A backlit shot of a Great-tailed Grackle transformed into a silhouette with added coloring.

A telephoto close up of a song sparrow with backlighting from the sun.

A red and white hibiscus flower variant with a bright yellow anthers. My photographic images, and photo-transformed graphics are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in imagery.

Part of my Anna and Allen Hummingbird focus. Made this from a missed-shot that caught only the top half of this Anna at the bottom of my frame. A little crop turned it into an inspirational portrait. Lol. Well, sort of.... ;-)

Anna's Hummingbird (female) in a moment of brief respite.

OUT of the SHADOWS

Driven and persistent

When a girl, I was undaunted

On acting I was insistent

By the stage I was haunted

A mere ingénue

At the odds I did laugh

Until the day that I withdrew

Now that ingenue lay neath an epitaph

To myself I was untrue

Now turn back to dreams

I must pursue

Lo, I am rebuilding

Her broken spirit within

Already she is healing

Anon let the journey begin again

Written by

Kaitlin Evers, Chicago

from : hellopoetry.com

Upside down image of a tree trunk in a park with plant foliage surrounding its base. Converted to black and white and post processed for the abstract-like effect.

A Filipino man in Davao City massages his goatee while waiting for customers at his sidewalk business.

A nuclear power plant imaged on Tri-X film in the 1980s along a highway in Florida, USA.

Childhood memories for many who were born and raised in the Philippines.

If I wasn't looking up a couple of stories high while walking the streets in Malate, Manila, I never would have seen this feline following my movements.

My photographic images, and photo-transformed graphics are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in photographic imagery.

Male White Crowned Sparrow portrait while perched and crushing seeds in its beak.

This little guy found an interest in hovering nearby me just long enough for me to get a chance to capture it the air.

If it weren't for it's odd sounding coo-coo sound call, I would have not known it was nearby. Once it spotted me, it left its lookout perch atop a small tree.

Interesting facts about Road Runners:

1. Many kinds of birds exhibit obvious contrasting physical characteristics between the sexes besides the sexual organs themselves, a phenomenon known as sexual dimorphism. The greater roadrunner is not such a bird: Males and females look extremely similar.

2. Road Runners can run 42km/h or 26mph.

3. They eat insects, spiders and centipedes, rodents, small mammals, and reptiles, including rattle snakes.

4. They live about 7-8 years in the wild. 5. Although not the preferred prey of coyotes, coyotes do eat Road Runners if they can catch one. ;-)

Male Anna's Hummingbird with feet extended for a landing onto the perch of a hummingbird feeder.

Natal Plum flower in Monochrome

A pied-billed grebe paddles across a lake leaving ripples that merge with other ripples generated by a breeze. The sky-blue and land-brown colors reflect, merge and combined within the merging ripples. Much inner meaning can be reflected in our minds when witnessing nature in motion.

Taking up the anchor, the last step taken to deploy the water craft. The Philippines.

Foraging for crustaceans along the shorelines of San Diego, California, USA

My photographic images, and photo-transformed graphics are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in photographic imagery.

My pet dog from the past 11.5 years still enjoyed posing in front of my camera for her occasional portrait.

Here is another sky image to add to your collection for sky replacement. It was taken with my Galaxy S10+ and denoised with Topaz Denoise and dehazed in Lightroom.

Close up image of several lychee fruits

Anna's Hummingbird spotted a rival to his territory and begins his upward pursuit of the invader.

I edited this image in homage to this one male California Quail that would take off whenever I got it close to my camera's 'sweet spot' for imaging birds.

Cebu, Visayas, The Philippines. This young child was following me around a neighborhood in Cebu while taking street shots. The original image was a half-body shot of him on the sidewalk next to me.

Calamansi has a unique and intense flavor all its own. When cut, a calamansi may look like an orange, but tastes much tangier like a lemon or lime. They are tropical and aromatic. This fruit can be used just like you would lemon or lime. Cebu, Visayas, The Philippines

A lucky capture of a femle Anna's Hummingbird with wings in the forward position.

Anna's Humminbird captured in flight as it chases off competition around its territory.

About a week and a half old and born a day apart.

