We were able to play with this little lion cub at the Ukutula Conservation Center in South Africa. As adolescent cubs, they had sharp teeth and sharp claws when they pounced.

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as usual, very friendly :D

around 2.5mm and moving very often so I wasn't able to use the Raynox DCR250 on my 105mm Macro lens to increase the magnification

YN14EX Macro flash

Thanks for all favs and comments !

You can follow me on instagram www.instagram.com/alex_d89

It never fails...every early March, I can't seem to be able to stay away from return visits to the plum trees for more Eight-Spotted Forester moth shots, as extremely challenging as they can be to get! I guess over the last few days I've spent over 12 hours indulging in my own March Madness! LOL

We were able to find many of these beautiful kingsnakes on our trip and my son found the first one pictured here. These are another harmless snake which not only eats rodents but will also eat venomous snakes as well.

I recently did some extreme social distancing with my son in the wilds of Kansas. We were able to turn up many reptile species and some good birds while staying far away from people. I will be posting photos from this trip for quite a while.

I hope all my flickr friends are staying safe and healthy.

We weren't able to go too far from home due to Covid restrictions but it was nice to enjoy a do-nothing-much/staycation-of-sorts-long-weekend at a seaside cottage in Crescent Beach....South Surrey :-) It was lovely, relaxing, and really quite nice - I'd highly recommend it :-) (And no, we didn't actually go fishing...not a fan, always seems cruel to me.)

(In Explore: May 28, 2021)

I was able to secure a Denali Park Road Lottery ticket last week, and made the trek north to see the sights. I have been fortunate enough to travel the 92.5 mile dirt road within the park several times but this year was especially sweet as I was able to have my daughter, visiting from Denver, tag along with her boyfriend. Here is a large Bull Moose on the prowl. Fall is the Moose Rut and these guys are on the lookout for a mate.

Was able to get Gritty back on the trails this week, he's been adjusting to the move well. Star came along with us this time, and I was really happy to see her! ♥

"A murderer would never parade his crime in front of an open window..."

R is for Rear Window: the classic film directed by one of my favorites, Alfred Hitchcock. A thrilling taste of voyeurism, telephoto lenses, and romance between an invalid photographer and a piece of the Upper East Side's upper crust.

I thought of this shot about ten days ago, and have looked forward to it ever since. I really wanted to have a shot that was clearly inspired by one of my favorite directors and/or films, and I had great success doing it with Lost In Translation. But what sealed the deal with Rear Window was the fact that my stepfather had foot surgery and is in a cast/boot thing for six weeks. Pretty fortuitous ... plus, Jordy already did Psycho (props to him for making it funny and getting away with it), I am not even close to being able to have a scene from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, or No Country For Old Men and, well, those covered my favorite films by my favorite directors. I mean, okay. Yeah, I could have done the last two with a lot of time and effort, but it's not my fault the letter 'R' fell on a Monday I had work and two doctors' appointments!

I don't liken myself to Grace Kelly at all, and not just because she's blonde and infinitely more beautiful and royalty, (though those don't help) but because she is much more ladylike and, well, graceful. So ideally, this shot would be without me and in my place, a blonde and/or evidently graceful woman. However, I don't have either of those at my disposal; I was going to use my mother, since it felt a little weird (in theory) to be the Grace Kelly to my stepfather's Jimmy Stewart, but I got over it -- all for art's sake! :)

p.s. It's grainy for the old film feel -- but maybe it would be better without. Any thoughts??

p.p.s. two stills from the original movie: one and two

*Explored! Reached #140

I planted lantana in my backyard years ago and now I have a few neighborhood hummingbirds that visit on a daily basis. They have a routine that they follow and when they are feeding, I will see them circle around the neighborhood every few minutes.

I recently purchased a new 600mm lens and haven't had any luck finding wildlife to take pictures with it yet and decided to capture the neighborhood hummingbirds. It took me a few tries to get used to how the lens shoots and get the settings to where I could get some decent shots. After I was done shooting, my dad gave me some more advice that will make the next session even better.

