Weekly Photo Challenge: Sweet
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but its been a busy time. We’re getting ready for a trip to Antarctica and Patagonia so I’ve been preoccupied. That being said, when I saw this week’s challenge, I couldn’t ignore it. We spent some incredible time with some young (3 week old?) lion cubs and their mom back in October and it was sooooo cute and soooo sweet that I never get tired of perusing those photos. Here’s one I thought captured a quiet and curious moment with one of the youngsters as she came toward our vehicle…..
How can you not love Kittens? Especially in the wild!
Hope you guys enjoyed this sweet moment – I loved being able to share it…….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene
This week’s challenge was easy for me. I’ll take you back to Tanzania on one of our last evenings there. As usual, we were still out with the wildlife at Sundown. We had been watching a group of female lions getting ready for their nightly hunt but we had also been watching a group of Elephants a few hundred yards away. I decided to try to get a ground level shot of an elephant with the sun going down over his/her back. While I couldn’t quite get that photo framed due to the brush in front of us, I kept moving to try and catch the beautiful sunset along with these gentle giants. When I look at this capture, it immediately brings back a sense of excitement (in trying to get the shot) but also the quiet calm and beauty of the scene and this magnificent creature standing in front of me….
Serene Giant
Weekly Photo Challenge: Experimental
I’m not sure that this really fits the subject of this week’s challenge but I liked this photo and I could stretch the meaning to fit……
This is a shot that I took during a “sundowner” happy hour overlooking the Serengeti in Tanzania. The sky was incredible but the only prominent point of interest was a single Acacia tree not far away. Those trees are frequent subjects of African sunset photography so it wasn’t very innovative from that aspect. What struck me about the scene was that the tree’s canopy was totally mirrored by the clouds just above – perfect semi-circles. I decided to take a photo where the subject was dead center in the frame – something I rarely do. I set my aperture to try and catch a sun star as the sun emerged below the clouds but above the tree. I had my camera on a pocket tripod so I was lining the shot up as the sun and clouds moved – as luck would have it, at the perfect moment, I could see a perfectly round lens flare forming as the sun reflected off the center of my lens. I snapped the shot at that second to catch this additional highlight to the symmetry of the scene – it is faint but hopefully apparent in the photo – forming a perfect circle around both the tree and the sun. An experiment in composition with a little help from mother nature.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Glow
We have just recently returned from a wonderful safari trip to Tanzania. When I saw the subject of this week’s challenge, I immediately went to this photo. I took this after one our first days in the wild at Tarangire National Park. We were staying at a wilderness camp with just my wife and I, our guide, and 3 beautiful people to take care of our every need in camp. I selected this photo as it captures many glows – the fading sunglow on the horizon, the star glow appearing in the darkening sky, the moon glow almost directly overhead, and the glow from our campfire embers both on the ground and reflected in the massive Baobab Tree above. This is a scene to remember for many years to come.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Satisfaction
First, I’d like to apologize for my lack of posts lately – no particular reason other than my utter dismay at our current political state. For my entire life, I have been proud to be a citizen of this country. I truly believed that this was the greatest country on earth – a beacon of freedom and democracy that stood as an example to other countries. That feeling was consistently validated during every one of my foreign travels – people routinely expressed their admiration of our liberty and our institutions as they lamented their own country’s corruption and inability to serve “the people”. In six short months that admiration has turned to scorn and ridicule as we have swiftly lost the credibility that was dearly earned through our (mostly) principled behaviour on the international stage. At the same time, here at home, our white house occupant continues to offer empty promises to his electorate (he never speaks of the majority of the country who didn’t vote for him) without a clue on how to achieve them. Somehow we are supposed to believe that his imagined victories over his enemy of the day and his unending placing of blame (on anyone other than himself) is a good substitute for actually serving the nation. In his own words, it is indeed “sad”. Sorry for the rant but I thought I’d express my dis-satisfaction before turning to more positive thoughts.
One of the most satisfying experiences in my life of late was a 16 day trip down the full length of the Grand Canyon. Believe me, at least some of that satisfaction was due to the lack of communication with the outside world and a respite from the White House’s fright show. But one of the other extreme joys was the opportunity to take morning hikes in the canyon. Often these hikes led us upward to incredible vantage points and vistas where the sheer beauty was overwhelming. Combined with the exertion of climbing and rock hopping up the trails, we were treated to that wonderful feeling of physical well-being at the same time we were experiencing the wonders of mother nature. I chose this particular photo from one of those hikes as a great example of that satisfaction. I actually left our hiking group at this spot just so that I could enjoy the solitude, quiet, and magnificent view here as the sun started to fill the canyon.
