Bits And Pieces
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I've been a bit amiss with my posting and will try to catch up a bit (again) but staying rather busy this Fall and now with the leaves just about at peak color I thought it time to head out and enjoy the scenery. High Point State Park has always been a popular destination in New Jersey and I've been here many, many times but this year may very well be the first time the monument was actually open! I brought my camera and wasn't disappointed with the inner stairway and its 291 steps. I should have run back to the car and got my tripod but I didn't. Then again, if I got the perfect stairway shot that I had in mind I probably wouldn't have come up with this Fall slider of sorts. So it goes and I'm happy on this fine Sunday! Created for the Slider Sunday group - HSS!
Also known as the Torx drive. These are various sizes of torx drives from T15 up to T40. Shot for Macro Mondays "Stars" theme.
Thanks for viewing and happy Macro Monday!
Looking a little bit tacky here but this Robin is over two years old now which is a good age for a Robin. Always hanging around in the same area in one of my nature reserves I often go to visit. Ever since I first spotted this as a juvenile there has always been a dark patch below the right eye that is still there to this day. My little friend here has become very tame and always so very photogenic and hopefully will be around a bit longer yet. In the 1400's when the Robin was named the colour orange had not been classified and this is why we say that the Robin has a red breast and not orange. America has an eagle so it's about time the UK had the Robin as its national bird !!!!!!
Small Skipper | Thymelicus sylvestris | Hesperiidaee On Orange Hawk Bit | Pilosella aurantiaca | Asteraceae
Samsung NX1 & Kiron 105mm f/2.8 Macro
f/4 | Manual Focus | Available Light | Handheld
All Rights Reserved. © Nick Cowling 2020.
Switzerland, May 2021
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
You find a selection of my 80 BEST PHOTOS (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
ABOUT THE PHOTO:
So this photo is a bit of a novelty for me - at least here on Flickr, but it's also a journey back in time in a sense. I've always loved b/w and sepia photography; already as a very young teenager I would go out into the woods with an old Pentax Spotmatic (which I had nicked from my father) whenever it was a foggy day to shoot b/w compositions of sunbeams cutting through the ghostlike trees.
I used films with a sensitivity of at least 1600 (for those of you who remember what that means 😉 ), and the resulting photos had an incredibly fine grain which I loved; I blew them up to the size of posters and hung them on the walls of my teenage man-cave next to Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Slash.
But then I abandoned photography altogether for 20 years, and when I finally picked up a camera again, it was one of the digital kind. Now neither film nor grain played any role in my photographic endeavours - let alone b/w compositions: because the reason I fell in love with shooting pictures once more was the rare and incredibly colorful lizard species that had chosen my garden as its habitat.
It's this species - the Lacerta bilineata aka the western green lizard - that my photo website www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ and also my Flickr gallery are dedicated to, but I've since expanded that theme a bit so that it now comprises the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat, which is to say my garden and its immediate surroundings and all the flora and fauna I find in it.
I like that my gallery and the website have this clear theme, because in order to rise to the challenge of portraying all aspects of a very specific little eco system (which also happens to be my home of sorts), it forces me to constantly explore it from fresh angles, and I keep discovering fascinating new motives as my photographic journey continues.
Which brings me to the horse pasture you see in this photo. This playground for happy horsies lies just outside my garden, and it normally only interests me insofar as my green reptile friends claim parts of it as their territory, and I very much prefer it to be horseless (which it thankfully often is).
Not that the horses bother the reptiles - the lizards don't mind them one bit, and I've even seen them jump from the safety of the fly honeysuckle shrub which the pasture borders on right between the deadly looking hooves of the horses to forage for snails, without any sign of fear or even respect.
No, the reason I have a very conflicted relationship with those horses is that they are mighty cute and that there's usually also foals. The sight of those beautiful, happy animals jumping around and frolicking (it's a huge pasture and you can tell the horses really love it) is irresistible: and that inevitably attracts what in the entire universe is known as the most destructive anti-matter and ultimate undoing of any nature photographer: other humans.
Unlike with the horses, the lizards ARE indeed very much bothered by specimens of loud, unpredictable Homo sapiens sapiens - which makes those (and by extension also the horses) the cryptonite of this here reptile photographer. It's not the horses' fault, I know that, but that doesn't change a thing. I'm just telling you how it is (and some of you might have read about the traumatic events I had to endure to get a particular photo - if not, read at your own risk here: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51405389883/in/datepo... - which clearly demonstrated that even when it's entirely horseless, that pasture is still a threat for artistic endeavours).
But back to the photo. So one morning during my vacation back in May I got up quite early. It had rained all night, and now the fog was creeping up from the valley below to our village just as the sky cleared up and the morning sun started to shine through the trees.
And just as I did when I was a teenager I grabbed my camera and ran out to photograph this beautiful mood of ghostlike trees and sunbeams cutting through the mist. There had already been such a day a week earlier (which is when I took this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51543603732/in/datepo... ), but this time, the horses were also there.
Because of our slightly strained relationship I only took this one photo of them (I now wish I had taken more: talk about missed opportunities), and otherwise concentrated on the landscape. It was only later when I went through all the photos on my computer that I realized that I actually really liked those horses, even despite the whole composition being such a cliché. And I realized another thing: when I drained the photo of all the color, I liked it even better - because there was almost a bit of grain in it, like in the photos from my youth.
Since then I have experimented quite a bit with b/w and sepia compositions (some of which I will upload here eventually I guess), but this photo here is the first one that helped me rediscover my old passion. I hope you like it even though it builds quite a stark contrast with the rest of my tiny - and very colorful - gallery. But in the spirit of showing you the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat (and also in the spirit of expanding my gallery a bit beyond lizards and insects), I think it's not such a bad fit.
