Constance Hobbs Art & Photography

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Birds in Flight

Today is my birthday and these birds that I recently shot seem to reflect how I am feeling. Life is such a constant flux of experiences. Holding on to any of them represents, to me, a lack of freedom. I don't think it's a question of memory but of holding on to those memories that's confining. Freedom is in letting go. The interesting part, the scary part, or the exciting part, depending on how one looks at it, is the unknown. What's ahead and around the corner. The human experience is a mystery. Trying to figure it out is futile. How can one understand the unknown? How can one have a relationship with it? Everything about us is the known. Our memory and past knowledge. I guess the issue of faith and religion comes into play here. Is the religious experience really a relationship with the unknown or a projection of ourselves and a need for security? Going with the flow as these birds do, naturally, easily, I think is at least one answer to happiness.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Egypt Abu Simbel

I have been to Egypt three times in my life. It is by far the most fascinating place I have ever been. Between the multitudes and chaos of Cairo, the unbelievable monuments in the south and the countries sweet and gentle people I return to my experiences there often in my thoughts. It's very difficult to explain to someone the mystery and magic that is Egypt if one has never traveled there. The scale of the monuments alone, as you can see in the photo above, is breath taking and mind boggling all at the same time. Above is Abu Simbel in Nubia southern Egypt. It sits on Lake Nassar which was created by the Aswan Dam. This huge temple was relocated to this location so as not to be drown by the dam project. While we were there people told us tales of gigantic fish which live in the lake because they exist and eat in the richly silted water. This may or may not be true? I never did find out for sure. This photograph was taken at sunrise and accurately reflects the color of dawn. I posted this image in view of all the current turmoil in Egypt. The new generation of Egyptians are highly educated and I am hopeful that the outcome of all of this will be positive for the Egyptian people and the area of the middle east as a whole.

Friday, February 11, 2011

The Ocean Breeze

The answer my friend is blowin in the wind, the answer is blowin in the wind.

Bob Dylan

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Jelly Fish and Sharks

Today, in the water of the intracoastal here in Delray Beach, there was this very unusual little creature floating in the water. My niece and nephew were with me. They recently stayed at the Breakers in Palm Beach and said there were lots of these little sea creatures floating ashore there. They told me they are very poisonous jelly fish. If you pop them open (which isn't particularly easy to do) and any of their interior gelatinous material gets on you, one must immediately go to the hospital. I was also told that they are baby man o war jelly fish and to be extremely careful when near them. To make things even more exciting the kids also told me about the shark migration which is going on presently right off the shore here in Palm Beach County. In the video below you will see a helicopter and then the dark specs below in the water are the sharks. The numbers are staggering. No swimming for me for a while.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

F Stop Magazine issue #45

©Eric Perriard

I am very happy to announce that I have three images in the latest edition of F Stop Magazine, issue #45 focusing on abstraction in photography. They had an enormous amount of submissions for this issue and I am pleased to have been included. You can see the entire exhibition under "group exhibit".

Monday, January 31, 2011

Thinking of Spring

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Victoria's Electronic Life

I can't really, fully, comprehend what life so totally attached to electronics must be like. This is my daughter Victoria who can't seem to separate herself from her phone even when dead tired. Here she is on vacation glued to her phone. If it's not the phone, its the computer. If its not the computer, its her ipod. The phone rings during dinner and she jumps. I'm sure as parents we have all set our limits on this and more. It's not that I don't make use of the exact same technology myself, but I do remember when we were not all so dependent upon it. My father commented to me how he had seen the movie All the Presidents Men recently and he was struck by the fact that not one desk had a computer on it. That might seem like a long time ago to you but it sure wasn't to him. Where will all this take our children? They will grow to become so vulnerable if we all aren't already.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Rayko Gallery

I am pleased to announce that my image above, part of my Winter's Melancholy series which has yet to make it up on to my website, has been accepted into the 4th Annual Juried Plastic Camera Show at Rayko Gallery. Taken with a Holga camera.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Stress

Last night I was exhausted. I sat down in front of the tv about 9 or 10, can't remember and watched this science program about stress. It was a National Geographic special. The research came out of Stanford by way of Robert Sapolsky. He is Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. He's an expert in studying prolonged stress and it's impact on health. Well, the picture is rather frightening. Through chronic stress we actually wear away the ends of our chromosomes, impair our immune systems and die much sooner. Stress management is much more important then I realized. Just because everyone else is stressed doesn't mean I have to be. We can separate ourselves and decide to relax. Mindfulness is certainly one way to do that. Not to run on autopilot all the time. Living in ones head is not a prescription for happiness. I think competition generates a lot of stress and Americans are competitive. We certainly inherit that from Sopolsky's baboons. We are always concerned with getting someplace, somewhere, aquiring this or that, instead of enjoying the now. Taking it slow and having some faith in the future. We can't have it all right away. Things take time. That's just a fact. So, take a deep breath, look around and be confident that if you are in a bad place, this too shall pass.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Our Universe

I don't know whose image this so I can't place credit.