Cactus Canyon Satisfaction
Weekly Photo Challenge: Evanescent
One of many Grand Canyon morning memories
I just recently returned from 16 days on a Dory trip down the entire length of the Grand Canyon. The trip was remarkable with changing scenes and moods around every bend in the circuitous meandering of the river. I’ve chosen the photo above as an example of one of those fleeting scenes. The sun just peeking over the canyon, the clouds providing some change overhead, and the quickly advancing rays of the sun greeting the canyon and a dry wash littered with rocks – all of these added to this quick flash in time – never to be seen again in this exact form. I was glad I was able to capture it and keep that morning alive in my (and hopefully your) mind.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Earth
Last October as I was driving home from a little time in the desert and the Sierras, I stopped along highway 395 and took this morning shot of the Sierras near Lone Pine, California. The cars were whizzing by me as I framed the shot so I didn’t spend a lot of time to get it right. The lava rock and a few scraggly sage bushes were the only foreground I could use but I still liked this photograph because of the mix of the rocks, the face of the mountain range, and the dramatic clouds above. To me it is a simple photo but one that catches the essence of “Earth”.
Scenic Highway
Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s easy to be Green
Just did a quick search to find a photo for this week’s challenge. While this may not be the best fit, this guy seems to be enjoying his green surroundings…… I took this in the very early morning at one of the stops on a European River Cruise a few years back. I found this statue on a wall just off the empty main square of a beautiful little town (can’t remember the name right now). I loved the look on his face, the natural flora, and even the bikes parked nearby. I still find this photo relaxing and a nice reminder of that solitary morning.
A natural smile…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Atop
Feeling lazy so I’ll take the easy way out this week and choose another photo from Edinburgh for this week’s challenge, atop. This is a fairly regular view from “atop” one of the hills surrounding Edinburgh. Although it is a normal view for postcards, you can understand why it is popular as it gives you a nice vantage point for the primary sights of the city. In particular, the clocktower on the right centre of the photo is on the beautiful Balmoral Hotel, to the right of that is the Scott memorial (to Sir Walter Scott), and to the left is the Edinburgh Castle high on another hill. I normally don’t like to take views from above cities (skyscrapers or observation towers) because they seldom provide a view into the character of the city. I think this view is different in that it is not high enough to hide the character of the main buildings and it provides a nice overview of where everything is……
Nice view of Edinburgh’s sights
I should mention that the memorial in the foreground is to Dugald Stewart, a Scottish mathematician and philosopher of the 17 and 1800s.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Against the Odds
I’m a little late on my photo for the week as I wanted to finish my political thoughts before I looked at the challenge. While this photo may not scream Against the Odds to you, it sure does for me. Back in October my friend Ross and I were out in Rainbow Canyon (near Death Valley) taking photos of military aircraft who often fly through that canyon. The photographic process for such an endeavour is a lot like fishing – hours of quiet boredom punctuated by moments of frenzy when an aircraft enters the canyon at high speed. While we were just sitting there waiting for the aircraft to cooperate we amused ourselves with trying to catch a photo of a kangaroo rat running in and out of the rocks that formed our perch on the canyon edge. The fact that the animals were very quick and very small combined with the reality that they can appear from anywhere to make this a very difficult photo shoot. After a plethora of failed attempts, we finally resorted with trying to bait the little fella out of the rocks. While that sounds like cheating, it still did not make for an easy shot – our “model” would still vary his approach direction and timing and also make all of his attempts with a very quick in and out run. We finally did get some pretty decent shots of the little guy but I though I’d post this one showing him on his way in to the Cheeto lunch table that we had prepared for him….
a worthy adversary…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow
I chose a local photo from our neighbourhood for this week’s challenge shadow. I took this about a month ago when my wife pointed out this kitten sitting on a doorstep across the street. I thought the very prominent shadow being cast against the bright wall made for an interesting photo – I’ll let you be the judge….
A mere shadow of itself…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ambiance
To me there is no better example of ambiance than a sunset – especially along the coast or up in the mountains somewhere. Combined with reflections off the water (in this case, a very low tide) there is nothing better to set a beautiful and colorful mood. This photo is taken of the crystal pier in Pacific Beach just as the sun sets right on the horizon. Hope you enjoy the calm and peaceful feeling of this photo on a sure to be tumultuous week…..
Breath in and smell the salt water…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Anticipation
As someone who spends a fair amount of time photographing wildlife it would be easy to talk about the excitement and expectation of capturing a great image of a wild and unpredictable subject. Instead, I wanted to share a photo that is not uncommon but often overlooked – that look of anticipation and wonder on the faces of the wildlife we encounter – concerned about whether we are predators or just wondering what the heck we are doing in their domain. I chose this photo from a walking safari we did in Nepal – if that is not a look of anticipation, then I’ve never seen one…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: New Horizons
There’s nothing that signifies a new beginning or horizon to me better than the sunrise of a brand new day. It gets even more exhilarating and significant when that new horizon happens to be looking to the sea with the sun rising in the east. I took this photo in Poipu beach, Hawaii last year. The colors of the sky were in stark contrast to the black lava rock that rims the coastline. A worthy sight and memory to begin any day or any endeavor.
