This week Tina made the challenge difficult for me. Her challenge, “The Eyes Have It,” really made me reach for the very few images that I could class as portraits. You can visit her challenge post here. For my opening image, I reached back to 2015 and a visit to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. The fair maiden was actually standing in a tree and blowing bubbles.

For my next image, I reached back to 2007 and a visit to the Republic of Kiribati. On a cruise, we visited the island of Tabuaeran, known also as Fanning Island. One of the native dancers was preparing to go on stage for his part in the performance, but he was also caring for his little brother.

I’ve shared many of these images before because I shoot so few portraits, I have few to choose from. For this challenge, I did reprocess the opening photo, but for the rest, I put high res copies on my Flickr site for you to pixel peep. You can find the album here.

My last images are of animals. They say that animals don’t have a soul, but when I look into those eyes…

I will say that when this mountain lion looked at me, I’m sure he was probably thinking, “There’s a nice fat lunch for me.” I’m glad he was in an animal enclosure at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Zoo.

I know I’ve said it before, but I keep reminding myself that I should take more portraits, especially since I am really fond of Luminar Neo’s advanced AI portraiture tools. Thanks to Tina this week for the opportunity to share again some of my favorite images.

This last challenge for June ushers in our July guest-host month. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the challenge topics from all of our guests in July. Here is a list of their themes in advance. Please join us in the coming weeks. 

July 02 – Aletta Crouse of Now at Home is focusing on Treasures.

July 09 – Jez Braithwaite of Photos by Jez is Seeing Double.

July 16 – Andre of My Blog–Solaner is thinking about Summer Vibes.

July 23 – Tracy, who posts at Reflections of an Untidy Mind, has chosen Surrealism.

July 30 – Sarah Wilkie, who hosts Travel with Me, asks you to share Three Favorite Images.

If you’d like to participate but aren’t sure how to join in, you can find the details here.

John Steiner