By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is In the Background: “Take a picture of yourself or someone else as a shadow, a reflection, or a lesser part of a scene, making the background… the center of attention.”
This photo seems to fit the challenge—
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
 | CurlsnSkirls on The First Leg! |
 | Johna Till Johnson on The First Leg! |
| Johna Till Johnson on The First Leg! |
 | Marilyn Albright on The First Leg! |
| CurlsnSkirls on The First Leg! |
| Johna Till Johnson on Looks Like They Made It! |
 | Pit on Looks Like They Made It! |
| Johna Till Johnson on More Scenes From the Nort… |
| CurlsnSkirls on Halfway There! |
 | Larry Jensen on More Scenes From the Nort… |
| Johna Till Johnson on R2AK: Scenes From the Northern… |
 | Frank Winters on R2AK: Scenes From the Northern… |
| Johna Till Johnson on Halfway There! |
| CurlsnSkirls on Halfway There! |
| Johna Till Johnson on And They’re Off! |
Wind Against Current 
Excellent!
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Thanks!
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An absolutely stunning shot! Love the colour of the Amaryllis. Great entry! :)
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Thank you!! :-)
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Neat, you really are in the background…and. Great contrast to the vibrant colour of the Amaryllis….
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Yes, the color contrast struck me particularly :-)
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Great shot :-)
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Thanks, Jo!
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Nice interpreation of the theme! :-)
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Thanks, Dina!
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Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: in the Background (A View) | What's (in) the picture?
Very nice and the color of the flower against the muted background is lovely!!
janet
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I like that aspect of the photo myself quite a bit :-)
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Beautiful and also a really nice idea ! Greetings from Anja :)
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Thanks, Anja! :-)
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Lovely!
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Thank you so much! :-)
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Is it you in a mirror in the background?? – ;) Thanks for the “liking” – Great photo it is – Thank you for sharing
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Yes, that’s me in the mirror…
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Wait. Where are the kayaks??
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Couldn’t quite get them into the frame…
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:-)
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Nicely done!
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Thanks, Jeff!
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Hey … super image …. AND … no kayak. LOL
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The kayaks are in the corner in their bags, but coming out again soon!
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Yes, it sure does.
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:-)
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Perfect!
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Thank you!!
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Love this ! Thanks for clarifying the rules!
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Yes, I think many people didn’t read the rules carefully—but then, rules are made to be broken! :-)
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I am not much of a rule breaker…maybe just an occasional expansion : )
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Just pushing the envelope? ;-)
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What a nice take on this week’s photo challenge!
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Thank you!
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Love it!!
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I am so glad!!
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Stunning photo!
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Thank you! :-)
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Perfect challenge response — and at last, a glimpse of the man behind the paddle!
(BTW, I think of this post as being for Johna, my adopted exercise guru:
If you’d show it to her? TIA)
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There are other photos of me, here for instance—Johna has been insisting on including them :-)
And of course I will point out your post to her—she will sympathize ;-)
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Hi Judith! Great post! As one of your commenters said (I’m paraphrasing).. you take your mindfulness where you can get it. I love being someone’s “adopted exercise guru”–there are days when I think that would be a wonderful second career (or would that be third? Fourth? I’ve lost count…).
BTW I noticed one of the books on your shelf is Brenda Ueland’s “If You Want To Write”–one of the best books in the universe about living life with passion (writing is secondary). So cool!!
And BTW #2…. did you ever read about her romance with Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, when he was approximately 70 and she was in her 30s? Wonderful, wonderful story.
Anyway, thanks for posting–and I am doing my best to get photos of Vlad into the blog. It’s difficult–he has this habit of shutting his eyes and opening his mouth just as the camera clicks…. :-)
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Good luck on capturing the Elusive Masculine with the camera. Men are always writing about The Eternal Feminine, or some such. Why not have women photographing The Elusive Masculine? Obviously, Fridtjof Nansen was hardly elusive. Simply Masculine.
What a story, Nansen and Ueland! It’s got it all, greatness and intellect and national pride and full frontal nudity. Thanks for (as it were) putting me in the picture.
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The “elusive masculine”! I love it. Yes, there’s a side of Vlad that I’ll never give up on attempting to capture with the camera. But as usual, he does it better than I…..
And you got it re: Nansen and Ueland! As you say, greatness and intellect and national pride and passion… and full frontal nudity—so you saw THAT photo :-) :-).
Life is stranger and more wonderful than you can even imagine when you’re very young…
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I think this is one of the most beautiful shots you have ever posted Vladimir!!!! Wonderful flower, wonderful red…And wonderful background, …Not only because it is you, (ejem…:)) but because the grey Works very well with the red!!!
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…Gray does indeed work very well with the red! ;-)
Thanks!!!!!
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Sorry…Gray!!!
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No, no, I didn’t mean it that way at all! I didn’t even notice the difference in spelling. Actually, having been educated in Britain, I tend to write “grey” myself unless I stop myself… :-)
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Sometimes it is difficult!!!! :) I learned in England and my husband is American…Add my own mistakes and…Voila! :) Anyway…I stick by what I said…It is a wonderful shot!
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Thank you again!! :-)
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Lovely choice for the challenge, and look at you peeping into the photo :-)
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I set up the mirror to get the lighting right, and then it was hard to avoid myself in the background… :-)
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Perfection!!
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Thank you!!
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Perfect!
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:-)
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