Most Liked Photography Blogs (166)

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.

Video of lava 'waterfall' into the ocean in Hawaii for your viewing pleasure.

The best caption for this photo is...............

Enter as many times as you like.

My first entry is......"Wow ! That chiropractor truly screwed you up, dude !"

Here is the photo;

I don't know if you are like me, but I love sunsets.
Together with fireworks, waterfalls and wildlife,
they are one of my favorite things to photograph.
Indeed, I actually enjoy photographing them to preserve their
beauty and uniqueness.

The past 4 nights however had been quite disappointing with regard to sunsets.
With each night there was a thick wide dark cloud layer at the horizon,
which prevented any significant color display.

However, last night as the sun was about 1/2 set,
the clouds had moved somewhat
and a glorious color display resulted.

I took about 35 photos of it last night and they all came out terrific.
Below are 5 of those 35.
They are in chronological order.

Let me know which of the 5 is the one you like best.

#1.
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#4
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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."

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 !

YOU make the call !........

Which do you prefer ?
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#1 "We decided to let him play through."
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or

#2 "One could say, that I bear-ly missed that putt".

or

add your own photo caption, or vote on other's captions.

Your choice.


Here's the photo;

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Have a terrific Tuesday people.

You make the caption (3) !........

OK. I have 3 ideas for the caption for this photo,
but I'll give you all a chance to hit it with your best shot first.

I'll just post the one off the top of my head first and then add another 2
as each of you do. Perhaps I'll even think of some more later on.

First here's the photo I'm sure many of you will get a chuckle out of;

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and the caption I thought of first is;

'Here on the African plains, cheetahs have a huge advantage with April Fools jokes.'

Got any ideas for this photo's caption ?

You make the photo caption (4) !.......

Accidental, or purposeful ? You decide.

Indeed, add your own photo caption, if you like,
or simply chuckle at what others came up with.

My first caption is....."This ought to cool you off from getting hot about my sister ?"

Here's the photo;
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You're up !

The moon followed me home last night. Very bright and lots of spots where it peeked through the clouds. I stopped to shoot a few pictures but my cellphone camera is very limited especially for distant night images. Obviously the focus and contrast are lacking, but you get the idea of proportion. By 11pm the moon was overhead and lit up the entire sky.