted pool deck, white Calamintha, an natural scented plant, repels mosquitoes and also veils the elevation of the deck so that it blends seamlessly into the garden.

“Terra cotta planters filled with purple Scaevolas accent the stairs and corners,” says Azevedo. “The significantly edge of the pool is balanced with a cluster of Annabelle hydrangeas.”

To paint the drinking water in brilliant reflections, Azevedo framed a single vibrant backyard garden in trimmed boxwoods, planted on a berm and raised above the pool. For an additional dwelling, he created a flowerbed spanning the length of the pool to both provide entire floral views for swimming and interrupt the rectangular flatness of the pool.

“In transform, the flatness of the hedge is disrupted by a pink crepe myrtle, trimmed to scale, which in August is awash in sparkling pinks,” says Azevedo.

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Stone pavers all over the pool make a seamless transition concerning the lawn and h2o.Courtesy of Landscape Aspects

Limit to maximize the pool view

On a waterfront home, retain plantings minimal to let the operator and visitors to really recognize the sights, suggests Michael Derrig, landscape architect and owner of Landscape Details of East Hampton.

“The pool need to ‘connect’ to the water. One of the means to do that is to design the pool with an infinity edge that results in that connection,” claims Derrig, who notes that low plantings, these types of as ornamental grasses, will thrive despite the salt and wind.

Bordering the pool, Derrig minimizes the hardscape to introduce much more garden.

“Sometimes we put the pool in the lawn as a focal point. Greens and blues are the colors of summertime in the Hamptons,” says Derrig, noting that chaise lounges can be placed correct on the grass.

Derrig simplifies container plantings, often opting for succulents, a perennial request from quite a few shoppers.

“We really like to discover unusual boxes, copper pots, and other antique containers for our clients,” states Derrig. “We also custom fabricate bins correct here in our shop in East Hampton.”

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A negligible hardscape close to the pool can help combine it into the surrounding landscape.Courtesy of Landscape Information

All-around the pool: A brick border is better 

A popular option close to the pool is a simple bluestone border with broad coping abutting the grass, says Ken Muellers, senior landscape designer at Hicks Nurseries of Westbury, which does do the job in the Hamptons.

Even though aesthetically pleasing, bluestone retains a ton of warmth.

“So practicality-wise it’s not really the best product for a pool coping or pool patio, because normally you are barefoot and performing the hot foot dance attempting to get into the pool,” says Muellers, incorporating that based on the other architectural elements of the household, brick would be a far better alternative for the reason that it stays cooler.

Privet hedges, which are deer-evidence, hide fencing all over the pool and unsightly pool equipment.

For plant materials, concentrate on what blooms in summer months — hydrangea, Knock Out and Carpet roses, ornamental grasses, and sun-friendly annuals, like SunPatiens and Lantana, advises Muellers.

To maintain bees absent, include a minimal buffer between plantings and the pool.

This posting appeared in the Memorial Working day 2022 issue of At the rear of The Hedges. Browse the total digital version of the magazine right here. Read additional features from our magazine here. 

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Flowerbeds positioned strategically optimize sights from the residence, pool property and rest of the backyard.Courtesy of Limitless Earth Treatment
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The top 20 best landscape photographs

May 14, 2022

Landscape photography is about capturing the scenery of a place. It can be your way of showing how you see the world around you, and a way to capture the beauty of the landscape and environment, whether that’s local, or when travelling. This genre is all about light, location and composition. Thinking about what you include in your image can take your landscape photography from average to being spectacular. Below, in no particular order, we have rounded up some of the best landscape photographs we’ve seen as inspiration for your next landscape shoot…

The Best Landscape Photographs

Morning at Countryside by Mara Leite

Morning at Countryside - Mara Leite's winning image from the 2021 Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Morning at Countryside – Mara Leite’s winning image from the 2021 Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Mara Leite won the grand prize of Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 with this beautiful photograph taken in Halnaker, West Sussex.

Mara told us, ‘Mill Lane is a famous footpath in Halnaker, West Sussex. I was looking for a different composition when I decided to turn the other way and saw this beautiful sight. I love the gate in the background and how the morning light is hitting the leaves and softly entering the tunnel.’

She shared her top tips for landscape photography here: Top tips for award-winning landscapes from LPOTY 2021 winners

@maralphoto

Woolland Woods by Chris Frost

Chris Frost won Landscape Photographer of the Year 2020 with his early-morning shot of Woolland Woods in Dorset, with mist rolling over wild garlic.

‘Taken in spring of 2018 in a wooded area close to Milborne St. Andrew in Dorset, this was the third visit to the area in a matter of days,’ he explains. ‘On the previous days, both devoid of morning mists, the light had been harsh and unappealing but the third day delivered stunning conditions with mist swirling through the trees. The low shooting position allowed more emphasis to be placed on the wild garlic and pathway.’

