Themes

San Rafael, California hosts a festival each year that features artists from around the country, who create chalk drawings on downtown streets. The event lasts two days after which the drawings are removed. It is a favorite among photographers since one can shoot artists at work as well as members of the crowd that come to observe their creations. I've pulled together the small group of photos I took during my visits on June 10 and 11, 2006 to create this theme. Enjoy.

This theme permits TE members to share photos from the countries that have been devastated by the recent natural disaster, as well as images inspired by this tragic event. The unbelievable magnitude of this event is at first overwhelming. But it evokes personal feelings that deserve attention as well. We each have our own relationship with loss. Sharing our pain is an important precedent to moving on with our lives. This is a group theme, open to all who wish to make a contribution.

Our friend from Finland often dazzles us with his creative eye, plucking images from the edges of society, seeing the dramatic in the ordinary. This theme is offered in honor of his inspiration. I don't wish to imitate his work, but his insistence on bringing fresh eyes to the moment influences the images I will include in this theme. Enjoy.

The Bay is a favorite with both tourists and locals. The cities that were built on the shore of the Bay typically have their most distinctive commercial and recreational facilities as close to the shore as possible. It is little wonder, since the Bay is so gorgeous. In this theme I'll post images I've captured from the shore of the Bay, some conventionally beautiful and some very mundane. One could call them the many faces of San Francisco Bay. Enjoy!

Photographers and artists pay great attention to shadow and make decisions of form and composition with consideration to contrasts of light and dark. I find myself fascinated by how light falls on objects, a fact that is clearly reflected in the images I've posted recently. I'll continue this exploration and collect the images within this theme for anyone interested. This is a group theme open to anyone wishing to add images.