~ Lens-Artists Challenge #373: Looking Back at Landscapes ~

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Landscape photography typically features beautiful vistas in nature, scenes that open our eyes to the beauty of our earth in its various climates and topographies. This week, Egídio challenges us to limit our choices to no more than six images that we consider to be our best landscape photographs. Since I responded to the original challenge in 2019, #31 by Amy, I challenged myself to find other photos that are equally compelling to me.

This photo of Crater Lake in Oregon, USA is one I chose as “Postcard Perfect” for another Lens-Artists challenge.

Looking south from Fort Columbia Washington, this photo features the Astoria-Megler bridge that spans 4 miles across the mouth of the Columbia River.

The rolling hills of the Palouse, photographed from Steptoe Butte, are a unique landscape or rich agricultural fields.

Salmon Creek at Greenwater Rest Area near Oakridge, Oregon offers a refreshing break from the winding drive over Willamette Pass.

From my deck at the Breakers, in Long Beach WA, I was treated to this glorious sundown, a wonderful way to end a day, and just the right image to conclude this post!

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

Thank you to Egídio, for bringing this challenge up again. You can view his original post here.

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~ Lens-Artists Challenge #372: Ephemeral ~

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Tina leads this week with a challenge to feature images that exemplify the essence of Ephemeral – something that “lasts for a very short time”. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are knee deep in falling leaves, as deciduous trees show-off lovely shades of red, golds and burgundy.

Suspended Leaf

Transient light provides many opportunities to capture ephemeral moments. Below left, the sun shines through a bank of clouds creating a dramatic scene. Right, sunbeams turn Cyclamen blossoms into bright fairy dancers.

Reflections are another source of fleeting images. Below, carousel horses reflecting upon the glass structure, seem like phantom ponies prancing through the forest outside.

Misty fog adds a delightful softness to everything it touches. Below, a Bald Eagle, feeding on the beach is being watched by a California or Western Gull, ready to step in when the eagle has had its fill!

This shot of Jello looking out over the foggy meadow to a golden sunrise is among my favorite photos. She was a very special beagle captured in this brief magic moment.

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

A big thanks to Tina for another challenge with so many ways to showcase the theme. Maybe it’s the switch in time, but for whatever reason, I’m early this week!!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #371: Street Details ~

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Being a Country Mouse, Ritva’s challenge had me scratching my head for ideas! I’m almost always late with my posts to Lens-Artists, this time I’m past the due date. But, I won’t let a little thing like that keep me from joining the fun! Ritva tells us, “the goal is to reveal the often-hidden, magical world, of the details we never take the time to notice…”

On a walk with a girlfriend in SE Portland, OR we came upon this human-sized bird nest with an invitation to “feel free to get in, take a selfie”. We didn’t get in, however it certainly fits the theme and reaffirms that Portland, Oregon is a zany, creative and pleasant community.

On Seacrest Avenue in Long Beach, WA a homeowner imprinted a Dungeness Crab in damp cement. It’s about the size of a hand-print, and it tickles my fancy every time I walk by!

A rugged, hand carved bench outside a store in Long Beach, is a lovely place to rest after perusing the many shops on main street where you can get just about everything you imagine; from brightly colored t-shirts, bags of saltwater-taffy, numerous flavors of ice-cream, pastries, restaurants, pubs, kites, beautiful works of art, antiques and seaside bric-a-brac.

This found object sculpture near the Discovery Trail, is another tribute to human creativity. I’m always warmed when I happen upon something like this, where someone has put things together in as aesthetically pleasing way.

Perched at the top of the berm between the Discovery Trail and the beach, is this invitation to visit places all over the world! Which way are you heading?

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

Ritva, so sorry I’m late. Once I wrapped my country brain around it, I had fun!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, pacific northwest, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #370 – Ancient ~

Posted on October 23, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Sofia challenges us to “open up the window into the past” with photos of “anything that has had an existence of many years.” You can see her lovely invitation here. As I look about me today on the Long Beach Peninsula, in Washington state, the one constant that is the most ancient is the Pacific Ocean.

For centuries, the Pacific Ocean has inspired peoples living in the Pacific Northwest. Long before British fur trader John Meares, mistook the mouth of the Columbia River for just another Bay (1788) and named it Cape Disappointment, the river and the ocean had been feeding and clothing native populations. I feel blessed to be able to walk along its shoreline on a regular basis, and as the native Chinook people do, feel a spiritual connection by being near the majesty and power of this vast ocean.

In this watery domain live many forms of life, including Jellyfish. The jelly above may be a Fried egg (Phaccellophora camtschatica). It is one of several different kinds of Jellyfish I have found washed up on Long Beach over the years. “Jellyfish have been in existence for at least 500 million years, and possibly 700 million years or more, making them the oldest multi-organ animal group.” (Wikipedia) Older than dinosaurs!

