~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Beach Pleasures ~

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #289: Shape, Form, Texture and Light ~

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

This week John (Journeys with Johnbo) invites us to focus on some photography basics: Shape, Form, Texture, and Light. Below is a favorite shot of shapes. Although the Astoria-Megler Bridge is a three dimensional structure, the pattern of the steel grid-work is all about geometrical forms. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

Below, are three examples of life forms in their element: Western Swallowtail Butterfly, Camelia blossom, and Mature Bald Eagle in flight.

There are times I take a picture and wonder if I will be the only person who finds it interesting! Generally these are photos of bits of nature that call out to me visually with their texture and the mood that it creates. Below a piece of drifted wood on the beach, some gauzy mossy growth in a dry forest, and a pattern the receding ocean left in beach sand.

The final compositional tool John invites us to feature is light and shadow. Below, the sun is drifting into the west, as Cirrus clouds filter the light, and the Pacific Ocean waves reflect its glow. Distance fog shrouds North Head, and radiates white along the southern horizon

Above left, the morning mist is still suspended the the evergreen trees, as the sun touches the dew covered Rye grass. Right, a lovely Dune Rune photographed in early morning, casts a strong shadow of the grass and highlights the ethereal pattern the grass, blown by strong wind, has etched into the sand.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

A big thank you to John for taking us back to the basics!

Lens-Artists Challenge #289 – Tools of Photo Composition

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Many Moods of our Marsh ~

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #288: Window Shopping ~

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

Welcome Ritva Sillanmäki, who enters the Lens-Artists Team with her first challenge – Window Shopping. Since most of my photography is outside, or inside looking out, I had to dig a bit deeper into my archives for this one! Fortunately for me, she gave us alternative ideas, so here goes.

In last week’s post I included a photo of the beautifully carved carousel animals at the Carousel Museum in Albany, OR. Above is the door that welcomes guests. If you look closely through the glass, you will see horses, a zebra, a giraffe and a lion waiting to be your favorite ride!

Above left, the door into the St. Louis National Blues Museum, and right a display featuring “Papa” John Creach.

Above, a very curious Song Sparrow on the screen outside my window. Was it shopping for bugs? On the right a junk/antique store that was full of curiosities.

Bait, snacks, lures, pop and advise all available – one person at a time!

November, 2007 on the Ferry from Anacortes, WA to Orcas Island. There were almost no other people on this crossing which was very unusual. Window shopping here is looking out to see all the islands of the San Juan archipelago. Would I want to have a cabin on one of these little ones, only accessible by boat? How about a vacation stay on Lopez?

We drove off the Ferry at Orcas Village, and wended our way to the west side of the Island for a stay at Beach Haven Resort.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

A big thank you to Ritva, for joining the Lens Artists team. It is quite a compliment to be asked, and a big commitment to present challenges and then comment to all of us out here enjoying the weekly opportunity to show our stuff!

Lens-Artists Challenge #288 – Window Shopping

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #287: Sounds ~

Posted on February 23, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

Donna of Wind Kisses challenges us to show photos that resonate sounds this week. What a challenge it was for me to winnow down all the possibilities to a few! Finally I came up with three general groups: sounds generated by the natural world, mechanical noise, and sounds of people together.

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
White-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys
Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis

As we approach the end of winter and see glimpses of early spring in the Northern Hemisphere, native and migratory birds begin their yearly call for mates.

Among my favorite nature sounds is water. Whether it’s the roar of ocean breakers pounding ashore, a rushing river or gentle stream, or the plink plink of raindrops on ponds, water sounds are both invigorating and soothing.

Mechanical sounds are often abrasive, yet also necessary to complete tasks or get you were you want to be! My favorite of these is the boat motor powering me over Odell Lake to go fishing.

Above Los Bambinos performing for the guests at Beach Haven, Orcas Island, WA.

Above left, a line of gardeners converse as we wait for the Heritage Farm plant sale to open. Center, Portland, OR Women’s March, January 20,2017. Right a group of friends celebrate at a wedding party. Bottom, folks admire detailed craftsmanship at the Carousel Museum in Albany, OR.

I’ll close with this shot from our dog park. Max is watching me after Daisy chased a squirrel across an open grassy area and climbed right up the tree after it. She’s a Beagle who likes to hunt, and her bay could be heard throughout the park!

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Thank you Donna, for your creative energy and all the thought you put into your posts and comments.

Lens-Artists Challenge #287 – Sound
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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #286: Weather ~

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

Our host this week, Anne of Slow Shutter Speed, challenges us to illustrate “the various types of weather conditions in which we photographers find ourselves pursuing our hobby or vocation.” Thank you Anne, for another wide-open invitation. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW) there are many variations on this theme. Just about any season of the year, you might see clouds riding on the wind.

