Sunday Post: Attraction

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Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Attraction. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

As a tourist town, San Diego is full of attractions. My kids and I visited two of them this morning. We first went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. I love the elephant topiary welcoming you at the front. There is one elephant on each side of the San Diego Zoo sign.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Entrance of the world famous San Diego Zoo
Sunday Post: Attraction – Entrance of the world famous San Diego Zoo

We were planning to spend most of the morning at the zoo but with the unexpected rain, we shortened our visit. We saw many animals but probably one of the most famous attractions at the zoo are the giant pandas. The 9-month old baby was out with his mom, taking a nap in the trees.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo
Sunday Post: Attraction – Giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo

Unfortunately the light was terrible to take pictures and this was the only angle available. So here’s baby panda – Xiao Liwu. It means Little Gift in Chinese.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Baby panda Xiao Liwu at the San Diego Zoo
Sunday Post: Attraction – Baby panda Xiao Liwu at the San Diego Zoo

His mom Bai Yun was taking a nap too.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Panda Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo
Sunday Post: Attraction – Panda Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo

She managed to display a couple of poses while I was taking my pictures. How nice!

Sunday Post: Attraction - Giant panda at the San Diego Zoo
Sunday Post: Attraction – Giant panda at the San Diego Zoo

Since the weather wasn’t getting any better, we headed to the San Diego Natural History Museum, a five-minute walk from the zoo. Here’s what welcomes you inside when you enter the museum from the Balboa Park fountain entrance.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Dinosaurs at the San Diego Natural History Museum
Sunday Post: Attraction – Dinosaurs at the San Diego Natural History Museum

The San Diego Natural History Museum is currently displaying the amazing Dino Jaws exhibit, which demonstrates the feeding habits of various dinosaurs. There are about 10 robotic full-size dinosaurs on display throughout the exhibit, including this Baryonyx trying to catch a fish. I love the shadow of the jaws and teeth on the back wall.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Dino Jaws at the San Diego Natural History Museum
Sunday Post: Attraction – Dino Jaws at the San Diego Natural History Museum

Of course, there are many other attractions in San Diego, but I hope you enjoyed this little sample.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above

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Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “from above”. Most photos I take are from a different angle than right from above, but sometimes when it comes to close-ups and macros, placing the camera right above can capture the best picture.

Here are a few samples of photos taken from above. Remember you can click on each photo to view it in a larger format. And if you like what you see, I invite you to subscribe to this blog so you can get new updates as they come. I publish new photo posts 3 to 5 times a week. Enjoy!

I love photographing raindrops, especially as they linger after the rain has gone. If the sun shines a bit, it can makes for a really nice picture.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Raindrops on the leaves of a rose tree
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Raindrops on the leaves of a rose tree

I don’t like spiders but I like how raindrops sit on a spider web. Here’s an example of a spider web right above smooth river rocks with raindrops on top of it. I have more examples of this type of raindrops here and here, but this photo is a few weeks old.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Raindrops on a spider web
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Raindrops on a spider web

I usually don’t photograph flowers from right above but these flowers below seemed like the perfect exception. Look how the center of the flower seems almost white as the petals go from yellow to red. Only a shot from above can amplify this pattern.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - bright yellow red flowers
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – bright yellow red flowers

Of course I can’t talk about flowers without talking about bees. I like photographing them from above to show their beautiful wings. On this photo I shared a couple of weeks ago, I noticed something quite special. Take a close look at the bags of nectar the bee is gathering on its back legs. What an efficient way to gather a lot of nectar!

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Bee carries bags of nectar on legs
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Bee carries bags of nectar on legs

Finally you also can’t talk about flowers without mentioning butterflies. When they stay put and leave their wings wide open, you have the opportunity to photograph beautiful colors from above.

Here’s a beautiful orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia).

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia)
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Orange julia butterfly (Dryas iulia)

And here’s a postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene).

WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above - Postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene)
WordPress weekly photo challenge: From above – Postman butterfly (Heliconius Melpomene)

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges

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.

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is bridges. You’d think that living in San Diego, I’d show you photos of the famous Coronado bridge. Well, I probably if I had some nice ones to share. Something to add to my long list of photos to take…

Instead I’ll share some of the smallest bridges you’ve ever seen. I found them while hiking in our local county parks. I love how these small wooden bridges try to blend in between the trees. There are so many angles to photographing bridges, I can’t wait to spot a few more of them and snap some interesting pictures.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges
Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges - crossing a bridge
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges – crossing a bridge
Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges in the woods
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges in the woods
Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges in the woods of a San Diego county park
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges in the woods of a San Diego county park
Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges - wooden bridge
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bridges – wooden bridge

The color purple: the beautiful blooms of the Ramona lilacs

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Well, it’s taken me a while but I finally did it! I went through all the photos I took of the Ramona lilacs in bloom during my latest visit at Dos Picos County Park in Ramona, California. I ended with a few good photos I’m sharing below in a gallery format.

If you’d like to see any image larger, just click on it and it will open a different screen with a photo slideshow. Then stroll down the page to see below the image and click “View full size” on the right hand size.

Ramona lilacs are different from the regular lilac trees you’re probably used to. The flowers are a lot smaller and much less fragrant, but just as beautiful. You can see on some photos that the trees are completely covered with clusters of purple flowers. The flowers actually look blue when they are unopened. As they open they get dark purple and when they’re open completely, they’re more of a light purple. This gives each tree a unique look and color. That’s why each cluster looks different on the photos.

Thank you for your patience! I hope you enjoy the show. And let me know what you think if the comments section if you’d like.

Macro Monday: the blooms of the violet honey-myrtle tree

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.

Let me start this post by announcing that you can save 40% on any poster, print or canvas in my online Zazzle store until May 1, 2013 by entering coupon code ARTDEALSFORU at checkout. See a photo you like on my website but not in my store? Just ask me what product you’d like to purchase and I’ll create it for you.

Today I’m taking part in Macro Monday at Lisa’s Chaos. Remember you can click on each image to see it in a larger format.

I recently discovered a violet honey-myrtle tree in bloom at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Very pretty flowers, but I wonder why they’re labeled violet when they’re clearly more pink than anything.

Macro Monday: the blooms of the violet honey-myrtle tree
Macro Monday: the blooms of the violet honey-myrtle tree

No matter the color of its blooms, bees seemed very interested in this tree. Here’s one I captured hard at work.

Macro Monday: bee on a violet honey-myrtle bloom
Macro Monday: bee on a violet honey-myrtle bloom

Happy macro Monday!