Here is a list of Photography Blogs ordered by Most Commented, posted by members. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
Photography - recent sunsets
I've been down in Florida since mid December and having lots of fun. 
as I always do.
One of the many things I enjoy doing is exploring and photographing nature.
So far, I've taken over 2,800 nature photos, which I just finished cropping into a
8" x 10" orientation.
I realize that quite a few of the members here enjoy pictures of sunsets.
So, I selected 16 recent sunset photos to post on here now for your viewing enjoyment.
Let me know which one(s) you like the best.
Also, lets take a vote on which theme the next set of photos you would prefer to see.
Whichever of the following gets the most votes, will be the next one I post.
Would you prefer to see photos of;
Alligators ?
Purple Gallinule ?
Otter ?
Manatee ?
Osprey ?
Great Egret ?
Little Blue Heron ?
Great Blue Heron ?
Green Heron ?
Tricolored Heron ?
Flowers ?
Red Shoulder Hawk ?
Limpkin ?
Lizards ?
Turtles ?
Pelicans ?
Quaker Parrots ?
Belted Kingfisher ?
With no further ado, here's the 16 sunset photos;
If you would like to see more of my photos, including other sunset photos, you can go to my webpage;
as I always do.
One of the many things I enjoy doing is exploring and photographing nature.
So far, I've taken over 2,800 nature photos, which I just finished cropping into a
8" x 10" orientation.
I realize that quite a few of the members here enjoy pictures of sunsets.
So, I selected 16 recent sunset photos to post on here now for your viewing enjoyment.
Let me know which one(s) you like the best.
Also, lets take a vote on which theme the next set of photos you would prefer to see.
Whichever of the following gets the most votes, will be the next one I post.
Would you prefer to see photos of;
Alligators ?
Purple Gallinule ?
Otter ?
Manatee ?
Osprey ?
Great Egret ?
Little Blue Heron ?
Great Blue Heron ?
Green Heron ?
Tricolored Heron ?
Flowers ?
Red Shoulder Hawk ?
Limpkin ?
Lizards ?
Turtles ?
Pelicans ?
Quaker Parrots ?
Belted Kingfisher ?
With no further ado, here's the 16 sunset photos;
If you would like to see more of my photos, including other sunset photos, you can go to my webpage;
3 for the love of nature 1
One of the things I enjoy is nature.
I used to post nature photos on CS a while back.
I'm thinking of perhaps doing it again on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis,
depending upon the level of interest.
For now, here's 3 of my photos. Let me know which of the 3 you prefer the most, if you don't mind.
1 - Soaring bald eagle;
2. Cormorant caught a fish
3. Sunset over the Raritan River, NJ
That's enough for now.
I used to post nature photos on CS a while back.
I'm thinking of perhaps doing it again on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis,
depending upon the level of interest.
For now, here's 3 of my photos. Let me know which of the 3 you prefer the most, if you don't mind.
1 - Soaring bald eagle;
2. Cormorant caught a fish
3. Sunset over the Raritan River, NJ
That's enough for now.
Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd
As wildfires rampage throughout my province and it being declared a state of emergency with over 600 burning, the one 10 km from me has created a thick smoke for about two weeks now.
Sick of the smoke and lack of photo opportunities, bored with cycling my same 15km in the thick haze, I headed south of the border on Thursday to ride a rail trail I'd seen but never travelled before. I'm so glad I went! If I'd stuck with the reviews, I wouldn't have even attempted it.
A 45 mile return trip from Sedro-Woolley to Concrete, the beginning of the trailhead was a bit difficult to find as directions to where it started were rather obscure. Now that I know exactly where it is, I'll write a review with explicit directions.
Starting off, the trail is like a shady tunnel, cool and inviting.
About a mile and half through the trees, a bench by the river beckons me to take a peek through the trees. The aqua river mesmerized me, so beautiful in such a quiet and peaceful setting.
Not quick enough and no zoom lens on, the mergansers moved swiftly away from the bank and into the middle of the river at my intrusion.
Continuing on my journey across the first of many bridges.
Still captivated by the sight of the river.
Across another bridge, and I loved the leaf, seemingly suspended in air.
A little closer look.
The last mile marker was at mile 16, at which point you have to cross one of many back roads. Crossing to continue the trail, this is what's at the end of it (about a block from the entry). No indication to detour, just heavy bush and a pond. Good thing I'm adventurous and found my way via road around, and found a narrow path where others had circumnavigated the dead end.
Further along the trail, a very busy highway dissects it, and one has to be quick and careful to cross. A parks employee was working and we chatted for a bit, him advising me to be careful crossing the road. When I told him I was riding the entire 45 miles (there and back) his eyebrows shot up and he said 'impressive'. My camera in my bag, I didn't think to take his photo (if he'd even allow it).
