This week’s guest-host, the woman behind Albatz Travel Adventures blog, invites us to present photo pairings, or Diptychs. No, that is not a slang put-down, it is the term for “two images placed in proximity to one another, forming a pair.”
My first pair is a vista looking south toward North Head on the Long Beach Peninsula, WA-USA. On top the very low tide reveals a pattern left in the sand by the receding tide. Below it, the outgoing tide washes over the beach with a similar meandering pattern, while Sanderling and other shorebirds feed.
Foxglove seems to grow in the middle of anywhere! On the left, one tall stem is alone in the middle of a marshy forest habitat. On the right their lovely blossoms invite pollinators to come on in, and photographers to get a closer look.
Echinacea, commonly called coneflower, are an excellent addition to a sunny garden. They bloom in mid to late summer and continue on into fall. On the left, a bee is evidence of one of this flowers attributes, while on the right, we see confirmation of finches feeding on the seed heads in winter.
To encounter a flock of Brown Pelicans is a random act of nature that thrills me! When they are above the fray in a group, it’s not too hard to get a good shot. However, as they quickly moved past me and above turbulent ocean waves, all I could do was aim my camera in their direction and press the shutter button. It was one of those good camera miracles to have any of the closer shots turn out.
Here’s to you of Albatz Travel Adventures, for taking on the responsibility of hosting this weeks Lens-Artists challenge. It is indeed an honor to be asked, and requires time and thought to complete the task. I am one of those last minute contributors, and I do appreciate what you have done to keep us all engaged!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Leanne Cole, our guest-host for this week’s photo challenge, invites us to feature Tourist Attractions. She isn’t asking for the standard postcard view however. “What the normal tourist wants to see is not always what we [photographers] want. You might go to the same place, but you are after something different.” I so agree with Leanne, and offer a few photos of favorite tourist attractions from my archives.
North Head Lighthouse, Cape Disappointment State Park, Ilwaco, WA – USA, has been restored, thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers. The first photo was taken years ago, as I was walking away from the site and turned around. In my eyes, the windswept trees, and background of fog and clouds add to the mood of the site. Middle photo was taken from a stretch of Long Beach looking south to the Lighthouse on its promontory. Last is the view out a window from the inside, which is open to tour seasonally.
“Salt Creek Falls is a cascade and plunge waterfall on Salt Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Willamette River, that plunges into a gaping canyon in the Willamette National Forest near Willamette Pass in Lane County, Oregon.” (Wikipedia) The top photo shows the dramatic dive the creek takes from level to over the edge. Seeing the waterfall through trees from the trail brings one right into the scene. At the end of this trail, the pool of frothing water is a stunning combination of blue and green.
I’ll close with the iconic Arch Gateway in St. Louis, MO – USA. True to my view of what photos should have in them, I’ve framed a live tree in the middle of this incredible feat of engineering. The view from the top of the arch is worth the ride!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thanks to Leanne for this timely challenge. It is quite a responsibility to come up with a subject and then respond to those of us out here contributing to the fun!
Woefully late with no excuses, I offer a bit of natural beauty for Tina’s challenge to show various habitats this week. Below is a view of the wetland marsh that forms during late winter through spring in the acreage between the Breakers condominium buildings, and the berm to Long Beach, WA. It hosts a multitude of birds and other critters, attracting migrants and providing a home for residents.
Canada Goose raise their broods here. On the right a pair of Mallards at their nest, female in upper left.
As spring yields to summer, the marsh turns into a lush meadow that provides food and shelter for other life forms. Geese fly off while swallows swoop in to feast on mosquitos, song birds call for mates, and resident Columbia black-tail mule deer bring their young to munch on grass. And, there’s always fascinating bugs and critters to enjoy as well!
“Born and bred in the briar patch, that’s me,” laughed Brer Rabbit. “I told you not to throw me there. In all the world, that’s the place I love best!”
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
With five days of 100°+ weather in my future, I plan to spend my afternoons inside browsing through Lens-Artists posts that I have yet to see!
