A peony up close and personal ;o)

HSoS !!

Cliche and Smile on Saturday: Here

Shot with the Zeiss 50mm Makro lens: Here

Carnations and Peonies: Here

called away with a sudden family emergency. I'll check in when I can!

I used to think that for a good capture I need a modern camera with large sensor, sticky autofocus, tons of cutting-edge features...

Since I started to use vintage film cameras something changed in me. The more I dive into photography, the more clearly I feel that the photography is about moments and light, not technologies...

change your attitude to the World around you, things, events, people, to yourself after all... And the World will shine with new colors, will open up in a new light...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=287gJXVQm54

This is a quick wall we did together with Reb and Sterling a cloudy morning somewhere in Brixton..I really enjoyed adding some colour on this one after a long time doing monochrome pieces!

Whole wall here: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206840402422075&set...

two more gannet shots from bempton cliffs

I think in every human culture parents, especially mothers, are highly respected and loved. In my flock, among lovebirds, mother Tauno is no execption. She is definitely respected and loved, also by me :), and she is never left alone. There are always either her spouse Lorenzo, or two other younger males, Meri or Pyry, with her. I don't know, if she remembers, who her youngsters are, but from the four of them, Tiuku has very warm relationship with his mother. Tauno is the oldest lovebird in my flock, the undisputed queen of it. I don't know her exact age, but it is somewhere between 10...13 years.

It's time to rest your mind, it's time to everyone think about what happened this year and what you will do to the next year.

Templo Zu Lai

Join us at

www.flickr.com/groups/flickrgreen__/

Chandresh doing his best Instagram pose

Thinks about to fix the roof

Think this girl went a little overboard with her rouge.

Actually, I'm wearing all red today and feel about as out-there as this! So not a red person.

Fortschritt ist unaufhaltsam

First time I think seeing one of these, thanks to Donald and Charlene for pointing it out.

Bee-flies are fascinating insects that have mastered the art of mimicry. These agile, fluffy, flying creatures look similar to bees, but they are in fact flies. They have only one pair of wings, whereas bees have two, and their most unmistakable feature is a long, straight, straw-like tongue, known as a proboscis.

One of the first bee-fly species seen in spring is the dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major), common across Britain and a frequent garden visitor. It has yellowy-brown hair, a long tongue, and darkened wing edges that extend halfway across each wing.

Bee-fly behaviours

One peculiar behaviour displayed by the bee-fly is its slow-moving hover where it lightly touches the ground. It keeps its legs slightly grounded, while slowly and gently brushing the surface with its abdomen – if you look closely, you can see the abdomen creates movements in the sandy surface. This is because the bee-fly is scooping up sand and mud to coat its eggs for camouflage.

This camouflage is important, as bee-flies will lay their eggs in unsuspecting solitary bee burrows, hovering over the burrow entrances before catapulting their eggs inside. As the eggs hatch, the bee-fly larvae spend their time maturing in the nest, eating up the pollen stores that the solitary bees have left for their own young. Although this sounds like bad news for the bees, a healthy population of bee-flies means that you have a good population of bees.

I think I am wrapping up the Chincoteague Adventure with this photo. There were more bird photos and other things and I may pop them up at some other point in time, but life is moving on and the camera keeps clicking! We stopped at a pullover situated just after you cross the bridge from the island to the mainland and Anita found a bunch of tiny little crabs and I see something of what all these birds are catching and eating! This little area is covered with oyster shells and there is a small oyster bed near by. A fun trip and we are still in negotiations about returning for migration season in the fall! LOL Have a wonderful day everyone. :)

another view of the rose.

You think you can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity. The Earth is ancient—four and a half billion years old. Life has persisted here for nearly as long, through cataclysms you can scarcely imagine: continents drifting, mountains rising and falling, comets slamming into oceans, entire species rising and vanishing in the blink of a geological eye. And yet, life endures. You fret over radiation, thinning ozone, or rising temperatures, but even if we poisoned every corner of this world, life would survive—deep underground, frozen in ice, waiting for its time to flourish again.