On the other side of the trail, it turns into flat, open valley with little shade. A herd of buffalo roamed the pasture, which I was delighted to see up close. Still can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, though. (Remember that song?)
As it was noon, I didn't take too many photos as the light was very bright, but took several on my way back.
The trail started to climb out of the valley and back into the trees. I didn't take any valley photos as the smokey haze did nothing for it. As the trail climbed upwards at a 2% grade, it's easy to pedal although you know you're definitely on the climb. Fall made it's coming presence known in the higher elevations.
I had no idea how much further I needed to go to get to Concrete and stopped at one of the many benches for a quick lunch and bottle of water. Thankfully I'd taken 5 bottles of water (3 frozen), which were all gone by the end of the day. Getting back on my bike, a little discouraged and tired, I was more than relieved to see the huge Concrete towers stating 'Welcome to Concrete' - and just slightly smokey skies.
Riding towards the end of the trail, this cool old passenger train captivates me.
...cont in comments....
Sick of the smoke and lack of photo opportunities, bored with cycling my same 15km in the thick haze, I headed south of the border on Thursday to ride a rail trail I'd seen but never travelled before. I'm so glad I went! If I'd stuck with the reviews, I wouldn't have even attempted it.
A 45 mile return trip from Sedro-Woolley to Concrete, the beginning of the trailhead was a bit difficult to find as directions to where it started were rather obscure. Now that I know exactly where it is, I'll write a review with explicit directions.
Starting off, the trail is like a shady tunnel, cool and inviting.
About a mile and half through the trees, a bench by the river beckons me to take a peek through the trees. The aqua river mesmerized me, so beautiful in such a quiet and peaceful setting.
Not quick enough and no zoom lens on, the mergansers moved swiftly away from the bank and into the middle of the river at my intrusion.
Continuing on my journey across the first of many bridges.
Still captivated by the sight of the river.
Across another bridge, and I loved the leaf, seemingly suspended in air.
A little closer look.
The last mile marker was at mile 16, at which point you have to cross one of many back roads. Crossing to continue the trail, this is what's at the end of it (about a block from the entry). No indication to detour, just heavy bush and a pond. Good thing I'm adventurous and found my way via road around, and found a narrow path where others had circumnavigated the dead end.
Further along the trail, a very busy highway dissects it, and one has to be quick and careful to cross. A parks employee was working and we chatted for a bit, him advising me to be careful crossing the road. When I told him I was riding the entire 45 miles (there and back) his eyebrows shot up and he said 'impressive'. My camera in my bag, I didn't think to take his photo (if he'd even allow it).
On the other side of the trail, it turns into flat, open valley with little shade. A herd of buffalo roamed the pasture, which I was delighted to see up close. Still can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, though. (Remember that song?)
As it was noon, I didn't take too many photos as the light was very bright, but took several on my way back.
The trail started to climb out of the valley and back into the trees. I didn't take any valley photos as the smokey haze did nothing for it. As the trail climbed upwards at a 2% grade, it's easy to pedal although you know you're definitely on the climb. Fall made it's coming presence known in the higher elevations.
I had no idea how much further I needed to go to get to Concrete and stopped at one of the many benches for a quick lunch and bottle of water. Thankfully I'd taken 5 bottles of water (3 frozen), which were all gone by the end of the day. Getting back on my bike, a little discouraged and tired, I was more than relieved to see the huge Concrete towers stating 'Welcome to Concrete' - and just slightly smokey skies.
Riding towards the end of the trail, this cool old passenger train captivates me.
...cont in comments....
You Know You Have It Bad When.....
As I mentioned yesterday in my introductory blog, I took up photography a couple of years ago when I purchased my first DSLR camera. I'd had an SLR camera, but never really got into photography at the time.
After my purchase of my DSLR, I just loved the photos that came out of my camera, and found myself venturing out at all hours to various and sundry places just to take photos. I was totally hooked. Initially, sunrises and sunsets were my 'thing', although macro (close ups) of plants were also vying for top place.
A lady I knew is a photographer and she asked me if I'd like to join the local photo club, seeing how enthused I was about my new-found interest. The answer was a resounding yes, and although it's been frustrating at times, it's a great learning experience and challenges one to continue improving. There are four or five levels in the club and one has to attain a certain number of points in order to attain the next level. I'm finally in level two. Yay!
Monday nights are photo club nights, with the first Monday of the month being our exhibition night (unless it's a holiday, then it gets moved to the following Monday). Mondays are also my border run days where I ship orders out of the US to my overseas and US customers. As I've moved away from the community where the photo club is, it's a bit of a drive now to get there. As the border is in the same community, I go later in the day to combine both trips into one.
