Blogger's Community Photo Challenge ~ Gardens

Even though this challenge has been posted for close to a month, I haven't been anywhere where the gardens are in full bloom. It's been an odd spring here on Long Island. It got quite warm in a spurt, but it has stayed relatively cool. So, the season has been drawn out.

My gardens don't have enough going on in one place to look like much as a whole. So, I decided to take some macro shots of what's blooming now. Enjoy the slide show below...





I hope that you'll take a minute and enjoy the photos posted by the other challenge participants. You'll find the links here.

Playing With Water

I was inspired to play with water by THIS shot that I saw as part of a macro photo competition at Pioneer Woman Photography. It got my curiosity going so I set up my camera on a tripod by the sink with an additional flash off camera. It's interesting to move that second flash around and see how it's angle and proximity to the subject affects the results.

I played around by varying the intensity of the water flow and I think I got some really cool results. Some of these make me think of gems floating in space.

Round Robin - Land and Sea

For the current Round Robin challenge, I'm sharing some images I took while in southern California in March. This is the rugged coastline in La Jolla Cove. The images were taken in series as the breakers crashed against the shore.









Please visit all the other photographers who have played along. Here's the linking list...

Carly... Ellipsis
Posted!

Karen... Outpost Mavarin
Posted!

Monica... Shutterly Happy


Carolyn... Ford Family Photos
Posted!

Hip Chick... Hip Chick Photos


Freda... Day One
Posted!

ellen B... The Happy Wonderer
Posted!

Suzanne R... SuzyQ421's Photo Blog
Posted!

Jama... Sweet Memories
Posted!

Ruth... Scrabble Queen


Sandy... From The Heart Of Texas
Posted!

Mary... Mary Tomaselli's Photos
Posted!

Gattina... Keyhole Pictures
Posted!

Baby Foxes

I have one friend out here on Long Island who is my nature photo buddy. We try and go out about once a week to take pictures, and one of our favorite places to go is Connetquot River State Park. We are there frequently enough that we know where to look for particular subjects. We've been lucky enough to learn of a fox den, and we have been even more lucky in having the opportunity to see and photograph a pair of baby foxes.

Round Robin Challenge - Anything in Threes

After a long hiatus, I am back to participate in the Round Robin Photo Challenge.

This week's challenge...

"Anything in 3's, must be the same theme and presented in 3 images."


I've chosen the theme "Ducks That Winter on Long Island." Here on Long Island, each season brings a new variety of birds through the area. In winter, it's the ducks. I was never really aware that there were SO many duck species, but I made it a point this past winter to get out to find, photograph, and identify as many as I could. It's a bit of a challenge. It's COLD near the water and often they are too timid to get very close to the shore. It takes some patience and stealth to get close enough to them to get a reasonable shot. These aren't your domesticated white ducks or mallards that expect every human they see to have a spare loaf of bread.

I think they're delightful in their funny looking sort of way...

Nothern Shoveler




Red Breasted Mergansers





Oldsquaw



Here's the linking list to see the submissions by all the other Round Robin participants...

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories

Linda
Mommy's Treasures

Freda
Day One

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas

Nancy
Nancy luvs Pics

Carolyn
Ford Family Photos

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy

Wammy
The Ellis Family Cincinnati

Suzanne R
SuzyQ421's Photo Blog

Sherrie
Sherrie's Stuff

Ruth
Scrabblequeen

Dawn **Welcome, new member!*** - Posted!
Dawn Elliott Photography

Kat **Welcome back!**
In My Dreams I Can Fly...

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures

Manang Kim - Posted!
My Life's Journey in Focus

Still Life

I have been in need of a major distraction from what's going on in my life. This weekend, I stumbled onto it. I was playing around with some macro shots and on a whim started experimenting with a studio setup and an off camera flash. I did a little background research online and headed to my "studio". Here are the results...

Jan 30, 2010

On Friday, a friend and I spent the day at the beautiful Quogue Wildlife Sanctuary. We went with the intention of photographing winter waterfowl but the variety on that particular day was disappointing. My best shots are of the birds that are housed in their distressed/injured wildlife sanctuary.

All these birds of prey have been injured with the exception of the great horned owl. He was found by a family as a chick and was raised by people. All his natural instinct has been lost, so he would be unable to survive out of captivity. He was funny....he talks to people. As soon as he sees someone approach the enclosure, he starts to hoot for attention. If you talk to him, he talks back.

I wish I were showcasing images of these magnificent birds in a setting where I did not have to shoot through a fence to capture them. They belong in the wild. However, we are fortunate that facilities exists where they can be cared for and where they can provide an environmental education opportunity.



Peregrine Falcon





Barn Owl(sleeping)





Bald Eagle






Great Horned Owl