Dear ,

Before going any further I want to remind you that I will be interviewed on Blog Talk Radio by Amethyst Wyldfyre this Friday, December 11th at 4 PM Eastern US time. Amethyst has entitled the program "The Gifted Hand, The Gifted Eye - Fine Arts for the Holidays: Interview with Sheila Finkelstein" I'd love for you to join us. Please bookmark SHOW. You can listen on the web, call in or download the call after the show, if the time does not work for you.

Birthday Acknowledgment and History -
My other big news is that today we are celebrating the 5th anniversary of Picture to Ponder, which was launched on December 9, 2004.

I did a count the other day and saw that today marks the 476th issue. Starting out with simply a photo, discussed in the next issue, four times a week, we shifted eventually to the current one issue per week with both photos and self-reflecting queries. The latter evolved and became "official" after about six months.

In Issue 1, as I described what I planned, I stated:
MISSION -
It is my desire to inspire you to discover and expand your own greatness of seeing, imagining and/or creating.

From comments I've gotten over the years I think I am fulfilling on this.

Today's Photos -

The above is the first first photo I featured. As described in Issue 2

"YESTERDAY'S IMAGE -
the remains of a tree damaged by the Florida hurricane, then cut.

THE IMAGERY -
for my husband - the HOBO in the center of the trunk
for me - a cat's face. with whiskers, seen for the first time yesterday, after I sent this off, and for you??"

Since that time, I recall this as the "Hobo Photo." I'd even forgotten the "cat." As I look at it now, I think the cat part appears when we disregard the black portion and look at the whole space surrounding it.

As most of you know, Sam is no longer here to share interpretations with me, so for the most part the added dimension comes when you add your experience or interpretations on the blog.

I was fortunate, the other night. I shared a photo in my camera viewfinder with a couple in Green Cay Wetlands, as they, too, were exiting. In the distance,

I had seen a stumpy man with a green cap and sunglasses, so I zoomed in.

I thought I would use it here and simply label it as "Unidentified Object", after sharing my interpretation. I really had no idea of what I was looking at. Fortunately, for my curious mind, I shared this with the couple mentioned above. How delighted I was that I did.

"It's a turtle," one said. I looked at it and, of course, it became quite obvious once it was pointed out. As a matter of fact, all they had to do was say "turtle" and I saw it immediately. The "sunglasses" were part of the turtle's body, the "nose", his head. The "green cap" was duckweed on the turtle's shell.

None of us, though, could determine what it was sitting on, so we decided to leave it labeled as an imaginary wolf.

Ever curious, I did go back a little earlier the next day for a clearer view. With the duckweed in the water having moved on also, it became quite obvious that it was a log, now looking more like a resting dog.

A close up brings our attention more to the full experience of both the "face" and its reflection, and there might be yet another interpretation. I'll leave that one to you.

If you have an interpretation to share, please post it on the blog.

As an aside, if you are interested in surfing through some of the issues over the years you can check the eZezine Archives for issues from Issue 4 up through October 2008. Please tell anyone you might share this with NOT use the subscribe button on the eZezine archive pages. We are now at aWeber and you can see the archives from October 2008 to now at aWeber PTP Archives.

I also have all of the issues on eteletours.com. Starting with Issue 1 - http://www.eteletours.com/issue1.html you can scroll through all of the issues by using the arrows at the bottom of each issue or by changing the number in the URL.

Self-Reflecting Queries -
I started out stating that today's issue is a celebration. I'm certainly not "jumping up and down"... the image that the word "celebrate" pulls up for me... and I am acknowledging the pleasure, satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment at ongoingly fulfilling on a mission declared five years ago.

What is your view of "celebration" and how do you celebrate yourself? I invite you to find one or more things for which you would like to acknowledge yourself. Certainly feel welcomed to post them on the blog.

Also, the main theme of the photos revolves around "interpretations" and expanding ourselves when we are open to others' interpretations and points of view. I invite you to find something that may be intriguing you... a visual image, or a happening... and get in conversation with another about it. Before sharing your interpretation(s), invite them to share theirs. Is it different? the same? and/or do new possibilities open up for you?

You might even use today's photos as the ones to open up dialogue. If you do, please post your experience on the blog.

As always, have fun with this.

Also, if you would like to experience the expansion of your own discovering and sharing of interpretations in the upcoming Telecourse for which I am in the process of setting up dates, please fill in the form below.

Other Interpretations and Celebrations -
One of the things I have neglected to share here is that a few months ago I took the bold step of having professionally scanned several of my Fantasy Landscape water color series to make them available as giclee prints.

I recently set up the sales page at NATURE'S TREASURES INTERPRETED

Notecards of four of the images will also be available, for sale and holiday gift giving, by tomorrow.

#NTI 001	#NTI 002	#NTI 003	#NTI 004

These paintings where actually my first foray into using objects from nature and seeing them as fantasy images. In this case, every item in the painting is one that I had collected, held in my hand to draw, and then ultimately completed with water colors.

Reader's Comments are welcome.
To post them on the Photography and Transformation blog click on the small word "Comment" at the end of the post. A window will open, asking for your name, email address that will NOT be published, a URL if you have - Your name will be linked to that - and a box with space for you to "Leave a Reply" will be there to type in your response. Then remember to click on "Submit."

If posting on a blog is not your style, please continue to send your comments directly to me. Learning what you are experiencing means a lot. It is part of the reward, for me, of publishing Picture to Ponder.

Guests - If this issue has been passed on to you by a friend, we invite you also to take advantage of a no-cost subscription. Simply click on SUBSCRIBE. You can learn more about Picture to Ponder on our INTRO page.

Inspirationally,


Sheila
sheila[a]picturetoponder.com
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© 2005-09 Sheila Finkelstein
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