New photo challenge: festival of leaves – week 1

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 a new photo challenge called Festival of Leaves (this is week 1). 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.

The leaves haven’t started to change colors here in San Diego. After all, it’s only the end of September and many trees will still have leaves on until mid-November.  And that’s not counting the many trees in the region that never lose their leaves.

So here are a few selections from last fall, until I can start photographing the colors of this fall.

We have a lot of Sycamore trees in the area. The leaves just turn brown in the fall before dropping to the ground, nothing fancy. Sometimes the summers are so dry the leaves start drying up even before fall starts. If you can catch that brown in the sunlight, it becomes a lot more interesting to the eye.

Festival of Leaves - Sycamore tree leaf
Festival of Leaves – Sycamore tree leaf
Festival of Leaves - Green and brown Sycamore leaves in the fall
Festival of Leaves – Green and brown Sycamore leaves in the fall

There are a lot of poplar trees by the San Diego river. I love their golden yellow leaves in the fall, especially with the sunlight shining through them.

Festival of Leaves - Yellow poplar leaves in the fall
Festival of Leaves – Yellow poplar leaves in the fall

Fortunately we don’t have to wait for the fall to enjoy beautiful leaves in Southern California. The red leaves of this ornamental plum tree brings a flash of color even before fall starts.

Festival of Leaves - Ornamental plum tree with red leaves
Festival of Leaves – Ornamental plum tree with red leaves

Macro Monday: close-up of pink grass and its seeds

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 love the look of pink grass, with its long hairy stems and its bright colors. I’ve featured pink grass before but today I wanted to show you a few close-ups. Here’s what decorative pink grass (and not pink) looks like as a whole. This is technically called Pennisetum setaceum ‘Fireworks’ (Variegated Purple Fountain Grass).

Macro Monday: pink grass
Macro Monday: pink grass

And here it is closer. Best use I’ve found for it? Tickling people’s necks. Works every time.

Macro Monday: close-up of pink grass
Macro Monday: close-up of pink grass
Hairy pink grass seeds
Hairy pink grass seeds
Pink grass seeds
Pink grass seeds

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated

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 “from lines to patterns”. 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 the saturated colors that nature displays all around. Close-up shots help focusing on that saturation. Enjoy the show!

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - Bottle brush tree flowers
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – Bottle brush tree flowers
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - Red hibiscus flower
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – Red hibiscus flower
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - pistils inside a yellow rose
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – pistils inside a yellow rose
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - iceplant blooms
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – iceplant blooms
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - Orange Picotee tuberous begonia - begonia tuberhybrida
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – Orange Picotee tuberous begonia – begonia tuberhybrida
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - green junebug beetle
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – green junebug beetle
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - yellow lemon against blue sky
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – yellow lemon against blue sky
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Saturated - purple and white wildflowers with morning dew
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Saturated – purple and white wildflowers with morning dew

Floral Friday Fotos: more pink water lilies

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 Floral Friday Fotos. Remember you can click on the photos below to see them in a larger format. If you enjoy my images, I encourage you to subscribe and receive updates when I post new photos, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

I featured some pink water lilies a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to capture more of them on camera recently. The sunlight was very bright that day in comparison to my other photo session, so these pink water lilies look quite different in the end.

Floral Friday Fotos: pink water lilies
Floral Friday Fotos: pink water lilies
Floral Friday Fotos: pink water lily
Floral Friday Fotos: pink water lily

By the way, check out the green frog popping its head out of the water in this last picture (bottom right).

Group of pink water lilies
Group of pink water lilies

Cee’s fun foto challenge: the color brown and sepia tones

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 Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge to show photos featuring the color white and purple. 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.

These two brown bear brothers are just the right color for this theme.

Cee's Fun Foto challenge: brown bears
Cee’s Fun Foto challenge: brown bears

Even a bear sculpture, not a real bear, can be brown.

Cee's Fun Foto challenge: brown bear sculpture
Cee’s Fun Foto challenge: brown bear sculpture

I captured this little snail one morning with my phone camera.

Cee's fun foto challenge: brown snail
Cee’s fun foto challenge: brown snail

Pine tree sap can go from yellow to brown. It almost looks like caramel.

Cee's fun foto challenge: brown tree bark and tree sap
Cee’s fun foto challenge: brown tree bark and tree sap

This is a great gray owl, but if you look at it, it’s actually quite brown. And beautiful.

Great gray owl
Great gray owl

Talking about owls, this is the giant owl butterfly. Lots of brown there.

Giant owl butterfly
Giant owl butterfly

My last photo for this theme features a swallow’s nest, made out of mud. It’s a messy job but those swallows are relentless at building.

Swallow's nest
Swallow’s nest