Weekly Photo Challenge: Victory
I’ll post a rather small “Victory” for this week’s challenge. We were in Kauai, Hawaii a couple of weeks ago in a house right on the beach with beautiful breaking waves. I have always been enamored by the ocean and can sit for hours just watching the ever changing views of the surf. What I have never done is try to capture a decent picture of the surf as kind of a stop action landscape. I took many photos that week trying to get something that expressed the beauty and the power of the crashing water. I kind of like this this one as I can almost hear the sound and smell the salt spray – I hope you enjoy it also.
Surfs up!!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate
Intro to an Icon…..
When I think of “Ornate” I always reflect on the cathedrals and monuments that I’ve had the opportunity to see around the world. One of the most incredible is, of course, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. I could easily have picked many of the pictures I have of that monument but I thought I’d take a slightly different view that many people don’t even know exists. The “Taj” is surrounded by an equally incredible compound that is amazing by itself. The entry points and corners are marked by large, very ornate structures that would be attractions all by themselves if they weren’t just an “appetizer” for the Taj. I chose to show one of those main entryways here. It is impossible to describe the detail of these building but I hope this at least gives you a taste. For context, the white domes that can be seen on the left side of the photo are the actual Taj Mahal…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat
We have been very lucky in “treating”ourselves to a couple of recent trips (hence my lack of posts). We first had the opportunity to go on a short notice trip to the Baja in Mexico to spend some time with Whale Sharks.
These incredible creatures come in close to the shore in the Sea of Cortez to feast on the plankton in the water. While that is great for the giant fish (not either whales or sharks), it is horrible for underwater photography due to the lack of visibility caused by the plankton. This photo was taken from our boat which was about 18 feet long – this whale shark was longer than the boat – about 22 feet in length.
“Whale of a Treat”
From the surface they appear to be hardly moving but when you get in the water to snorkel with them, you quickly realize that they are hard to keep up with and that they can disappear in seconds with one flip of their enormous tails or by just sinking down into the cloudy water.
Tail of the great fish….
In any case, it was a tremendous treat to spend some time with these very gentle giants. I’ll post some other photos from our lodge tomorrow and explain a little more about this wonderful trip.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Change
If there were no “Change” there would be a lot of bored photographers out there. Much of photography is catching those moments of change whether it be in a person’s action, or the state of the environment. I’ll use one of the most common changes that photographers focus on – the golden hour between the day and the night. When the sunlight is low in the sky, when the clouds are highlighted, and when everything seems just a little more clear and focused. This photo I call “time to head home” with surfers transitioning to a new part of their day as the sunset starts the change into night.
Time to Head Home
Weekly Photo Challenge: Grid
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge “Grid”, I ‘ll submit this photo I took in a German town square (don’t remember which town it was) while on a river cruise last year. I took it because the “grid” provided a good backdrop to highlight both the old and the new architectures sharing the same square.
Modern and Medieval
Weekly Photo Challenge: Monochromatic
India is not exactly a place that I would classify as “Monochromatic.” Virtually everything is awash in color as well sound and aroma. I did recall this photo that I took inside one of the temples in the ancient city of Khajuraho. In contrast to many modern (western) places of worship, the areas inside are small, intimate, and intended for private reflection and meditation. This Indian woman was enjoying a quiet moment inside the temple early in the morning before the throngs of people began to show up. I thought the light coming through the window reflecting against the wall and onto her face made an interesting scene. The tone of the light, the walls, and her face all blend into a single pallet and resulted in one of my favorite photos from this incredible place.
Muted colors, quiet moment
Photo Challenge: Today was a good day
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge, “Today Was a Good Day” I chose to show the end of the day. A week or so ago, we took a short (1 and a half hour) trip out to the Anza Borrego State Park for a one night mini vacation. We stayed at the beautiful Casa Del Zorro in Borrego Springs but we spent most of the evening out in the desert to take photos of the sunset and then the Milky Way. Here are a couple of shots from that trip.
First “star” of the evening
We drove out to a deserted area of the desert and never saw another person. This was a nice little canyon to watch the sun fall below the mountains and create this nice sun star over the cactus.
Cactus Star
Another angle at sunset highlighting the local fauna.
Ocatillo Milky Way
And finally, the main event – the incredible views of the Milky Way over the desert. This was actually taken about midnight – the end of a very nice evening and day.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Creepy
Living in San Diego, I try to get down to Comic-Con for at least one day to see what kind of lunacy is going on there. This year, my wife and our next door neighbors came with me to take in the unusual sights. As we were walking down the main area of town where all the costumed characters roam, this “little piggy” jumped out and approached my wife. By the look on her face, you can see why this guy deserves to be the subject of “Creepy” ….