@chris_frost_photography

Breaking the Time by Aytek Çetin

Aytek Cetin - Breaking The Time, Cappadocia, Turkey; part of a portfolio that won him the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 title. Image: Aytek Cetin, The 8th International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Aytek Cetin – Breaking The Time, Cappadocia, Turkey; part of a portfolio that won him the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 title. Image: Aytek Cetin, The 8th International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Aytek Çetin won the overall International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 title with his portfolio containing this image Breaking The Time, Cappadocia, Turkey.

Aytek Çetin explained, ‘The 60-million-year-old story of fairy chimneys and the fact they have been home to different civilisations for tens of thousands of years, makes Cappadocia extremely mysterious for me. If you are lucky, you can visit there during hazy, atmospheric conditions with a soft light pushing through at sunrise or sunset.’

These soft light conditions were present when Çetin shot this cleverly framed study of the three fairy chimneys at sunrise on a winter morning. ‘The reason I chose this location is because I love the excitement inside me when the sun first hits the fairy chimneys and how it makes me feel like I’m living in the bronze age.’

Çetin was born and raised in Ankara, Turkey, and revealed, ‘I graduated from the department of sales management at university and, for many years, I worked as a store manager for luxury Italian clothing brands. I used to go to the sea for my limited holidays, but after repeating the same kind of trips for years, it was starting to lose its meaning for me. Then I decided to do something different, to dive deeply into nature. I started to explore remote, mountainous regions and experiencing the energy of the mightiest entities of nature, left me deeply impressed and awakened a love for nature within. An interest in photography followed as a result and has now turned into a passion!’

@aytekcetinphotography

Comet NeoWise Setting by Tanmay Sapkal

Tanmay Sapkal - Comet NeoWise Setting, won the Photograph of the Year in the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 competition. Image: Tanmay Sapkal/The 8th International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Tanmay Sapkal – Comet NeoWise Setting, won the Photograph of the Year in the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021 competition. Image: Tanmay Sapkal/The 8th International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

Tanmay’s Sapkal’s image Comet NeoWise Setting won the 8th International Landscape Photograph of the Year, which is awarded for a single image at the International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

Sapkal is an amateur photographer from the USA, and his winning photograph was taken on Mt. Tamalpais, in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, USA.

Sapkal revealed to us how he shot the image, ‘It is quite a special place for photographers as it stands above the local landscape, which is engulfed in low coastal fog almost every summer evening. After shooting there tens of times over the last four years, I realised that I really liked the way fog looks when it is lit from underneath. I also realised that the comet would become visible in the north west sky, so I started planning this shot.’

He added, ‘It wasn’t possible to line up the comet exactly above the foreground I wanted, so I decided to take two separate exposures. It took a couple of visits to get just the right amount of fog on the hills to create the dreamy setting and then I waited patiently for some cars to drive by and create a blanket of light under the fog. After shooting for more than a few hours that night, my friend and I hurried back down to the car. Little did we know that parking on the mountain after sunset meant getting a parking ticket! But now, in my opinion, it’s the best $80 I have ever spent on parking! Ha ha!’

@theurbanvoyager

Lake Magadi by Jie Fisher

One of TPOTY 2021 'Landscapes & Adventure' portfolio winner Jie Fischer's images from Lake Magadi, Kenya

One of TPOTY 2021 ‘Landscapes & Adventure’ portfolio winner Jie Fischer’s images from Lake Magadi, Kenya. Nikon D850, 70-200mm lens, f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 360. Image: Jie Fischer/www.tpoty.com

This photograph by Jie Fischer, is one of the images as part of the portfolio which won the Landscapes & Adventure category of Travel Photographer of the Year 2021 (TPOTY). The photographs in her portfolio were taken from a helicopter and show a colourful, almost abstract depicting flamingos over the remarkable coloured waters of Lake Magadi in Kenya.

She explained, ‘Lake Magadi is one of the inland lakes at the southernmost point of Kenya, belonging to the Rift Valley area of Kenya, formed by fault subsidence. During the dry season, it is 80{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} covered by sodium carbonate and is well known for its wading birds, including flamingos. In the dry season, there will be salt deposits around the lake, forming colourful patterns, depending on wind and wave. Large numbers of flamingos are often seen here.’

@jiefischerphotographer

Haines, Alaska by Pally Learmond

Pally Learmond won the 'Landscapes & Adventure: Best Single Image' category of TPOTY 2021 with this shot of a single skier in Alaska

Pally Learmond won the ‘Landscapes & Adventure: Best Single Image’ category of TPOTY 2021 with this shot of a single skier in Alaska. Nikon D4, 400mm lens with 2.8 tele converter, f8, 1/2000sec, ISO 200. Image: Pally Learmond/www.tpoty.com

Pally Learmond won the ‘Landscapes & Adventure: Best Single Image’ category of TPOTY 2021 with this shot of a single skier in Haines, Alaska, USA.

He revealed, ‘Due to the close proximity of the Pacific Ocean, snow sticks to the mountains of southeast Alaska like nowhere else on earth. This creates a phenomenon called “spines” which form on top of the normally steep and rocky mountain faces. This provides professional free-ride skiers with a playground like no other. In this photo, Austrian professional free-skier Fabian Lentsch lets it all go on a mountain face called “Dirty Needle”.’

