~ A Photo a Week Challenge: Really Big Toys ~

What a perfect opportunity to feature the Albany, Oregon Historical Carousel and Museum!

The Albany Carousel has a 1909 Dentzel mechanism, donated by the great-grandson of Gustav Dentzel, the founder of Dentzel Carousel Corporation. 

This carousel is a menagerie style unit with 52 animals ranging from a seven foot plus tall giraffe, dogs, cats, zebras, unicorns, dragons, to lions, tigers, and bears. 

All the animals are hand-carved and painted by volunteers using designs created by individuals who sponsor the particular animal. https://albanycarousel.com/about/

Thanks to Nancy Merrill for this fun challenge!

A Photo a Week Challenge: Really Big Toys

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Crescent Creek Sights ~

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

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~ Wordless Wednesday + A Photo A Week: Unedited ~

A Photo a Week Challenge: Unedited

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #154: One Photo Two Ways ~

I never grow tired of the beautiful wash of light and color in sunsets. At my home in Vancouver, the sun lowers through mature Douglas firs in my backyard and then disappears behind my neighbor’s home. At the beach, I have an unobstructed view of the last light of day at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Three photos, same scene, viewed through the natural filter of sunlight in the atmosphere.

Pink tones from sunrise reflecting on this cumulus cloud made it appear soft, like cotton candy. Using a Noir filter creates a much more ominous impression.

Low tide in landscape photo gives us a sense of how big this beach is, and how very far out the tide has receded.

A vertical shot of the same beach vista draws us into the vanishing point.

I have been experimenting with the filters available in iPhoto. I like the effect the one called Process has on this lovely Calla lily.

I’ll close with another experiment with filters, this one, called Chrome adds a crisp finish to the image of an Immature Bald Eagle in flight.

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

Thanks to Tina for encouraging experimentation!

Lens-Artists Challenge #154 – One Photo Two Ways

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #153: It’s a Wonderful World ~

For this week’s challenge I’ve selected some photos of children playing, learning, being themselves! (Something of a change from my usual nature posts.)

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

Lens-Artists Challenge #153: It’s a wonderful world

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #152 ~ Shades & Shadows ~

“Every picture has its shadows 

And it has some source of light…” 

Joni Mitchell

Shadows add another dimension to the flat surface of photographs. I especially enjoy wavy shadows on water.

Mature Bald Eagle – Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Long-billed Dowitcher – Limnodromus scolopaceus
Dune Rune Shadow Dance

Shadows also add a sense of drama…

…and, as in the photo below of a Praying Mantis, shadows also can create the illusion of danger.

The length of shadows provides a clue to the time of day a photo was taken, as in the photo below of a long-legged Jello on our early morning walk!

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.

Thank you to Leya for another fun challenge!

https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2021/06/12/lens-artists-challenge-152-shades-and-shadows/

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Sand Grabbers ~

European Sea Rocket – Cakile maritima and American Sea Rocket – Cakile edentula
Brass Buttons – Cotula Coronopifolia

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

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~Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #151: From Large to Small ~

For this weeks challenge I’ve selected the soothing, luxurious tones of purple and lavender. Although it is considered a rarely occurring color in nature, the photos in my archives that are of large swaths of color are in the purple family.

Pacific Sunset (Long Beach, WA – USA)

Born of the blend of two primary colors, purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red.

Crescent Creek Sunset (Willamette Pass, OR – USA)

Purple uplifts the spirits, calms the mind and encourages imagination and creativity. The chair below is one I spend hours in writing, blogging, and reading. It is big enough for two people – or one person and a beagle!

With a nod to creative fun, purple has special meaning on Harriette the Frog that my sister enjoyed riding!

Albany, Oregon Historical Carousel and Museum.

Purple is associated with spirituality, the sacred, higher self, passion, third eye, fulfillment, and vitality. It is said to help one align with the whole of the universe.

Above, Hydrangea in various shades of purple, below a single purple tulip.

Lenten Rose ~ Hellebore ~ Wake Robin

Lavender suggests uniqueness and specialness rather than the deep mystery of purple. Lavender represents beauty and femininity. Light lavender shades have a sacred place in nature, with lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers considered delicate and precious.

From the vastness of a Pacific Ocean sunset to the tiny blossoms of Primrose, Lilac and Sweet Alyssum, purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, royalty – and it evokes all of these meanings more so than any other color. 

Thanks to Patti for a stimulating challenge. My source for the meanings associated with purple is: https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-purple/

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #151: From Large to Small

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Sights Along the Beach Trail ~

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #150 ~ Let’s Get Wild! ~

Those who regularly visit my blog know I’m a child of the wild. Though in my youth I may have been a wild child – these days I’m a happy old lady who feels blessed to live at the edge of wild places.

Mature Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Mature Turkey Vulture (Cathartis aura); part of a crowd of feathered gleaners feasting on the beached carcass of a young Pacific Dolphin (not endangered species).

Cape Disappointment State Park, Ilwaco WA

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)

Brown Pelican Flock (Pelicanus occidentalis) ~ Long Beach, WA

Young Black-tailed Mule Deer

Crescent Lake, Oregon High Cascades

Wishing everyone safe travels as we navigate outward once again. Please stay safe.🐾

Thank you to the Rambling Ranger for this opportunity to revisit favorite sites!

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