Clouds don’t always bring rain, though the moist environment is one of the reasons we love living here. Below a dramatic image of a rain storm approaching from the Pacific Ocean, at Long Beach, WA USA.

Whether it rains or not, there is almost always wind here at the Pacific Ocean’s edge.

Blurry windblown dune grass, and crests of incoming waves lifted and scattered in a gale.

Fog is another characteristic weather in the PNW. I love the soft natural filter those tiny wisps of water create.

Snow and ice are common winter weather in the mountains, however rare at the coast.

Blue skies! Sunshine! Wildflowers! Birds! Sunsets! Who could ask for anything more?*

*George Gershwin; I Got Rhythm

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Lens Artist Challenge #286: Weather
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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #285: Warm Colors ~

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

Color has a powerful influence upon the mood in many different kinds of circumstances. For this week’s challenge Egídio, invites us to explore warm colors. Nature abounds with color and blesses us with many opportunities to rejoice in their splendor.

What’s not to love about yellow? It is energetic and cheerful, often gracing the first blossoms of spring. Yellow feels like Joy to me.

Orange is such a vibrant hue, a perfect blend of yellow and red that stimulates and delights my senses.

Red is a powerful color that draws our attention immediately. To me it radiates energy, passion and love.

Pink is soft and friendly. To my eye, it glows with kindness, comfort and contentment.

A touch of blue added to red creates the color purple – a hue that uplifts and inspires me. On the cool end of the warm spectrum, purple’s intensity is rich and luxurious.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

A big thank you to Egídio, for bringing warmth to those of us in the northern hemisphere still living in the midst of winter’s dreariness!

Lens-Artists Challenge #285: Warm Colors
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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #284: Night & Day ~

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

Sophia Alves leads our challenge this week with the theme of Night and Day. The golden hours of dawn and sundown are favorite times for photographers to capture the glory of our beautiful earth, and then there are all the other times in our daily 24 hours to find beauty. In this challenge, once again I am pairing photos with haiku and poetry from my collected writings.

suspended in rosy heavens
full Hunter’s moon drifts
toward tomorrow

secret dark night woods
underline dawn’s golden glow
clouds scatter luster

Light is Life (excerpt)

light-years radiate
far-away glimmer of wishes
beams from ancient dreams
spark a torch of hope

white-hot sun drifting
yellow corona glows
orange radiates

full moon floats upon
an ocean of foamy clouds
deep-blue night awaits

night-time companion
moon ~ master of ocean tides
mother of wonder

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

A big thank you to Sofia, for another fun challenge!

Lens-Artists Challenge – Day & Night
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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #283: Illustrate a Favorite Quote or Poem ~

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

A few years ago I started writing poems about the birds I encountered at the beach. In these poems my goal is to describe their behavior without personifying them. In answer to Ann-Christine’s challenge to illustrate a favorite quote or poem with our photography, I am presenting one of my poems; Sanderling Dance.

Racing a swirling tide
Sanderling quickstep at ocean’s edge
needle-nebs peck persistently
devouring small worms and sand-shrimp.

Instinct drives recurring action;
sprint ahead of rushing surf
turn and chase retreating flow
mining sand for sustenance.

Preserving energy
Sanderling gather to rest
stand upright on one leg
beak tucked under wing.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Lens-Artists Challenge #283 – Illustrate a Favourite Quote or Poem

Posted in Birding, birds, Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #282: Dramatic ~

Posted on January 17, 2024 by Lindy Le Coq

With below freezing temperatures, snow all week-end and now freezing rain in my little corner of the world (Vancouver, WA – USA), life has been full of drama! The temps are rising, so the ice will begin to melt today, and by tomorrow this drama of nature will be a memory. This week, Patti challenges us to find dramatic images in our archives, and she explains the characteristics of a dramatic photo perfectly.

Caught in the center of a stunning sundown reflecting upon the waters of President’s Channel (Orcas, Island WA), this lithe young woman expertly plies her paddle board atop strong tidal currents. The drama for me is that she remains stable throughout her journey.

There is theater in watching songbirds splash away in a bird bath. This Song Sparrow was making quite a splatter, action which my camera caught.

There is something terrifying and almost sinister about the claw-jaws of a large excavator machine, and converting the photo to Noir added tension. Not to mention MACO is a shark!

The dazzling shades of tangerine, rose and lilac in these whirling clouds reflected in the marsh ponds, is my favorite end-of-day spectacle at the Breakers, Long Beach, WA.

No guilt. No regret. Bald Eagles are opportunists and eat whatever they can catch, including other birds. Though I’ve featured this shot in previous posts, it truly is one of my more dramatic photographs.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Thank you Patti for this dramatic start to Lens-Artists Photo Challenges- 2024!

LAPC #282: Dramatic
Posted in Birding, birds, Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments