Weekly Photo Challenge: Prolific

Tags

clivia miniata, natal lily, photography, postaday, prolific, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/prolific/

This week we were gifted a Natal Lily (Clivia Miniata) with bright orange blooms which immediately brightened our living room. The plant originates from South Africa and is reputed to be a prolific bloomer as well as a nearly indestructible house plant in our temperate climate. It belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family, so it is related to the better known Amaryllis flowers. However, it is much sturdier and requires less care. Even benign neglect, especially as far as watering, would do.

Here are some photos I took of this new plant as soon as the sun made its appearance inside our house.

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

Clivia Miniata (Natal Lily).

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Rise/Set – 2

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, sunset, weekly photo challenge

This is the second part for this Weekly Photo Challenge at the following link: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/rise-set/

The shot below is of the most colorful sunset I ever saw at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Sunset at EBF, January 2015.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Rise/Set

Tags

photography, postaday, sunrise, weekly photo challenge

This WPC is at the following link: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/rise-set/

The following sunrise shot was taken one early morning in December 2017 at a farm about two miles from our home.

Sunrise at Cherry Orchard Farm.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Out of this World

Tags

great sand dunes national park, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/out-of-this-world/

I took the following photo at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado almost three years ago. Looking at it now, I am struck by the straight line outlining the dune in the middle of the picture. It seems to be drawn not by the wind and other forces of nature but by some unnatural being.

Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered

Tags

photography, postaday, weathered, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/weathered/

Here’s a photo of a well-weathered Bristlecone Pine that probably lived for several thousand years:

Bristlecone pine in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, White Mountains, California.

Weekly Photo Challenge: 2017 Favorites – 3

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, great blue heron, photography, postaday, wave, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/

This is my third and final submission.

Great Blue Heron spearing a fish.

The following photo has not yet been published previously.

The eye of a wave near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Weekly Photo Challenge: 2017 Favorites – 2

Tags

mute swan, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/

Mute Swans were the favorites of many this past October.  As the swans preened during a foggy morning, they struck poses that were bold and beautiful.

Mute Swan.

You may also be ineterested in two posts with more photos of the swans:

https://neihtn.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/beauty-and-the-fog/

https://neihtn.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/the-conductor/

 

Weekly Photyo Challenge: 2017 Favorites

Tags

barnegat lighthouse state park, northern cardinal, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/

In early May 2017, I went to Barnegat Lighthouse Park and walked the short (0.2 mi) Maritime Forest Trail looking for birds to photograph. Suddenly a red bird, a male Northern Cardinal flew by with a seed in his bill. He went to a branch on which a female was already perched and began to feed her in a gesture of love and courtship, as you can see in the following shots.

Northern Cardinals.

Northern Cardinals. Her eyes say it all.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene

Tags

marina, ocean city, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/serene/

Here are my entries for it, a sunrise photo taken in Ocean City, MD and a sunset photo taken in Marina, CA.

Sunrise over Ocean City, MD.

Sunset over beach at Marina, CA.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pedestrian

Tags

pedestrian, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for the challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/pedestrian/

I took this photo in Viet Nam last year, and the sight of a pedestrian mother with her child climbing over the divider and crossing a street filled with cars has stayed with me ever since.

Sài Gòn traffic scene: Mother and child crossing a street after climbing over divider.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Waiting

Tags

blue jay, photography, postaday, red-winged blackbird, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/waiting-2017/

Blue Jay waiting.

Juvenile Red-winged Blackbird waiting.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Structure

Tags

mortar and pestle, photography, postaday, sapa, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/structure/

Last year I took the two photos shown below in Sapa, on the Northwest corner of Viet Nam. They show a water-driven mortar and pestle used to pound grains of rice to remove husks. The structure still works but maybe it is now only displayed for tourists to snap pictures.

Water powered mortar and pestle: accumulation.

Water powered mortar and pestle: release.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bridge

Tags

Bixby, bridge, Carmel, hoi an, new jersey, postaday photography, Princeton, viet nam, weekly photo challenge

URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/bridge/

Following are photos that I took of bridges in my travels.

