Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth
I’m late again this week but finally got around to looking at this week’s challenge, “Warmth.” Warmth always makes me think of Balmy evenings on the beach in a tropical local. This photo is from Taveuni, Fiji on just such a night. The storms off the coast cooperated and lit up the skies with a nice display of warm colors.
Air- 80 degrees, Water 80 degrees
Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow #2 – Sandhill Sky
This is my second response to this week’s challenge”Yellow.” I took this photo two weeks ago at the Bosque Del Apache, in New Mexico. This time of year, thousands of Sandhill Cranes migrate to the area for the winter. They take off from the ponds each morning to dine in the neighboring fields but every night at sunset they return to the ponds for the evening. This is a typical sight that you see as the sandhills return against the colorful NM sky.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Yellow.” Whenever I see one of the these Challenges that are color related, I almost always turn to my photos from India. I found the colors there to be extraordinary everywhere you looked. I can always find a photo which highlights any color selection imaginable – so a yellow themed photo was easy to find. This photo was taken in the early morning as the crowds were assembling on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi. Everyone was headed for their morning prayers and baths in the sacred river. These ladies caught my eye as we passed by because of their stunning yellow saris.
Varanasi Yellows
Weekly Photo Challenge: Twinkle – the Charles Bridge of Prague on a rainy night
Here’s my post for this weeks challenge, Twinkle. While stars twinkle, so do the lights on the Charles Bridge in Prague. We were out on this dreary, rainy night but there weren’t many other people. That gave us the opportunity to catch this twinkling scene including the reflections off the cobblestone surface of the bridge.
Twinkle stars on the Charles Bridge
Weekly Photo Challenge: Angular
I’m a little late getting to this week’s challenge so I’ll post three different photos to illustrate angularity. The first is a close-up of a rooftop in Heidelberg, Germany. I liked the different angles of the rooftop dormers when added to the perspective angularity of the roof itself as it sloped away from my viewpoint. I also liked the contrast between the angular black dormers and the puffy dark clouds that were building.
Rooftop perspectives
The second photo is a reflection of an old gothic building in the decidedly modern windows of a bank. The combination of angles and curves caught my eye during an early morning walk (in Wurzburg I think).
Angularity reflects curves
The last photo is from Prague on a rainy night. The photo captures the angles and architecture of the fortress on the hill, the angles and lights of the Charles Bridge, and the foreground of angled pier posts and supports. There is also another, less apparent angle where there is a water break and falls in the river. It was a beautiful night and I was glad to be able to catch this image.
The Angles of a Praha evening
Weekly Photo Challenge: Achievement – $ 74,880/36 year Surprise!!!
I actually wrote this post a few weeks back (when it happened) but am glad I saved it for this challenge.
“Go for it” my partner said after seeing his tee shot fading to the right but in good position. I figured it for about a 250 yard shot to the green at the steeply uphill 12th hole at Mt Woodson golf course in Poway, California. I’ve played this hole dozens of times but have seldom tried to drive the green. Today was a perfect opportunity – the GPS was reading about 225 yards and there was no wind at all. I hadn’t been playing particularly well but I knew if I took a good swing I could reach the green and give us an advantage over our opponents. I tried to remind myself to swing smooth and then just gave it a cut. It was one of those rare (for me anyway) swings where the ball just “clicks” off the club face and you have the wonderful sensation of watching it soar high, with just a gentle 10 yard bend to the left toward the flagstick so far away.
The shot
As we watched, we all knew it was a pretty shot but then we heard a “clang” from 225 yards away as the ball struck the flagpole. We had no idea where the ball ended up but we were all charged up that it was such a fun shot. As my partner and I reached the green, the other twosome had walked up the hill to see where the ball ended up. I heard them say that there was no balls on the green, and when I got up there, none of us saw any ballmarks around the flag. They finally looked in the hole and yelled “I don’t believe it” and I realized that 36 years of frustration had come to an end – I had finally made my elusive hole in one – on a par 4 no less!!! A hole in one and what is known as an Albatross all in one swing of the club. I’ve gotten close to an ace several times over the years but not so much recently. What a great feeling – the rest of the round is kind of a fog – maybe the result of buying a few rounds of beer for the clubhouse after the round.
The Result….
