Floral Friday Fotos: Red dogwood tree 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 participating in Floral Friday Fotos. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you enjoy my photos, I encourage you to subscribe and receive updates when I post new photos, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

There are plenty of dogwood trees in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. and I was lucky to be visiting when the trees were starting to bloom. Although dogwood trees blossoms can be vary from white / yellow to pink, my favorite ones have to be the red blossoms. I saw one dogwood tree with red blossoms while visiting Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. I understand Jefferson himself planted most of the dogwood trees there so their age may explain why they’re so big.

You don’t often see trees with so many red blooms so it was a pleasure to photograph, even though the lighting was challenging since it was in the middle of the day, and it was a warm, sunny day. Perfect day to visit Monticello, walk the grounds and take pictures like these.

What’s your favorite kind of dogwood tree blossoms?

Floral Friday Fotos: Red dogwood tree blooms
Floral Friday Fotos: Red dogwood tree blooms
Red dogwood tree blossoms
Red dogwood tree blossoms
Close-up of dogwood tree red blossoms
Close-up of dogwood tree red blossoms
Dogwood tree - red blossoms
Dogwood tree – red blossoms

 

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Contrast

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 A Word A Week Challenge. This week’s theme is “contrast”.  I encourage you to click on each photo to see a larger view. If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

There are many ways to feature contrast in photographs, so here are a few of my personal interpretations for this photo theme. There can be contrast between light and dark, as in this backlight setting on Coronado beach in front of the Pacific ocean.

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Contrast between light and dark
A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Contrast between light and dark

Or it could be contrast between light and dark at night, between the bright full moon in the background and the dark trees in the foreground.

Travel theme: Contrast - Moon rising beyond the trees
Travel theme: Contrast – Moon rising beyond the trees

It could be the exact opposite with the trees in the foreground in bright light, and the clouds in the background in the dark.

Contrast between trees in the sun and dark sky with clouds
Contrast between trees in the sun and dark sky with clouds

It could be both a contrast in size, small versus large, and in color, white and versus pink, as in this photo of a small white poppy right next to a large pink poppy.

Contrast between small white poppy and large pink poppy
Contrast between small white poppy and large pink poppy

Finally, it could a contrast between what you see at first glance, and what you really see if you look more closely, as in this map of the USA in the water puddle with the colors of the American flag, still one of my favorite shots so far.

Water puddle in the shape of the United States
Water puddle in the shape of the United States

 

Travel theme: Pink

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 “pink”. 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.

Pink is one of my favorite colors, and the bolder, the better, especially when it comes to photographing it. I love the many different shades of pink that Mother Nature has come up with, from the light pink of this beautiful rose,

Travel theme: Light pink rose petals
Travel theme: Light pink rose petals

and this gentle light pink water lily,

Light pink water lily
Light pink water lily

to the ultra bold pink of this snapdragon flower.

Bright pink snapdragon flower
Bright pink snapdragon flower

If pink contains a little bit of orange, then it can be called coral pink, as beautifully displayed in this pink poppy flower.

Pink poppy flower in bloom
Pink poppy flower in bloom

Mother Nature can display several shades of pink right next to each other, for example in these lovely cherry blossoms,

Close-up of pink cherry blossoms
Close-up of pink cherry blossoms

or these pink manuka flowers.

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

Of course, pink doesn’t only occur among flowers in nature. If you’re lucky, you can witness pink in the sky, whether it is a pink sunrise,

Pink winter sunrise in San Diego
Pink winter sunrise in San Diego

or a pink sunset.

Pink sky at sunset in San Diego
Pink sky at sunset in San Diego

 

Floral Friday Fotos: my first cherry blossoms

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. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you enjoy my photos, I encourage you to subscribe and receive updates when I post new photos, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to photograph my first cherry blossoms earlier this week at the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. This is prime season to enjoy the cherry blossoms in San Diego and I wanted to take advantage of them before they disappear for a whole year. I took a lot more photos than these few but I thought this would be a nice sample to start you with, using this Floral Friday theme. Happy Friday and happy first day of spring!

Cherry blossoms at the San Diego Japanese Friendship garden in Balboa Park
Cherry blossoms at the San Diego Japanese Friendship garden in Balboa Park
Floral Friday Fotos: my first cherry blossoms
Floral Friday Fotos: my first cherry blossoms
Close-up of pink cherry blossoms
Close-up of pink cherry blossoms
Close-up of pink cherry blossoms
Close-up of pink cherry blossoms

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the color purple

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 and her theme is “the color purple”. I encourage you to click on each photo to see a larger view. If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

If you visit my blog regularly, you must know by now that purple is my favorite color to spot and photograph in nature. It doesn’t occur as often as you may think so it’s always a nice surprise to notice it. Here are a few selections of my recent sightings of purple while I was lucky enough to be holding a camera at that moment.

Here’s an interesting looking orchid, with several green and brown petals, and one large purple petal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a flower with different colored petals before. Have you?

Orchid with green and brown petals, and one large purple petal
Orchid with green and brown petals, and one large purple petal

Aster flowers are some of my favorite, as they come in different shades of purple.

Dark purple aster flower with raindrops
Dark purple aster flower with raindrops
Purple aster with water drops
Purple aster with water drops

I love lavender: its purple color, its smell, its long-lasting blooms. The lavender blooms on the next photo belong to a larger species and they don’t smell, but they still look beautiful.

Bee on a purple lavender flower
Bee on a purple lavender flower

Here’s a little more purple lavender for you.

Purple lavender blooms
Purple lavender blooms

Purple can range for very light to very dark. Here is some dark purple on this white and purple pansy, covered with water droplets.

White and purple pansy
White and purple pansy

I’m saving my favorite purple for last, in this beautiful grape of wisteria blooms. I’ve noticed several wisteria trees blooming around San Diego. I think it’s time to grab my camera and try to get a few new shots.

White and purple wisteria flowers
White and purple wisteria flowers