Whenever I see Brown Pelicans, I am struck by what an ancient life form they appear to be. Fossil records date the Pelecanus species’s evolution back at least 30 million years. The modern brown pelican evolved around 5 million years ago in North America.

A fierce advocate for Wildlife Refuges and National Parks, Representative Don Bonker (1937-2023) was responsible for saving an old growth forest, Cedar Grove on Long Island, from being logged and despoiled. Not accessible by land, Long Island is located in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge near Long Beach, WA. The island hosts a 275 acre cedar grove with trees over 900 years old.

Centuries before Meares (1788), Captain Robert Gray (1792), and Lewis & Clark (1805) this land was stewarded by the Chinook Indian Nation.

Station Camp. https://chinooknation.org/canoe-family/


After 215+ years of broken promises by the United States, the Chinook Indian Nation currently is essentially declared nonexistent in the eyes of the US government. They are unable to access programs and resources which “federally recognized tribes” are entitled to. I find that unconscionable. If you agree with me, you can support them at this website. https://chinooknation.org/political-history/

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

Thank you Sofia for another challenge that made me think about who I am and where I am!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #369: Dreamy ~

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

This week, Ann-Christine asks us what “dreamy” is to us, and wonders how we create dreamy in our photography. You can see her beautiful illustrations of this challenge here. When I happen upon natural settings that radiate ethereal qualities, my task is to recognize what is before me, and take pictures that catch the ephemeral moment. Dreamy images evoke a magical atmosphere, using, as Ann-Christine explains, “soft light, soft focus, delicate tones, and other gentle aspects to produce…an almost surreal or unearthly effect.”

Above, a very low tide, fog in the distance, cirrus clouds streaming above and a few people along the shoreline, create a quiet dreamscape at Long Beach, WA. Below, early morning mist, tinged with pink traces of dawn across the meadow is enchanting.

A Paper Kite Butterfly (Idea leuconoe), having recently emerged from its chrysalis, is a delicate vision of gossamer beauty.

The Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, St. Louis, MO

Another interpretation of dreamy tends toward more surreal or other-worldly images. It was well after midnight when my husband awakened me saying, “you have got to come see this moon!” Bleary eyed, I looked out, grabbed my cell phone and was able to capture the photo below.

Sunsets at Long Beach, WA often are quite dramatic, filled with action and bright tones. This one is a favorite because of the suffused pastel colors radiating out on small fluffy cumulus clouds.

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

A big thank you to Ann-Christine for this magical theme with so many ways to show our dreamy side!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #368: Looking Back to Lens Artists Challenge #106, Autumn ~

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Our host this week, John Steiner continues the Lens-Artists Throwback Series, taking us back to July 2020, when Patti hosted Challenge #106: Autumn. John invites us to showcase the colors of Autumn, so I’ll start with a photo I took last October, at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. It was a balmy day, the leaves were turning gold and scarlet, and then there was this beautiful wooden bridge!

Right now I’m noticing subtle color changes in my gardens, in Vancouver, WA. The bright blue hydrangea of summer, after being scorched in August, has bounced back with a pretty melange of lavender and mauve blossoms. Now is the time of year to gather a bouquet of mop-heads, because at this stage they dry quite nicely. The seeds of a small maple are ripening, and the holly berries are transitioning from spring chartreuse to winter crimson.

Tomatoes are still growing. Below a lovely heirloom begged me to take its picture! Tomorrow, I’ll cut the last of my basil and make pesto to warm us over the winter.

At Long Beach, WA it’s not the color of the landscape that signals autumn, it’s the birds gathering to stay, or feeding as they migrate. Last week the Sanderling were doing their intricate midair dances all along the shoreline.

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

Thank you to John, for giving us reason to love this season in the Northern Hemisphere. All the posts I’ve seen so far, have been stunning and make me want to see them in person!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #367: Everyone Should See This ~

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Joanne Mason of Joanne Mason Photography is the guest host for this week’s challenge. In true Lens-Artists style, she offers a wide open subject that gives us plenty of leeway. Thank you, Joanne! Those of you who follow my blog know I love the Long Beach Peninsula in the state of Washington. So, of course, I think everyone should see it! Most people end their west coast journey at Astoria, if not before. Should you get as far north as Astoria, consider taking a drive across the Megler-Astoria Bridge, an awe-inspiring 4 mile span across the mouth of the Columbia River, from Oregon to Washington.

When you reach the Washington side, head north on HWY 101 to Ilwaco, just a 12 mile jaunt. At the one stoplight, go straight and you will enter one of the least disappointing places you are likely to find in the Wild-Wild West, Cape Disappointment State Park.

