If I put a description here, I would just be misleading you.

Day 263

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

This afternoon the 2021 Iditarod Race will begin. Sadly - due to Covid, it is has been drastically changed this year. (See article below)

In this image I was having a little early morning chat with a neighbor who is participating in this year race.

Sun, March 7, 2021, 2:06 AM•

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Forty-seven mushers and their teams of huskies were due to begin their trek into the Alaska wilderness on Sunday for the 49th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, on a course drastically altered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The starting line of the 2021 event has been placed off-limits to the usual crowds of cheering spectators, and none are expected anywhere along the abbreviated route for this year's running of the world's most famous sled-dog race.

Access to the start area - a secluded spot at the edge of a frozen river in Willow, Alaska, about 75 miles north of Anchorage – has been confined to competitors and essential race personnel.

Canceled was the usual Saturday ceremonial kickoff to the race in Anchorage, a day of festivities that traditionally have packed Iditarod fans into the downtown district of Alaska's largest city.

And there will be no finish line in Nome, the Bering Sea town that has long served as the end point for a race course that roughly follows the path of the legendary diphtheria serum run to Nome by dog sled teams in 1925.

Instead, this year's race will run to an uninhabited checkpoint called Iditarod and an abandoned mining settlement named Flat, then turn around for a second leg sending mushers back to the starting line at the Deshka River in Willow.

The total distance is about 860 miles, roughly 100 miles shorter than the traditional route to Nome.

The coronavirus-altered route is designed to minimize contact with residents of the region. Even where the trail nears villages, the checkpoints are isolated with access restricted. The route skips all the native Athabascan villages along the Yukon River and all the Inupiat villages on the Bering Sea coast.

Camera in motion, capturing three lights in a candelabra. Lights, shadows, and blurs in the image were subsequently modified in Lightroom, Irfanview, and NIK software, producing a mix of electric and painterly effects.

The sun sets directly at the end of the Venice Pier on the winter solstice when this was taken. HDR from 3 exposures organized in Lightroom, tonemapped in Dynamic Photo HDR and edited with Topaz in photoshop.

From a recent trip to the Tucson Botanical Gardens, processed in GIMP and G'MIC.

Flying Umbrellas,

used: Filter Forge, Photoshop, Pixabay

Even on the gloomiest of days - the flower pots that adorn the harbor in Valdez, can uplift your mood.

**(This past week, I reached over 10 million views on Flickr. I want to thank all of you who took the time from your busy lives to view, comment, and fave, my photo's.)

Wishing all of my Flickr friends a happy week ahead filled with love, joy, happiness, and of course - amazing photo-op's.

* ( This photo Explored August 11, 2019 - at Number 12 )

Eventually it runs out.

African green mamba...

Having some digital fun with stock images. The shot of the green mamba was taken in Jan 2014 during a reptile exhibit at the RBG.

We have a huge flock of White Crowned Warblers draining our feeders every day. Snow is melting rapidly, and huge puddles are full of thirsty, and bathing birds. I expect the warblers to take off any day, and head to the tundra where they will build nests on the ground and lay their eggs. Until then, I am really enjoying the sound of their happy chirps.

Day length today: 17h 12m (May 9, 2022)

5 minutes, 40 seconds longer than yesterday (May 8, 2022)

12 hours, 5 minutes longer than winter solstice (Dec 21, 2021)

2 hours, 36 minutes shorter than summer solstice (Jun 20, 2021)

Lovely view

A vibrant pink zinnia flower with fresh green leaves, photographed against a textured brick wall backdrop. The brick pattern provides an interesting contrast to the soft, delicate flower.

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

The idea for this abstract nature image formed while manipulating another image posted earlier today (spider www.flickr.com/photos/vivid_dreams/37443059864/in/datepos...). This is a small cropped section from the lower center right of the image.

