Dream this time...

"... There are prayers within women. They are almost imperceptible, but they can be heard, and they change a man in his dreams, and perceptions of power..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3/15/19 

Vulnerable beauty by Wilson Phang

Wildlife. Green bee-eater (Merops orientalis) by Joby Varghese 

in Calictu, Kerala, India (August 2018)

Gently Expressed.

Medicine Wheel created by Jacqueline L. Robinson. "Holy Love and the ARt of Receiving." she expressed. "Gentle space and time, as we transition at very deep levels from within. Opening to allow Love to find the voids and fill the cracks."   

Women Tell

Woman from the Far East by Debarghya Mukherjee.

Woman from the Hadhramaut region of Yeman. 

The ones with the tall conical shaped sun hats work the fields.

Stillness photographed by Nick van Dijk.

Through it all a Touch of Class.

White woman in black dress, Tasha Turner by Ash Gemx.
https://www.instagram.com/gemxfoto/

SEDUCTION 

Simplicity is in its essence simple. The way some women wear it complicates the equation of boy meets girl, or woman catches the man's eye with an interesting question best answered within and alone. ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [12/24/18]

back tattoo of Egyptian motif.

A Question leads to GROWTH.

 Women's Portraits Only (WPO

Fashion portrait of Anetta shot by Kenneth Lysgaard. [Nov. 2018]

"... There is softness to weigh in the presence of serenity and the brief feel of what within women draws men to their essence. The mystique of a woman can only be developed by the woman herself. The how is based on knowledge from a woman's elders..." 

It is, or for me, has always been a source of wonder the ways women convey complex forms of expression that have nothing to do with brute force, but with intangible elements that change the core of a man. Is it stillness, stillness within, or is it merely how the core of resistance is the blending of elements to understand and see the other?..."


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 
11/11/18 

Aws, 25, a former resident of Raqqa, Syria, used to be a member of the 

Khansaa Brigade, the Islamic State's female morality police. 

photo: Tara Todras-Whitehill for NY Times

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living My baby you’ll be ❤️

Forever a Mama’s boy ❤️-

- Jessica Lynne

Jessica Lynne and her son early in the morning, 

August 8, 2018. 

"By definition, the term, Mama's boy, is a simple description of a boy's love for his mama. In his manhood that love creates value to this relationship. The boy becomes her great protector! In essence, a mother gives birth to her protection giving birth to a son!... 

Today, a lot of women believe they are the creation of their son into protectors. They aren't. That is the father's job. At some point, that energy can be provoked, not guided by fathers, or grandfathers, into something dark and resentful towards their mothers. American women, often, refute this out of pride and fear that men like me are right, and come to understand what we know the hard way!. . ." 


- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/11/18 

Outside of Awareness.

Illusion of love by Victoria Ovcharenko

in the shadow cast by light. photographer, Subhajit Dutta.

Natalie's soulful PhotoArt

… something very moving in this composition. What it is, I don't know, but it moves my emotions towards a stillness! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories (photo by Natalie Krüger‎.)

Asian woman's mystique by Phillip Chang.

Art work by Hồ Thiên Cung.

A RIDDLE:

The placement of a woman naked in a body of water is a story. These are two things despised in European thought and tradition. The consequences of this historical fact is crushing the life out of existence. Unrepentant, humanity moans in pain we all feel. We people of color have no idea how to break through their resistance to begin the process of reconciliation at this level for so complicated a history!. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8/3/18

a Summer Breeze.

Gentleness is not the easiest element to capture by crude measures, by camera, painting or harshness. It is not an element to be captured. It is a substance breathed into existence existing as a concept, a subtly... But, Steven Hattaway you did with this capture! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/8/18 

Gentleness captured by Steven Hattaway of Gabbi. 2018

Women's Portraits Only (WPO) 

Calm and Clarity.

Élite Portraiture

Photographer Cristina Tiurean took this photo of Matilde Bertoli for Élite Portraiture. [August 2018]

In Italian, "Coltiva tenerezza e dolcezza come fossero fiori rari
e un giorno per ringraziarti, ti restituiranno profumo." 

" Grow tenderness and sweetness as they were rare flowers
And one day to thank you, they will give you back perfume."  ~ Luisa Barbosa 

To Know this Stage...

Bliss is a whisper upon the soul, a feeling in that region of the heart one sings from, into and because songs cannot begin to end here. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/11/18

A Poet as a Photographer.

Willow Skye by Willow Skye from her 'Photo in Nature' series shot in Nevada City, CA. 

Photographer, Jack Woolley Jr. retouched and cropped this photo.

This photograph below received professional critiques. They were pack full of insights I'd like to share for any interested. 

Photographer Willow Skye from June's photo shoot at the SRF 

in Mt. Washington, Los Angeles, California. (2018).

"There are many challenges in the world, it's good to see you're taking on yours Willow :).

Since you're doing both, it's definitely worth exploring and learning both aspects in detail. In the case of photography, you can study aspects of photography - lighting, composition, technology, framing, lenses - with any subject, regardless of whether it's a person. This learning can be applied to your self portraiture. 

Equally, your study of modelling and figure can be enhanced by understanding yourself in a mirror, or by studying posing and doing figure studies in other genres. In this case for instance, we can say that on a photographic side, you've exposed your camera too much for the shadows in the image, so we're losing the information in the highlights. The human eye is attracted to the highlights in the image first (This is a biomechanical thing) as a result the core subject of the image is your hands! The colour balance I think could have been nice, there's a lovely glow around your face reflecting from the nearby surfaces, but again because of the overexposure of the light it's not taken advantage of. Additionally, the camera seems to be set to auto white balance which means it's allowed some of the green cast from the nearby plants to come into the skin tones which is a bit unflattering. 

That's just a couple points. But as you can see they are isolated enough that you could probably learn to notice them from shooting anything or trying to match other photographic works as exercises.

Photography is a very challenging field, there are potentially hundreds of things to consider in an image. It's good to see you working at it."- Noir Zy 



Suzanne Silva noted: "Technically speaking I think your highlights are a bit out of wack. The color is not looking quite right. Your face seems a bit to yellow and blown out. I think it may be hard to adjust your settings when you are the model time and time again. You are a lovely woman, but try working with other models so you can hone your skills more accurately or find another photographer to work with so you can photograph each other and and work together. I’m not trying to be unkind. I hope it is not taken that way."