Favorite Images of 2023 – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #281

Posted on by Nicole Sara

 

“We feel more than we can express, we see more than we can say.”
― Marty Rubin

For the first Lens-Artists Challenge post this year, Favorite Images of 2023,
I would like to start by sharing here photos taken these winter holidays… Christmas and New Year’s,

in order to invite those of you who haven’t had the chance to visit or follow my blog yet, and my most recent posts these past weeks over the holidays, not part of the Lens-Artists challenges, but still… so very much part of my blog,

lovely colorful sunsets and rainbow in the very first days of January,

my playful Christmas tree shots or my dreamy verse on December 30th,

not to mention cute Norișor, accompanied by my cutely named cats too in the fir tree…

tinsel and bauble frolic and fun, shared here to wish a Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year! they were.

🙂

Naturally, I hope you can also enjoy together with me nice images shared here… by visiting my other blog posts too, even though not part of the challenge ones.

Christmas tree decorating is always my favorite part of the year, in spite of winter not exactly being my favorite season 🙂

So then here are some of the more special clicks the past year, moments frozen in time…
or literally, as these poor tree buds trying to stay alive in late February, to start with,

 

Preferatele anului trecut, deci…

2023 a început cu același rece și alb, o vreme cumva ciudat de friguroasă,
încapsulând unele momente ca pe mugurii de primăvară prea devreme, săracii…  

then passing clouds calmly crossing the azure, in mid spring,

 

pentru ca apoi primăvara luminoasă să își intre în drepturi, 
cu nori cutreierând calm azurul…

and magnificent magnolia pink or cute emerald tomcat eyes, in my childhood garden,

 

sau magnolii magnifice și ochi verzi de motan visător licărind în grădina copilăriei,

as well as gorgeous petals’ glowing in full summer sunshine, on my balcony,

 

superbe petale emanând cald culoare în plină vară, pe balcon,

or splendid brightness through the curtains in early autumn days!

 

iar apoi strălucirea splendidă de toamnă timpurie prin perdele,
punctând dup-amiezele ca o unduire-sărbătoare!

I am ending with two photos which have only been posted on my Instagram account, part of a reel, so not on WordPress so far, yet two field flowers images which I love a lot, at the core of the past year, in mid summer… wonderful in their colorful fuzziness and warmth.

 

Și în cele din urmă vara… care e mereu miez,
dând esențelor rost și explodându-le ca o minunată întâmplare,
flori de câmp nepostate aici, însă mai mult decât doar favorite, îmi sunt.

 

“Nature is impulsive. To be impulsive is to be fully alive.”
― Marty Rubin

I hope you have enjoyed this swift trip down my 2023 favorite photo memory lane,
wishing you all a nice 2024 ahead!

Nicole

 

 

 

23 thoughts on “Favorite Images of 2023 – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #281”

  1. Pingback: Favorite Images of 2023 – LAPC #281 on my new blog | Doar Nicole...

    1. Thank you, Egidio, but I have to be honest and say that I am really sorry you did not get to visit my other posts too, the ones over the holidays for which I provided the links.. meaning my blog in general, besides the lens artists challenge post.
      All in all, wishing you a great year ahead!

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      1. Nicole, I looked at the comments on my site but I did not see one with links. Anyway, the problem will be fixed. I am now following your blog. I like nature photos. So, please bear with me if I don’t comment on everything. I see you like Cee’s challenges and others. So, I’m sure I’ll enjoy your nature posts.

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        1. I see there is a misunderstanding, thank you for your detailed answer, Egidio, for me to understand how things are.
          So.. the links I provided are in this post, at the beginning of it,(not in comments). They are the purple words (this is how links look on my wp theme), links to my blog posts over the holidays that most of the lens-artists challenge contributors never visited, I meant, as they never follow my blog, they only visit the challenge posts. This is how a link looks, on my blog. 🙂
          What I meant is that I generally follow and like posts on a lot of blogs that I like, starting from the challenge posts, but then there is no sign back from those blogs, which I have found quite odd lately.
          As for comments, I don’t comment much either, only on posts I like very much, and that are nature too… and lately I comment mostly on blogs that really get to correspond and visit my blog too. So I don’t expect anyone to comment all the time either.
          This blog here, Starry Steps, is my new blog, and my old one that you followed is Doar Nicole.
          Thank you again.

