Tag: fpj-photo-challenge

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Connect

David M19 Comments

I had a couple of ideas for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Connect.

I went with the following idea because there’s two types of connection involved.

The first is a channel connecting a marsh to a section of the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The second is the connection between the birds and the photographer. It was a hot summer afternoon and my options were to lie in the hot sun on the edge of the channel or sit in the water with the birds. After I had been sitting in the water for a while the birds got used to me being there and pretty much ignored me. That’s the sort of connection you want, the birds behaving naturally as if you weren’t there.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Connect

The reason for me sitting in the water, a flock of American White Pelicans fishing in a channel where a marsh drains into a section of the lake.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Connect

I noticed that I was also sharing the channel with a Red-necked Grebe.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Connect

After a while the Pelicans would swim out of the current in the channel and paddle past me back to the start.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Connect

The Grebe also got used to my presence in the water and would surface anywhere around me after a dive.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Spread

David M10 Comments

This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Spread.

When I read the prompt I thought of wide angle landscapes that take in a spread of view wider than the human eye can see without moving. I had actually started editing photos for the post before thinking of birds with spread wings.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Spread

Spreading its wings. A Great Crested Grebe stretching its wings on Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire, England and the photo I thought of that caused me to rewrite this post.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Spread

Two pairs of spread wings. Two American White Pelicans gliding between Little Quill Lake and Middle Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.

 

Black-capped Chickadee for Six Word Saturday.

Wings spread for take off. A Black-capped Chickadee on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Special Spot Shots

Tail spread, trying to impress a female in the spring. A male Yellow-headed Blackbird displaying near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Scale

David M3 Comments

When I read the prompt for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Scale I had several ideas for a post.

Landscapes taken with a telephoto where it’s difficult to get a sense of scale, extreme close-ups where you can’t tell what you’re looking at.

So, typically for me recently, I went in a completely different direction after thinking of a particular photo.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

This is the photo I thought of, a Great Crested Grebe looking lost amongst gulls in a winter roost on Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire. These are mostly Black-headed Gulls, there’s one Common Gull close to the edge of the frame at about 1 o’clock.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

This may explain why the Great Crested Grebe is looking lost. A section of a winter gull roost on Hurleston Reservoir. Again, mostly Black-headed Gulls with a few Common Gulls, one Lesser Black-backed Gull and one Herring Gull.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

If the second photo didn’t give a sense of scale to the Great Crested Grebe looking lost this one may. This is most of a fairly typical winter gull roost in the 1990s. Anywhere between 12,000 and 15,000 gulls was a normal count. If you look closely there’s a Great Crested Grebe just swimming into the frame on the left hand side of the photo.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Junk

David M6 Comments

When I first read the prompt for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Junk I didn’t have any ideas.

Then I thought about a bag containing the parts of a zoom lens I took apart some time ago. The lens had a known problem where the ribbon cable controlling the aperture fails. Researching online showed that repaired lenses were still failing so I decided not to get the lens repaired.

I was going to tear the lens down to remove the jammed aperture assembly and reassemble it as a manual lens without an aperture. Well that was the plan, by the time I got deep enough into the lens to release the jammed aperture I knew the lens was  never going back together. A modern, auto focus zoom lens is a lot more complex than an old fashioned manual focus prime lens.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Junk

 

And just for a laugh, the junk lens photographed with a junk lens. The focusing mechanism of my 25mm CCTV lens jammed the first time I used it. Each time I use it I have to play around with it to get it to focus. It’s a pity as the lens produces some interesting swirling around the edges of the frame which I like. By the time I had finished editing in Snapseed it looks like a modern lens photographed using a a wet plate camera in the 1870s.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Junk

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Yard

David M7 Comments

One thing came to mind as soon as I read the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Yard prompt.

That was spending hours in our yard in 2018 when I was doing a 52 week photo project.

So I thought I would go with a small selection of photos taken in the yard during 2018.

 

Raccoon with spiky wet fur.

A wet, bedraggled Raccoon that wandered into the yard and started eyeing up the bird feeders one Saturday afternoon.

 

Raindrops on a Cedar tree.

Raindrops on a Cedar branch on the edge of the yard.

 

shadows on snow

Tree trunks casting long shadows across the snow in the yard.

 

Clover flower in grass

A Clover flower growing in the grass in the yard. Taken while lying in the grass waiting for the Squirrels and Chipmunks to put in an appearance.

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird juvenile.

A young Ruby-throated Hummingbird checking out the hummingbird feeder hanging in the yard.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Number

David M7 Comments

This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Number and in this case the number is 59 during the first weekend of April 1982.

That was the race number for Team Bike in their first World Endurance Championship race, a 24 hour motorcycle race at the historic Le Mans race track in France.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Number

Number 59 makes a pit stop in the middle of the night. The bike is refueled and the oil level in the motor is checked while the riders discuss something and a French official uses a torch to watch the pit crew.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Number

Number 59 enters the start/finish straight at around midnight. 9 hours into the race, 15 to go.

 

Tuesday Photo Challeng - Number

Number 59 makes a dawn pit stop. Tyres are being checked to decide if either will need to be changed on the next pit stop while being watched by multiple French officials.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Action

David M7 Comments

When I read the prompt for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Action I had all sorts of ideas for a post.

It took me some time to narrow down the ideas to either different species doing the same activity or to concentrate on one species.

In the end I decided to go with one species engaging in various activities. I picked the humble House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) because it’s one of my most published species and I have lots of photos of them engaged in various activities.

 

Mating House Sparrows.

Mating.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Action

Bathing.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Action

Nesting.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Action

Drinking.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Action

Dust bathing.