We see ourselves as gods, wielding the power to shape or destroy, yet we’ve been here for the briefest moment, blind to the Earth’s slow, relentless rhythms. A hundred years? A million? It means nothing to the planet. You say the Earth is in jeopardy? No—it is humanity that’s in jeopardy. The Earth does not need us, and it will not miss us if we’re gone. Our challenge is not to save the Earth—it is to save ourselves.

(Paraphrased from Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWEwC_5lPs4

I think this is one of my favorite images from my Yosemite trip (believe me, narrowing down my photos was a difficult job). I know this view of Yosemite is one of the most over-photographed places on earth, but the difference in this image is that I saw it with my own eyes, took the time to get there at 5am and was able to watch this glorious morning unfold.

To my fellow photographers: get up early, go outside and take it all in. Leave your camera at home if you like, just concentrate on the majesty of this earth for an hour or two!

there are lots of 'PINK' possibilities you can use to make us smile... on Saturday! ;-)

LARGE is nice

another variation of the elephant apple leaves, but i think i prefer the first one i took

Didn't think this was too bad for a shot from my camera phone (pp done with Lr).

Part of me really did wish I'd brought my tripod with me but my Giottos is just too damn heavy and I really don't do enough walking to contemplate investing in a carbon fibre one.

I'm a 'blue sky thinker' and dream big.

Hilary Knight

See the 1:11 second time lapse video: youtu.be/QpoUUoAZSYU

sometimes all it takes is a Idea.

First winter photo session this season. I will record a video tutorial using this photo. I think it's interesting because it wasn't wintery at all. No snow at all. I will post in on my website and on my YT channel

think i like you best

when you're dressed in black from head to toe

think i like you best

when you're just with me and no one else

"You know life

Sometimes you just gotta stop caring about like

What everybody else thinks and just live your life, you know

Look

If you ain't failed couple times

You ain't ready for this

I don't crumble under pressure

I go heavy with this

Driving straight to the hole, I don't need no assist

If all I got is one shot, You know I ain't gone miss

I never take a hater serious, I'm petty with this

Never been the type to fold, I don't straddle the fence

Yeah, I might lose it all, I'll get it right back quick

I'm like a walking casino, 'cause I'ma takе that risk

I ain't scared of nothing but the old version of mе

I'm fired up, boy I love the cold version of me

I love the way I took the pain and now it's working for me

I'm coming back for everything that was taken from me

Ay what you thought it was, I'm like the little engine that could

They love my drive, they just wanna know what's under the hood

I wish you would tryna stop me, you gone get what you deserve

I'll show you how to take it from the bottom to the first

I know they tryna say you can't do it anyway

(talk your piece)

Ain't got no money in the bank, do it anyway

(I'ma do it)

I know you failed a couple times, but that's alright

We don't care what people think, do it anyway

I know they tryna say you can't do it anyway

(talk your piece)

Ain't got no money in the bank, do it anyway

(I'ma do it)

I know you failed a couple times, but that's alright

We don't care what people think, do it anyway

I remember when they said I couldn't, so now they ask me how I do it

When you really know you got it, you ain't never gotta prove it

When you started from the bottom, you ain't never scared of losing

Everything, all on God, is the only way I do it

Scared of what?

Scared of who?