Oh yeah – I almost immediately tried to figure out how much I had spent to get to that moment. I started playing golf 36 years ago at the age of 28. I guess that I have averaged about 1 round a week for all those years – sometimes more, sometimes less. I also figured that with equipment thrown in, the average round was probably around $40. That makes an estimate of $74,880 – the cost of a lower model Porsche – and worth every penny……
Minimalist #2 – Shadows
I haven’t posted since last week’s challenge but I thought I’d add another photo to that theme. This fits the description with a desaturated photo and lots of black space in the almost monochromatic photo. I took this while in Europe. I was passing from a sunny courtyard through a large portal into another square – I saw this young lady having her photo taken (with a flash) but I thought the natural lighting was better from my vantage point. I liked the dramatic shadows and the light only highlighting her outline.
Lady of Shadow
Weekly Photo Challenge: Minimalist
I don’t take too many minimalist photos but I found one that almost fits the bill. I liked this one enough to have it printed and displayed in our outdoor living room as the colors kind of mirror the colors of the “room”. This was taken with a telephoto lens during our recent trip to Europe. These two ladies were peering out a window high above the main square in Heidelberg, Germany. They both had kind of thoughtful expressions on their faces (or maybe they were just bored). I think the minimalist nature of the photo draws you to those expressions and makes you wonder what was really going on inside those minds……
A penny for your thoughts….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Descent
This challenge was easy as I was already working on an image that fits the subject. I just purchased and received a 24″ monitor and a graphic tablet to use for editing photos – I think I was starting to go blind doing all my editing on my small, portable Macbook Air. I had chosen a photo of a leopard from Tanzania for my first edits using the new equipment. Luckily, it happened to be a Leopard descending from a tree so it will also works for this challenge. I hope you enjoy!
Danger Descending
Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art
I’m not sure that this is really a great fit for this week’s challenge but I decided to use it as I thought it might make a good album cover. I also chose it as it was attempt to take a photo and make it more like a work of art. I took this photo in Yellowstone Park a few weeks back. This Osprey was sitting at the very top of a tree and decided to take off – nicely into the sun. I caught a nice sequence of photos but this is my favorite because of the wing positions, the claws, and the eyes of the great bird. It certainly conveys to me what it might be like to be able to fly…..I fine theme for an album.
Wind beneath my wings
Weekly Photo Challenge: Refraction #2
I did a quick scan of other photos from our European trip and found a photo I like better for this challenge. This is a window in a local restaurant in Heidelberg, Germany. The reflections are of the towers across the main bridge in the Medieval part of the town. The tower that provides the gateway to the bridge is the main subject of the reflections which are bent differently due to the variation and imperfections in the different window panes….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Refraction
Had to think about this challenge before I remembered that I had taken this photo of…..Space Invaders? Actually just a bunch of water droplets on a roof window of our river cruise ship. If you looked very closely at the droplets they are an upside down (and bent) image of the surrounding landscape. I just thought that it was an interesting pattern after a rain shower so I snapped this shot.
Flying saucers on the roof……
Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreamy
I was out and about yesterday and didn’t get a chance to look at this week’s challenge. When I saw it this morning, it just so happens I was “playing” with an image that I think might fit the description. I made my reservations earlier this week to return to the Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico for the annual migration gathering of thousands of snow geese and sandhill cranes. I decided to go back and look at some of my images from two years ago to see how I might interpret them differently now. This image was nice but it was kind of cluttered with lots of detail in the background distracting from the Cranes and the patterns in the water. I decided to simplify the photo into a more painterly type image and see what that might look like. As it turns out, this version of the image brings me back to a quiet, graceful and dreamy place….. hope it does for you also.
Dreamy Dance
Weekly Photo Challenge: Signs
I always look for interesting signs while in unusual places. This one caught my eye in Varanasi, India – along the banks of the Ganges River. How can you not buy tea or rent a boat from this proprietor? After all, he guarantees “No Problem”!
Who can resist?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Endurance
I haven’t posted many wildlife photos lately so I’ll use this opportunity to highlight an animal that depends on its endurance to thrive – the African Hyena. Hyenas are not the fastest, strongest, or stealthiest predator out there – but they are one of the most successful. During our trip to Africa this winter, we got to watch these under-rated hunters in action on several occasions.
Confident Hunter
The first Hyena we saw was in Uganda – it walked right by our vehicle in the early morning and was not at all concerned with our presence. We then watched it and several of its friends try to corner a group of Kob. This photo shows one of the Hyenas in hot pursuit of the herd. While we did not witness the end game of this encounter it was obvious that the Hyenas were just wearing down the Antelopes until they could get a shot at a weak one.