Bridge over Carnegie lake in Princeton, NJ.

New River Gorge bridge near Fayetteville, WV.

Bixby bridge at dusk, south of Carmel, CA.

Japanese bridge in Hoi An, Viet Nam.

Bridge to nowhere, in South Jersey. There is no road on the other side, only a dirt path and weeds.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflecting

Tags

chincoteague bay, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

This challenge URL is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/reflecting/

Here’s my entry:

Sunset over Chincoteague Bay.

Weekly Photo Challenge: the Road Taken

Tags

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

You can find this photo challenge at the following link: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/the-road-taken/

In the fall of 2015, a friend and I went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains near Bishop, CA. There was almost no traffic, and I soon found out why.

The road we took, the only one to our destination, went from 4,100 ft to 12,000 ft (1,200 m to 3,600 m), uphill all the way, without any dip. It took us almost an hour to get through so many turns that I lost count, before finally finding a place to park on the side of the road, not far from the mountain top.

On the way to Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near Bishop, CA.

I was rewarded with some of the most spectacular vistas that I had ever seen, with bright sunshine, a cool breeze and fantastic clouds that kept swirling in a vibrant blue sky no matter where I turned.

Swirling clouds the White Mountains of California, around 10,000 ft (3,000 m).

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow

Tags

moon, photography, postaday, shadow, weekly photo challenge

The link for this Weekly photo Challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/shadow-2017/

Two days ago, I was taking pictures of the moon when I heard the sound of a jet airplane. It flew overhead, to the left of the moon, and I just had seconds to swing my camera toward it. There was no time to adjust any setting, with the following result.

Airplane and its photographic shadow.

Here’s a picture of the moon.

Moon.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Graceful

Tags

common tern, photography, posataday, weekly photo challenge

This Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is at the following URL:

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/graceful/

The following series of photos shows Common Terns doing graceful acrobatics to find food at the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge.

Common Terns fishing.

Common Tern fishing.

Common Tern missed catching a fish.

Common Tern, a fraction of a second after missing a fish.

Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O

Tags

glacier national park, H2O, kootenai falls, niagara falls, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/h2o/

Photos of water make a good chunk of the shots I have taken since 2010 when I started doing digital photography. In the following series, the shots are of water from its sources high in the mountains, to waterfalls, and finally as part of the giant ocean mass around our globe.

Small brook in Glacier National Park.

Kootenai Falls near Libby, MT.

Kootenai Falls.

Niagara Falls, from the American side.

Close up of Niagara Falls.

Wave crashing on Jersey shore near Barnegat Light.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow

Tags

az, lower antelope canyon, narrow, page, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The Daily Post challenge is at: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/narrow/

One of the narrowest places I have ever been to is Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ. Walking through it, in many spots only one person at a time could pass through. The following photos attest to that.

Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ.

A photographer at Lower Antelope Canyon.

This last photo was a surprise for me. I first heard the bird or birds chirping, and when I saw one I quickly took a shot before it flew away. If you can recognize what kind of bird it was, please let me know in a comment.

Bird at Lower Antelope Canyon.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Details

Tags

daylily, details, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

This Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is at the following link: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/details/

I submit two closeup photos of daylilies showing details at the core of each flower. The first photo was taken a couple weeks ago on a dry morning, the second one just after a heavy downpour this afternoon.

Pistil and stamens of Daylily.

Daylily after downpour.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

Tags

curve, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

I have not participated in the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge for a while, but here are my entries for this one which is titled “Curve.”

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/curve/

I was too eager yesterday and went out to the lotus pond near our house to photograph lotus flowers. It was too early in the season, and there was no flower to be seen, only green leaves and stems, and lots of curves.

Rain water on lotus leaf. It looked so pure.

Curves at lotus pond.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape

Tags

landscape, photography, postaday, stony brook, weekly photo challenge

Here’s the link for this week’s photo challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/landscape/

Stony Brook is a small river about 3 miles North of our house. It meanders around the area before ending up as a tributary of the Millstone River, one of the major rivers of New Jersey. After living nearby for almost 30 years, I thought it was time to go there and take some photos for this week’s challenge.

