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Thursday, February 02, 2012

natural products – up close

FMTSO - February 3 - Macro: Show case your town up close and personal!

Gosh dang-it, I can be so literal.  [1. Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary meaning of a word or words.] It really blocks me.  I read something; I hear something; an idea forms in my mind of what the words mean (to me).  Then I flounder around, knowing or thinking I know what others might have meant by the words, the words don’t mean the same to me and I get stuck inside my literal box.  I dig a hole for myself and I just keep right on digging until I run out of room and have to make a choice. 

I spent last weekend in Rio, digging….. Macro….[1. Of great size; large.] …. Okay that is Rio for sure, with 12 million and counting people, but how to take a photo of it – showcasing it up close and personal! I assumed that the assignee of this topic meant for us to do Macro Photography, to use macro photography to showcase an aspect of our cities – up close and personal…An aspect of a city of 12 million up close and personal…...Okay time to climb out of the whiney hole…..

Just today I decided to use some photos taken years ago instead of those I took this past week…. In mid June of 2010 FMTSO did Rocks – large and small, and a few weeks after that our topic was Urban MacroUsing those two FSO as inspiration, decided I would bring you a few up close shots of rocks and minerals of Brasil.

Out on the Barra – way out almost to Recreio, what seems to be south of the city but is really to the west, a good hour’s drive from Ipanema is a store that we often take visitors to see. Legep an wholesale outlet for stones and minerals from all over Brasil. Many come from their own mines, crafted and polished in their own workshops. They charge based on the weight of the stone and ship for you so you don’t have to lug your artwork through the airports or worry about baggage weight overages. Don’t miss going upstairs where there are bits and pieces of uncut stones that you can use to make into your own designs.  Here is a few of my favorite pieces – up close and personal!

Barra stones and gems (1)ii Barra stones and gems (21)ii
Barra stones and gems (33)ii Barra stones and gems (42)ii
Barra stones and gems (29)ii Barra stones and gems (53)ii
Barra stones and gems (40)ii  stone birdsii

stone birds 2ii

8 comments:

  1. These are gorgeous!! I'll bet Legep is more like a museum than a store.

    Thank you so much Ginger for your beautiful comments. I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately.

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  2. Love the closeup of the marvelous stones, especially the purple one.

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  3. I love these rocks the colors and textures are awesome! Thanks for sharing the photos. My up close and personal is up too.

    FMTSO

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  4. Love the photos of the rocks and gems found in Brazil!

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  5. I always enjoy your unique takes on the topic, Ginger. They are what makes you you - if that makes any sense! And these are wonderful!

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  6. Mmmm...the close up of the minerals! Such color. And what a beautiful small carving!

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  7. we have lots of these beautiful stones too.

    The black thing: you are right, they are volcanic rocks.

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