Egídio introduces another technique to compose compelling photographs – two rectangles. “Having two dominant rectangular areas in an image, gives balance, harmony, and unity to a composition.” After studying his examples and explanations of each, I delved into my archives to see what I could find. It was a pleasure to realize some of the photos I like very much, but didn’t quite fit in other challenges, worked with this one. Below is a photo with three of the elements Egídio highlights; a horizon line, leading line (vanishing point) and two different textures.
The vista out the windows in the foyer of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, drew me in. When I see curves and straight lines combining to make a harmonious whole it takes my breath away! With the clean repetition of lines and the view across to the old courthouse, this view provides many rectangles within rectangles.
Below, the foreground of upright shrubs with their clusters of cream color blossoms (probably Oceanspray) contrasts nicely with the soft velvety texture of the rolling Palouse farmland.
In this photo, as the sun is about to rise over Lake Tahoe, the open space of sky and horizon provides visual relief and balance to the stark tree and branches.
Hydrangeas are a welcome summer bloomer in my gardens, and consequently a subject of many photos over the years. With Egídio’s example of contrasting colors in a Muhly grass photo, he noted that “the rectangles do not need to be strictly a straight line. The overall appearance of the two rectangles is the factor that matters.” Photography is flexible!
When presenting a photo of a bird, using Rabatment, “putting a square inside a rectangle” so that the bird is on the “line inside the square” is half the solution. Matching the horizontal line to intersect with the vertical at the eye is the other half. Common Murre is an uncommon sight at Long Beach.
In conclusion, I’ll end this exploration with a lovely sunset from my deck at the Breakers in Long Beach, WA. I never need an excuse to feature a sunset, however given the lure to show contrasting light, well, I’ll bite!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thank you to Egídio for a fun invitation to frame our photos another way!
This week, Ritva invites us to pay attention to what is behind our subjects. “Backgrounds play an essential role…significantly impacting the overall aesthetic of an image.” Since so many of my photos are of nature unfolding in front of my camera lens, the background is intrinsic. Below, I chanced upon a sizable flock of Brown Pelicans as they cruised above surging breakers at Long Beach, ready to dive in for dinner. I just kept snapping and hoping I’d get a clear shot!
Because birds are always on the move, getting a focused shot of them in their natural habitat can be tricky. Below are two shots of a Song Sparrow. On the left, the bird blends right into its driftwood setting, on the right the bright blue sky provides a stand out profile.
Sometimes the background is the subject, as in the photo below featuring a full moon setting. The morning sunlight on Ryegrass in the foreground frames and anchors the view.
Bokeh; that wonderful blurring effect that provides context while remaining secondary to the subject. Below, a Varied Thrush, and Black Sunflower with bee.
Below, Martha Jordan’s Marsh, near Leadbetter Point State Park, is in its early summer glory with water lilies covering large portions of the surface. In this photo, my goal was to visually illustrate the vast expanse of this wilderness habitat, right into the blue horizon.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Here’s to Ritva for another stimulating challenge. Sorry to be so late. A visit from my sister, niece and grand-nephew took priority this week!
Donna leads us this week to explore images portraying connections. We all are part of and connected to the Earth, so my photos will explore the links between living organisms with their environment. I’ll start with an example of a symbiotic relationship; a bee sipping nectar at the same time it pollinates a raspberry blossom which will become a delicious fruit for me to eat!
Late spring to early summer, Caspian Terns gather in colonies along the stretch of Long Beach (WA) where I walk. Often congregating with various gulls, Caspian Terns dive-fish for food. These three are mature adults ready to find mates.
Recently I heard a news story about the last truly wild horse species, Przewalski’s horses (aka takhi or Mongolian wild horses) being reintroduced to their native steppes in Kazakstan, where they had been extinct for at least 200 years. Archaeologist believe humans first domesticated horses in central Asia roughly 4,200 years ago. Humans and horses often develop strong bonds. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/przewalskis-horse
Spring Azure butterflies have an adult lifespan of only a few days. Here two sip nectar from wild carrot blossoms. I have scoured my resource book and on-line to see if I could identify this plant. It is in a swampy creek-side habitat where one might find Water Hemlock, though it doesn’t have the same kind of blossom shape.