These flowers were in a tree in my next-door neighbor's backyard. Today they were more interested in these flowers than my lantana. They were a pretty good distance away and I was very pleased with the way I was able to crop the image and keep the quality.

peregrine female leaving nothing to waste

To be able to share that feeling with you

of soaring through skies, of endless blue,

and the warm wind as it lifts my wings,

that only the golden sunlight brings,

while I whistle a tune with each beat of my heart,

with the beauty of which, only birds can impart.

This is Gullfoss. Used an ND filter to be able to use a long shutterspeed in daylight.

I was able to pet this amazing Cheetah at the Ukutula Conservatory in South Africa.

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My dad and I were able to make it up to Mt Baker ski area this holiday to go snowshoe around for a bit. The day we were there, it was really cloudy with heavy snowfall. Unfortunately, were were pretty much skunked on photo opportunities, except at the end of the day, it started to clear up and we had to rush over to picture lake and get a photo of Mt Shuksan after sunset. I am super glad that we did because it was breathtakingly beautiful! The warm glow of the set sun simply lit up the mountain. This ended up being 16 photos stacked (a pan of two stacks of 8) for added resolution and lower image noise. Anyway, I hope you all are able to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed spending the time with my father!

Here is a photo from about this time last year that i've been meaning to post. I haven't been able to get out and shoot many snowy pictures due to work, so I felt I should post this. It's a little bit sad looking back on this photo as the RoadRailer was one of my favorite trains.

The train almost got away from me this day, but I managed to snag one shot of it. Here is a long story detailing what happened.

While out shooting the IC and waiting for A408 with a deathstar leader to finish work in Champaign, I bounced down to the Lafayette District to shoot some NS. After receiving intel on 255's location, I moseyed around looking for spots between Tolono and Homer while shooting other NS trains. After assessing the time I think the train might arrive, I came to the conclusion that I had time to sit in my car at Tolono and look at Facebook and wait for a line-up over the diamond on ATCS. Being my first time out here, I didn't know how stuff worked such as the ATCS tendencies and how fast trains move.

It's now getting to the time where one thinks the train might be close if it hauled absolute ass, but my gut is saying it'll probably be another hour or so. As these thoughts are going through my head, another foamer pulls up next to me. I'm now thinking things will get interesting soon, but who really knows. As I start driving out of Tolono due to boredom, I hear my scanner call out "---55---" and a bunch of static per usual. I'm thinking there is no way it's here this soon. Sure enough as I get out of town, I see a tiny string of white in the distance coming out of Philo towards me at a decent speed.

After shouting a few choice words in my car, I whipped a U-turn and tried to quickly get out of town. This was difficult with low road speeds, many intersections, ice, crossing over two mainlines, and the usual slow drivers. Sure enough as this is happening, the CN lines 255 across the diamond. Now I have no idea where to shoot this. The roads are crappy and the train has no plans to stop. I got to the crossing at CP Dawn and pondered if I should play if safe and settle for what I thought was a crappy shot or move somewhere possibly better. After about 15 seconds of self deliberation, I risked it and hauled ass east. The train was now in my rearview mirror and picking up speed. Shit! I settled for the shot posted and had minimal time to get set up. If I knew the lay of the land better, I probably would've went for the nice shot just west of Sadorus but the train probably would've beaten me to it. This was the only place I felt I could get to. Regardless, it's a shot of a train that no longer exists. The slight sag, snow, and glimmering grain elevators in Tolono are nice additions.

After revisiting this line for 255 a month later and almost going through a similar situation, I learned that the RoadRailer and other NS trains don't play around here and haul ass.

I don't usually post very long play-by-play captions like this, but I know many of you enjoy reading and relating to these adrenaline-rushing situations.

NS 8030

255

NS Lafayette District

Sadorus, IL

1/20/24

I am able to wear my heels on the yachts but everyone else has to take their shotes off. I had the perfect excuse because they match my bag.

Wearing:

Lilleth Mills x LUSTER the Glitter Collection

We were able to play with the Lion cubs at the Ukutula Conservation Center in South Africa.

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Taken at Muthurajawela Wetlands, Southern region of the Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka.

My dear friends I will be away from 18 Dec to 15 Jan 18.

Thank you so much for the great support and encouragement given to me during 2017, It is really appreciated!

I won't be able to comment on your work during my hols back home in Sri Lanka! I wish everyone happy holidays and Merry Christmas in advance!