It still means a few hours between dropping off the orders and when photo club starts at 7:00pm. No problem, of course. Take my camera and visit the local park, Mill Lake, that I used to bike around daily, before dinner at Mom's and off to photo club. I have this!
My first stop would have been the cherry blossoms in the park, but that particular tree was pretty much done with it's blossoms, so that was a bust. Next stop was around by the pier where the magnolia trees were in full bloom. Yes!
The usual ducks and Canada geese were quacking and honking on the water, and a cormorant on it's log perch in the lake flapping it's wings. Redwing blackbirds flitted in and out of the reeds and saplings near the floating boardwalk, their red and yellow epaulets flashing brightly in contrast to their black feathers. I was too slow to capture their movement, but did capture a couple of them in song on branches. I haven't downloaded them yet, so have no idea how they've turned out.
As I was standing on the floating boardwalk photographing the Redwing blackbird singing up in the willow tree, a little brown bird flew right into the reeds and did not fly back out. Peering through their dead leaves and stalks, I saw the edge of a nest hidden, and the bird moving around in the nest. More photos, naturally.
On my way back from the boardwalk, I noted two Canada geese, doing what I thought looked like a mating ritual. They had their necks curved and heads close much like you see swans do, forming a heart shaped silhouette. It quickly went from that to ducking their heads under water then bobbing up again. One would put it's head under water and come up, then the other would.
This went on for a few minutes, then the next thing I know, the male is on top of the female, she's totally submerged so it's a good thing their mating habits only last a few seconds. That was it. The head under the water thing, and off they went. Alrighty then.
One guy walked by me and asked if I got a good photo of the geese. I'm like, uh, no, I'm not into goose porn. So now I know how Canada geese mate, and it's probably something I could have gone to my grave not knowing.
This morning, still in my nightie and before I even had my cocoa, I had my camera out taking photos of the tulips that were on their last legs on my dining room table. Is photography a passion, an obsession or an addiction?
You know you have it bad when it precedes your morning beverage.
After my purchase of my DSLR, I just loved the photos that came out of my camera, and found myself venturing out at all hours to various and sundry places just to take photos. I was totally hooked. Initially, sunrises and sunsets were my 'thing', although macro (close ups) of plants were also vying for top place.
A lady I knew is a photographer and she asked me if I'd like to join the local photo club, seeing how enthused I was about my new-found interest. The answer was a resounding yes, and although it's been frustrating at times, it's a great learning experience and challenges one to continue improving. There are four or five levels in the club and one has to attain a certain number of points in order to attain the next level. I'm finally in level two. Yay!
Monday nights are photo club nights, with the first Monday of the month being our exhibition night (unless it's a holiday, then it gets moved to the following Monday). Mondays are also my border run days where I ship orders out of the US to my overseas and US customers. As I've moved away from the community where the photo club is, it's a bit of a drive now to get there. As the border is in the same community, I go later in the day to combine both trips into one.
It still means a few hours between dropping off the orders and when photo club starts at 7:00pm. No problem, of course. Take my camera and visit the local park, Mill Lake, that I used to bike around daily, before dinner at Mom's and off to photo club. I have this!
My first stop would have been the cherry blossoms in the park, but that particular tree was pretty much done with it's blossoms, so that was a bust. Next stop was around by the pier where the magnolia trees were in full bloom. Yes!
The usual ducks and Canada geese were quacking and honking on the water, and a cormorant on it's log perch in the lake flapping it's wings. Redwing blackbirds flitted in and out of the reeds and saplings near the floating boardwalk, their red and yellow epaulets flashing brightly in contrast to their black feathers. I was too slow to capture their movement, but did capture a couple of them in song on branches. I haven't downloaded them yet, so have no idea how they've turned out.
As I was standing on the floating boardwalk photographing the Redwing blackbird singing up in the willow tree, a little brown bird flew right into the reeds and did not fly back out. Peering through their dead leaves and stalks, I saw the edge of a nest hidden, and the bird moving around in the nest. More photos, naturally.
On my way back from the boardwalk, I noted two Canada geese, doing what I thought looked like a mating ritual. They had their necks curved and heads close much like you see swans do, forming a heart shaped silhouette. It quickly went from that to ducking their heads under water then bobbing up again. One would put it's head under water and come up, then the other would.
This went on for a few minutes, then the next thing I know, the male is on top of the female, she's totally submerged so it's a good thing their mating habits only last a few seconds. That was it. The head under the water thing, and off they went. Alrighty then.
One guy walked by me and asked if I got a good photo of the geese. I'm like, uh, no, I'm not into goose porn. So now I know how Canada geese mate, and it's probably something I could have gone to my grave not knowing.