During the fall migration and winter, chickadees often flock together in flocks of 8–10 birds. Each of the birds in a flock has a rank; while highly ranked birds will remain on the flock's territory for breeding, lower-ranked birds must find new breeding territory.

A Cosmic Journey to the Infinite Imaginary Center.

Sometimes I think some of the hummingbirds I'm imaging are hybrid crosses of Allen and Anna Hummingbirds

A pair of rock roses that were growing by the side of a busy road. A cool photo for a theme of 2.

A young pine cone with sidelight from a risen sun on a cool, cloudy, October morning in San Diego, California.

My photographic images, and photo-transformed graphics are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in photographic imagery.

Even with plenty of food available for all, Anna's Hummingbirds are very territorial. Inbetween sips of nectar, Anna has to look around for potential challenges to her perch (like the one caught in this frame of another hummingbird passing close to her.

Anna's Hummingbird takes a very short rest at the end of a Magnolia tree leaf where it can watch for territorial intrusions.

First wildflower blooms in early February in Southern California. I selected and darkened the background to draw the eye to pattern of this amazing wildflower.

Street scene in Davao City, Mindanao, The Philippines

Two different symmetrical halves of a twirl art creation with blend-if slider adjustments.

My attempt at salvaging a backlit image of a crow in a pine tree shot from a good distance.

Commonly known as bank catclaw, prostrate acacia, or desert carpet, it is a shrub introduced to Southern California from SW Australia. It is considered an invasive species in parts of California.

Spotted Towhee foraging under hedges for insects and seeds. Sometimes he is called San Diego Towhee and for a while even Spurred Towhee. He certainly is spotted sharply black and white with rich mahogany red sides and flanks - and such a wonderful red eye. With it all, he is a shy, brush-dwelling bird along the Arroyo. He becomes more conspicuous when he begins giving his spring trill in early February from the top of a low tree, but he drops back into the thicket as soon as he is disturbed.

Dieng Plateau is a marshy plateau that forms the floor of a caldera complex on the Dieng Volcanic Complex near Wonosobo, Central Java, Indonesia Referred to as "Dieng" by Indonesians, it sits at 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level, far from major population centres. The name "Dieng" comes from Di Hyang which means "Abode of the Gods".

The Plateau is the location of eight small Hindu temples from the Kalingga Kingdom.:79,90 It is unclear when they were built, estimated to range from mid 7th century to end of 8th century AD; they are the oldest known standing stone structures in Java.] They are originally thought to have numbered 400 but only eight remain. The temples are now believed to have been named after the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Michell claims Dieng's misty location almost 2,093 m above sea level, its poisonous effusions and sulphur-coloured lakes make it a particularly auspicious place for religious tribute. The temples are small shrines built as monuments to the god-ancestors and dedicated to Shiva. The Hindu shrines are miniature cosmic mountains based on plans in Indian religious texts, although Schoppert suggest the design motifs have little connection to India.

"Tjandi Ardjoeno on the Dijeng Plateau" photo by Isidore van Kinsbergen

In 2011, in a review published by Romain,the temple is now believed to be related to Dravida and Pallava style temples of South India. The theory that poisonous effusions make it auspicious is now disputed as volcanic activity in this area from 7th to 9th century is yet to established, and records suggest the temple was abandoned after volcanic eruptions became common in central Java.

from: wikipedia.

I think this might be a young male Anna's Hummingbird with the first of his red throat and head feathers coming out.

The first of a cluster of white, beautifully scented white flowers from an ornamental plant in landscaping. Pitosporum tobira is also known as Australian laurel, Japanese pittosporum, mock orange, and Japanese cheesewood.

Most all of my photography and imagery are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in photography.

Looking straight down the barrel of my lens and ruffling up the face feathers to catch the right angle of light to show off his red face

After processing this image, I was drawn toward how the blurred background and lighting created a magical appearance.

In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad were eight primordial deities worshiped in Hermopolis. The term “Ogdoad” means “the Eightfold” in Ancient Greek and “eight” in Ancient Egyptian.

A Filipino fisherman from Pagudpud, Ilocos region, The Philippines, navitating a small boat and net line around a school of fish 150 meters off the coast of their village.