Most Commented Photography Blogs (166)

Here's my first caption for the following photo;

Sharon seemed to take dieting a lot harder than some people.


Add your own caption(s), if you like.

Here's the photo;

Went hiking on the Appalachian Trail to the second highest peak in Virginia. This is on Whitetop Mountain.
Buzzard Rock

Summit of Whitetop

Forest





Ran into this little guy on trail. Nonvenomous.

In my futile effort to try to catch up with my photography,
earlier this week, I posted a blog covering my photos from December of last year.
This one pertains to photos taken by me last month (November 2017)

Here is my webpage;



with the most recent photos loaded appearing at the top.
For November 2017 I just posted a total of 32 photos.

For those of you, who fear going anywhere but Connectingsingles
here are a few of those photos, reposted here via way of
but these do not retain as much clarity/resolution.












I hope you enjoy a couple and have a terrific new year !

One of the main benefits that photography has done for me is get me exploring new and different places. With our assigned topics, it challenges me to find and photograph something different, but also to utilize my camera to it's ultimate capacity.

In February, I was lucky enough to be at the wetlands for a walk. I was facing east, towards Mt. Cheam to take a photo when I heard this strange huffing noise, much like a horse working. Didn't see anything so I turned back, and I heard it again. Looked again, nothing. Turned back again. The third time I turned around, the noise was quite close and I was a little unnerved.

When I looked into the water, an otter had pushed his way up through the ice and was trying to pull himself up onto the ice. His mate popped her head up shortly after. Although I did get some photos through all the branches in front of me, they aren't that good. I did manage to capture a decent shot when he dove back under the ice and popped up elsewhere.



Then, when I was riding the dike at Harrison Mills, a former hub for trade before roads and bridges replaced the need for boats, I was fortunate enough to see three blue birds in a tree. I was thrilled and took numerous photos of them, although I had no idea what they were, having never seen them before. It turns out they're Mountain Bluebirds and migrate from Mexico to the Yukon every year, and are in this area only a briefly, on their way north.



At that time, the river was really low and you could walk for miles along the river's edge, and with the sunny weather, perfect for photo ops.



Cycling back the other way, I crossed the train tracks and saw a huge old stone building that looks like there was a fire in it at some point. After doing some research, I found that it was the old mill, and despite no trespassing signs, kids were inside the building, letting off some kind of pink smoke bombs. At first I was a bit peeved that the photo I wanted would have this pink smoke in it. But, thanks to photoshop, I was able to take the colour out of it, and end up with a rather (imo) spooky looking building.

Considering we have abandoned buildings as an assignment next year, it'll be perfect for that, unless I find another cool abandoned building on my travels.



I had forgotten about this bike ride, and it seems it may be time to revisit it, unless, of course, I find a new one to check out.

Have you ever done something and felt totally exhilarated afterwards? This morning was one of those mornings for me. This week has been overcast and yesterday it just teemed rain off and on all day. I didn't ride my bike as I was exceptionally tired from the long drive and work I'd done the previous day.

I didn't realize how windy it was this morning until I wheeled my bike out of the garage. A gust of wind blasted me, almost toppling my bike on it's kickstand as I shut the garage door. Well! This was going to be an interesting bike ride! Pedalling into the wind, I had to work twice as hard as I usually do, and lower my gear a notch.

Usually, I don't like riding into the wind, but this morning, somehow it was refreshing. Riding towards the dike, the approaching train sounded like it was coming right at me. Sunflowers bent their sunny heads with the force of the wind, the nearby cornfields rustling eerily in the strong gusts.

Too much cloud cover to see any colour of the sunrise this morning, it was still a glorious morning, the unmistakeable screech of eagles circling above. Smaller birds flitted in and out of the bushes, although many of the summer birds left during August when the smoke from the forest fire was so bad.

I didn't stop for any photos this morning, I simply enjoyed the ride, the dawning of the day, and the exhilaration of having completed a strenuous ride.

My sister has left to drive back to Arizona, so I've added a few photos of a couple of days ago, some with her, some on my early morning bike ride.

One of my first views on my bike ride. Mt.Cheam standing guard over the valley, the sun rising behind it.


After riding under the bridge, one of the farmers kindly lets me ride through his fields.


One of the sloughs I cycle by, quiet on this particular morning. Usually, herons and ducks are present, and if I'm lucky, the beaver.


Riding past the Friesan horses after a rainfall, raindrops were highlighted on the numerous spider webs in the page wire.


My sister and Mom dropped by later in the morning, where we went out for lunch to the local deli, and then headed out to where the old truck was located. She took photos of that while I busied myself with the rare local wildflowers. Blue chicory is common and grows everywhere. The white chicory is rare, but there it was! And the variegated kind they don't even mention, but again, there it is!




We headed to the historic site of Harrison Mills, where an abandoned mill crumbles and is the canvas for graffiti artists. My sister was thrilled that I took her there, although she'd been there a couple of times and never found it.


Behind the mill, I believe this was the remains of the old dock where they shipped lumber down the river.


A CP rail train traversing the river where two rivers converge.


A very good but busy week. The wind this morning blew all the cobwebs out of the brain and it looks like it's also blowing the clouds away and blue sky may prevail!

For a while now, I wanted to try the Photo Lab services at the Walgreens pharmacy.
They offer poster sized 16" x 20" enlargements for $30.

I need to find the right picture frame first so I can crop the images according to the border. They have the ability to do borderless prints, but I would crop the image to allow for a frame if that is what I decide on.

Typically, they advertise prints in an hour. They have one lab about 2 miles from my office and I talked to one of the technicians who told me when they aren't busy, they can do prints in 10-15 minutes.

If you have photos on your cellphone, you can plug it into their system for preview and download. I declined wanting to connect my phone to a device that can capture the 4,000+ images contained there, instead I'll save the images to a blank memory stick so ONLY those photos will be read by their computer.

Some of you may be familiar with the woodpecker named Red Bellied.
That bird has a little red on it's underside and a lot more red on it's head.
So, several people have asked me, "why isn't it called a redheaded woodpecker ?".
The answer is, that there are several woodpeckers that have red heads.
So to name any one of them a redhead woodpecker would confuse observers,
as to which would be THE redheaded woodpecker.

Well, there's another bird, a rather intelligent one, that's named Green Heron.
Is that because the bird is mostly green ? No.
Is it because the bird exhibits jealous behavior ? No.
It's because it is the only heron, that has some green color on it in the USA.

Why do I describe it as rather intelligent ? Because it's the only heron or egret
that actually uses a tool. One of the main sources of it's diet is small fish.
This bird has been witnessed to find small pieces of bread, or other food items,
as fish bait. It will put the item on the surface of water and wait until fish arrive to
feed on the food source and then grab the fish with it's beak.
Pretty clever for a heron.

While I never feed wildlife, I have gotten to know individuals from a number of species.
Indeed, in New Jersey I have been accepted into different herds of wild whitetail deer.
They have become very familiar with me, while taking pictures of them and grow to sense & learn, that I have no intention of hurting them and now they approach me.

Similarly, while in Florida there is a female green heron that has grown to be very tolerant of my presence and closeness during the past few years. I've named her Gretchen. Her acceptance of me is unusual for a couple of reasons.
First, I am only in Florida for 4 months a year. Does she remember me after 8 months of absence ? Secondly, her mate immediately flees into the woods at first site of me. She doesn't follow him. That's very unusual for a bird.
Well, she's more familiar with me, as I have photographed her for several years.
He's newer in her life.

It has allowed me to get quite close to her. Indeed, sometimes too close for the focal distance for my lens. I am often backing up as she approaches me. I've often wondered if she believes this is because I am afraid of her.
I should point out that a green heron is about the size of a pigeon.
I've seen a similar confused reaction with other birds in the wild,
when they first witness a similar situation.
Perhaps it aids in their acceptance of me, not wanting to harm them.
Regardless, it's allowed me to get some terrific full framed shots of those birds.

Here's seven of Gretchen from this most recent trip to Florida. I hope you enjoy the views. You can improve the views somewhat by clicking on them individually.
They are perfectly clear on my computer. But less so on here.















If you would like to see more of my photography, you can at your leisure.
Just go to my webpage which has 1,000 photos in it;




Next time I will post some recent photos of a Redbellied Woodpecker.
Some are quite unusual, but I'll get into why next time.

I visited a killing ground a mass grave,no markers,bodies stacked on top of each other
the rich discarded along with the poor.

some dismembered


most stripped naked and defiled

who knows their name and who will even remember the sacrifice they made for the good of mankind

RIP

ONE AND ALL

I love life. It can be a truly wonderful experience, if you do your best to make it so.
One of the things I enjoy is wild nature and photographing it, capturing the moment in time.
I used to post nature photos on CS on a regular basis a while back
and shared 3 photos with you 10 days ago.

So, here are 3 more of mine for your viewing pleasure.

Let me know which of the 3 you prefer the most, if you don't mind;


#1. Great Egret landing





#2. Stuart Florida sunset boat sillpoettes





#3. soaring male Osprey

to Broadway"

or have fun suggesting your own caption for the following photo.

Here's the photo;