Macro Monday: the hairpin banksia shrub and its blooms

Zazzle online shop If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Today I’m taking part in the Macro Monday photo challenge. You can click on each photo for a larger view.

If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

I ran across this shrub over the weekend and I had to take a few pictures of its very peculiar blooms. This is the hairpin banksia shrub, part of the protea family, originally from South Africa.

Macro Monday: hairpin banksia shrub
Macro Monday: hairpin banksia shrub

Take a closer look at the shrub’s blooms. I don’t even know if you could call them flowers. Aren’t they something?

Macro Monday: hairpin banksia shrub bloom
Macro Monday: hairpin banksia shrub bloom

Here’s an ever closer look at a hairpin banksia bloom. Nature sure had fun with this one!

Close-up of a hairpin banksia shrub bloom
Close-up of a hairpin banksia shrub bloom

Travel theme: Brown

Zazzle online shop If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Today I’m participating in Where’s My Backpack’s Travel Theme photo challenge. This week’s theme is “brown”. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

I wrote a post with a brown theme just a few weeks ago so I thought I’d use some new photos for this post today. Here are some photos I took today and last weekend to illustrate this theme. Trees are mainly what came to mind, like these many brown leaves that fell off a Ginkgo tree.

Travel theme: Brown ginkgo leaves
Travel theme: Brown ginkgo leaves

I’m not sure what type of tree this is but I was fascinated by its reddish brown bark, as well as the many twists displayed on the tree trunk.

Travel theme: Brown and twisted tree trunk
Travel theme: Brown and twisted tree trunk

Talking about interesting tree bark, this are the branches of a cork oak tree. This is what we use to make wine bottle corks, cork flooring, cork wall boards, etc. Pretty cool looking, huh?

Travel theme: Brown cork oak tree bark
Travel theme: Brown cork oak tree bark

I snapped a photo of this cute brown mallard female duck today, as she was snacking on some underwater plants. Nature sure knows how to add interesting patterns to brown to make it beautiful.

Travel theme: Brown mallard female duck swimming in a pond
Travel theme: Brown mallard female duck swimming in a pond

WordPress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you

Zazzle online shop If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “the hue of you”. You can click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

I love anything colorful and I enjoy most colors out there, but I know that pink, purple and blue tend to be my favorite. I love wearing these colors and I enjoy spotting them in nature as well. Here are a few of my favorite colors that make me happy every time Mother Nature uses them on her color palette.

This has to be my most favorite color to find in nature: magenta. It really says, I’m happy!

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you - lampranthus productus iceplant
WordPress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you – lampranthus productus iceplant

Magenta and purple together look very pretty too.

Close-up of pink manuka flowers
Close-up of pink manuka flowers

Who can argue that all shades of purple look beautiful?

The hue of you - purple wildflowers
The hue of you – purple wildflowers
The hue of you: purple flower looks like fireworks
The hue of you: purple flower looks like fireworks

And fuchsia is nature’s burst of laughter, as in this pink water lily.

Pink water lily
Pink water lily

Help me pick photos for my 2014 calendar on bees and bugs

Zazzle online shop If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Today, I’m asking your feedback on photos I’d like to include in my 2014 calendar on bees and bugs. Just tell me which ones you’d really want to see, and which ones I should definitely keep or get rid of. I appreciate your honest feedback.

Remember that everyone who comments on one of my 2014 photo calendar related posts will be entered in a drawing to win one of my calendars (you can pick your favorite theme). The only requirement I have for the winner is to be located within the U.S., mostly because the calendar will contain U.S. holidays and it will be more helpful to that person. For every calendar post that you comment on, you will earn one drawing entry (one entry per blog post, not per comment). I’m planning to give away one calendar to a lucky winner, and possibly another one to the person who comes in second, depending on the number of participants.

You can click on any photo below to open the slideshow and view everything in a larger format. Please include your comments into the post comment section directly, not on individual photos, to make it easier for everyone to see your feedback. Thank you!

Macro Monday: a red ladybug, an unexpected guest

Zazzle online shop If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Today I’m taking part in the Macro Monday photo challenge. You can click on each photo for a larger view.

If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

Last weekend I took my kids to the small mountain town of Julian, California, about an hour east of San Diego. One of our activities there was to pick apples right off the tree. When I put the apples we brought back in the kitchen sink to wash them, I realized we had an unexpected guest. A cute red ladybug! So I took it outside and put it on my rose bush. I bet it wondered how it got there!

Macro Monday: a red ladybug
Macro Monday: a red ladybug
Red ladybug on a rose bush
Red ladybug on a rose bush