The cropped image was rotated 180 degrees, converted to monochrome which was then inverted to the negative look, pushed the contrast for better blacks and cleaned up any white spots.

homeless-844213_created_using_Artensoft_Photo_Collage_Maker, Pixabay, Photoshop

From cold ground,

A grave

The Breath of Spring

Warms the air

Draws colours,

Life unfurls,

Rising from Winter sleep

Created for Award Tree Challenge 129 ~ Pastel Palette, also

SOTN Challenge 39 Shock Woman

Texture: FrostedBlossom2 is my own and is available from My Texture Set

Sit back from your screen to view

Merrin really liked those wings, so this is for my beautiful best friend and wife!

I had questions about the display on the opera house.

So just a bit of information about this lightshow, it is a 15 min. looping cycle of moving pictures, a bit like a movie projected onto the sails.

This is what makes it so tricky to get a decent shot of it, exposures can't be longer than half a second anything longer gets blurry. Not your normal long exposure!

Vivid Sydney will continue for another 2 weeks

More info here: www.vividsydney.com/

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Norbert

I went outside and found the ugliest dying weed we have and photographed it from the top down. I used our colorful groundcover as a backdrop, and took the whole thing into TS. Tada! Now the ugly old thing looks kinda spiffy.

(I think the name of this ugly plant is - "Labrador Lousewort." It even has an ugly name to go with it. LOL)

Achiltibuie and Ben More Coigach from Polbain: evening light

This was the view from the cottage we stayed in at Easter.

www.karlwilliamsphotography.co.uk

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feed-back very much

The hidden faces,

Used: Filter Forge, Pixabay, Photoshop

Throughout my city, on parking lots and in community centres, you'll find huge piles of snow that have been cleared from the streets. My guess is that this "mountain" is 15-20' feet tall. Being that it's Sliders Sunday, I added a few filters, then saturated the colours. Happy Sliders Sunday! HSS!

Thank you for your views and comments, they're greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful day!

Wishing all of the Dad's out there a very happy Father's Day. May your day be filled with the things you like to do - just as it was for the young man in this image.

Published in Living the Photo Artistic Life," Issue No. 93, Nov 2022, Featured Artist, Cover and Pgs. 31-35, issuu.com. Image Sources:Water Background from anton-darius-Qbn7_Nqs8WA-unsplash; House from jean-wimmerlin-eB6D0Wks7jA-unsplash; Carp from PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay; Fish from Petco; Brush from Nucly; Woman from electricsorcere on Deviant Art; Plant from pngwing.com; Fractal from Dieter_G on Pixabay; Fractal from astronomiseme on Deviant Art; Branch from SatyaPrem on Pixabay; Light Beam brush from SS; Bubbles brush from millertimemsu on Deviant Art;

Original photographs over-processed in PS and Studio Artist 4. It's not subtle but it is what it is.

Praying Girl,

Used: Pixabay girl-15780,Artensoft_Photo_Collage_Maker, Filter Forge, Photoshop

Not enough room for dancing

evolved in Nano Ink (Color) night cafe

digital draw manipulated in gimp

Created for the Treat This 61 Challenge in the Kreative People group.

With thanks to Abstractartangel77 for the source image. A small copy is posted below

Texture HintofPurple is my own

PRESS L

music : Bass Communion/ghost on the magnetic tape

My award from you is a word or few, not a flashing/dancing/jumping or singing copy/paste item.

Those comments waste my time and will be erased

The use of this photo is allowed only with written authorization of Svante Oldenburg

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

this is my Gypsy Dream. i cannot even begin to explain how she came to be, but she sure is pretty :)

Kingfisher by watercolor

Painted European Peacock,

used: Studio Artist, Photoshop, Filter Forge

Photo taken and edited with iphone6, cam apps: ProCamera, postpro apps: NoirPhoto, Superimpose, IColoramaS, Lens Distortions, Stackables, Mextures, After Light, PhotoPower.

Twitter/IG/EyeEm/Tumblr: @adesantora

One of my personal favourites of the Opera house series, just to break it up a bit.

We spent the long weekend in Sydney to see The 'Vivid Sydney" light show this year.

What can I say! What a spectacular show.

If you have a chance to go, this is a must see event if you in or around Sydney at the time.

For more information see : www.vividsydney.com/

The projected images are constantly moving and it is quite a challenge to get it right.

Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for looking

Norbert