Danger closing in….
When we got to Tanzania, we saw an entirely different tactic, a single Hyena going after a small family group of gazelles. It locked in on one of the babies, and despite the best efforts of the parents to protect it, just waited until the young one tired out and finally made its kill.
Endurance wins out
I’ll spare you the graphic final moment of the encounter – you get the point.
I’ll end with one last interesting Hyena photo. On our last morning in Tanzania, a group of six Hyena surrounded our vehicle and wouldn’t leave – they circled the car and examined us all very closely. I took this photo out of our top hatch so that you can see how close they were and the attention they were giving us.
Endurance – Is he trying to wait us out?
When we finally drove off – they ran after the truck for quite some time…..not sure what we would have done if they followed us to the airport…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Humanity
I took this photo in Rottenburg Germany a few weeks ago. The love and affection of this grandmother to the young child shows the essence of humanity. To me it shows both the needs the child and the support that is provided by the extended family unit. This relationship is basic to the human condition across all national and geographic boundaries.
Family and Humanity – the two go hand in hand
Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure
Well, we are just returned from 3 weeks in Europe but I wouldn’t classify that trip as an adventure. It was very enjoyable but fairly quiet and even. As a contrast, I would classify our trips to camp with the Brown Bears in Alaska or our African trips as adventures – not only because of wildness of the areas but also because you are always in the presence of animals with minds of their own. I don’t mean that these activities are hazardous – but they are adventurous and interesting because you are experiencing things so far from our normal human interactions and lifestyles. I picked this photo (pretty much at random from my desktop) to illustrate a moment that made this an adventure – a chance to witness a wild lioness “schooling” her young ones in their behavior.
Adventurous moment – at least for the cub….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Dialogue
Here’s mine for the week’s challenge – a couple of skyline photos of european towns. I think these two represent a dialogue from the aspect that the first one is based on a white (or lighter colored) theme…..
White Skytops
While the second is predominantly a darker, or black scheme.
Black Skytops
Variations on a theme – a dialogue…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Fray
I was lucky on this week’s challenge. We were walking this morning in the little German town of Donaustadt on the Danube River. We weren’t looking for anything in particular, we were just enjoying this out of the way little town. As we went by the front of a house that was under construction my wife pointed out what she called “a dead teddy bear”. That is exactly what it looked like…..it was lying there, a little worse for wear, looking like it had been laid to rest. May this frayed little bear rest in peace….
Frayed Friend
Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette
I happen to still be on a European River Cruise (I’ll be posting some soon) but I wanted to post for this week’s challenge. I haven’t taken any silhouetted pics over here yet but I did have one on my computer that I shot last week. I call this….. Happy Wet Dog – he has his ball, the water is warm, and dad is keeping him running. Hope you enjoy this bad hair day silhouette!
Can’t worry about my “do” – I’m Busy!!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture
Welcome to my entry for this week’s challenge! When I saw the subject, I immediately thought of the elephants. Their rough and wrinkled texture is unlike anything else I have seen, touched or experienced in nature. It is even more interesting when you consider how that texture ages and becomes even more distinct and featured as the elephant gets older. I thought I’d try and illustrate that in this photo taken in the Serengeti in January. This elephant “family” was part of a much larger herd. I was also trying to give the photo a little texture from front to back by using the depth of field of the camera/lens…..
Texture adds character….
Weekly Photo Challenge: ZigZag
I had to think a little for this challenge but then I remembered this photo from Machu Picchu. The photo is taken from the trail on the way to the Sun Gate which is the portal along the Inca Trail leading down into the ruins of the ancient city which you can see in the distance in the center of the photo. The “zigzag” comes in with the unpaved bus trail (in the lower center of the photo) which leads to Machu Picchu from the small town of Aquas Calientes in the valley below.
A ZigZag route up the mountain
Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer Lovin
My entry for this week’s challenge. This was taken a couple of summers ago in Lake Como, Italy. It was a balmy evening perfect for a stroll along the lakeside. I saw this couple looking out over the last vestiges of the sunset over the lake and I thought it was a lovely, quiet moment.
Lovely place and time to be in love……
Weekly Photo Challenge: Container
Had to dig a little for this challenge. This photo was taken in the downtown market area of Katmandu, Nepal. This woman and many others filled an entire square with their pottery. Everything from these basic clay pots to much larger and ornate pottery. A pottery factory based on 100% human manufacture.
Pottery Factory
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