This morning, still in my nightie and before I even had my cocoa, I had my camera out taking photos of the tulips that were on their last legs on my dining room table. Is photography a passion, an obsession or an addiction?
You know you have it bad when it precedes your morning beverage.
The best laid plans of mice and men
Well I went out the door last night with the best of intentions to get some photos and make good use of the supposed run of good Irish weather 
The Plan.
Drive south west for an hour or two.
Stop and sleep.
Wake to a glorious day of sunshine and shoot away with the camera.
As it happened
My car is a heap of Shite
I got feck all sleep.
But this being Ireland, I guess the summer is over
Please feel free to add a photo to cheer me up. As my pics of clouds and mist are not to cheery !
The Plan.
Drive south west for an hour or two.
Stop and sleep.
Wake to a glorious day of sunshine and shoot away with the camera.
As it happened
My car is a heap of Shite
I got feck all sleep.
But this being Ireland, I guess the summer is over
Please feel free to add a photo to cheer me up. As my pics of clouds and mist are not to cheery !
'There's Something Very Fishy About This Photo'
Or suggest your own caption for the following photo, if you like.
Or simply enjoy the captions eventually submitted by others.
Here's the photo;
Or simply enjoy the captions eventually submitted by others.
Here's the photo;
I don't represent the World, I represent America
What a great speech. Interrupted about 94 times with applause, I could see how our country is ready to work in unity and achieve greatness as he promised in his campaign.
Three basic but major issues that he touched: To protect our borders instead of other countries.
To refuse to support illegal immigrants at the expense of our needy people. 40 percent of Americans live in poverty and we are losing the great Middle Class.
No more Free trade: Imagine, we get taxed so highly when we sell our products to foreign countries while we don't tax foreign trades to sell to our country.. Imagine the impact on that.
Obama's 8 years of administration has incurred more debt that all the presidents combined.
The highlight for me is: "We might be divided in policies but we are united against hate and all it's ugly forms.
Even Sanders was clapping and some Democrats.
Most important: He said and quote: " We are now going to enforce our immigration like that of Australia and Canada, you can't come and immigrate unless you can support yourself and your family."
This is exactly what we need:
You go to Korea and or Russia illegally and you will get shot, you come to America and not only will you not get free house, food and health care, but you don't need to work because we are giving you all you need.
That is plain wrong. He says and quote: " Our poverty level is 40 percent, how on earth can we afford this? No more."
Three basic but major issues that he touched: To protect our borders instead of other countries.
To refuse to support illegal immigrants at the expense of our needy people. 40 percent of Americans live in poverty and we are losing the great Middle Class.
No more Free trade: Imagine, we get taxed so highly when we sell our products to foreign countries while we don't tax foreign trades to sell to our country.. Imagine the impact on that.
Obama's 8 years of administration has incurred more debt that all the presidents combined.
The highlight for me is: "We might be divided in policies but we are united against hate and all it's ugly forms.
Even Sanders was clapping and some Democrats.
Most important: He said and quote: " We are now going to enforce our immigration like that of Australia and Canada, you can't come and immigrate unless you can support yourself and your family."
This is exactly what we need:
You go to Korea and or Russia illegally and you will get shot, you come to America and not only will you not get free house, food and health care, but you don't need to work because we are giving you all you need.
That is plain wrong. He says and quote: " Our poverty level is 40 percent, how on earth can we afford this? No more."
You create the photo caption - colorful birds
Add your own caption(s), if you like, for the following photo (not one of my photos),
or just enjoy the eventual suggestions by others.
My first suggestion is;
"How dare you ! My feathers do NOT make my butt look fat !"
or just enjoy the eventual suggestions by others.
My first suggestion is;
"How dare you ! My feathers do NOT make my butt look fat !"
Photo Caption Contest - Bear Chalet
If you like, have some fun adding your own caption(s) for the following photo; 
My first entry is;
After hearing the recent movie critics reviews,
Pooh hit the honey malt liquor quite hard, as well as anyone,
who dared to cross his path.
My first entry is;
After hearing the recent movie critics reviews,
Pooh hit the honey malt liquor quite hard, as well as anyone,
who dared to cross his path.
A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, your thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you have learned. It's your own page on Connecting Singles that you can update on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. You can write about an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with Connecting Singles members. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about members you have met here. Please be sure to read the blog rules before posting.
Would YOU like to post a blog on Connecting Singles? Have you written blogs that you'd like to share with other members? Posting your blogs shows your skill and creativity and helps members get to know you better. Your blog will appear on the Connecting Singles Blogs page and also in a link on your profile page. Click here to post a blog »