What Caught My Eye: Bubbles with Dishes

Photo copyright Gary Walts August 5, 2025

I snapped this photo August 5th. I was cleaning up after  making some food and these utensils I was washing caught my eye. The colors and the bubbles and the arrangement of the items (unplanned) simply caught my eye so I snapped it.

What Caught My Eye Today

Dishes and sop bubbles. It's what caught my eye today. iPhone photo copyright Gary Walts 2022

I never know just what is going to catch my eye and prompt me to snap a photograph. Very often it is dishes and soap bubbles in the sink. That was the case this morning. I made some marinade for some chicken thighs. I placed the dirty utensils and bowl in the sink. Cleaned up the counters and stashed the chicken in the fridge. Looked back at the sink and saw the image presented here.  An impromptu still life.

Morning Sun

Woke up to some Sun this morning. I was turning on my lap top computer and noticed the Sun on the eye glasses in this photo. So I snapped it.

Last night I played some guitar music during the cocktail hour of the 60th annual Shapiro Award dinner. It was held at the Ramada Inn in Watertown, N.Y. I was quite satisfied with my playing.

Dirty Dishes

Usually we put our dirty dishes into the dishwasher right away. However, last night we had some chicken wings while watching TV. The better Half headed upstairs to bed befor me. Then I got too tired to do anything other than place these dishes in the sink and run some water over them so that certian left over matter would not harden onto the surface. I go to be
In the morning I got up and was making the coffee when I noticed a certain beauty and graphic quality to the dishes in the sink. So, foggy eyed, I go get a camera & proceed to snap away.

So what makes this picture work? Well, there are some repeating graphic shapes that adds to the composition. I always see my photographs as a collection of shapes. It is how these shapes are arranged within the frame that makes up the composition. It matters not to me what the shapes are filled in with. In this case the shapes contain the sink, water, and a couple of dishes, and various colors.

Another thing that helps a photograph is texture. The overall texture in this photo is that of softness. The water is murky, subduing the pattern on the plate, muting and softening the colors and the edges.

A third thing that helps thios photo is the light. Light is MOST crucial. Without light we have NO photograph. It just happens that the early morning light was coming in a window and bouncing off the walls near the sink, creating a soft delicate light. No hard edges here. So, we have soft light, soft colors, soft textures, interesting shapes.  All of these things coming together and working together to make a reasonably good photo of of a most mundane subject. 

This is how I go about my day, viewing the world around me as a bunch of inter-related shapes and how the light plays upon them.

Now go ahead and photograph your dirty dishes.

Day 329: Rabbi

I have made so many photos over the years I simply cannot recall them all. The other day I was going through some archives looking for a photo for a friend when I came across this photo of the rabbi. I shot the picture in Syracuse, NY, during Hanukkah where he was on hand to light the Menorah. Out of focus Christmas light in the distance became a pleasant background thanks to the effects of a 200mm lens.

So I decided to post it here while I had the opportunity, or rather, while my discovery of it was still fresh.

Day 303:

Today is Wenesday. It is a gray day and warmer here than in recent weeks. Supposedly it will reach near 50 degrees this weekend. Probably accompanied by rai. That suits me OK for nwo because Saturday, January First, New Years Day, I am photographing a wedding in Syracuse. I would rather make that drive in rain and warmer temps than to be caught up in lake effect snow.

A misty, foggy morning on RT 12E between Chaumont & Limerick, NY, a few weeks ago.

Swedish Proverb:
Those who wish to sing, always find a song.