On our way through the woodlands before Sugar Loaf Hill, we found a great many sessile oaks with immense levels of character.

I enjoy trying to find balance within the frame, especially when the subject is not perfectly symmetrical. I probably took the shot a dozen times, trying to move the sun around the branches as it set behind the slope beyond. I used f11 on the XF 16 1.4 as it was the best compromise for front to back sharpness, and the resulting sunstar. Certain media has had an influence on both the composition and the colouring of this shot. I softened the highlights, introduced a golden tint to both shadows and highlights, and raised the blacks to soften the contrast a little. Using a gradient I decided to really push the exposure in the upper half of the image to maximise the fantasy inspiration (Elden Ring).

THESE bee-eaters have one of the most complex family-based social systems found in birds.

It nests in cliffs or banks of earth with others, known as "clams." Non-breeding individuals become helpers to relatives and assist in raising their brood. Just amazing to watch.

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THANK YOU for your visit, friendship, and any comments, which is always appreciated and never taken for granted.

Keep safe and well, God bless you ...................Tomx

''Darkness always had its part to play. Without it, how would we know when we walked in the light?.” ― Clive Barker

☢ Danger Zone ☢

Magaliesburg, South Africa

Photo taken in Prague, September 2022

Happy Window Wednesday!

We are peering through the forest and can catch a glimpse of the bottom of the St Columba Falls. Perhaps I should add here: This is not an infra red. But it makes an interesting contrast and comparison to the infra red shots I showed you. Whereas the infra reds are about the light, black and white here emphasizes the dark rich contrasts, shades of grey and textures. It needs to be a large print.

[Once again this photograph simply has to be enlarged to pick up the nuances I've described - especially the fern fronds.]

DSC_9490

Scoresby Sund, Greenland

SEEN IN THE GAMBIA, IT favors freshwater fringes and mangrove swamps and is generally solitary. It is seen with its large feet stanging on Lillie leaves and giving out soft, vibrant, grating croaks.

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THANK YOU for your visit and any comments. Enjoy your day.

God bless you...............Tomx

Railway freight train thundering through the falling cottonwood.

The cloud surrounding the train was a combination of light and the previously settled and the presently floating cotton being swept up by this high speed train.

Cottonwood trees grow along wet river banks and in Spring the thick fallout can be so heavy it resembles a snow storm

( The seeds are borne on cottony structures that allow them to be blown long distances in the air before settling to ground. Wikipedia )

It is known as allergy season at this time of the year, as

many people suffer from Cottonwood allergies.

Maple Ridge

BC

Canada

**This image is best experienced in full screen

Thanks for visiting

~Christie by the River

purrfoxclaw.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/through-the-rain/

versusl.com/2017/05/23/through-the-rain/

No private group or multiple group invites please!

Ningún grupo privado o grupo múltiple invita por favor

Aucun groupe privé ou groupe multiple ne vous invite

Geen privégroep of meerdere groepsuitnodigingen alstublieft

Keine private Gruppe oder mehrere Gruppen laden bitte ein

Nenhum grupo privado ou grupo múltiplo convida por favor

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Press Z for Best view or left click on the photo and see it better

Thank you for your kind Comments and Awards and Favs

and if you look on the map to see where photos are taken

look at the satellite to see more detail

Schiedam

Netherlands

St Jan's church

Stadscocon

Stedelijk Museum Schiedam presents "Stadscocon" (City Cocoon) , an overwhelming artwork specially made for this church by Florentijn Hofman.

You can walk inside the bubble and also view the outside of the artwork from within the church.

For Macro Mondays 'School Supplies' theme a spiral bound notebook. Which I have on my desk in the office. There is a distinct lack of school supplies in my house!

Shot though the old railway tunnel

View through the doorway to the old greenhouse. Stora Sundby, Sweden.

SUMMER VISITOR, to the region, observation tips, visit almost any large reedbed in southern England, and you should hear a sharp tche call, and if your very lucky they occasionally clamber up the reed stems to sing. .............

Am short of images to show at the moment, so am afraid the quality is coming down, must try harder!...............

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THANK YOU for your visit and support, love reading your comments, and will return the visit very soon, Good to have you as friends, God bless and stay safe..............Tomx.

UNEXPECTED VISITOR Just as we were packing up from seeing anything decent from our hide in a wooded area, this beautiful male cuckoo appeared, with glistening emerald green plumage. We had a mad panic trying to get back into shooting mode again, as it did stay more than a few seconds. Seen in the Gambia, and lucky to do so.

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THANK YOU for your visit and friendship, I am still looking back and enjoying some of my old images, and I hope you are too.

Keep Warm safe and well

God bless ..................Tomx

LUCKY OPPORTUNITY to photograph one of these Slim and Savage predators, active by day and night, it relentlessly tracks down its prey by scent. It often kills prey more than twice its size, biting deeply into the neck.

Captured at Elmley Nature Reserve in Kent.

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THANK YOU for your visit and friendship. Please leave a comment, and I will try to do the same for your latest posting.

Keep safe and well, God bless

............Tomx

A pair of Southern Pacific SD45T-2s in full “Speed Lettering”, muscle a 68-car merchandise train through a tree lined curve east of Springville, Utah the afternoon of Oct. 27, 1996.

Happy Memorial Day everyone, and hope a good one for everyone.

I was looking at some of the images of the Meadowlark's and really liked this one, and thought the look was as unusual as can be, so here it is, and hope you all like it as much as I did.

Thank you as always for visiting.

Power of nature

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I have a couple of these shots and I could decide what to post first so I pointed at my laptop screen and picked this.

This shot confirms that not everywhere in the Teesside environs is smoggy and grimy.

These lovely pink Clematis were peeking through the fence, just 2 escaped from the garden and did a peek a boo through the fence. Phorto was taken near Dundareve area of West Vancouver.

Richmond Bridge, Tasmania.

Exhibition rooms in an old manor in Uetersen / near Hamburg (Northern Germany)

The Two Barclay locos give a good show for the photographers struggling with the foggy conditions

© All Rights Reserved

Created for TMI February contest: Bleak is Beautiful

www.flickr.com/groups/impressionists/discuss/721576781380...

This is another work done in collaboration with Marta Bader. Thank you, Marta, for helping me make an abstract through your reality, I hope that you approve.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️

We spotted many of these beauties

in the Royan region of France, where these robin-sized birds are very trusting. In the UK, they are Red listed with only about 100 breeding pairs.

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ENJOY the weekend my friends, stay safe and well....

God bless you ..............Tomx

ASSOCIATED typically with heathland sites, a small short-tailed lark, with a wonderful yodeling song. This was part of the support act for Colin the Cuckoo.

Seen at Thursley Common, and have not seen one since.

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THANK YOU for your visit and friendship, keep safe and well.

God bless you ...........Tomx

Here we have another bird that has been eluding me for a while folks, but managed a few of this guy.

Early shoot today and will catch up later.

Thank you for stopping by everyone, and have a great day.

" TIME TO GET OUT AND ABOUT MY FRIENDS !"

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SEE at Stodmarsh, Kent, in the Elder Wood, this Female was acting very brave, it was a pure joy to see on my first trip to a nature reserve with a camera.. Did not see a lot, but the bird song was amazing, and being back with nature, was heavenly , I will never take nature for granted, and this has taught me to appreciate it far more, and to thank God for every new day on this planet.

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THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND, it means so much, in these difficult times. Please stay safe and well, enjoy the new week, Gods blessings go with you..................................Tomx.

Bastante ocupado últimamente...

Quite busy lately but trying to catch up on...

Pretty amazing that the guy fishing there did not move during the sunrise long exposure along the Susquehanna River.