I could not get the correct ID of this Raptor.

Taken handheld in Sri Lanka from a distance.

Thank you for your visits, faves and comments. Constructive criticism and suggestions are most welcome!

DFB_4930

Last friday I finally was able to go to that abandoned place I mentioned here, to take some self-portraits.

I took quite a few and soon I'll share here on flickr. But I swear to God, I'm never doing that alone ever again.

Anyway, it's good that I did those photos last week, because this week the weather has given a change for the worst :P It's so cold! I could never get the "Polka Dot Minnie" little outfit out in these freezing days. Sheesh...

Also, I have a photoshoot with a country boy singer, I haven't slept in three days... due to many reasons I have to get these photos very well done. But feeling like a zombie doesn't help my case ;P

Thank you everyone so much for sharing your quality photos which is a great way to see and keep in touch with the world from home. Also for your kind comments and favours which are much valued.I am not able to take on any more members to follow or to post to groups. I prefer not to receive invites to groups

I was able to get one! Being a member of the 59 Club finally paid off.

We go back in time to better times, June, 2016.

Back in this era, FXE did an order for 50 brand new ES44AC's, but due to a massive backlog on orders for other RR's, GE was not able to deliver the units to FXE in time, so, in compensation, they sent the 25 ES44's in the CREX 1500's series (1501-1525). These units were here for almost 2 years working everywhere on the FXE system moving all kinds of trains, sadly none made it to FSRR.

Here, we see the brand new 1507 (now CN 3973) parked in the FTVM engine shops waiting for GE personal as it was not generating a correct amount of horsepower on it's last load test.

Such amazing looking units, I still kick myself for not being able to shoot em as much as I wanted (specially leading) thanks to school :/

Tlalnepantla, EdoMex.

I have a dream I would be able to find a perfect palm tree: one that has a body that would go over a picturesque sand beach very close to water and then turn higher. I would love to take a picture of such a tree during a beautiful sunset.

Well, this photo almost has it! Upon our vacation in Seychelles I discovered this beautiful palm tree during a most beautiful sunset! Too bad the tree is a bit too majestical and tries to reach skies bit too early. Other than that, perfect!

Taken April 2023.

Old friends sticking together while sauntering in Montenegro.

I was able to take a few long exposure shots before I was hit by the rain. I think this was the last one since it had lots of rain drops on the lens.

nice to be able to crop out a pano from a wide lense [12mm]

Not being able to sleep doesn't mean your life is in shambles....it just means you are a true prince or princess. My way of looking on the "bright side"!

My rendition of "The Princess and the Pea". A big thank you to Phillip for willing to be squished for a bit.

Rarely do I get the opportunity to make a good long exposure from a unique location, this time finally found one where you only get a single chance to photograph it. I was therefore delighted to be able to use this moment in Wales and was very satisfied with this photo.....

Zelden krijg ik de kans om een goede lange belichting te maken vanaf een unieke locatie, deze keer eindelijk een waar ik slechts een enkele kans kreeg om het te fotograferen. Ik was daarom heel blij dit moment in Wales te kunnen gebruiken en was erg tevreden met deze foto .....

I wasn't able to visit Leo Mol's sculpture of Moses as there was a wedding taking place in that part of the park. I was acle to capture the wedding waiting to go into the park

Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.

© All rights reserved

Not able to get out and about much lately, so like other flickr friends, I'm digging back in the archives. I thought this photo might be nice to post since spring is just around the corner.

I have not been able to get out as much as I would have liked lately due to recent events, so, I was lucky to have such a beautiful morning on the Malvern Hills on one of the times I could get out.

I was fortunate to be able to go out on a Whale watching trip from Los Gigantes, Tenerife. A few Pilot Whales, Finn Whale, Turtles etc only a few Shearwaters were seen this is the best I could do with regards a photograph :) Early mornings they were in there thousands passing by, the earliest trips were 10am......by this time they had all but disappeared.

From the headland at Punta de Rasca on a few different visits I was able to see a number of Storm and one Bulwer's Petrel.

Thanks to all who view and comment on my images, much appreciated.

It took a few weeks, but Chicago is no longer playing second fiddle to New York. At least for one day, Chicago can proudly boast of the worst air quality IN THE WORLD! YEAH!!