Pedestrian bridge over Stony Brook

Reflections on Stony Brook.

There was’t much water, but an ND filter created unusual flow patterns.

Finally a shot of one of the tiny yellow wildflowers growing along the banks.

Wildflower on Stony Brook bank.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Half Light

Tags

photography, pjm rhododendron, postaday, weekly photo challenge

Yesterday, without knowing about this week’s photo challenge (https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/half-light/) I had shot the following pictures of a PJM Rhododendron bush that was starting to flower. The sun was very low on the horizon and only tiny rays of light managed to get through the branches.

PJM Rhododendron in waning sunlight.

PJM Rhododendron bud.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons

Tags

cactus, photography, postaday, tulip, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/seasons/ and here are my entries, flowers grown inside the house to dispel winter blahs and hope for an early spring.

White tulip.

Red tulips.

Last but not least are these bright flowers from our Thanksgiving cactus which is blooming a second time in three months.

Thanksgiving cactus, second bloom since Thanksgiving.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Vibrant

Tags

grand canyon national park, photography, postaday, sunset, vibrant, weekly photo challenge

Vibrant is the challenge word: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/vibrant/

I took the following photo at Grand Canyon National Park almost six years ago, when I started getting interested in digital photography. I had a new camera and had never heard of HDR or any of the esoteric terms that photographers like to bandy about. I just saw the beautiful colors as the sun was setting, and they kept getting better and more vibrant by the minute. So, I took the shot.

Grand Canyon sunset.

I showed the photo to a person who knew a lot about photography, and who said: “Very nice, but how do I know this was taken at the Grand Canyon?” He said I should have used HDR to get some features of the canyon walls out of that mass of black at the bottom of the image. Oh well, one lives and learns.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Gathering

Tags

gathering, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/gathering/

A gathering of Cormorants.

Horseshoe Crabs gather to breed. This is an annual event vital for the life of this species which has been in existence for 450 million years.

Shore birds like Laughing Gulls and Red Knots gather to splurge on Horseshoe Crab eggs.

Laughing Gulls gather to feast on a toppled Horseshoe Crab, with its tail sticking up diagonally.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Eye Spy

Tags

blue jay, brown pelican, cardinal, eyes spy, great blue heron, mourning dove, photography, postaday, red fox, tufted titmouse, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/eye-spy/

When I photograph birds and animals, I try to get a good eye expression, or at least get their eyes in clear focus. Here are my entries for the challenge, all from photos taken this year, some as recently as yesterday.

Great Blue Heron keeping an eye on a fish, which it caught just a few seconds later.

Blue Jay with a questioning look.

Female Cardinal modelling for photographer.

Brown Pelican.

Tufted Titmouse. These birds have some of the most photogenic eyes.

Juvenile Red Fox.

Bighorn Ram.

Mourning Dove.

Goldfinch in winter plumage.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transition

Tags

photography, postaday, sanderling, transition, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this week’s challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/transition/

There was a large flock of Sanderlings sleeping peacefully on a series of ledges along the jetty at the Barnegat Lighthouse. I saw a Sanderling being dislodged by a bigger Ruddy Turnstone, one among several which walked with impunity among the smaller birds, looking for food as usual. In any case, the following series of shots illustrate the Transition theme for this week’s challenge.

Sanderling pushed off ledge by Ruddy Turnstone (not shown).

Sanderling landing on lower rock ledge.

Sanderling coming to a stop and pulling wings in.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio

Tags

cormorants, european starling, gold finch, photography, postaday, red fox, snow geese, trio, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/trio/

I found many photos in my archives and in some recent shots that would meet this challenge.

Three Red Fox cubs playing in our backyard in May of this year.

Trio of Gold Finches in their non-breeding plumage.

Three European Starlings on their favorite perch: electrical wire.

Cormorant threesome taking off.

Snow Geese flying over Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the Colors Orange and Green

Tags

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

This week’s challenge from Cee is at this link: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/11/17/cees-fun-foto-challenge-the-colors-orange-and-green/

Here are my entries:

California Poppies on green hills along Highway 46 near Paso Robles, CA.