@pallylearmond

It’s a Long Road by Daniel Newton

Daniel won Round 4, Landscape, with this minimalist shot

Daniel Newton won our Landscapes round of the Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 competition. This was a unanimously recognised and well-received image, achieving placings and commendations from nine of the ten judges. A classic, bucolic landscape scene it most certainly is not, but that’s what makes it stand out. There’s an odd balance of bleakness and anticipation here.

Bleak, of course, thanks to the desolate sand dunes that flank the empty road, while the anticipation comes from the sense that the viewer is heading somewhere. We can’t help but be curious as to what might exist beyond the horizon.

The interesting processing adds to the overall effect. By desaturating and toning the image in the way he has, Daniel has enhanced the sense of other-worldliness.

Daniel also came second in the overall APOY competition and he shared his inspirations and tips here: APOY 2021 winners share their inspiration and tips ahead of 2022 competition

Amateur Photographer of the Year 2022 is now open, enter here.

@dan.newtons

Gliding above the Gold by Dave Smith

Dave Smith came third in our Landscapes round of the Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 competition with his image captured above Lake Annecy in the south of France… and what a shot! This photograph transports the viewer right into the scene, making us feel as if we are on top of a mountain looking down upon the intrepid paragliders as they float over a mist-covered Lake Annecy.

Dave did well to compose so that the paragliders stand out against the softness of the lower part of the frame. Any higher, and they would have been lost against the shadows. He’s also adhered to the rule of thirds nicely, which works well here. Overall, an atmospheric and evocative capture.

@davewsphotography

Highway to the Stars by Jack Giam

Jack Giam from Australia won our Landscapes round of Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021.

The contrast between the bright orange of the traffic trails and the navy of the sky and water is what immediately catches the eye here. Jack has composed his shot very nicely, with the line of the road starting in the bottom right corner, then curving round and out of sight, leaving the viewer wondering where it leads.

In the right kind of daylight, this would have been a pleasing enough image, but taking the initiative to shoot it at night is what elevates it, and makes it a worthy winner.

@jackgiam

Enter Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2022 here!

Bare Land by Lorenzo Poli

Bare Land. An uninhabitable volcanic desert in the Icelandic Highlands. The climatic conditions here are so harsh that, for the majority of the year, life doesn’t thrive. © Lorenzo Poli, Italy, Finalist, Professional, Landscape, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

Bare Land. An uninhabitable volcanic desert in the Icelandic Highlands. The climatic conditions here are so harsh that, for the majority of the year, life doesn’t thrive. © Lorenzo Poli, Italy, Finalist, Professional, Landscape, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

The ‘Life on Earth’ series by Lorenzo Poli, which won the Professional, Landscape category at 2022 Sony World Photography Awards, delves into the ethereal magic of nature and the mysterious beauty of an untamed world, depicted through a diverse set of landscapes. This photograph was taken at an uninhabitable volcanic desert in the Icelandic Highlands. The climatic conditions here are so harsh that, for the majority of the year, life doesn’t thrive.

Lorenzo Poli said, ‘Science and religions may all fall short in explaining the incredible miracle of life which, through millennials of evolution, has transformed barren land into a living planet. There is an untamed world between sacred and magic, where the essence of life is safeguarded by silence, where the outer and the inner world coincide. This is what I am seeking to photograph.’

@lorenzopoli.photography

Landscape with Trees by Federico Testi

Landscape with trees, San Quirico d'orcia, Tuscany, Italy. © Federico Testi/World Nature Photography Awards 2021

Landscape with trees, San Quirico d’orcia, Tuscany, Italy. © Federico Testi/World Nature Photography Awards 2021

Testi’s minimalist photograph Landscape with Trees won a Gold award in the Nature Art category of World Nature Photography Awards 2021.

Federico Testi explained, ‘The natural creativity of San Quirico d’orcia, in Tuscany, Italy. Waves, shapes and tone created by light, in harmony with the universe.’

South Island Landscape, New Zealand by Sam Wilson

Landscape, South Island, New Zealand. © Sam Wilson/World Nature Photography Awards 2021

Landscape, South Island, New Zealand. © Sam Wilson/World Nature Photography Awards 2021

Sam Wilson won a Gold award in the Planet Earth’s Landscapes and Environments category of the World Nature Photography Awards 2021.

She revealed, ‘Travelling down random dirt roads can be so rewarding when you are greeted with scenes like this. Taken on South Island, New Zealand.’

