This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: First Hints of Spring prompt.
It was snowing hard when Dale posted the prompt so my contribution is from my archives.
Two hints of spring, a male Orange Tip Butterfly feeding on Bluebells in Cheshire, England.
A hint of spring, ice on Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada breaking up during the spring thaw.
A hint of spring, a recently arrived male Yellow-headed Blackbird singing to proclaim his territory in Saskatchewan, Canada.
A hint of spring, a male Common Merganser swimming amongst ice on Lake Huron at Southampton, Ontario, Canada during the spring thaw. The Common Merganser is known as the Goosander in Europe.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Solid, liquid and gas prompt.
After two weeks of snow and below normal temperatures there was an obvious choice for this prompt, water in its various forms.
Solid and gas. Ice on a section of frozen marsh at Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada in winter. Clouds overhead are part water vapour although at -40° there can be very little water vapour at ground level. Solid and gas. Solid in the form of snow and ice on Lake Huron. Gas in the form of the water vapour in the clouds over Chantry Island and its lighthouse, Southampton, Ontario at sunset. Liquid and gas. The water of Colpoy’s Bay on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario as the liquid and clouds over the bay as gas in the form of water vapour. Liquid and gas. Mist containing water vapour rising up off the water of Colpoy’s Bay on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario at sunrise.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: The cold light of day prompt.
Being a morning person and as dawn and sunrise is frequently the coldest part of the day I decided to go with a small selection of photos taken at dawn in winter and featuring ice or snow.
Frozen and partially snow covered slough with a weak sun pillar at dawn. Photographed near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ice on Colpoy’s Bay at dawn with clouds over the Niagara Escarpment on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada. Snow covered farmland at Hatherton near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England at dawn. Cracked ice on the Colpoy’s Bay shoreline at dawn. Photographed on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: At Night prompt.
To be honest I wasn’t sure what I was going to go with for this challenge. I didn’t realise just how many photos I had taken at night until I started selecting photos.
Star trails over Colpoy’s Bay at night. Taken while looking for Comet Neowise which I failed to see let alone photograph.A very long exposure of Beeston Castle at night. Taken while doing a night shift protecting a Peregrine nest site on the cliff below the castle. Wybunbury churchyard at night, Cheshire, England. Taken for an art school project although I no longer remember what the brief was. Team Bike entering the start/finish straight at around midnight. 9 hours into the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle endurance race in France.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: From Ground Level prompt.
It was a good prompt for me as I usually try to get to eye level with birds and mammals. This often involves lying on the ground behind the camera.
However, I quickly realised just how many photos I had to pick from. So initially I decided to limit myself to four photos. Then I decided to go with one photo from the past four decades, partly to make the selection easier.
1980s. A male Common Blackbird checking 1what the photographer is doing. I was in a ditch photovraphing something when I noticed this male spying on me. Photographed in an abandoned orchard at Faddiley near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.
1990s. A breeding plumage Horned Grebe on a cattle watering hole. I wanted to get as low a viewpoint as possible so had the legs of the tripod fully spread and then stomped them into a mixture of mud and cattle poop before lying behind the camera. Photographed near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.
2000s. A juvenile Red Knot resting on the Lake Huron shoreline during autumn migration. The shoreline was too rocky to lie down behind the camera so I was kneeling, trying to get as low a possible. I spent long enough with the birds that they fed, bathed and napped in front of me. Photographed on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
2010s. An American Red Squirrel in dappled sunlight. From the 52 week photo project I did in 2018 when I spent lots of time lying behind the camera photographing birds and mammals. Photographed on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge prompt In the Trees.
A small selection of photos taken on my walks around the neighborhood since the New Year.
Winter trees with a fisheye lens. More green than grey. Lichen on a tree trunk.Snow on bare branches with a telephoto lens. More grey than green. Lichen on a tree trunk.
This week the Cosmic Photo Challenge prompt is Shades of Grey.
As is sometimes the case, I started considering the prompt and went off on a tangent. I decided that my contribution to the prompt would be a look back at a small selection of monochrome images from 2020.
Paper Birch trees again the sky. Taken on a walk around the neighborhood during lockdown a day or two into spring.
Backlit Maple leaves in early summer. Taken on another walk around the neighborhood.
Storm clouds over Colpoy’s Bay at sunrise in autumn. There was a few mornings last autumn when the cloud cover made me shoot monochrome images.
A close up of some variegated Hosta leaves in summer. One of my favourites from 2020 and taken only a few yards from the back door on the side of the path between the deck and the car.
