Weekly Photography Challenge:Repurpose

One month already gone- it whizzed by, probably because we’ve had various family members staying, and/or been travelling for most of the time since Christmas day, and time flies when you’re having fun…

So, to this weeks photography challenge – Repurpose. As an artist and as a “greenie”, I’m often looking for ways to reuse old stuff, and that’s how I have made an old vernacular building (or bush shed) into a semi-outdoor living space. We call it the Seahorse Saloon.The walls are lined with pieces of old cupboards, the shelves were drawers. Parts of walls were doors or windows. A bedhead is the back of a settee made from a broken pallet, amongst other things. A coat of paint (a hand-me-down tin from a friend) ties everything together, and sets the watery theme. Most of the furniture was sourced in thrift store/op shops.

The miniature bar used to be part of a kitchen cupboard, the end was a door on a different cupboard, the lining boards are so old, no one knows…etc. You get the picture! I’ve had a lot of fun with it, and plan to have a lot more.

Unfortunately, spiders of many species also find the saloon congenial – here one has repurposed the ears of an old hobby horse into a spider house….Eeek!

Weekly Photography Challenge: Masterpiece

I had few ideas about man-made masterpieces, but in the end, I went with the natural world. This species of spider builds a large and impressive web overnight ( often across pathways – or so it seems). She often demolishes it in the morning, and replaces it the next night. Especially if someone has tried to walk through it.

These three photos were taken some years ago with an SLR film camera, now sadly defunct. I have seen much more impressive shots of ‘dew drops on spider webs’, but the web itself is a masterpiece!

Anyone who has photographed spider webs – so exquisitely made – knows how frustrating it can be. The depth of field is infinitesimally shallow, for one thing, and the faintest movement of air (or photographer) will put the shot out of focus. But there’s always the lure of making that perfect image… A tip I was given was to lightly spray a spider’s masterpiece with water, in order to bead it with ‘dew’. I’ve never done it.

Yet.