I’ll conclude this post with a photo representing one of my favorite ways to be connected to Earth; walking in the sand at low tide with the roar of our Pacific Ocean in my ears and my sweet Beagles Max (on the left) and Daisy, straining to catch those waves!
I’m looking forward to being together next week with my younger sister Lori, her daughter Molly, and grandson Micah. Family connections are most precious, and if I manage to get some photos, they may be featured in a future post!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thanks to Donna for this wide-open challenge! It’s always a pleasure to find photos that fit the theme.
John of Journeys with Johnbo (brave soul!) put this challenge out for us this week. I hope he has received kudos for asking us to stretch beyond our comfort zones. The photo below is the one I selected to see if I could add something to the foreground using AI. This is as far as I got, because my operating system is too old to add photoshop, and I am not going to jump into upgrading everything in one week – so I admit I’m taking a pirouette on this one!
Below is a scene that occurs often in spring when blackbirds pair-up and claim a territory, then other birds, like this crow, flap right down in the middle of it!
This Salmonberry blossom (Rubus spectabilis) is a dainty delight in the damp woodland forest. Its berries are edible and look very much like salmon eggs in color and texture.
Goldfinch are bright and beautiful set against a dazzling blue sky. If you have an open area in your yard, where you can put up a cylinder seed-feeder filled with sunflower chips, American and Lesser Goldfinch will find you!
Sunsets are different every time – even when snapped from the same vantage point. This one is from a month ago, when the clouds and rainstorms were frequently upon us.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thanks to John for an excuse to open Pandora’s box this week. I truly hope you were not mistreated John, as this was a totally legitimate challenge. Maybe next time I’ll be equipped to participate fully!
Sophie asks us “to think of how we either capture them [flowers] or how we process the image afterwards.” One of the goals for my gardens has been to plant perennials that provide color and beauty throughout the seasons. Spring brings a riot of color and fragrance every week, so I’m excited to join Sophie’s challenge to showcase what’s in bloom today.
With this close-up of one bloom in the cluster that is a Rhododendron blossom, I wanted to draw the eye into the center and focus on its rich colors and soft lacy texture. Rhododendron, the state flower of Washington, is an evergreen shrub that blooms for a short while, and provides glossy leaves year-round.
Another goal for my gardens is to have plants that attract and nourish birds, bees and butterflies. On Memorial Day in Vancouver USA, as the sun shone through a partly cloudy sky, bees were very busy! Golden Mockorange brightens dark spots in the landscape with its feathery chartreuse foliage, and produces clusters of fragrant, small, creamy-white flowers. I cropped and enhanced this shot to provide a perspective on the size of the blossoms relative to the bee.
Though this large climbing vine is vibrant, I preferred this close-up of one Clematis Nelly Moser blossom. I cropped it to bring focus to the center and radiating petals. Nelly has graced the railing of our entry-way for years. She is a vital climber that enjoys sun in her face, and shade at her feet.
Cistus Mickie on the left and Chardonnay Pearls on the right are both lower to the ground shrubs that have attractive foliage as well as interesting spring blossoms. With both of these photos, I cropped and enhanced the images to bring out the gentle beauty of their white blossoms
Native to the USA and non-invasive, Honeysuckle Major Wheeler puts on a show of coral/red trumpet blossoms all summer. A favorite of hummingbirds, it also attracts bees and butterflies. The close-up photo didn’t need cropping, though I did boost the light to show-off its razzle-dazzle splendor!
I could go on and on, however since I often feature photos of flowers from my gardens in my blog, I’ll end right here with a big thank you to Sophie for this challenge!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Walking With Eagles is a collection of original poems and photographs by Lindy Low Le Coq. A lifelong naturalist, amateur photographer and bird enthusiast, Lindy’s verse, composition and photographs open a window into the essence of her subjects. Her poems and photography reflect the rich natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest.
Bald Eagles mature over the course of five years. Walking With Eagles invites the reader to take a poetic and visual tour of this odyssey.
view ~ Walking With Eagles ~ in top menu bar for a preview, though the folio is much nicer!
Lindy Low LeCoq 