Tag: portrait

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Creepy

David M22 Comments

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Creepy.

The prompt got me thinking about creepy crawlies, a term for insects and other invertebrates used by people who dislike or are afraid of them.

A portrait of a Horsefly. I find its eyes interesting although I dislike getting bitten by one. I cropped the photo square and added a heavy vignette to focus attention on the eyes.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Creepy

 

A Zebra Spider. Another species some people find creepy. It’s a small jumping spider, the jumping ability can add to the creepiness of it. It’s a common species in the northern hemisphere, this one was photographed in Cheshire, England but I have seen plenty of them in this part of Ontario, Canada. Once again I cropped the photo square and added a heavy vignette to focus attention on the spider.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Creepy

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Candid

David M21 Comments

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Candid.

I considered the more obvious candid shots of humans before deciding to go in a completely different direction.

An American Red Squirrel on the South Bruce Peninsula. One of the squirrels in the area that are so used to me being around that they ignore me allowing me to take candid portraits as they go about their business.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Candid

 

An Eastern Chipmunk ignoring the photographer.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Candid

 

A Racoon that wandered into the yard. It’s more interested in the bird feeders than the photographer.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Candid

Cosmic Photo Challenge: Up close and personal

David M8 Comments

This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Up close and personal.

I had a few ideas for the challenge and had decided on one until I started selecting photos. After picking the first shot I was planning on using I went in a different direction.

Here are three up close and personal shots of nature subjects taken in Cheshire, England in the 1980s. In one of those strange coincidences, after picking them I realised that they all had Common in their common English names.

First, a bird. A portrait of a male Common Blackbird. I had been photographing a plant species in a ditch when this male decided to check out what the human was up to. As I’m in a ditch the bird is looking down at me.

Portrait of a male Common Blackbird.

 

Second, an insect. A portrait of a Common Quaker Moth taken with a high magnification macro lens.

Portrait of a Common Quaker Moth.

 

Third, an amphibian. A close up of a Common Frog in a garden pond in Cheshire, England. Most of the frogs eye is below the surface of the water. Taken with a high magnification macro lens and possibly one of the occasions when the camera body and/or lens ended up being dipped in the water.

Intimate portrait of a Common Frog.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Grandparents

David M2 Comments

This is my contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: Grandparents.

I talked about my maternal grandfather a little in a previous post. He was a lenghtsman, responsible for maintaining a length of road for the local council.

This is Freddy, my maternal grandfather photographed in the 1970s. Everyone called him Freddy, I can’t remember his given name but don’t think it was Frederick. He was one of nine brothers and sisters, none of whom went by their given names if I recall correctly.

He had retired when this photo was taken but was out with his brush sweeping the snow and ice from the path. The tobacco pipe was a regular feature and the hearing aid was from an accident when training with the Home Guard during the Second World War.

My maternal grandfather.

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort

David M2 Comments

ThIs is my contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort.

My initial idea was a selection of comfortable looking bird and wildlife subjects. Then I got thinking about some of the close encounters I have had. When birds and wildlife have been comfortable enough to ignore me and carry on doing what they were doing before a photographer pointed a lens at them.

Lying in the yard in Ontario, Canada I was trying to get shots of an uncooperative male Cardinal when this Eastern Chipmunk started posing for the camera.

An Eastern Chipmunk posing for a photo.

I was in the yard photographing Sparrow species one spring when this American Red Squirrel started feeding on seed under the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

American Red Squirrel feeding.

I had gone down to the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton for the sunrise when I found a couple of juvenile Red Knot on the shoreline. I spent some time with them, they fed, bathed, preened and even slept in front of me. Ontario, Canada.

having a nap

I was sitting on a bench at Dominion Lookout on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton when this Red Fox came trotting along the shoreline and continued on past me. Ontario, Canada.

Trotting Red Fox.

I was lying in a mix of sand and wildfowl poop photographing American White Pelicans when a small flock of Wilson’s Phalarope landed on the shoreline and proceeded to feed around me. This female posed for a portrait before walking so close to me that the lens couldn’t focus on her. Saskatchewan, Canada.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.

I was in the yard photographing birds when this Racoon appeared and started eyeing up the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

Raccoon with spiky wet fur.

I was photographing a plant in a ditch when this male Common Blackbird came over to investigate the strange behaviour of the human. Cheshire, England.

Male European Blackbird.

Squirrel in monochrome.

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Monochrome Monday travels back two days to Saturday morning.

I had set up outside trying for shots of the birds and small mammals in the yard. The light was very uneven as the sun was shining through trees that are only now coming into leaf.

This American Red Squirrel was in the shade with sunlight illuminating the grass behind it. I liked the detail in the shot, especially the claws, but didn’t like the lighting in the colour version so did a monochrome conversion to tone down the background.

American Red Squirrel portrait.