Creepy….and creeped out!!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet
I had to think a while about “Beneath Your Feet” before I came up with a photo that kinda met the challenge. I finally remembered this photo I took a couple of years ago at a local beach. In surfing, it is VERY important to keep something beneath your feet. Unfortunately, this poor guy was unable to do that and ended up with only air beneath his feet while the rest of him was beneath the wave. I titled this one “the Agony of De-Feet” in honor of the famous lead in to the old sports show, the Wide World of Sports.
Loss of footing….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Inspiration
There are many things that inspire me to take photographs – a dramatic sunset, a beautiful landscape, an iconic view of the world, an infectious smile, or just a scene of everyday life which captures the feelings of the moment. With all of that being said, the single reason that I got back into photography was to be able to capture nature at its best – through the amazing wildlife that we are privileged to share this planet with. On this week when there has been an overwhelming outcry against the senseless killing of Cecil the Lion, there was only one choice for this week’s challenge, “Inspiration.”
I’ll add my voice to those that are appalled by this act. While there are certainly greater evils in this world (poverty, hate, oppression, and many more), the killing of this noble beast (and the countless other killings of endangered animals in the name of “sport” or commerce) is a very poor reflection on our society. How can one look at a creature like this Lion from Tanzania and not worry that there are supposedly civilized human beings out there that could willfully deprive future generations from this incredible source of Inspiration and awe.
Inspiration – but for how long??
Weekly Photo Challenge: Close-up
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Close Up”, I decided to go back to a close encounter from Africa. This little cat (full grown female Cheetah) is staring down at us through the top window of our safari vehicle. I had my smallest lens on and it was still almost too close to focus. She was a perfect companion and made no threatening gestures at all as she spent about 10 minutes on our roof surveying the countryside for prey……
Thank god we didn’t smell like gazelles……
Weekly Photo Challenge: Half and Half
Here’s my entry to this week’s challenge “Half and Half.” I took this photo last week at the San Diego Zoo. I was there late in the afternoon hoping to get a photo of a young jaguar cub with some dramatic lighting and shadows. The photo that I liked was one in which the cub is partially in the sun with the background in shadows. It turned out that there is close to equal parts light and dark – half and half kitty……
half light or half dark?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol
I’m a little late in getting my challenge response in this week to “Symbol”. I chose the well known national animal and icon for Australia – the Kangaroo. When we went there, one of my first goals was to find a kangaroo that I could photograph. This “Roo” was near the town of Cairns, one of the gateways to the Great Barrier Reef. I actually took this photo in someone’s back yard as this mom and offspring were grazing. One glance at this iconic creature and you already know what country you’re in – a symbol through and through…..
Also seen on Qantas airliners…..
Weekly Photo Challenge: Door
For today’s challenge, “Door”, I’ll take you to the streets of Melbourne, Australia. There is an area in downtown Melbourne where the street artists are allowed to exercise their talents and paint the walls of the streets and alleyways . It is a beautiful collection of work, some funny, some with a message, others just attractive and interesting. Here is a scene from one of those back streets with some of the art surrounding a door…..
Do you think she is the “watchman” for this door?
Weekly Photo Challenge: “Roy G. Biv” (All the colors of the rainbow
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge “ROY G. BIV”, I took this photo yesterday as we were flying into Anchorage Alaska. We were approaching the landing and flying low over a series of ponds and creeks with the sun coming directly across the water. Between the water’s reflections and the polarizer on my lens, it produced these beautiful effects on the water – a nice fit for this week’s challenge.
Rainbow Ponds
Weekly Photo Challenge: Off Season
I recently went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks precisely because they were “Off-Season.” It was too late for the ski season in Jackson Hole but not too late to get some nice photos of the Grand Tetons. This is shot of one of the very famously photographed mormon barns with the Tetons as the backdrop. You can see the snow is going fast but it is a beautiful sight on a clear spring day.
Between the winter and summer seasons
The second photo is also of an oft-photographed area – Oxbow Bend in the Grand Teton Park. During the fall color season there are hordes of photographers at this spot hours before sunrise to catch the colors. I was pretty much alone as I took this photo. Since it didn’t have the advantage of the fall foliage, I chose to make it a B&W and just feature the scenery and reflections.
