A Picture's Worth...

I finally have some images from Sedona ready to share. I found the landscape there beyond what I could verbally describe. So, I'll let the photos do the talking for me.

Reflected

My friend Lori and I have been trying to get out for photos every couple of weeks. We're exploring new places each time. Last week, we headed up toward the Calverton Grasslands in hopes of photographing owls in the pine barrens. No luck this time.

We did learn that there are many trails out that way to be explored and we found a couple of beautiful ponds. I'm sure we'll return to watch for waterfowl as the seasons change. But in winter, the challenge is looking for beauty in starkness. This photo was my favorite from our last excursion.

Close-Up

On Friday, I took my first photo outing to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, NY. As it's the dead of winter here, my exploration was limited to the two conservatory buildings on the property. The timing was perfect for the current Blogger Community Photo Challenge....Close-Up.

The bulk of the exhibit included orchids and begonias. I have TONS of flower photos but I find these so cool, I decided to show them as part of the challenge.



This is a remnant of a spent clematis bloom. I was fascinated by the perfect twist of these plumes...especially when you consider it originally looked something like this...



It's discoveries like these that led me to fall in love with close-up photography. I hope you'll visit the other participants (listed in the comment section at the photo challenge link above) and see what they've discovered.

Indie at the Beach

It's feline/furball Friday again...



During the winter, we can take the dogs to the beach for a good hard run.

Stop by Steven's to get the links to the other photo featured pets.

Feline and Furball Friday

Steven has a weekly photo feature spotlighting our beloved furry friends. I don't post as often as I'd like...so I'm excited to have a picture to share today.

Here are my boys, Indie and Berkeley, out for a run on a snowy day. We had very little snow last year...so we're trying to take every opportunity to enjoy it this season. What is it about dogs and snow?

Still Life

I've come out from under my rock to participate in the latest Blogger Community Photo Challenge. I enjoy doing still life but I don't do it all that often, especially in winter. So today when the light was nice, I put together this little arrangement. I pick up broken shells all the time. I'm fascinated by their form and texture. Being broken or worn makes them that much more interesting to me.




I hope you'll visit everyone else who participated. The link list can be found here.

Another Snowy Owl

I went back out to Jones Beach very early yesterday in hopes of another view of the snowy owl. My luck was not so good overall, I had only a couple of very brief sitings. But, my luck was great in what I happened to see. Unfortunately, I was not quite set up to deal with the situation as quickly as it happened considering the available light.

(What is she talking about???)

I was walking down the path just past sun up and I saw two birds (one light, one dark) in a mid air confrontation. At first, I thought the light one was a gull but the flight didn't seem right and he was a little too plump. I looked through my lens and sure enough, it was a snowy owl. I learned later that the other bird was peregrine falcon (they happen to hate snowy owls). Apparently, he didn't think that beach was big enough for the two of them.

Well, I tried to get a few images in the brief opportunity I had. As I mentioned, I wasn't properly set up. On my previous trip, the owl was just sitting on a dune like a model so I was set for dim light and no motion. Most of my images are pretty blurry. But I got ONE....and I'm so happy with it, the rest doesn't really seem to matter. How about it?!?!