This week, Ritva presents us with a thought-provoking challenge. She writes, “‘Everything has a crack, that’s how the light gets in.”‘ which encourages reflection on life’s imperfections. These cracks signify struggles but also hope and the potential for healing, reminding us that embracing our flaws can lead to a more fulfilling life. This concept also applies to images, where imperfections reveal true beauty and emotion.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

The first image I considered for this challenge truly reflects life’s imperfections. Though an imperfect flight system nearly brought failure and tragedy to the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, teamwork and preparation successfully concluded the aborted mission. The Command Module is on display, a testament to the hard work and skills of dedicated NASA employees.

The Selarón Steps, also known as Escadaria Selarón, are a well-known set of steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The run-down stairway was the inspiration that transformed into a work of art by Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón, who began renovating the stairsteps in 1990 with tiles in the colors of Brazil (yellow, green, and blue) and his home country of Chile (red). If you are interested in more detail, you can read more about the artist and his famous steps in my post here.

Little Amal focuses on the plight of refugees, all the more poignant with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The 12-foot (3.6 m) puppet represents a 10-year-old Syrian refugee. From the Walk With Amal website, here: “Since July 2021, Amal has traveled to 15 countries and been welcomed by more than a million people on the street, including hundreds of artists and civil society and faith leaders, as well as by tens of millions online. Most recently she traveled through the United States, where she was welcomed in more than 40 cities and tens of thousands of people. Her journeys are festivals of art and hope that draw attention to the huge numbers of children fleeing war, violence, and persecution, each with their own story.”

While all of the images above focus on the inspiration created by imperfections, I must also relate my response to photography in particular to cover this challenge. To conclude my response, I submit two published photographs complete with the imperfections inherent in my skills as a photographer.

This photo has many imperfections, and I would have rejected it for publication, except I decided to use it to compare the resolution of jpeg photos on web pages. Yes, I could have chosen a better spot to capture the bus, but the lady and her child were just about ready to board, and I felt that if I moved to the left to reduce the distraction of the statue’s base and the people on the right, the moment would be gone. Cropping the image to remove the distractions didn’t work for me, so I decided the picture wasn’t worth keeping.

When I decided to do a Cellpic Sunday post on photo resolution, I decided the photo, captured in 8K resolution, would be a good example. I reduced the resolution to 2K and 1K for my post, and the results were posted to my Flickr site. Here is a link to the Cellpic Sunday post.

Light leaks in photography refer to the unintentional overexposure of film to light, causing artifacts or streaks of light to appear in the final photograph. Today, they can be created in post-processing using digital overlays or, as in the case above, by inadvertently placing a bright light (like the sun) close to the edge of the image frame.

I chose to publish this photo as a tribute to my father and his 1948 Chevrolet. When visiting the cemetery where my parents are interred, I found a restored 1948 Chevy in the parking lot. I took photos of it and was inspired to share thoughts about my dad and his car here. I interpreted the light leak as a sign that Dad was smiling from heaven at the joke he played on me for arranging for his car to be there in the parking lot for me to see.

I’m back responding to challenges after my Lens-Artists hiatus for the first time in a month. Ritva has given us a thought-provoking challenge, and I hope my response is up to the task. Next week, Egidio hosts, and I am looking forward to posting regularly again.

John Steiner