Oriental Poppy in a garden in Toronto, Canada.

Orange flower at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.

Pumpkins on a field in Washington state.

Orange Echinacea with green center at my house.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate

Tags

celosia, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link to this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/ornate/

Since I tend to refrain from taking photos of ornate things or buildings, I couldn’t at first come up with anything for the challenge. However, yesterday, going through some recent shots, I found several of tall Celosia flowers taken in front of Purdue University horticulture department. I remember they were a riot of color, a jumble of flowers competing for attention, and no one could help noticing them even from afar.

Celosia at Purdue University horticulture department.

Zooming in on individual stalks, the flowers were still quite ornate!

Celosia at Purdue University horticulture department.

Celosia at Purdue University horticulture department.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inspiration

Tags

daily post, edwin b forstythe national wildlife refuge, house finch, lotus, marsh mallow, nuthatch, photography, weekly photo challenge

These are my submissions for this challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/inspiration/

The sources of my inspiration of course vary with the season and the location, but over time they tend to be mostly birds and flowers.

I took the following shot last month at my favorite location, the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. It was raining so I took the picture through the open car window and the rain.

Rainbow over the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Nuthatch, the Cyrano bird

White Lotus

Marsh Mallow

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up

Tags

close up, japanese beetle, postaday, weekly photo challenge

Following is my submission for this challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/close-up/

Cone Flower and Japanese Beetle Close Up

Weekly Photo Challenge: Vivid

Tags

cactus, photography, postaday, Schlumbergera epiphyllum, weekly photo challenge

This is this week’s challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/vivid/ and, coincidentally, just three days ago the following cactus flower (Schlumbergera epiphyllum) bloomed in our house. The plant is over 20 years old and every year it sends forth these bright red, pink, and white flowers one after another. They don’t have any fragrance.

Red Cactus Flower. Note the bud of another flower on the left in the background.

Red Cactus Flower

Red Cactus Flower

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

Tags

broken, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

This is my submission for this challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/broken/

The following photo is of a natural bridge at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, CA. It is the only one remaining of three natural arches carved by the sea into a cliff over a million years ago. As you can see, the waves show no mercy on this natural structure. The outermost arch fell down in the early 20th century, and the innermost one collapsed in 1980. It is expected that the remaining arch will also break down eventually, perhaps sooner than we think.

Broken Natural Bridges

Weekly Photo Challenge: Enveloped

Tags

clematis, enveloped, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

This challenge, https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/enveloped/, made me initially wonder how to illustrate “enveloped” with photos. However, this morning I went out to check our clematis vines after last night’s rain and I saw that many flowers had escaped from their envelopes like the one shown below.

Clematis envelope or bud.

The blooms, laced with rain drops, were of all shapes, sizes, and variations of purple.

Clematis

Clematis

Clematis

All of these flowers come from the same vines planted 28 years ago. It blooms faithfully year after year.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pink

Tags

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge, photography, pink, postaday, weekly photo challenge

My response for this challenge:

http://ceenphotography.com/2015/05/05/cees-fun-foto-challenge-pink/

Jane Magnolia

Jane Magnolia

Magnolia Soulangeana

Weekly Photo Challenge: Intricate

Tags

cinnamon fern, fiddlehead, intricate, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

My response to this challenge:

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/intricate/

Cinnamon Fern fiddlehead

Weekly Photo Challenge: Motion

Tags

photography, postaday, snowy egret, weekly photo challenge

This is my submission for this challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/motion/

Snowy Egret in motion

Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird

Tags

brokeoff mountain, early bird, lassen volcanic national park, mt diller, photography, pilot pinnacle, postaday, weekly photo challenge

For this challenge, I submit the following photo taken at 7:22 AM near the Childs Meadow Resort in Mill Creek, CA, only a few miles from the southern entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. There was not a soul in sight, and sunlight had not reached the valley floor, but it highlighted dramatically three of the mountains in the park.

View from Childs Meadow Resort. From left to right: Brokeoff Mountain, Mt Diller, and Pilot Pinnacle.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/early-bird/