Colors and Contrast
Weekly Photo Challenge: Relax
When I saw the subject of this week’s challenge, I thought of many photos but ended up choosing this one from a 2012 trip to Alaska. We had just landed and set up camp for a week with the Brown Bears in the Katmai. We took a short walk from our camp and watched as some of the bears grazed in the field. We eventually followed this bear as he made his way to the stream, plopped down, and immediately dozed off. He didn’t seem to mind at all that the 5 of us were nearby clicking away with our cameras – He was much too relaxed to care…
let sleeping bears lie….
Pre-Holiday Cuteness
I’m in the process of backing up my thousands of photos and combining some of my Libraries. As I transferred some files from one our Alaska trips I started to look through some of the pics. Couldn’t resist sharing this one with you before the holidays – hope you all have a great holiday season!!
Who says puppies are cute?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Magic
I chose a simple photo of something that is completely natural and expected but is still something that is just plain Magic. My friend Ross (from Scotland) and I were up in Yosemite National Park a week or so ago (with thousands of our fellow gawkers) and did a quick run around the sights as he had never been there before. We managed to find a parking space in the valley in the afternoon and did a quick walk around a pasture looking up at the massive rock faces as the sun started to go down. I just snapped this photo of a tree in its full fall colors with the sun sifting through the leaves and with the cliffs in the background. While this short lived transformation and explosion of colors happens every year at this time, it is still magic if you take the time to think about it.
Magical Change….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Tiny
I took a photo earlier this week that fits the challenge “Tiny” perfectly. While leaving the house I noticed some hummingbirds feeding on a bird of paradise next to my front porch. I quickly got my camera and got a few decent shots of this tiny, agile flyer. The colors of the hummer and the bird of paradise blended pretty nicely…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Transmogrify
I decided that my recent trip to the Eastern Sierras would provide good material for this week’s challenge “transmogrify”. I chose this photo from the Trona Pinnacles for the challenge because of two factors. The first is that the pinnacles are a drastic and out of this world change from the unappealing town nearby. That is one of the reasons that it has been chosen for many hollywood films, from sci-fi features to “Top Gun”. The second reason is that the pinnacles become even more impressive during changes in lighting such as sunrise and sunset. This photo was taken just at sunset before the stars and the milky way made their appearance. The transition of colors in the sky and the shadows of the pinnacles was rapid and dramatic. Well worth the stopover……
Trona Transition
Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O
It took me a long time to get to the last photo challenge but here is my interpretation of H2O – in 3 physical states. I took this photo early on our trip to Svalbard, Norway. This area was one of the first glaciers we came across after our first night on the good boat Polaris. It was a gloomy morning until the sun started to burn off some of the clouds and the mist near the glacier. I caught this scene just as the fog (gaseous H2O) was lifting over the Glaciers (solid) and the Fjord (liquid). It was quite a spectacular sight – the photo does not do it justice but it was a great first morning on our Arctic journey…..
Serene and Scenic
Discover Challenge: Here and Now
I went on the Daily Post looking for the photo challenge but there didn’t appear to be one – instead it featured a challenge for “here and now”. Since I had just returned from La Jolla Cove where I was trying out a new camera I thought I’d post some photos of that particular here and now (from a couple of hours ago). I went to the cove with the intention of catching birds in flight but there wasn’t much going on so I just took what interested me. Here are some of the here and now photos ….that I took…..then.
The sun was out at first but there wasn’t much moving so I walked over to where the sea lions normally bask by the water and found this little guy enjoying the sun and the surf.
When the sun was still low in the sky there were numerous cormorants nesting in a tree above the cove. I managed to catch this silhouette of one of them coming in to its perch.
The light got pretty flat after a while and there still wasn’t much flying so I caught this shot of the cormorants also enjoying the crashing surf. As here and nows go, this was a pretty nice one.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Edge
If you’ve ever been to the Grand Canyon you probably know that many people get vertigo if they get too close to the edge – it can be a very disconcerting feeling. I’ve been there with several folks who couldn’t get within 20 feet of the edge. It never really bothered me too much and it definitely didn’t effect this young lady who perched herself on a small pinnacle on one of the trails into the canyon. It was a hazy hot day with muted colors so I liked the effect better in B&W – hope you enjoy…..
Woman on the Edge
Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror
We had plenty of opportunities for this “mirror” challenge while in the Arctic region of Svalbard, Norway. I chose to use this photo from a glacier bay that was being fed by 5 different glaciers. The bay contained uncountable chunks of ice floating around – ranging from small icebergs that had calved off the glaciers to much smaller pieces of ice that the glacier had ejected. This “mini-berg” had been inhabited by many kittiwakes who were preening themselves in the mirror-like reflections in the bay. A beautiful late afternoon Arctic scene….
Cold Kittiwakes
Weekly Photo Challenge: Frame
This week’s challenge is to find a unique “frame” within a photo that focuses on the subject. I chose this photo which was taken on a main road near the Chambal wildlife preserve in India very early on a foggy morning. This tractor was coming toward us within a natural tunnel formed by the trees lining the road on both sides. The effect looked exactly like a frame around the tractor and the enormous load it was hauling…
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