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[Explored]

March is a wonderful month in Alaska. You can just feel spring in the air, as the sun radiates its warmth, and the days lengthen. We no longer need to keep the wood stove stoked all day, thereby saving what is left of the precious woodpile, after a brutally cold winter.

It is this time of year, that most rural Alaskan's start scoping out the forest, for the trees that will be needed for next winters fuel.

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As the mist rises from the pond, Trumpeter Swans prepare for a day of rest in the Alaskan wilderness.

*(Posted for Sliders Sunday - Processed to the MAX!)

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much. You are welcome to visit my original Nature and wildlife Photos at: www.flickr.com/photos/soes_nature_and_art/

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feed-back very much. You are welcome to visit my original photos at www.flickr.com/photos/soes_nature_and_art/

Rippled angular architecture from another photo of the library.

Thanks to everyone for visiting , commenting , awards and invitations

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

How very fast we go between summer and autumn in Alaska. One minute my rhubarb bed is producing more juicy stalks than I can possibly use - and the next minute the leaves are turning ruby red signaling the end of the harvest.

Soon Doc will gently pull the remaining stalks and cover the bed with spruce bows for winter. Come early spring - (sometimes before the snow has even melted) - little ruby red heads will poke their way through the icy cold soil, and once again I will be knee deep in rhubarb.

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The glacier fed Chickaloon River, surrounded by the colorful autumn foliage, looks especially pretty this time of the year.

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With sub-zero temperatures predicted for the next couple of weeks - I am waiting for the day that our boreal forest welcomes spring flowers. Until then, I'll see them in my dreams.

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A Floral Fantasy

Fantaisie florale

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All rights reserved. This photo is not authorized for use on your blogs, pin boards, websites or use in any other way.

Photos and textures used are my own.

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Rippled photo of a primary color painted wall along 4th Avenue South in the SODO neighborhood.

... the leaves were also... the flowers.

Lotus leaves

Homes are going through a transition in the US this weekend. This is the time that we put away our autumn decorations - and bring out our Christmas tree and poinsettias, as we sing "Deck the Halls". Happy decorating to all!

Posted for Sliders Sunday - Processed to the MAX! HSS!

Can you hear them?...

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Hmmm.... What's this? A canon and a wedding chapel? The canon and this world-famous wedding chapel at the Top of the Rock Ozarks Heritage Presserve really don't have anything to do with each other... after all, wouldn't a canon be overkill for a shotgun wedding? :D Actually, the canon is kept in operating condition and it is shot at sunset each evening to herald the end to another day while someone plays bagpipes in the mountaintop outlook (which overlooks the chapel). At this time of the year, the sun was setting behind the chapel... which made for some dramatic photos.

Unforunately, it was a perfectly cloudless evening, so I added the cloud layer in post processing to create this composite.

DSC_3124

© Stephen L. Frazier - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be copied, printed, distributed or used on any site, blog, or forum without expressed permission.

Looking for Steve Frazier's main photography website? Visit stevefrazierphotography.com. Contact me at stevefrazierphotography@gmail.com

The Ceremonial start of The Iditarod Sled Dog Race will kick off in Anchorage at 10:00 AM on March 4th this year. The following day the restart will take place in Willow Alaska. The “restart” is considered to be the true start of the race, with mushers racing off into the surrounding wilderness and heading for Nome.

This year has the smallest number of mushers ever entered in the race. There are only 33 competitors, and has none of the well known names we have followed over the years. Notably absent this year are: Mitch and Dallas Seavey, Jeff King, and Martin Buser – just to name a few. In 2008 we had 96 mushers take on the grueling 1,000 mile run to Nome – but citing the cost of feed, fuel, and supplies - fewer mushers can afford to enter the race. Plus there is a diminishing interest in the race and very few corporate sponsors willing to participate.

Gone are the good old days when the “race” was essentially a three-week camping trip through the wilderness among friends. The inaugural Iditarod in 1973 took 20 days for the winner, (Dick Wilmarth) to arrive in Nome. Now, the fastest mushers arrive under the Burled Arch on Front Street in mere eight or nine days. It’s sad – but I never thought I would see Alaska’s Iditarod Race come to an end.

This is a scene that was shot during the Christmas holiday in 2013 in the mangroves just north of the Ponce De Leon Historical Park on Charlotte Harbor in Punta Gorda, Florida. The area is known for its plumed birds and wildlife... and gorgeous sunsets.

I had walked along the shoreline trying to find a good spot to photograph the little island out in the water (seemingly made of roots and trees). I would have loved to have had some sort of boat to get around... and thereby possibly avoiding the no-see-ums that were thick in the underbrush. It was warm and humid so I was wearing shorts. The bites on my legs itched fiercely for days! So, while the approach of the ducks may look perfect... I'm not so sure that my approach was. :D

IMG_9642_3_4

© Stephen L. Frazier - All Rights Reserved.

All material in my photo stream may NOT be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission. My photos are Copyrighted "Stephen L. Frazier" and All Rights Reserved.

Tiger

used: Filter Forge, Photoshop

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...when time stands still

A redo of a project from my archive with improved editing skills – originally done in 2013. The current Flickr x LEGO® Build and Capture photo contest inspired me to dig into my archive for my source files and rework/repost.

A digital manipulation of an image of my youngest son, Henry (who was 12 at time). Henry developed a beautifully creative and analytical mind which is due in part (I am convinced) to his near life-long interest in Lego brick building. He has two older brothers who were also Lego builders (and five and seven years older), thus he got a VERY early start. This photoshop project fits his personality perfectly - he was quite serious about his Lego builds back in the day.

Henry is now 20 years old and a sophomore at college with a double major in Biochemistry and English/Literature. A beautiful mind indeed.

Now that he is a part-timer in our household, I miss him a great deal in general, but also miss him as the most cooperative photography model of my three sons.

"Texture wrapping" edits via the displace filter in Photoshop.

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feed-back very much. You are welcome to visit my original photos at www.flickr.com/photos/soes_nature_and_art/