As always, many greetings to all of you, have a wonderful day and don't hesitate to let me know what you think 😊
A bit closer today but maybe too close to her taste. I think she wanted me to go away or maybe it was the strong wind and hard for her to stay on the post ! We never know and, in doubt, I left :-)
I took this shot in the Audubon Marsh near the River Loire Estuary (France)
♡
D'un peu plus près aujourd'hui mais peut-être un peu trop à son goût. Je crois qu'elle voulait que je parte ou alors c'est le vent, qui soufflait très fort, qui l'empêchait de garder son équilibre ! On ne le saura jamais et, dans le doute, je suis partie :-)
J'ai pris cette photo au Marais Audubon près de l'estuaire de la Loire.
A bit of refreshment for my Flickr friends in the Northern Hemisphere.
The falling rain don't seem to bother this duck...taken at the Fitzroy Gardens.
Hope you like this oldie but goodie..." Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head " by BJ Thomas.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sySlY1XKlhM
Many thanks for your visit, comments, invites and faves..it is always appreciated..
Peaceful Sunday
It's a good thing foil came up as a theme for Macro Mondays because now I have a reason for keeping a bag of multicolored foil bits! Perhaps they'll make it into ice cubes some day but for now it's a foil abstract.
The image area measures about 1.5 inches X 1.5 inches.
Nikon 55mm f/2.8 NIKKOR Micro, 9 image photo stack shot at f/11.
Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus). This wood pigeon was trying to keep cool by oscillating his throat. However, he just looked a bit deranged to me!
Bit of a fun shot. This Snowy Egret was on it's way back into the sea to carry on fishing when it sensibly paused for a moment. The fact that the wind had also whipped up it's crown feathers was a real bonus.
Taken at North Beach, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Thank you so much for stopping by and for leaving any comments or faves, they are very much appreciated.
What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
(Come here)
Say it, spit it out. What is it exactly?
You're payin'? Is the amount cleanin' you out? Am I satisfactory?
Today, I'm thinkin' about the things that are deadly
The way I'm drinkin' you down
Like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me
Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ah)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (ah-ah)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ah)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me
I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna... end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna...
What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
(Listen)
Keep you in the dark. What had you expected?
Me to make you my art and make you a star?
And get you connected?
I'll meet you in the park, I'll be calm and collected
But we knew right from the start that you'd fall apart
'Cause I'm too expensive
It's probably somethin' that shouldn't be said out loud
Honestly, I thought that I would be dead by now (wow)
Calling security, keepin' my head held down
Bury the hatchet or bury a friend right now
The debt I owe, gotta sell my soul
'Cause I can't say no, no, I can't say no
Then my limbs are frozen, my eyes won't close
And I can't say no, I can't say no
(Careful)
Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ah)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (Ah-ah)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ah)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me
I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna... end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna...
What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Bit of a Flickr slow-down while I struggle with a non-Adobe workflow for the first time in a long time (trying to break the addiction). I'm also pausing the 'pro' account on a trial basis, while I save up to buy a dozen eggs.
So hopefully all have a fine weekend. I'll be shooting a little but may or may not get more images up. I won't be Flickring much tonight but will try to fave from the mobile.
Texture from Inky Papers 2 - available with 20% launch discount until Tuesday - texture-shop.co.uk/product/inky-papers-2/ use code INKY2LAUNCH
Think I will have a "Bit of Something on Blue week" (bound to be fairly minimal so no offence if you decide to pop back when it's all over :-)
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Pentax K-5
Super-Takumar 55mm f1.8
_
© 2021 stefanorugolo | All rights reserved.
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Thank you for your visit, most appreciated!
she had bits of soul
in everything. from
her laugh to her
tears and in a world
of plastic smiles
and corrugated
feelings,
you couldn't help
but feel it.
- JmStorm
"Macro Mondays" – "Stack"
Jörg Schubert / #schubertj73
Titel: Stapel Bit Sammlung - Industrie Produkt Makro Kunst Fotografie.
Jörg Schubert / #schubertj73
Title: Stack Bit Collection - Industrial Product Macro Art Photography.
Would have gone out today, it was fine enough, but other things got in the way. So took a photo of some ribbon I found, while sorting out something else. It looked OK, but I decided to play around with it a bit.
Today is : National Garlic Day - nationaldaycalendar.com/national-garlic-day-april-19/
And for Some Other News it's : National Hanging Out Day - nationaldaycalendar.com/national-hanging-out-day-april-19/
I would have done, but didn't have anything to hang out. 😂
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites.
Credit @ Dimi's in RFL in Home&Garden Expo 2020 Hope4
Backdrop : DiMi's - Tuscany (Rez - 120 LI) *Rezzing by Rezzar
Credit @ Little branch
LB_WildShingleOak{Animated}*4Seasons
LB_WildGrass.v1{4Seasons}*Animated
Credit @ GOOSE
GOOSE - Echo chair BROWN
GOOSE - Echo table BROWN
GOOSE - Echo chair GREEN
GOOSE - Echo table GREEN
GOOSE - Lavendel pot light
Credit @ Refuge "Sweets Shop Gacha"
1. Refuge - Sweets Shop Counter Pink RARE
5. Refuge - Sweets Shop Ice Cream Machine Pink
8. Refuge - Sweets Shop Cupcake Single Blue
11. Refuge - Sweets Shop Cupcake Box Blue
6. Refuge - Sweets Shop Ice Cream Machine Blue
9. Refuge - Sweets Shop Neon Sign Blue
3. Refuge - Sweets Shop Marquee Sign Pink
13. Refuge - Sweets Shop Sundae A
Winter Trees
Bit of a cloud? Understatement? Not really -- as this cloud stretched across the horizon, and this was just a bit of it.