Tag: Inspiration

June Has Been Pride Month

Hannah Keene3 Comments

For all our LBGTQ+ brothers and sisters. While we should celebrate their lives all year long, each year we especially dedicate the month of June to raising awareness of their lives and their struggles, and honoring their contributions. This has been a June like no other, but even in the midst COVID and all the other uncertainties, I hope that each person who identifies as LBGTQ+ has had someone say to them, “I’m glad you are who you are, and I am glad that I know you.” And my message to each of you is that you are loved.

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Posted for CitySonnet’s Photo a Day Challenge: June 30 – Goodbye June

Riding on a Walk Sign

Hannah KeeneLeave a comment

Earlier this week I was very excited to be able to take a webinar class on Street Photography, as I have wanted to delve into this area of photography for awhile. I had thought that SP was narrowly defined as candid shots of people going about their everyday business. I was surprised to find that Street Photography also includes things like buildings, construction sites and dock loading equipment. That made me even happier, since I have been regularly photographing those things in addition to the photos of flowers and wildlife. But I’ve been afraid of photographing people. The instructor told us to just get out there and start. So the next day I gathered up my courage, placed myself on a busy corner with my telephoto (wearing a mask and keeping 6 feet away from other people), and started aiming my camera toward real, live, actual people.

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Like anything else, of course, I’m finding that it takes practice, especially since my telephoto isn’t quite powerful enough for some of my shots and then I need to crop, thus losing some of the resolution. And I’m having trouble getting the settings right to both blur the backgrounds, and capture the moving person, even though I know in my head the range of what those settings should be. Practice should help me improve. But I’m really pleased with the start that I’ve made. For that matter, I’m pleased that I’ve started at all, because as I’ve said, I’ve been a little afraid of photographing people. The class gave me the courage to begin.

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Photo a Day Challenge: June 27 – Balance

 

 

The Awakening

Hannah KeeneLeave a comment

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     The Awakening of Bees


The bees came out with gladness this spring,

Perhaps relieved that this year

They did not emerge into noise

And the seemingly endless bustle of humans.


They could go about their business of flitting

And flying and gathering nectar

With their wings buzzing

A glorious prayer to God.


And then returning to their hive,

They issued reports of the world

To the others

And fed their queen.


“Oh, wonderful!” They hummed to each other.

“This spring. This particular spring,

When the traffic was stilled and the voices hushed

Is the spring we awakened to joy.”


~Hannah Keene

Posted for The Word of the Day Challenge – Awakening

Families Protest the Murder of George Floyd

Hannah Keene2 Comments

I am fortunate to live in Oakland, California, a very diverse city with a population of close to a half million people. Last Sunday, June 7th, along with the peaceful protests by teens and adults, there was a protest scheduled for families with young children. As it was gathering across the street from my apartment, and families were practicing good social distancing, I grabbed my camera and did some photo journaling.