@samwilson_photo

Solar Graphic by Andrius Repšys

In 2021, Lithuania once again experienced a winter of heavy snowfalls - a result of the climate crisis and global warming. Depicted in these photographs are sustainable energy sources such as dams, wind turbines and solar batteries - the very things we need in order to slow down the occurrences of climate disasters. Two of the three main elements of Solar Graphics – seasonality and sustainable energy – organically and purposefully complement each other. Winter’s monochromatic palette helps reveal the graphic elements found in the white snow. As the land is disrupted by dark lines new images appear – a mouth full of dazzling white teeth or a robot with a surprised look on its face. The high vantage point reduces the landscape to abstraction allowing the viewer to find new meanings and interpretations in the photograph. © Andrius Repšys, Lithuania, Finalist, Professional, Landscape, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

© Andrius Repšys, Lithuania, Finalist, Professional, Landscape, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

Taken during a winter of unseasonably heavy snowfall caused by climate change, ‘Solar Graphic’ by Andrius Repšys (Lithuania) captures sustainable energy sources such as dams, wind turbines and solar batteries from above, reducing them to graphic abstractions.

In 2021, Lithuania once again experienced a winter of heavy snowfalls – a result of the climate crisis and global warming. Depicted in these photographs are sustainable energy sources such as dams, wind turbines and solar batteries – the very things we need in order to slow down the occurrences of climate disasters. Two of the three main elements of Solar Graphics – seasonality and sustainable energy – organically and purposefully complement each other.

Winter’s monochromatic palette helps reveal the graphic elements found in the white snow. As the land is disrupted by dark lines new images appear – a mouth full of dazzling white teeth or a robot with a surprised look on its face. The high vantage point reduces the landscape to abstraction allowing the viewer to find new meanings and interpretations in the photograph.

Repšys’ was a finalist in the professional category of Sony World Photography Awards 2022.

@andrius.repsys

Orchid by Zhu Jianxin

Orchid, taken on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro in Xinjiang, China. 1/240sec at f/6, ISO 100. Image: Zhu Jianxin/Skypixel

Orchid, taken on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro in Xinjiang, China. 1/240sec at f/6, ISO 100. Image: Zhu Jianxin/Skypixel

The Grand Prize winner in the Photo Category of the Skypixel 7th Anniversary Aerial Photo & Video Contest, was shot by Zhu Jianxin on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro.

The image, Orchid, shows an otherworldly sight of a frozen lake after a heavy snow fell in the Taklamakan Desert, China. With a simple change in perspective, several cracks on a frozen lake magically came together to form something akin to a portrait of an elegant orchid.

Jianxin explained, ‘Photography as an art form always comes from life. It is born from nature. I am amazed by how a drone changes my perspective and helps me capture the beauty of our world.’

Perfect Chaos by Sara Zanini

Perfect Chaos, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Image: Sara Zanini/Skypixel

Perfect Chaos, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Image: Sara Zanini/Skypixel

Sara Zanini’s photograph taken over the town of Gangi in Sicily was shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro and received a First prize in the Skypixel Aerial Photo Contest. This photograph shows a fantastic juxtaposition between the traditional urban town against the natural mountainous landscape.

@sarazaniniiiii

Room 504 by Charlotte Gibb

View of Yosemite Falls from a hotel room. Taken with a very long focal length of 560mm
Canon EOS R, 100-400mm + 1.4x III extender, 1/80sec at f/16, ISO 400

Charlotte’s stamping ground is California. It’s home to a wide variety of landscapes, from rugged coastlines to ancient Redwood trees and deserts. This photograph was taken opposite Yosemite Falls from a hotel room window. Firstly, what an incredible view to have from your room! Everything within this photograph, from the light and the falls to the focus drawn into the single tree is dreamy.

Speaking of intimate landscapes she said, ‘Intimate landscapes are compositions that have been derived from the larger scene. It could be a photograph of a small section of beach, or a group of trees, or it could be a photograph of a section of an entire mountain… My heart-of-hearts is with the Sierra Nevada mountains and Yosemite National Park, though… There is tremendous diversity, and as much as I go back again and again, I always come away with a new composition. My most meaningful work has come from these places.’

She shares her tips for capturing your own intimate landscapes here.

@charlottegibb

Knowlton, Dorset by Jeremy Walker

This moody, monochrome scene by award winning professional landscape photographer and regular AP contributor Jeremy Walker brings a lot of drama and atmosphere with the dark intense sky looming over Knowlton church in Dorset.

When speaking about creating mono landscapes, Jeremy said choosing a ‘subject matter where the mood and drama help tell a story – ancient stone circles, Neolithic earthworks, and abandoned buildings like old churches can all look amazing with stormy skies and fleeting patches of light.’

This photograph is a perfect example!

Jeremy shares his tips for capturing moody monochrome landscapes like this here: How to capture moody monochrome landscapes

@jeremywalkerphotography

Jeremy will also be leading some of our upcoming Photography Holidays, in partnership with Zoom Photo Tours, see all information of our trips here.

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Stepping Stones #2 by Lee Frost

Derwentwater, Lake District. Mist and fog are ideal for minimalist mono images. Canon EOS 5D Mk II, 24-70mm, 1/250sec @ f/8, ISO 400

Black and white images can be simpler, more dramatic, more evocative and more atmospheric than colour. The minimal black and white shot by Lee Frost feels a lot calmer than Walker’s suspenseful landscape above. Taken on a foggy morning by Grasmere, Lake District, this image however doesn’t lack in atmosphere.