With the Canadian wildfires still burning, this issue seems like it's going to be gift that keeps on giving for quite a while. How is it that every year we seem to be able to say "I've never seen anything like this!" for a different reason

I was able to see the beautiful waterfall rainbow. The waterfalls of Norikura Kogen are wonderful and powerful.

Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand.

Frogs are able to camouflage themselves to match their surroundings, although their camouflage attempts aren't as rapid as those of chameleons. This is one of our backyard pond green frogs, attempting to match the colors of the plants and rocks in the pond. She was fairly well hidden, I had to look very closely to find her. This is a hard crop. Backyard photography.

Buddha inside the Tha Gyar Hit Phaya Temple. It is one of the smaller pagodas but it is possible to climb to higher levels through small tunnel stairways and able to walk around the outside of pagoda through narrow walkways. This temple provides wide views of the surrounding temples. Parts of the pagoda and it’s walkways is falling apart. It is located on Bagan-Nyaung-U Rd north of Old Bagan Myanmar. There are several neighboring temples named Lawka Chanthar Phaya and Tha Gyar Pone Phaya.

It seems like the Color-Solagon enlarging lenses are almost completely unknown, even among people very familiar with a wide range of enlarging lenses.

Thanks to a couple of helpful people here, as well as the wonderful help of the FOMU - Fotomuseum Antwerpen and its library, I was able to confirm that the Color-Solagon features a 6 elements in 4 groups plasmat design (similar to most of the Componon-S lenses from Schneider Kreuznach), but the only real source I‘ve seen is on the "Color Solagon II 60 mm", which was apparently sold with some of the Varioscop 35/44 enlargers! I wasn‘t able to find a single document on the 70, 80 or 90 mm variants unfortunately, but I‘d guess they were made for a different purpose - either for one of Agfa’s Minilab or some industrial application.

I was able to find some of the Color-Solagon lenses, but unfortunately most of them are in pretty bad shape with either haze, fungus or some mechanical damage, so it‘s impossible to judge the quality in their original state.

The "Color-Solagon DII 90 mm F 4.5" shown here is not mentioned anywhere on the internet as far as I could find at least... I think it might be very similar to the 80 mm variant though.

If you know more about it, or someone who could, I‘d really appreciate any help!

Shot with a Schneider Kreuznach "M-Claron 60 mm F 5.6" lens on a Canon EOS R5.

Black Crowned Night Heron Courtship

I haven't been able to upload lately due to computer problems... so here are 8 random unposted photos from the past month or so

St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, needs no introduction. Was glad to be able to visit a few years ago!

Black-billed Magpie (BBMA Pica hudsonia)

Juvenile

Blue Eyed Sweetie

SE

of

Tompkins, Saskatchewan, Canada

DSCN8062

*******

Thanks so much to all for interest,faves and taking time to leave your comments. I really appreciate each one & the comradery of fellow adventurers on Flickr.

Apologies if/when i am not able to respond to each one.

Jody

I was able to get one quick shot of this female Belted Kingfisher before she flew to the other side of the pond. Too bad I was behind a high fence and bushes or I could have gotten a flight shot if I could have been fast enough.

Belted Kingfisher

Ceryle alcyon

© All Rights Reserved

Students Shown:

Beatrice E. Penman, Portsmouth, Ohio. She went on to graduate from Ohio State University in 1924.

Bernice Wilson, New York

Clinton Wilson, Chicago, Illinois

Mabel Pinkston, Chicago, Illinois

Rosa James, Chicago, Illinois

I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color. Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that I would witness an aurora let alone be able to photograph one. Luckily I was able to to visit a dark location and catch the last of the lights.

I haven't been able to take a really good pic of this boy in a long time! Soren is at that stage where he tends to make weird expressions when facing the camera. If I can get him genuinely laughing, as I did here, he is incredibly photogenic.

I snapped this at the almost former (as of 3 pm today) Warehouse 21 in Santa Fe. W21 will be demolished today to make way for the new and improved W21, a place for teens to hang out and express themselves without alcohol, drugs, or violence. Since Soren will be 13 in less than a month, I thought this an appropriate place to shoot a good teen portrait of him.

My baby! Almost totally grown! Wow.....