This week, Nancy Thanki asks us to use our surroundings to capture a different point of view. Nancy challenges us to frame the world around us and share what we see. You can read the entire challenge post here.In the image above, I used the natural vegetation around the cannon placement to frame the Tennessee River, the city of Chattanooga, and the cannon placement at the top of Lookout Mountain. I am always looking for natural frames when shooting outdoors. In the small gallery below, I included a few examples of natural frames.

Sometimes there are man made frames, in this case created by the raised drawbridge as a tug assists a freighter as it navigates the Port of Duluth-Superior at the western tip of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

The rigging and structure of this sailing vessel frames the sailor as he works the sails on a large catamaran off the shore of Kauai in Hawaii. The gallery of images below also features a couple more examples of man made frames that you can use if you pull back from the subject to capture the nearby surrounds. Click on an image below to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

Trees frame this old fishing boat.

On the dreary, rainy day, this flower was found in a natural frame.

The mountainous landscape and light clouds frame this view of the Na Pali Coast on Kauai, Hawaii.

The famous lift bridge at the port of Duluth-Superior is both the frame and the subject.

A view of the nearby forest from the rectangular framed port at Fort Abraham Lincoln in North Dakota.

A sailor plies his trade.

An open drawbridge frames a freighter and the skyline at Duluth, Minnesota.

View from the top of Lookout Mountain framed by nearby trees.

John Steiner