Whether you feel calm and at peace, or a sense of eeriness, Frost’s image is successful compositionally, with the stepping stones leading us into the lake.

See his tips for black and white photography.

@leefrostphotography

The Far Hills by Rachael Talibart

The Far Hills, 2017. Canon EOS 5DS R, 24-70mm, 0.8sec at f/16, ISO 100

For someone who describes themselves as ‘a poor swimmer and a poorly sailor’ it seems incredible that award-winning coastal and seascape photographer Rachael Talibart chose the sea as her muse.

Her captivating coastal photography has been recognised with awards such as Black+White Photographer of the Year in 2018 and winning the Sunday Times Magazine’s Landscape Photographer of the Year in 2016.

Talibart has had three monographs of her work published – including Sirens and Tides and Tempests – and she runs her f11 photography workshops as well as leading photography tours for Ocean Capture.

Talibart was also featured as one of our 12 top UK woman photographers you must follow

How to take great coastal shots and seascapes this winter

@rachaeltalibart

 Sutton Park by Verity Milligan

Canon 5D Mk IV + 100-400mm

Taken in Sutton Park, Birmingham, Verity Milligan’s photograph was taken on a cold morning in late autumn/early winter.

When speaking of this photograph on Instagram, she said, ‘This is one of those examples of why I love using a telephoto for landscape imagery. The sky would have added little to this composition and distracted from the main event — that frozen little island.’

Milligan’s images have featured in several exhibitions and have been highly commended in major photography awards such as Outdoor Photographer of the Year, British Life Photographer of the Year and Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year.

Image featured in: Pro tips for great landscape photography

Milligan was also featured as one of our 12 top UK woman photographers you must follow

@veritymilligan

Get more inspiration & tips

Feeling inspired? View our landscape photography tips and get shooting some spectacular shots!

If you are new to landscapes, check out our beginners guide to Landscape Photography.

Our Landscapes round of Amateur Photographer of the Year is now open, and closes for entries on Friday 20 May. See competition information and enter here.

Further reading:

The best landscape photography books for inspiration

How to photograph low light urban landscapes

See the top 20 best travel photographs!

 
Follow AP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Ukrainian artist designed RED and Jacknife in bold way | Arts and Theater

As an only child with devoted parents, artist and interior designer Anastasiya Chepil Craig, who often goes by “Nastia,” fondly recalls her childhood in Ukraine.

Her parents sought the best education for her, and when she displayed interest in art or music or languages, they got her lessons.

Craig, 41, who designed the bold, contemporary interiors of RED sushi and its sister restaurant, Jacknife, two of the most distinctive places to dine in Madison, as well as the new Forage Kitchen in Middleton, said she became interested in art when she was 11. Her parents, she said, gave her opportunities to study with talented teachers.

“I’ve been really nostalgic about my hometown, which is Odesa. It’s on the Black Sea. It’s just a really, really beautiful place. It’s considered to be a resort town,” Craig said.







Anastasiya Chepil Craig

Anastasiya Chepil Craig runs her business, Pink House Designs, and produces her colorful, abstract collage art out of her pink house on Lakeside Street.




Odesa has a unique culture, and its people have unique personalities, she said. “I definitely miss that.”

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It was hard to leave home, she said, and she typically goes back every summer with her daughter, Ilyana, 11. She said she’s sad to miss returning this year because of the war with Russia.

Craig, whose ex-husband, a native Wisconsinite, lives in Madison, said she’s taken Ilyana to Odesa since she was 4 or 5, and they stay for a few weeks. Her parents, who have remained in Odesa, usually visit them each winter.

She came to the United States at 17 to study interior design at Cazenovia College in upstate New York, 20 miles southeast of Syracuse. After two years, she transferred to New York Institute of Technology, where she got her bachelor’s degree.







Anastasiya Chepil Craig

Artist Anastasiya Chepil Craig typically goes home to Odesa, Ukraine, every summer, but won’t be returning this year due to the war with Russia.




Craig said she studied abroad because interior design was not as prominent in Ukraine. The United States offered better opportunities, so she stayed.

She runs her business, Pink House Designs, and produces her colorful, abstract collage art out of her pink house on Lakeside Street on Madison’s South Side.

“My dream actually has always been to be an artist. I’ve always been creative … being a designer gave me an opportunity to be in the creative field and create visual experiences for people,” she said. “I felt like it would be a little bit more reliable rather than being an artist.”


A dream job at the intersection of fine arts and community recreation

I’m wondering what came first, the pink house that you live in, or the name of your business?

It was definitely the house. … I did not want to choose my own name. Maybe it would’ve been easy in some ways, but people always have a hard time pronouncing it.

When you bought the house was it already pink?

It was already pink. I didn’t choose that color.

Did you buy it because you liked the color? Was that part of your decision-making?

No, it was not, actually. I did not quite care for it in the beginning. Not because I don’t like bright colors because I do, it’s just that one would not be probably my choice. I would probably choose something a little raspberry, let’s say. But over time, it just really grew on me, and I liked how it was sort of distinct in the neighborhood and people always use it as a landmark.

