Friday open thread: paint me a picture
Oct. 31st, 2025 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nerakroseIt’s time for another (only my second, I believe) Friday open thread, inspired by dolorosa_12, who I've long admired for keeping these going weekly - mine are going to continue to be irregular! This one is inspired by those moments when you don’t have a camera at hand to take a photo - or maybe, like me, you decided to enjoy the moment as it was without thinking about camera angles or framing or later posting.
This is your invitation to describe a moment where you stopped to take it in without a camera.
I’ll go first:
Earlier this week I was running late to work due to multiple train cancellations and delays, so I walked a more direct route from the train station to the office - right past the outer moat of the citadel. It was a rare sunny morning with little wind, biting cold, the leaves on the footpath already churned into brown mud. Out on the water, a short distance up ahead, visible through the still-green branches of a large willow tree, was a pair of swans. Suddenly, one swan took umbrage with the other and hared off, wings angrily fluttering, until it settled down somewhere in the distance.
I passed the tree, and there, the moat abruptly turned inwards back to the centre of the star, flanked on both sides by trees dressed in yellow and orange. I slowed down. On the water was the swan left behind, slowly floating towards its mate, the dark ripples in the water gently breaking up the fiery reflections of the trees. As I watched, now stock still while other people rushed past me on the footpath, a gust of wind shook the largest of the trees, and a rain of yellow beech leaves fluttered down and formed golden little boats in the water around the swan.
dolorosa_12, who I've long admired for keeping these going weekly - mine are going to continue to be irregular! This one is inspired by those moments when you don’t have a camera at hand to take a photo - or maybe, like me, you decided to enjoy the moment as it was without thinking about camera angles or framing or later posting.This is your invitation to describe a moment where you stopped to take it in without a camera.
I’ll go first:
Earlier this week I was running late to work due to multiple train cancellations and delays, so I walked a more direct route from the train station to the office - right past the outer moat of the citadel. It was a rare sunny morning with little wind, biting cold, the leaves on the footpath already churned into brown mud. Out on the water, a short distance up ahead, visible through the still-green branches of a large willow tree, was a pair of swans. Suddenly, one swan took umbrage with the other and hared off, wings angrily fluttering, until it settled down somewhere in the distance.
I passed the tree, and there, the moat abruptly turned inwards back to the centre of the star, flanked on both sides by trees dressed in yellow and orange. I slowed down. On the water was the swan left behind, slowly floating towards its mate, the dark ripples in the water gently breaking up the fiery reflections of the trees. As I watched, now stock still while other people rushed past me on the footpath, a gust of wind shook the largest of the trees, and a rain of yellow beech leaves fluttered down and formed golden little boats in the water around the swan.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-01 12:50 pm (UTC)A strange one from me, perhaps, but I like documenting these things as well. I didn’t now.
Soil underneath my fingernails, not from being outside in the garden, which is withering away as the year ebbs. Digging my hands in soil, carefully removing the roots of my indoor plants from their nurturer. Carefully covering the fragile roots by a new protective layer of new soil. And fresh water. Then back to the living room, to grow.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-01 05:22 pm (UTC)For me, many such moments came during performances of live music — it wasn't just the visual composition, but also the interplay between sound and emotion, and the sense of perfect clarity and freedom that comes from dancing with abandon within the sea of a great crowd of people who are all experiencing similar sensations and emotions. Tiësto's concert at Victoria Park in 2010 absolutely typefies what I'm describing. Even though I do tend to record little snippets at live performances now, I do actually miss experiencing these things as I did in the past, with no access to a smartphone.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-04 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-04 09:16 pm (UTC)I know the feeling. I used to take my camera along to concerts and try and get good photos, so it was only when cameras weren't allowed that I actually managed to just enjoy the concert as is. these days I don't take cameras with me, but these days there is one in my phone anyway!