A Soft Warm Glow in the Darkness

I stopped shooting for more than a year and I am finally back on track again. With the help of friends here in the community the darkness has been lit up. I need a lot of practice and I need to keep on shooting as it is a part of my therapy. I needed to challenge myself and to do that is to join a challenge.

I stumbled upon the post of my beloved friend @melinda010100
Feel Good Lights and Candles

There is an ongoing challenge hosted by @barbara-orenya called #Seasonhunt where there is a different theme every week.

You could find the details of the challenge here in case you would like to join Season Hunt challenge, we are chasing LIGHTS AND CANDLES.

Theme for this week: Lights and Candles

I needed some practice and expressing myself thru photography as it is one of my favorite things in life. I thought about candles and imagined what will I present for the challenge. We don't have pretty candles and all the Christmas lights have been taken down. Well, I needed to search around the house to see what I could find.

The only time we use candles is when there is a power failure which happens rarely now. Whenever there are typhoons they turn off the power. I guess this is to prevent electrocution or accidents due to the strong winds.

After a lot of searching, I only found two old candles and some old jars. One of the candles is almost used up and I didn't know if it would be good enough. Anyway, I tried my best and here are the results for my entry for this week's challenge.

With an old glass jar and some old wire, I made a small lantern and placed the old used up small candle inside. I made the handle long enough so you could hang it outside just in case there is a power failure.

With the help of my daughter, we did a couple of shots to simulate a power failure. I think we may have captured that essence. I recall those times when we lost power for almost two weeks due to a typhoon. Our gadgets were almost drained up and decided to save the batteries of our phones for an emergency instead. Just in case we may need to contact someone or call for help. Everyone was off their phones during this tragedy. To help pass the time we played games and told scary stories. The scent of the burning candles and the darkness added to the ambiance of the stories.

At times like these, we get to bond more not that I am wishing for a power failure. The warm glow of the candles seems to be very soothing and puts everyone's mind at peace. Not thinking of anything, not worrying about problems just enjoying that warm yellow and orange glow with the people that you love.

Here is another source of light that I gathered around the house. An oil lamp made from an old jar, some used cooking oil, cotton and salt. Very useful in case you don't have candles lying around. Very easy to make and I will share with you how to do it one of these days.

Just like the bad situation I was in for months. I was surrounded by darkness and I felt that it was the end for me. Even in the darkest night, there is always a candle of hope no matter how dark it may be. You just need to keep it burning and never let it die out. Sometimes the light may not be enough but there is always beauty from the warm glow of the flame. You just need to look closer.

Thank you for joining me today and I hope you liked my entry for the challenge. For those wanting to join, you have a few more days to light up that candle. Thank you again @melinda010100 for sharing the challenge.

Thank you @barbara-orenya for this wonderful #seasonhunt we had lots of fun participating.

All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 and Olympus 45mm f1.8