Yesterday I was reading reviews of new books on bookforum.com concerning the universe. It's amazing to realize, that with all the fancy technology and instruments available today, 80 percent of the universe still remains a mystery. Last night I mentioned to my husband, how from time to time, I envision all of us on this planet hanging in black, dark, cold space. The beautiful earth just hanging there unsupported, (I know about gravity silly, I'm taking poetic license here). My husband added, we're also tilted spinning at approximately 1000 miles per hour and hurdling thru space around the sun at 65,000 miles per hour. Now, I don't know about you, but these facts blow my mind. What's the impetus behind all this incredible activity and life? Of course, most of us were raised to immediately answer God. Which may or may not be a fact. I won't venture down that road today. I just wanted to point out the mystery of it all. So, be nice to everyone you meet today, after all, we're in this together.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happy Birthday Alexandra

Let me introduce everyone to my lovely daughter Alexandra, my oldest. Today is her birthday. This morning my husband and I were reminiscing the day she was born. It was a bitter cold, snowy day in Manhattan. She was born in Greenwich Village. She's in college now. That's the thing about parenting. You get so caught up in the process that it goes by much too quickly. Now we have two kids who only want to rock n roll. Nothing wrong with that of course. What else is college for? Education you say, well yes, that too. One certainly hopes to get something for their money! So to all you Mom's and Dad's out there, take it slow and enjoy the process.

To my darling daughter have a wonderful happy birthday and a splendid new birthday year.

We love you.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Patchwork of birds

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A Corona Day

Today was definitely a Corona day. Hot, sunny and humid here in Florida. It's 81 degrees. I know this is mean to post in view of the impending storms up north. Somehow it's hard for me to realize it's mid January with temperatures like these. Today is 1-11-11. Maybe these are lucky numbers for someone today, I sure hope so.

Monday, January 10, 2011

New Year Thoughts

This evening I was thinking about all the wonderful people who have taken the time to visit my blog over this past year. I wish I was able to meet everyone and find out about your lives and interests. The Internet with all it's interconnectivity is such a unique experience and hopefully will bring forth more goodness and camaraderie in our world. Recently I've had visitors from Brunei, India, Poland, Malaysia, Hungary, Norway, Netherlands, Russia, Estonia and Canada. Not to mention New York, California, Washington, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah, and many more. I would like to thank everyone and wish you all a very happy new year. All the best.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Water Reflections

Friday, January 7, 2011

Floridian Reflections

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Water Reflections

I have been fascinated by water reflections all of my life, but here in Florida I am mesmerized by them. Part of the reason is that water is such a prevalent part of my everyday life down here. We are surrounded by water. There are the ocean reflections, the Intracoastal reflections, the canals, the lakes, the ponds and all the swimming pools. I think I will post over the next few days some of my results. I hope you will enjoy them.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Years Day 2011

Last night we ventured out to the movies. We wanted to see the movie the social network before it left the theaters. Not having much experience with living in Florida we were in for quite a shock. The theater we generally go to is usually nice and mellow. Well that all changed yesterday. People had warned us about the "snow birds". We all know who they are. People looking to escape the winter blues and flock to Florida. They were out in full force last night. I guess they arrive after Christmas in time for New Year's.The parking lot was a mad house. One woman in particular was worthy of note. She was trying to physically save a space and caused a huge traffic jam. To the point where one man basically ran her off the spot by pulling in quite dramatically and dangerously. It was nuts. Of course we didn't stay and headed out for dinner instead. I tried a beer I have never had before. I think it was called "Long Island Blue Point". It was delicious. Try it some time. Happy New Year to everyone.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year

Here we are with yet another year gone by. It was a challenging year for me living half the year in Europe and then relocating to Florida for the remaining half. All the while working and marketing my work. It was a productive year all and all and I look forward to what 2011 will bring my way. I did not contribute to Lenscratch Blog's end of year favorite photo exhibition this year but I encourage everyone to go and stop by. It's a wonderful group of contemporary photographers exhibiting their own favorite photo from 2010. I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year. May it be filled with love, peace and joy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Lunar Eclipse

I'm a little late getting this up. This is the lunar eclipse as seen from Delray Beach Florida at 3am, December 21st, on the winter solstice. A very rare cosmic event. A full moon, an eclipse and on the winter solstice. The moon literally turned red. It was magical. I stood there gazing at this incredible event with the knowledge that it wasn't going to happen again for another 498 years. I wondered about all the people gazing upward as I was. I wondered about their lives, their stories, their families. It's astonishing to think about, and what will the world be like in 498 years? Impossible to imagine. It's all so mysterious.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and every possible good wish for great things in 2011.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 3

Friday, December 10, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 2

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 1

I did not find Art Basel Miami inspiring this year. I saw a lot of art that we all know. Many well established artists. I have to admit that I did not have time to get to Scope and Pulse and some of the other surrounding venues where emerging and inspirational work could be found. I also think Art Basel has shrunk. Attendance must be down. A reflection of our times. I will post some more work tomorrow. Enjoy.