Oxbow (lack of) Colors
Weekly Photo Challenge: Vivid
There are few scenes as “Vivid” as a sunset over the red rocks areas in Utah. This photo was taken towards the west (obviously into the sun), just as the sun was going down behind the landscape near Dead Horse State Park. At that instant the colors in the sky and in the orange rocks are incredible. This photo is “blown out” by the sun flare but I think it still portrays the drama of the scene and scenery.
Dead Horse Sunflare
Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way
Two weeks ago I had a great experience “On the Way.” As I was leaving Yellowstone and beginning my journey back home to San Diego. I was driving through the Grand Teton National Park in the evening before a planned stopover in Jackson, Wyoming. I saw a couple of gravel/dirt roads that looked like they needed exploring so I took some time out from my transit to see if I could find some wildlife. At my first stop, I found some Marmots that I posted a photo of earlier this week. On a second dirt road, I went into the woods as far as I could before running into a large “pond” in the middle of the road. Not having a four wheel drive, I turned around and went back the way I came in. I wasn’t expecting to see anything as I had been on the road only 5 minutes before. As I came around a corner, I saw this nice surprise – A grizzly sow with cubs.
Nice surprise
They were also “on their way” so I didn’t have long with them but I did get a few quick shots. Here is a view of the cubs as they were leaving – I love that the one cub kept looking back to see what I was doing. This “on the way” interlude made both of our journeys very memorable!
Cub farewell glance
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken – Bhaktapur, Nepal
When I saw the subject of this week’s challenge all I could think about was the continuing sorrow for the disaster in Nepal. I chose this photo as it shows happier days in the ancient capital area known as Bhaktapur in Katmandu. This area was almost totally destroyed by the earthquake(s). While we were there in 2013, we also discussed the political situation in the country which was struggling to come up with a new constitution and government structure. That situation can only exacerbate the dire need in this devastated country. The city and much of this country are tragically “Broken” and in need of whatever the rest of the world can provide. I stopped short of including a link to relief organizations but I hope that you might consider giving to one of your choice.
Bhaktapur in better times…
I also wanted to include a more human photo to put a face on those in need….
Where is she now?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Intricate
Once again I am late in responding to this week’s challenge: “Intricate.” You have all seen photos of the iconic opera house in Sydney, Australia. It is easily recognizable by its intersecting graceful arches. Have you ever wondered what it looks like on the inside? This is a photo from the lobby of one of the several performance venues within the complex. The architecture is just as incredible from the inside as it is on the exterior. The arches are all formed out of reinforced concrete but with many supports and stringers providing the structure. All of those supports create straight lines which intersect with the arches at a multitude of different angles. The complexity yet beauty of this structure amazed me and I hope you find it interesting also. Have a great weekend!
Lines of an Iconic Beauty
Weekly Photo Challenge: Motion
As someone who takes many photos of wildlife in“Motion.” I am always looking the right approach to catching that feeling. One of the primary ways of doing that is to try and freeze important parts of the scene while letting the motion blur other parts of the scene. This photo was taken at the Bosque Del Apache last year – two snow geese coming in for a landing. It was early morning so I was using a slow shutter speed and panning the camera with the geese. I was trying to capture the bodies of the geese in focus while the background and the wings of the geese were blurred by the motion.
Descent
Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird
I’ve posted a few photos from our 2013 trip to Alaska but haven’t used my first picture taken at dawn at Silver Salmon Creek. I think this fits the theme “Early Bird” perfectly. The sun was just coming up across the inlet with the sky and mountains on the other side showing their colors. The Bear that was out on the tidal flats was still just a silhouette but I love the mood of this photo. Every time I look at this one, it brings me back to that early, but perfect, morning.
Early Bear with Early Birds
Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat
I had lots of options from our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand for this challenge, “Afloat.” We spent a lot of time under the water as well as floating above – on a cruise ship, aboard a dive boat, and even on a small zodiac. What I ended up choosing was a photo of a school of Dolphins that we saw in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. I took this photo looking back into the sun so many of the details were “blown out” by the glare. I took out even more water detail when I processed the photo and ended up with this version which I think looks like the dolphins are “afloat” in the air instead of their normal watery environment.
Floating in Air….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Blur
Here’s my response to this week’s challenge “Blur.” Photographers frequently use a narrow depth of field to isolate the subject from the surroundings. Its a great technique unless you happen to get the focus point just slightly wrong and catch perfect focus on another portion of the photo while the subject is just a shadow. This is one of my favorite examples of that happening. I was trying to take a photo of a tufted puffin in Alaska who was taking off directly away from the boat we were in. The puffin was my intended focal point but I missed and got some of the “spray” from his hopping take-off instead. I still like the photo as it catches the action as well as a crystal clear image of where the puffin used to be…..
so close……
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