Very happy to participate in Anne’s Lens Artist theme for the week! Her beautiful photo work is displayed on her site: https://annegeephoto.com/

The Lens Artist challenge starts every Saturday with a new theme. I encourage everyone to join or have a look!

The topic was “Reflections” and it makes me highlight a photographic context I found entirely by accident. Last fall, while working outside I glanced over at my phone to make sure I knew where it was (I have a bad habit of just leaving my phone everywhere lol) and saw that the autumn leaves were reflecting off of its black screen. You’ll all remember this photo from a few months ago.

photo by: moderatelivingblog.wordpress.com

Anne’s theme was just in time as I’ve been wanting to take a photo displaying a summer theme.

photo by: moderatelivingblog.wordpress.com

We are at the peak of our first summer heatwave here in New Jersey. I was doing some work outside yesterday and we all figured we could get ahead of things by starting early. But by 10am, I had to hang my already drenched in sweat t-shirt to the side and we kept ourselves cool by throwing buckets of water over our heads. By 11:30 we had to wrap it up.

Lot’s of really great photographers participated in the challenge. You can jump to their pages from Anne’s comment section: https://annegeephoto.com/2025/06/21/lens-artist-challenge-354-reflections/

Stay safe in this heat y’all!

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42 responses to “Lens-Artist Challenge #354: Reflections”

  1. CJ Antichow Avatar
    CJ Antichow

    Very cool pics Mike 😎
    Send some heat north would ya?! We’ve had the furnace on last few days 🥶

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you CJ! of course we’ll definitely send that heat 😀 but also with rain so no wildfires. we just had one a few weeks ago and it was a little too close for comfort. :/

      1. CJ Antichow Avatar
        CJ Antichow

        It is scary! We’re in the clear now I think.

  2. NocturnalTwins Avatar

    Nice job!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thanks Matt!

  3. JohnRH Avatar

    Great reflections. Clever!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you John!

  4. Anne Sandler Avatar

    Yours was a very clever approach Michael! Well done.

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thanks Anne 🙂 very much enjoyed your theme!

  5. Tina Schell Avatar

    That first image is so clever! But I have to wonder how you took the photo since obviously your phone was not used!!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      Hi Tina! thanks 🙂

      so I was going to write about it but I didn’t want to make the post too long. It puzzled me why I couldn’t get a meaningful resolution out of the background surroundings from the phone but I suspect it’s because the camera lens is strictly primed to focus on the phones reflection (which is a different distance from the phone) but its elements are positioned at exactly the distance of the phone. the total image, as a result, will not have any depth of field from the physical phone itself no matter how far you stop down (I think I stopped down to f/9 here to get some background). it was quite interesting to fall into that discovery! have a great day Tina!

  6. ibarynt Avatar

    Oh the first picture is awesomest 😊.

    Is it that hot for you’ll? Thankfully we’ve got some rain, but it’s playing around again 😀.

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Iba! 🙂 yes, it’s very hot again today so we’re all just inside! stay safe from the heat over there 🙂

  7. Hitomi Avatar

    Wonderful photos, Mike👏👏👏

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Hitomi! 🙂

  8. Nancy Homlitas Avatar

    Your reflection of nature on your phone was a god catch and made a fabulous image. Thanks for sharing Anne’s link with even more spectacular images, Michael. 🙂

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      I’m glad you enjoyed it Nancy! 🙂 one of my happier accidental discoveries for sure!

  9. Michael Williams Avatar

    I’m glad you enjoyed it Nancy! 🙂 one of my happier accidental discoveries for sure!

  10. lyndhurstlaura Avatar

    Great pics. thanks for sharing. 🙂

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thanks Laura! hope you’re having a great evening!

      1. lyndhurstlaura Avatar

        You too. 😊

  11. arlene Avatar

    Nice captures Mike.😍

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Arlene!

  12. The Creative Chic Avatar

    Such great photography, Michael 😍

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you, friendy! ;D

      1. The Creative Chic Avatar

        Always my pleasure ;D

  13. Zenith Avatar

    Great pictures, Mr Williams, and I’m surprised you joined the Lens Artists Challenge!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thanks Zenith! yes, i encourage all to join!

      1. Zenith Avatar

        You’re welcome Mr Williams!

  14. majellalaws Avatar

    What a great idea!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      hehe 😀 thanks Majella! it was certainly a funny discovery

  15. Hazel Avatar

    I hope the weather will cool down. Lovely images, Mike.

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Hazel! 😀 have a great afternoon!

      1. Hazel Avatar

        It’s my pleasure, Mike. Enjoy your night as well.

  16. Ann Coleman Avatar

    What creative photos! And we’re under a nasty heat wave here, too. I watched my grandson play baseball last evening (evening, not afternoon) and I still haven’t recovered! If I was that hot and miserable just watching the game, I can’t imagine how the kids playing must have felt. I’m surprised they didn’t all come down with heat stroke!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      oh my gosh Ann, yeah – it’s one thing if it’s dry air but the air was just stale and heavy. i have no idea how anyone is outside for long periods of time without access to a pool.

      glad you enjoyed the photos. stay safe in the heat!

  17. photobyjohnbo Avatar

    That’s a great idea and some interesting reflective photos! My favorite is the tree in the phone photo!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thanks John! i really tried to replicate the feeling of the autumn photo in the summer one but in my attempt to get the clouds, I recognized that I needed to focus on the background as well and it should have been in green grass instead of up against a tree rendering that dark brown color. maybe next time lol 🙂

  18. Sofia Alves Avatar

    Very creative take on the challenge, I like it a lot!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Sofia! i’m glad you liked it!

  19. Leya Avatar

    Very cool and clever. Creative!

    1. Michael Williams Avatar

      thank you Leya! 🙂

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