What is it like for you to have your parents staying in Odesa and worrying about their safety?

It’s kind of hard to even put in words. First of all, sometimes I still feel like this whole war, it’s like a bad dream, like I’m going to wake up or something and this really is not happening because it’s just so unbelievable what’s going on there in this day and age. Of course, I worry like crazy. I’m happy that Odesa is at least not in the midst of the most fighting, but they do try shelling. They do try to throw missiles every single day. They do have a pretty good air defense system. So, most of the missiles get destroyed before they hit their target. But my parents, they hear air raid sirens every single day, sometimes a few times a night, so they have to wake up and go where it’s safer, so they don’t get to sleep a lot. They’re very tired. They’re constantly on the lookout, but at this point they’re already used to it, which I know sounds crazy, but the human brain, it gets used to everything, the human kind of experience.

Tell me more about what life has been like for them.

They have at least water and electricity and other things. They don’t have gasoline now (because of Russian strikes and panic buying). So, the driving is very, very limited right now. It’s been horrible. They are still there and they still refuse to leave, actually.

Could you bring them here?

I could, but they are still refusing, to be honest. … My mom has a business that is really struggling right now … but she’s doing what she can to save it. There’s a lot of people who work for her that she feels responsible for, including my cousin. He’s helping her with the business. She just doesn’t want to leave him on his own. And my dad’s health is not really good. So, it’s hard for him to move at this point.

What is your mom’s business?

She has a business where they sell eyewear, like glasses, and also a line of medical supplies and things like that.

How many other friends and family do you still have in Ukraine?

Well, everyone besides my daughter. I don’t have any family here. I’m the only child, but I have cousins, and uncles, their kids. Everybody I grew up with, they’re still there.

How often do you communicate with your parents?

Either every day or every other day. Usually, we don’t go without talking more than one day.

Is it hard for you to get through?

Most of the time? No. The quality of the call can be pretty bad now. But most of the time it’s working fine, which is so amazing. I’m so grateful that we have the modern methods of communication that were not available when I came to this country.

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Lehi man ordered to rip out his new xeriscape landscaping by his HOA

Approximated examine time: 4-5 minutes

LEHI — As he was creating a new property in Lehi, Jared Hadley was eager to heed the phone calls to set in landscaping that uses very little or no water.

“We noticed it as an prospect to be like, hey, we could seriously make a distinction in the setting,” he stated.

Hadley mounted landscaping consisting of a couple h2o-smart crops surrounded by river rocks and attractive gravel. “It appears lovely,” he explained.

It’s the kind of landscaping that has the hearty assistance of all people from drinking water experts and Utah politicos.

But you know who won’t like it? Hadley’s homeowner’s association.

An e-mail from his HOA, Holbrook Farms, states that he is most likely likely to have to tear out the gravel components to put in some thing of which they approve like “mulch, river rock, or sod.”

Hadley says he protested, pointing out that gravel is the improved choice.

“You will find not substances like mulch. It can be not sod, wherever we are acquiring to water it,” he said.

By e mail, an HOA agent advised Hadley ought to have submitted an application and web page strategy right before executing the work. He was instructed to submit the files for the currently concluded perform but admonished that if the HOA does not signal off, and the representative is “confident” they will not, Hadley will have to repair it to their liking or encounter fines.

And indeed, Thursday, Hadley obtained word that his landscaping is not authorized and he is currently being ordered to change it. “It just, it is really mind-boggling,” he said.

An HOA ruling with an iron fist on what an exterior can glance like is not unique. In actuality, the KSL Investigators have read from more than a dozen men and women who are living in different HOA’s in Utah stating they want to put in xeriscaping or artificial grass to preserve water but are remaining rebuffed by their associations.

The problem is: Can they do that?

Here in Utah there is a new law, HB282, which says municipalities and HOA’s can’t have procedures that prohibit water-sensible landscaping.

Sen. Mike McKell, who co-sponsored the new legislation, states the bill was motivated by Utah’s dire drinking water predicament as well as predictable drinking water concerns for many years to come.

“We are in a drought,” McKell told the KSL Investigators. “We are also in a state that is growing at a level which is just not sustainable without earning improvements across the point out.”

Jared Hadley was eager to heed the calls to put in landscaping that uses little or no water. His HOA opposed his work.
Jared Hadley was keen to heed the phone calls to set in landscaping that works by using tiny or no drinking water. His HOA opposed his function. (Image: Josh Syzmanik, KSL-Tv)

McKell states he thinks the monthly bill struck an crucial equilibrium of necessitating governing administration companies and associations to allow for persons who want to conserve the authorized protection to do so without the need of banning cities and associations from generating certain their communities maintain their aesthetics.

He states the place of the legislation is to “make sure that if somebody’s received a fantastic program that features xeriscaping, let’s make absolutely sure that they can do that.”

Back again to Hadley, can Holbrook Farms pressure him to remove the h2o-wise-gravel or other xeriscaping he currently put in? The association certainly thinks so.

