This week, Ann-Christine looks back to Tina’s challenge #44, Harmony. She writes, “Harmony is the combination of separate but related parts in a way that uses their similarities to bring unity to a painting, drawing, or other art object.
“Harmony can also be reached in a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other, or when things seem right or suitable together.” You can read her entire challenge post here.
In 2020, in the midst of the COVID shutdown, I looked for something to occupy my time and came across YouTube videos on creating geometric and color patterns from an image. Originally a photo of a blossom, this twirl quickly became one of my favorites. For Ann‑Christine’s challenge, the palette works because the colors sit in friendly neighborhoods on the color wheel. Pink slides into magenta, teal drifts toward blue, and a touch of green bridges the cooler tones. They’re not opposites fighting for attention—they’re adjacent or near‑adjacent hues that naturally blend. That’s why the swirl feels unified: the colors themselves are doing the harmony work.
In Theodore Roosevelt National Park, these feral horses were standing together with their young colt nearby. When I was experimenting with Silver Efex in 2015, I used a preset from the Vintage group, Antique Plate II, to give the image a retro feel. The two adults share the frame in a way that feels calm and familiar. Their posture, closeness, and easy settlement into the scene establish a quiet relationship, demonstrating that accord can arise simply from being comfortable side‑by-side.
Over a decade ago, I was walking through a park with my recently acquired Nikon D7000. Spring flowers were blooming, and the bees were out in force. Nature excels at functional harmony. The bee and the flower depend on each other, each fulfilling its role in a shared system. The moment captures cooperation, purpose, and the natural world’s elegant efficiency.
It was 2006. In Mexico for my son’s wedding, we soaked up the culture, and I used a Fuji FinePix 3800 digital camera to capture our first trip south of the border. On an excursion to Stone Island near Mazatlán, a mariachi group entertained us. The musicians were fully engaged, their melodies blending in true Mexican tradition. Music is one of the strongest expressions of cultural harmony. Playing in sync, these performers show the kind of cohesion that comes from rhythm, tradition, and shared artistic expression.
For those who like to pixel peep or scan the metadata, this gallery is posted on my Flickr site here. Last week, I really enjoyed finding and sharing some of my favorite bridge images for Beth’s challenge. Next week, Anne hosts. Follow her blog here so you don’t miss her challenge. It will go live in just a couple of days at noon on Saturday, September 26.
If you’re sharing a Lens‑Artists Challenge response for the first time, welcome—we’d love to visit your post. To participate, publish your take on this week’s theme, link back to this page, and add the Lens‑Artists tag so others can discover your work. You’ll find more details on how the challenge works here.
John Steiner
Won me with the horses John and that busy bee is perfect
Thanks, Brian!
Very nice shots !
Thank you!
What a wonderful interpretation of this weeks challenge John! I also liked that you went back in time and into your archives to find these gems.
Thanks… I didn’t want to use images that were used for a previous challenge. I made one exception, the opening image.
😊
I like the way you define various forms of harmony, especially functional harmony and its beautiful accompanying photo 🙂 And great to see that twirl again, it works so well!
Thanks, Sarah!
Wonderful examples of harmony John, especially the swirl and bee/flower combo.
Thanks, Brad!
What a wonderful post, John! The examples show different–and effective–views of harmony.
Thanks, Egidio!
great post
Love your different examples of harmony, John. Of course music is a special one, but the bee and flower is beautiful – and the horses together in Antique Plate II is a gem!
Thanks, Ann-Christine!
Breaking harmony down into visual, social, functional, and cultural categories is such an insightful perspective! As Toonsarah and Leya noted in the comments, that functional harmony shot of the bee and flower and the calm horse pair are absolute gems. Fantastic interpretation of the challenge, John!
Thank you!
John, you have shown us amazing images of four different interpretations of harmony. The swirl is great but my favorite is the two horses.
Thanks, Beth!
I adore the bee with its little knickerbockers! – Great interpretation of the prompt.
Thanks, Elke!
A lovely collection, John. I do like the first shot of the edited flower. The colours are so harmonious and the image was a great choice for the challenge.
I like the horses too. Visually, I very appealing horse portrait, but that aged look in monochrome really adds something. Great composition too.
Thanks, Vicki!
Social Harmony, musical harmony, and nature in harmony. What an ideal place, hopefully people can one day live in harmony as well. Lovely post John
Indeed; thanks, Ritva.
Your opening image is incredible! I really like the bee one too! Beautiful collection
Thank you, Pamela!
I like your distinct categories of harmonies. The bee who is eternally almost reaching the flower is a good one.
Thank you, Rebecca!
Excellent response – love the beautiful twirl flower and horses
Thanks, Nora!
Excellent post, John. I love your focus on different sources of harmony, all your photos are wonderful examples.
Thanks, Sofia!
Beautiful John, I really like the swirl!
Thanks, Pam!