Boy, I been had the juice, with an extra side of sauce

Boy I been had rague

Baby I got so much flavor and the pain is the seasoning

I promise I'ma get it, it don't matter what the season

I do it any day, everyday

I'ma get it in every way

Know they try to say that I can't, but I still doing it anyway

I don't care what they gonna say

I don't care what they gonna think

When you out here chasing your dreams, you don't care if people sleep

I wake them up when I speak, it's just a matter of time

Getting everything for me, it's just a matter of mine

I got audacity and confidence, a deadly combination

Yeah, I hear them talking, I just call it admiration

I know they tryna say you can't do it anyway

(talk your piece)

Ain't got no money in the bank, do it anyway

(I'ma do it)

I know you failed a couple times, but that's alright

We don't care what people think, do it anyway

I know they tryna say you can't do it anyway

(talk your piece)

Ain't got no money in the bank, do it anyway

(I'ma do it)

I know you failed a couple times, but that's alright

We don't care what people think, do it anyway

Eeh, eeh do it anyway

Eeh, eeh do it anyway

Eeh, eeh do it anyway

Eeh, eeh do it anyway

Know they tryna say you can't do it anyway

You ain't got no money in the bank, do it anyway

I know you failed a couple times, but that's alright

We don't care what they said, do it anyway"

Lyrics Source:

genius.com/Erica-mason-do-it-anyway-lyrics

Video:

youtu.be/BqUTWq92hsU

Think it may be a Stearman. Made several passes over my house through out the day. I like the old wind in your face and bugs in your mouth type planes!

I was using one of those car windshieled sun blockers to reflect a little more light onto the area of my hummingbird feeder when I caught this photo. The funny thing is that, on the relfector screen is a drawing of a Bald Eagle in almost this exact pose going in for a fish. I guess this little guy is thinking of bigger things.

Taken in New Jersey, USA

© Steve Byland 2008 all rights reserved

Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited

gannet

A lovely (delicious) surprise from my neighbor's garden...

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."

~ Lewis Grizzard

I think it being quite a hot day , a number of deer were resting by the wall of Knole taking advantage of a bit of shade .

Taken at Knole House and Deer Park near Sevenoaks , a National Trust property .

Like Most Men my age, I grew Up in an Era where Comic Books where the daily digest in my town. In those days a graphic novel was a mere 25cents and you could buy 12 books for $3.00 I think thats about the average price of one magazine these days. LOL Anyway.....I Thrived on reading Marvel & DC Comics by the time I was 13 I had well over 2,500 or more. and I kept mine in the protective plastic bags and boxed according to hero or the group that they were in*

I even learned how to draw from reading these things and wanting to emulate what I saw everyday. Boy Stan Lee really had a major Impact on my childhood! Dark Knight/Detective Comics & The X-Men were always my favorite comics. And like most "Wolverine & Batman" were my fav. characters. It wasnt until much, much later on in life that these Superheroes were made into major motion picture Idols.

With the rise of technology and special effects Hollywood has been able to produce what I read for so many years on the silver screen. I think if I had to choose being one of these Superheroes in "real life" it would Most Def. have to be

"THE DARK KNIGHT"..........:))

The Batcave is just THE KOOLEST Hideout EVER!!!!

I think I've found my new favorite animal to photograph.... every night this week I have been taking walks down to the pond with my camera and waited for the deer to come walking out of the woods to eat. This photo was taken last night. Saw a total of six deer, three of whom were bucks. This is the smallest of the three bucks. I know the photo is a little plain but I figured I upload it anyway. (Went down to the pond today too and saw a total of five deer but they were too low in the ferns to photograph)

If anybody thinks I have overdone processing - I am happy to upload an unmodified jpeg of the raw file.

The Prop of Ythsie (pronounced “Icy”) is a striking local landmark which stands on the Hill of Ysthie just east of the village of Tarves. The stone tower is visible from many points in the surrounding area of Formartine, including from parts of the Estate. It was built by the tenantry of Haddo in memory of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, paying tribute to the extensive improvement works he carried out on the Estate for the local residents. It is still in family ownership, though it is maintained by Aberdeenshire Council for the benefit of its numerous visitors. In years gone by a flag was flown from the top of the Ythsie Tower to herald the beginning of the curling season at the Haddo House Curling Club. haddoestate.com/history/heritage/prop-of-ythsie/