Holbrook Farms refused to talk about any of this on digital camera and refused to discuss Hadley’s problem at all.

When questioned if they imagine their landscaping guidelines are in line with existing Utah law, Holbrook Farms’ neighborhood supervisor Amanda Howell responded by electronic mail expressing, “certainly.”

“Holbrook Farms has actively implemented drinking water-sensible landscaping strategies into our community’s covenants, situations and polices for the last five years,” Howell mentioned in an e mail. “All house owners will have to comply with our current website plan assessment process prior to making any exterior modifications to their home.”

HB282 spells out that HOAs may possibly pressure house owners to comply with internet site program submission and critique procedures.

According to the HOA’s rules, most landscaping substance that makes use of zero h2o is forbidden from being “considerably” applied, like concrete, masonry items, pavers, brick, stone, cobblestone, tile, terrazzo, slabs, slate, rock, pebbles, gravel, wooden, woodchips, bark, decking and synthetic turf.

Holbrook Farms despatched the KSL Investigators a duplicate of a brochure they gave to Hadley. It depicts water-clever landscape strategies that are authorised. Most of the pictures in the brochure element grass and other plants, all of which, Hadley factors out, have to have more drinking water than the decorative gravel he’s very likely likely to be forced to get rid of.

Questioned if he’d do just about anything differently if he experienced to do it above once more, he explained, “I would not order a residence via an HOA.”

Matt Gephardt

Matt Gephardt has labored in television information for extra than 20 years, and as a reporter since 2010. He is now a customer investigative reporter for KSL Television. You can come across Matt on Twitter at @KSLmatt or e-mail him at matt@ksl.com.

Cindy St. Clair

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Delta’s Terminal C at La Guardia Airport Is Now an Art Destination

When Delta Air Lines’ Terminal C at La Guardia Airport opens to the public on Saturday, New York will get not only a gleaming new transportation hub but also a significant artwork desired destination.

“Airports are gateways to a location — tourists ought to know wherever they are,” mentioned Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates La Guardia. “Public artwork is at the main of that component of building a new civic construction.”

Huge-scale long-lasting installations by Mariam Ghani, Rashid Johnson, Aliza Nisenbaum, Virginia Overton, Ronny Quevedo and Fred Wilson — all artists living and doing work in New York — are poised to turn into new metropolis landmarks all through the terminal.

The new performs, commissioned by Delta Air Strains in partnership with the neighboring Queens Museum and element of a $12 million art software in Terminal C, join a constellation of other initiatives at La Guardia.

As the most significant provider in New York, utilizing 10,000 people in the spot prepandemic (and now again up to over 9,000), Delta needed the artworks in its terminal “to be New York-centric and reflect the range of our business,” reported Ryan Marzullo, a controlling director with the firm who is overseeing the $4 billion Terminal C undertaking, now 80 per cent completed.

For every single of the 6 artists decided on by the Delta crew from dozens initially offered by the Queens Museum, it is been an possibility to push their methods in phrases of scale and experimentation, according to the museum’s president and government director, Sally Tallant. “All these is effective are really rooted in what it indicates to live in New York,” she mentioned.

Acknowledged for her sculptures made from recycled components that react right to architectural spaces, Virginia Overton has put in a dozen massive and glowing gem shapes crafted from New York Town skylights that dangle at varying heights via a a few-tale atrium in the arrivals and departures hall.

“I desired to make something that was indicatively New York,” she reported. Overton, who grew up in Nashville, remembers her father’s stories of flying in low over New York on organization excursions and looking down on buildings with spectacular skylights. These days, in her Brooklyn studio, she usually finds herself staring up at the skylights. “When you are inside a building, which is where you look up and shift from floor to sky, which felt like the appropriate gesture for the airport,” she stated.

Every single of her 12 sculptures includes substantial panes of previous-fashioned protection glass set into geometrically faceted metal armatures, up to nine toes long, that Overton dragged from salvage retailers and from time to time the rubbish. She then replicated the mirror fifty percent of each skylight to generate jewel-like varieties that are lit from inside of. Floating sideways, these gritty and magical beacons occur into target as you solution. “Hopefully it will have interaction persons who’ve just flown in to New York and acknowledge the skylights from some of the structures close to right here,” stated Overton, “and inspire men and women to look up and down.”

Rashid Johnson is extensively recognized for his multidisciplinary function that summons the collective anxieties of our moments. In his mosaic “‘The Travelers’ Broken Crowd,” 60 agitated faces loom in rows throughout a 45-by-15-foot expanse on a wall obvious from three amounts of the arrivals and departures corridor.

“Travel is this sort of an interesting and complex and stunning and disheartening party, whether or not you imagine of it for the function of bettering oneself or the substantial refugee disaster ideal now,” mentioned Johnson. “These figures that I get in touch with ‘Broken Men’ are witnessing the tourists and becoming witnessed by the tourists. It variety of feels like all of us.”