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          1. Nicole, since mid-December, right before the last challenge that year, WP is having a lot of problems with our hashtag. We have been reporting the issues, but it has not completely solved the problems. Sometimes the hashtag shows up here and sometimes it doesn’t. It happens even with our own posts. This most recent challenge seems to be working well. However, I have noticed that some posts only show up if I am following that person. It’s frustrating. Thanks for your patience.

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            1. Thank you, Egídio, for giving me more details, it’s good to know.
              I personally don’t use hashtags to find the challenge posts and contributors, I simply go the Reader and browse retrospectively until I come across challenge posts on blogs that I follow, and then visit them from there. Or other times my attention is drawn to new nice blogs and bloggers in their comments with the links answering the challenge themes.
              Anyway, what I was in fact referring to is that I happened to like posts and even leave comments on quite a few new blogs that I liked lately, and then followed the respective blogs (after finding them due to the challenge posts) but simply not hearing back from them at all, so to say, no reaction whatsoever. Almost as if my blog were wearing some invisibility mantle. 😀 It would be a bit funny, if it weren’t a bit sad too, plus frustrating, investing time and energy in liking and following new nice blogs and not having any sign back from the respective bloggers on my blog at all… also a little weird, if you ask me. Perhaps the fact that I use the Romanian language too, in my posts, and most people don’t fancy that, who can tell. 🙂
              And then again, there is also the fact that some of the bloggers who already are followers, even some challenge hosts sadly, simply do not visit or leave a sign on other of my blog posts at all, unless they are challenge posts. That feels really sad to me! To me it just looks like they are all only about the challenge, and not at all about visiting a nice blog, thoughts and photos.
              I am not saying (like people do on Instagram) that there should be some “follow for follow” policy here too, but still… I think it is just common WP courtesy to try to follow back those who follow us, and leave a like behind, at least from time to time. Otherwise it all feels out of balance to me… like following blogs and liking posts in a vacuum, no fluency or coherence in my exchange and communication here.
              Thank you again, for bearing with me on this sensitive topic, I could say… although it really is the air we breathe here, in the WP blogosphere after all. 🙂

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              1. Nicole, now your answer explains why you have not heard from Lens-Artists team members sometimes. We all rely on hashtags to find out when people post about the challenges. Without them, the post never appears in the Readed, unless the person is following you. I encourage you to use “lens-artists” in future post to assure that everyone sees your entries. A lot of the readers look for the tag, too. With thousands of blogs out there, it is nearly impossible to discover a nice blog. The algorithms WP uses are not foolproof.

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                1. Hello, again.. and again there is a misunderstanding. I have always been using the “lens-artists” tag with my posts, when contributing for the challenge weekly on my blog.
                  What I said is that I personally don’t use the tag to look for and find other challenge posts, but instead I go to the Reader.
                  All in all… no, Egidio, other bloggers (contributors or hosts) simply do not visit, like or follow, and lately I have made peace with that.

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    1. I appreciate your comment, John, thank you, but I also wish you had visited some of my other holiday posts as well, for which I provided links, they were nice posts too with lovely Christmas tree photos.

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    1. I am glad you enjoyed it, but also.. I must say that I am really sorry you did not get to visit at least a couple of my linked holidays posts too, meaning my blog as such.. not only the lens-artists posts as a rule.
      It is quite sad, in fact, and I have to be honest and say it, as it is my truth and experience here with this challenge, besides the nice themes… as I have been contributing, following, liking and commenting on a regular basis, but not getting the same in return from most of the participants and organizers, which is a pity.
      Thank you for your comments on the challenge posts, Tina, and for you wishes, wishing you all the best!

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