The Peninsula is 20 miles of history and natural beauty. Since I’m already late getting this post finished, here are some to the places I’ve visited, and invite you to enjoy! https://www.evergreencoastwa.com/

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

Congratulations to Joanne for taking the plunge! It’s a big responsibility, and I thank you for a very inviting subject. Sorry to be so late. It’s just the way my life is right now!

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel, weekly photo challenge | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #366: City Mouse/Country Mouse ~

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Tina takes us on a journey to present our world through the lens of Aesop’s Fable,” The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.” In her post here Tina invites us to show differences and similarities between the two environments. As always with Lens-Artists, we are allowed to explore the themes in our own creative way, so today I’m offering a little different spin.

Oh, I’m a country mouse, for sure! You can’t see me, because I am burrowed under the dune grass in a nice nest I’ve dug into the sand for myself and my family.

Lots of other animals roam through my beach-side meadow, but they don’t bother me. There’s plenty to eat here with lots of grains I can store away for winter, and bugs I can catch when I’m out and about.

Dogs like to sniff after me and try to pounce, but I’m fast enough to get away – they sure have fun trying to catch me though!

What I have to watch out for is the Birds of Prey, like this Harrier. They live in the trees nearby and scout over the meadow all day long. They float slowly, very close to the ground, and if they see me out foraging, I’m their next meal. Yikes!

Eagles and Hawks also thrive in this part of the country, and they have sharp eyes that can spot me from far away, before I even know they’re on the hunt. So, even though living out here in my country meadow by the beach is generally tranquil and plentiful, I still have to be careful. I love it here though, and wouldn’t have it any other way!

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

Posted in birds, Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, Report from the Edge of a Continent, weekly photo challenge | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #365: Saudade ~

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Egídio asks us to present photos that “reveal an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent someone or something.” First, I love this Portuguese word; saudade. Often, I’m taken by a memory that is melancholic or nostalgic, though somehow neither word, alone, captures the essence of the impression. These are elusive whiffs of thought that cause an instant ache when I summon the feelings of the moment, and at the same time, I understand it cannot be re-created.

For thirty years (1983-2013), Creighton and I had our summer vacation at Beach Haven Resort, on Orcas Island. It was a perfect place for me to begin to decompress after another year counseling at a large suburban high school.

We took our 10 speed (alpine gearing) bicycles with us, and every day explored different parts of Orcas, and then ventured further, taking the Ferry to other Islands. Eventually we challenged ourselves to a yearly bicycle pedal from our cabin at sea level, to the top of Mt. Constitution. These photos were taken by Creighton (around 1987) on the road from Moran State Park to the summit, a rise of 1800 ft (548 meters) in 4.8 miles (7.7 K).

Those were the days! There is no way we could make that ride now. Age and balance have taken their toll. Still, I loved visiting the islands and would enjoy returning sometime.

Throughout the summer months Creighton and I stay at our home in Vancouver, WA to avoid the tourist season, and to allow our Long Beach, WA condominium to be available for guests. By mid-August, I start to feel the sense of longing to get back out to the fresh ocean scents, the absence of freeway noise and no air traffic thundering above me.

And, here we are. Which is why I’m so late getting this post completed! Last night’s sunset was another stunner, and the roar I hear in the distance is of the ocean, not of traffic. I feel so fortunate!

Above all, I long for a President of the United States, and an administration which understand, believes in, and upholds their pledge to abide by the Constitution of the United States.

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

Thank you to Egídio, for this little trip down memory lane, and an opportunity to count my blessings and hope for better times.

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, nostalgia, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Challenge #364: Quiet Moment ~

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Lindy Le Coq

Ritva invites us to showcase photographs that create a calm and soothing atmosphere; “images that evoke feelings of peace and contemplation.” Finding quiet moments that provide a sense of serenity is central to my mental well-being, so it was a delight to look through my archives for photos that radiate the nature of tranquility.

Miller Lake, a natural fresh water beauty in the Cascade Mountain range of Oregon. Its lovely blue tones invite me to relax.

Looking up to a clear sky through leafy branches, encourages me to take a deep breath and contemplate the beauty all around me. Even in my own back yard!

A couple walk together on a misty morning, low tide at Long Beach, WA.

Long Beach, with the gentle flow of tide sparkling in afternoon sunlight, washing away my cares.

An Anna’s hummingbird supping on Fuchsia blossom nectar represents the essence of harmony and balance in my world.

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

Here’s to Ritva and all the Lens-Artist hosts for providing us challenges that keep us engaged and often sooth our souls.

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature photography, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel, weekly photo challenge | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments