Most Viewed Photography Blogs (166)

It seems that C.S. reduce the size of photos when posted. Does anyone know how to avoid this, or is it just the way the site works?


I am trying to upload my pics at 1024x768 btw.

Have a groovy day y'all...

I'm not sure if you enjoy nature, or not.
But, I do.
And now that softball is over for me (until April),
I have some more time to accomplish other things.

One thing I would like to do, is to post more photos to my webpage.
Indeed, I am going to TRY to post the photos I
took the month before and the upcoming month
(from last year) to my webpage each month.

I just did so for last month (October 2017).
Below are 10 of those photos.
However, if you like, you can see all 120 photos
that I took last month (October), by going to my Flickr webpage;



The most recent photo(s)are at the top.
Eventually, they will be sorted into a species(or at least species family) specific album. However, the plan is to add them chronologically first.

Here are 10 of the 120 for you to view here.
First just press both the Ctrl and the - keys 5 times before you view them
to shrink them to appropriate size.
You won't have that problem on the website.

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;

Here's 7 photos that I presented at a local photo club.
They enjoyed them.
Now here for your viewing...... pain or pleasure.

They were all taken shortly after the huge snow storm we received here in New Jersey,
about 18 inches on average with drifts even higher.

First there was a fairly warm day and I went to a small waterfall that I know.
I knew that some of the snow would be melting and make for a nice flow for the waterfall.
So, I went crunching through 2 feet of snow for 150 yards or so to get there & photograph it;



I also caught a naked tree silhouette of a cloudy sunset another evening;



The following 5 were taken near Carnegie Lake in Princeton another day

The ying & yang of a Canadian Geese couple



Jonathan Livingston Seagull



Hey ! You've got some gull ! Don't land so close to me !!



Right after I took that photo a small black mink walked almost
over my feet. By the time I switched lenses, it disappeared.

These next 2 are of a female redtail hawk, probably trying to lure me away
from her nest, even though I never saw her nest, while crunching through the woods.
Shortly after these 2 photos she flew higher up in a further away tree
and progressively did it a second time when I followed her. Smart bird.





Hopefully, there was one or 2 that you liked.

Christmas decorations always came down on Jan 6th - twelfth night and my ex's birthday. Last Sunday I had mentally prepared for the packing away of all the Christmas stuff. Of course, the best laid plans are always interrupted.

Instead, I had a last minute plea to take my Mom to the airport as my sister was 'unavailable'. Somehow, I knew that would happen. Fortunately, although overcast, it wasn't raining and the trip to the airport was smooth.

On my return home, I detoured along back roads and found a plethora of old barns that are absolutely amazing! I think our photo assignment for next month is abandoned buildings and although I have many already taken, I still love coming across them. They hold such mystery and untold stories.

Today, the Christmas decorations will finally get put away - which requires me to back my car out of the garage so I can get the step ladder out and get the totes labelled 'Christmas' off the top shelf. My little fibre optic tree has it's own box to be placed into, on the top shelf along with the other stuff, and that'll take care of that! Done for another year.

This past Monday was incredibly busy with a lot of errands before going to photo club. Holy cow, I didn't even have time for dinner and with Mom being away, didn't have the luxury of her making it for me and visiting ahead of time.

Getting to the club, I was anxious to see how my photo for the 'wet' assignment would do. I was quite apprehensive when we started off, as the adjudicator started giving really low marks to some of our more experienced members.

I have to admit to being quite disappointed at the lack of creativity in the 'wet' theme. There were the usual photos of running in the rain, umbrellas, waterfalls, etcetera, etcetera. I suppose, that's why the rather mundane marks. I thought I'd see a wet hen (madder than a wet hen) or the back of someone's head as they bent over a sink with water pouring behind their ears (wet behind the ears) or any other imaginative interpretations. Obviously imagination was lacking for this assignment.

Then, my photo of 'Wet Your Whistle' pops up. A glass with a whistle dropped into it and the resulting splash with a black b/g. It's totally out of the realm of what I usually photograph. I knew (which was confirmed later) that many people would think it was one of two other photo members that usually contribute studio photos.

The scores up to this point had ranged from 6.5 to 8.5, with most of them being 7.5. I hoped I'd at least get an 8. 'Nine' he called out! Woohoo!! The first 9 of the night. Yes!! My mentor, who was sitting next to me, gave me a nudge and thumb's up. His photo, after mine, also received a 9, and one more nature photo received a 9.5.

I was thrilled! My other two submissions received an 8.5 and 9 with critiques that were extremely helpful. Two women that I sit near always give me a hard time, as last year, and the year before, I couldn't seem to break 7 for the life of me. It's not that the photos didn't deserve 7's - I just couldn't seem to progress. The two women told me that was enough of the 9's for me and to just stop that. lol.

So I had a very rewarding and wonderful evening on Monday. The woman in charge of one of entering photos in the monochrome competition asked me to submit my 'Wet Your Whistle' as she thought it was an excellent photo and worthy of submission. Wow! I'm so flattered and honoured, as many of these people have years of experience and fabulous photos.

Today, along with getting the Christmas stuff put away, I have to buckle down and get my photos for the store display chosen and in to be printed, and find the other photos that have been requested for purchase and get those printed as well.

Better get to it. I now have two requests for 24"x36" canvases along with the other requests for prints. I never, in a million years, thought I'd be selling my photos and making money at something I thoroughly enjoy!

Awake early this morning, I headed out for a bike ride, not too sure of where I was going to go. Deciding to ride along the dike by the river, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of wildlife. Even birds were hiding, although I did see some American Goldfinch on the path, which took off as soon as I saw them. I'd like to get a photo of them on a fence post or the barbed wire. So far, one photo is on a metal farm gate covered in bird poop. Not exactly an appealing feature.

The last one I took was on the gravel road of my usual loop. It's funny how the females are so much duller than the males. The males are a brilliant yellow, while the females are a much more muted shade, verging on brown. I haven't managed to capture any decent photos of the female, as she always seems to be in the shadows.



I was captivated by the weak sun rays stretching across the cut hayfields, highlighting the rusty wheels and seat of an old farm tractor decorating a garden. Riding on, a flock of American Goldfinches erupted from the long grass disappearing into the foliage of a nearby tree. Pedalling on towards the river, the cows that were out on pasture are still not back on it. I don't know if the river is still too high, but it was nice to see the dairy cows enjoying their pasture. They'd saunter up to the gate as I'd ride by, thinking I was there with their grain.

Rather than ride the 'loop' - under the bridge and along the riverside, I doubled back and rode down one of the side streets. After checking the slough and the path the other day, there's still part of it that's submerged in water still, so I'll wait until everything's stabilized and I don't have to ride through muck.

I wasn't going to go down towards the old heritage home, as I was there the other day and there wasn't anything that caught my eye. However, as the morning was so pleasant, I opted to take the extra time as the area is known to be a birder's favourite spot.

I've mentioned before how much I miss the lake I used to ride around as there were always squirrels and wild bunnies, something I've not seen much of here. I was richly rewarded this morning when I spotted a baby bunny crouching in the grass, giving me the wary eye. Quietly getting out my camera, I was able to get relatively close to the little thing. At one point, it almost looked sleepy as it seemed to get used to me being there.



A few minutes later, Mom leapt out of the long grass on the other side of the narrow road, bounding across the asphalt and disappearing into the long grass and brambles. Still, baby just sat while I was able to get some good shots of it. As the school bus appeared at the crest of the hill, I rushed to move my bike out of the way, and baby probably followed it's mother, the noise of the bus disturbing all the wildlife.





With some good shots, I turned towards home, my eyes constantly flickering towards the slough. A couple of redwing blackbirds noisily flew out of the brush, their distinctive red markings brilliant in the morning light. As I didn't have my camera ready, I did not stop to see if they'd fly from the branch they'd landed on in hopes of capturing them in flight. They are so fast, it's a challenge to get them in motion.

A good morning, I'm glad I went out for the extended bike ride, and can hardly wait until I can do the loop again. It seems to be a long, long time, - about a month I believe. It'll be great to get back into the route and routine, as my experience is, the more wildlife sees you, the more they're comfortable with your presence - which makes capturing a photo much easier.

Of course, as long as I'm not their next meal.

Now that the rains have returned in earnest, it's time for me to do all those inside chores and other things I've been putting off. Two weeks of nothing but wonderful fall sunshine, had me gallivanting around the area, seeking and taking as many photos as possible.

My main goal today is to lay out a calendar I had no intention of making. As I'm on a local community fb page, and post photos of our picturesque area, I had no idea I had such a following. I knew I received a lot of comments and likes for my photos, but I take those with a grain of salt, as what someone likes on fb, doesn't always necessarily translate to a good photo in photo club.

After posting a photo of one spectacular sunset, one of my 'followers' said she hoped I was making a calendar as she wanted four. Numerous other people chimed in that they also wanted at least one calendar. After pricing it out, I decided that it could be lucrative. The next step is to design the calendar, choose the photos, and put up a web page for orders. Yikes! I really hadn't planned on this, and the pressure's on now as most people want them in November.

Although I have other household chores that need attending to, they'll get done in between breaks from the calendar. The chores will still be there, regardless. It's not like the chore fairy will show up and magically do them while I'm working on something else, unfortunately.

Yesterday, a little overcast, I went with two other photo club members out to the old shipyards. The following are a couple of photos from the excursion.

The old cannery



Obviously, a swan near the base of the building over the river.

Have you ever heard the saying, don't be good at something you don't want to do? I heard it many years after I developed the liniment I make, and after it had taken over my life. It was never something I wanted to do for a long time.

Twenty-one years later....

So yes, I did and do make an excellent product, but it wasn't something I wanted to do for a long time. Filling bottles isn't my idea of a good time, or creative. As I'd attended University and received my certification in graphic design, that's what I really wanted to do. Although the business took most of my time, I still found time to do some watercolours and drawing. That took a back seat when I was under a lot of stress.

After moving a year and a half ago into this small community, it was the absolute best decision ever. I have the single floor house I always wanted, with a small yard for me and Sadie (the cat) to enjoy and a big enough garden to grow some vegetables. I joined the local FB community page, where I noted there was a tremendous amount of complaining, and public humiliation occurring.

I started posting some photos on it, just to break up the constant negativity and to show people how much beauty was in the area. Little did I know I'd receive a following and many people that would log on every day to see what I'd posted. Nor did I have any idea that those photos would lead to my 'fans' wanting a calendar - a very lucrative undertaking.

I have already received requests for calendars for next year, although it seems I will have a fair amount of competition. The District I live in wants to use some of my photos in a calendar for their 125th Anniversary next year, and other locals seem to think I should tell them how to put one together and help them sell theirs. Um, they obviously don't get that they are competing with mine, regardless of whether they're doing flowers or whatever. People are funny.

As I knew the District's calendar would affect my sales, I suggested that they do a small booklet, kind of like a guide for a walking tour for their anniversary. After speaking to the coordinator, it sounds like they're committed to doing a calendar, but they also love the idea of a guide for the area and have been given funds to do 'something' for the 125th. I'm thrilled and flattered that my photos are appreciated.

At photo club the other night, as I'm the webmaster now, I had told them how out-dated the site was and how difficult it is to change anything on it. They asked me if I'd re-do their site and they will pay me for it. Woohoo! There's the new camera body I wanted!

So this next month will be busy re-doing the website, meetings with the District in regards to their 125th, and I almost forgot about the book the First Nations publishing house wants me to put together.

At this point, I've still been gallivanting around taking photos, but it appears I'll have to structure my day a little better in order to get these projects done.

When it rains, it pours. But I'm okay with that when it's pouring appreciation and feeding my need to be creative.

Sunrise over the Tamar Valley, Cornwall, England.


I like taking photos after a shower of rain.


Salmon sky in France.


Sunset plus 'star burst' filter.


Wisteria in full bloom.


Awesome colours. Anyone know what this plant is?


Moss/litchen on a tree stump.