Within just the repetition of his simplified geometric faces diminished to huge eyes and clenched mouths and pieced jointly mainly from black-and-white ceramic fragments, Johnson has achieved wonderful variation by overlaying passages of brightly coloured tiles, hand-painted gestures in oil adhere, black soap and wax, clusters of oyster shells, and items of mirror whacked with a hammer.

“The gymnastics of the scale undoubtedly pushed me to have to problem myself bodily as much as my interactions in the operate,” explained Johnson, who moved in this article from Chicago and lives in Manhattan and Bridgehampton, N.Y. “I beloved the notion that it is a lasting installation as effectively, some thing you can use as a marker for where you are.”

For a ten years, Ronny Quevedo has reconfigured gymnasium flooring to explore sites of convening and sport, which he sights as primarily important to immigrant communities. For the first time, the artist has fabricated a wood health and fitness center flooring at complete scale and from scratch, now mounted on a wall of Delta’s arrivals and departures corridor. Its brightly painted traces of enjoy are fragmented and rearranged into a dynamic summary composition.

“This city ecosystem we dwell in is usually shifting into new instructions,” claimed Quevedo, who grew up in the Bronx and accompanied his father, who played qualified soccer in Ecuador, to the online games he refereed just about every weekend at colleges and parks all through the city. For the artist, the gymnasium flooring is an possibility “to symbolize the various intersections and communities and distinct ordeals a person can get from New York,” he mentioned, “and the role of participate in in establishing one’s individual identity.”

Within his reimagined floor diagram on Delta’s wall piece, Quevedo superimposed constellations of stars used in levels of gold and silver leaf. “It’s a way of pairing that movement of migration with that motion of the cosmos,” he mentioned. “This sense of battle and resiliency is not just focusing on victimization but on re-envisioning oneself.”

With her initially tile mosaic, mounted in Terminal C’s baggage assert location, the multimedia artist Mariam Ghani has established a portrait of New York dependent on a info visualization of the far more than 700 languages and dialects spoken in the area.

“The Worlds We Speak” presents six planetary clusters standing in for the city’s five boroughs in addition the tristate location. These spheres comprise a multitude of lesser circles in a spectrum of vivid hues, every representing a linguistic local community and engraved with the identify of that language in its very own script.

“New York is the most linguistically varied city in the environment and each language is a entire way of observing the environment,” explained Ghani, an Afghan American born in New York. She utilised information gathered in the very last census as properly as the Endangered Language Alliance. “The airport is a point by means of which all this visitors proceeds and that brings us all this prosperity of understanding,” she stated.

For Ghani, the most complicated aspect of the challenge was spelling each individual of the languages appropriately. “It was the most huge copy-editing position you can possibly envision,” Ghani claimed, hoping people today will get pleasure from discovering their native language even though waiting around for their baggage to arrive. “Ceramics are lasting. You simply cannot go back and repair it later.”

The artist Fred Wilson generally reframes cultural objects and mines layers of which means in the color black. For his La Guardia piece titled “Mother,” he has blended starlight globes with black oceans with his signature black drip-shaped sculptures. Offer chain troubles delayed creation, so later this summertime, 12 globes ranging from 18 inches to 11 feet in diameter will be suspended in a three-story atrium of the arrivals and departures hall amid a cascade of 24 large black drips measuring up to 6 ft extensive.

Wilson, a lifelong New Yorker, to start with envisioned this piece on a evening flight. “It was utter blackness and happened to me seeking down how fragile our planet is,” said Wilson, whose shower of drips about the globes could go through as atmospheric or extractions of oil or tar from the earth, or teardrops. “Certainly the ecology and the planet’s survival is ahead in this piece,” he additional, an facet new to his do the job.

All of the globes will be hung on diverse axes, to be seen from various perspectives, with every of the land masses painted a distinctive color without the need of nations around the world or borders. It’s the first time the artist has hand-painted his do the job.

“My mom was a painter and it’s possible for the reason that of that I steered apparent of it,” he stated. “But I’ve truly savored functioning on these.”

In her installation for Delta, the painter Aliza Nisenbaum has commemorated a cross-area of Terminal C’s labor pressure in a monumental group portrait.

“I was interested in what it will take to operate an airport and conversing to the real folks who are the first faces that men and women satisfy when they arrive,” stated Nisenbaum, who grew up in Mexico Metropolis and is now based mostly in Queens. From a massive pool of Delta and Port Authority staff members she interviewed, the artist selected 16 whose tales of provider inspired her, which includes a stability guard, a taxi dispatcher, a janitor, pilots and flight attendants.

She painted just about every one particular from a mix of Zoom interviews and photos and wove the individuals into a composite. Her painting is currently being translated into a mosaic, her initially.

A vinyl replica of the completed portray now hangs in Concourse F until eventually her long run mosaic can be mounted in a concourse nonetheless to be built.

It is the only artwork in Delta’s terminal powering a security checkpoint and Marzullo, overseeing development, feels that’s acceptable. “Aliza’s piece is not just for our prospects, it is also for all the workforce it usually takes to operate this very little metropolis,” he mentioned. “It’s so that everybody who’s doing the job back there can be reminded of their relevance.”