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Lens-Artists Challenge #298 – To Be Young Again

Mama and Babies.

Tina hosts this week’s challenge, “To Be Young Again.” Though much of her challenge focuses on children, fortunately for me, she also included animal children. I am generally not comfortable focusing on children who aren’t family, and it seems somehow “creepy” to ask mothers if I can take a photo of her child or children. I know some people would be proud to share, but I’ve limited photos of children to environments where parents might expect strangers to photograph their children. You’ll see what I mean in my photos.

She writes, “So this week, we’re asking you to create a post that features children. They can be your own family, neighbors or friends, or simply children that have drawn your attention wherever you’ve encountered them. If none of that suits you, feel free to include baby animals as an alternative option.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

So, I’ll start with a couple of families I encountered near our home. The opening image features a mother loon and her children captured on Fishhook Lake in northern Minnesota.

A family of geese.

I was driving on a little-used road in Moorhead, Minnesota. Just as we rounded a curve, I saw a family of geese leaving a grassy area and heading to a small pond on the other side of the street. I stopped my car and grabbed my Nikon to capture the juvenile geese and their parents as they crossed the road.

Awaiting their turn on stage.

Near Tabuaeran, a coral atoll that is part of the island Republic of Kiribati, just north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, our cruise ship dropped us off to spend the day enjoying the nice weather and the presentations of the island’s residents. I captured this image of the townspeople awaiting their turn to perform for the cruise passengers.

Young dancers.

At Puerto Chiapas, Mexico, the closest building to the ship is full of small shops and tour guide companies. A pit in the building features a dance floor. The sound of Mexican folk music filled the building, and when I looked over the railing into the pit, I saw these young dancers demonstrating a historic dance style.

Shaving coconut meat.

On an excursion in Mexico, cruise passengers were taken to a coconut farm (is there such a thing?) This young man demonstrated how people can use sharp, specially designed knives to scrape the meat from the inside of the coconut. I wonder if OSHA would approve… hmmm???

Youngsters at a Native American Pow Wow.

My last two images were captured in 2016 at the Crossroads Pow Wow held in Fargo, North Dakota. These children were on the sidelines rehearsing their steps.

Father and daughter.

Family and tradition are strong in Native American culture. This dad is starting his daughter on her way to learning their history. That’s all I have for this week’s challenge. You can pixel-peep at the entire gallery on my Flickr site here.

Thanks to Egidio for last week’s challenge. The responses brought back memories of many songs I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed when they were released. Next week, Patty of Pilotfishblog will host the challenge. Her challenge post will go live at noon Eastern time in the United States. If you’d like to join in responding to the challenge but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

John Steiner

40 comments

  4. You had some good shots saved, John. Loved last of the dad and the baby, but who cannot love to stop for a geese crossing. Well maybe not someone late for work, but I am glad you stopped. Interesting to learn of coconut farms. Ya…who knew? Monotonous work and I couldn’t help but notice the coconuts behind him waiting. Very nice.

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    • I’d found those in my unprocessed images and put them together for this challenge. I guess that’s why I keep so many terrabytes of images around. >grin< Thanks, Sarah!

      Reply

  7. Love geese walking , crossing the road – they often do here, and in some places there is even a sign asking drivers to watch out for them. A Pow wow is something I would have loved to see – wonderful shot of father and daughter! I am not that comfortable either with photographing children, but sometimes other people are already photographing them, so I just take the chance too…

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    • The other day, I stopped on the roadway behind several cars that were stopped. At first I couldn’t see why, then out from in front of a vehicle a couple of cars ahead of me, a family of geese stepped into view. I was happy to see everyone stop to wait for them.

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  9. Great post John. I liked the colorful costumes the children wore in the various festivals. I’m also happy to see that Native Americans are teaching their children the traditions of their forefathers.

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    • Well, I could just say, “To get to the other side.” >grin< But these geese are well-to-do. They have a buffet of natural food on one side of the road, and a swimming pool (pond) on the other.

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  13. I have issues about photographing people so I felt the same, although I went a very different way. Love the ducklings and the children dancing, especially the last one with her father.

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    • Thanks, Janet. I had a few others I could have shared, one of my favorites is of a youngster who took a liking to Lynn and while his father was working as a contractor in a Mexican resort we where we were vacationing, this little guy made friends with us. Unfortunately, I won’t publish his picture as I didn’t get permission back in the day. If I could find him, I could ask him directly as he is now at least 18.

      Reply

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