Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors

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 rainbow colors. Photos must display at least four strong colors.

Well, this is quite a challenge for me because I like to keep my photos as simple as possible, with the least distraction. Most often, a large amount of colors can make a photo look busy. I think I managed to find a few photos that fit this theme well. Let me know what you think.

Remember you can click on each image for a larger view.

Here’s a colorful tiger swallowtail butterfly on bougainvillea: yellow, black, red, green and blue.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - tiger swallowtail butterfly
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors – tiger swallowtail butterfly

I love California wildflowers and I can’t wait to see them pop up everywhere in the spring. Here’s yellow, red, purple, pink and green.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - California wildflowers
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors – California wildflowers

The sumac tree can display very colorful foliage in the fall. Here’s some yellow, orange, red, green and blue.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - sumac foliage
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors – sumac foliage

The next photo is a lemon blossom. It’s featured in my 2013 photo calendar for the month of February. Here’s white, pink, green and blue.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - lemon blossoms
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors – lemon blossoms

Finally, what’s more colorful than Christmas lights? Oh, so many colors… Ho, ho, ho!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - Colorful Christmas lights
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors – Colorful Christmas lights

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise

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.

I’m participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is Sunrise.

I LOVE sunrises. Don’t get me wrong, I love sunsets too, as they can bring a beautiful ending to a beautiful day. But there’s something really special about sunrises. No matter what happened the day before – good or bad – a sunrise says you have the opportunity to start fresh every single day. Pretty sunrises and sunsets are a challenge in San Diego, because they look a lot better with some clouds in the sky to help reflect the light. And San Diego doesn’t have that many clouds overall.

Here are some of my favorite sunrises I’ve been able to capture in the past year or so. You’ll notice the range of colors is quite broad, so you never know what the next sunrise will look like. Remember you can click on each image to see the photo in a larger format.

This photo below represents what a typical winter sunrise looks like in San Diego. Not too many clouds, and a mostly orange sky. I like it a lot.

Let's Be Wild Photo Challenge - Sunrise in the winter in San Diego
Let’s Be Wild Photo Challenge – Sunrise in the winter in San Diego

I love this sunrise for a simple reason: its delicate colors. It doesn’t scream good morning, but rather whispers, hello, sunshine!

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise in San Diego
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise in San Diego

Not all sunrises are pink, orange or red. Some of them are mostly yellow and gray, like the one below. The sun tried very hard piercing through the clouds that day (and it worked).

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Yellow sunrise with clouds
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Yellow sunrise with clouds

In this next picture, the clouds looked like they were on fire that morning.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise with clouds on fire
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise with clouds on fire

Some winter sunrises in San Diego can be very colorful, and very inspiring. You know your day is starting well if you can spot one of these.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Winter sunrise in San Diego
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Winter sunrise in San Diego

Do you spend time enjoying the sunrises where you live?

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom

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 “zoom”. I thought I’d take this opportunity to feature a few animals I took photos of recently. I used the zoom for each snapshot since I wasn’t close enough.

Remember you can click on each photo below for a larger view.

I took the first photo at the San Diego Zoo a few weeks ago. These are two brother grizzly bears enjoying  a sweet moment with one another. The white on the photo is some snow the zoo made for them that day.

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - brotherly love at the San Diego Zoo
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – brotherly love at the San Diego Zoo

One of the bears then smelled some popcorn someone was eating in front of the exhibit, so he came closer and started charming us with cute faces and poses, hoping we’d throw some of that delicious food to him. Poor guy…

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - grizzly bear at the San Diego Zoo
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – grizzly bear at the San Diego Zoo

During that visit at the San Diego Zoo, we decided to visit the new baby panda and her mom. Here’s mama panda bear, snacking on bamboo shoots.

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - Mama panda bear t the San Diego Zoo
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – Mama panda bear t the San Diego Zoo

And here’s six-month old baby panda waking up from her nap.

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - Baby panda bear t the San Diego Zoo
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – Baby panda bear t the San Diego Zoo

I took the next photo on a warm, sunny day. This little lizard was trying to get my attention by doing cute lizard push-ups. I wasn’t too impressed.

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - Lizard basking in the sun
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – Lizard basking in the sun

I took the last picture for this zoom challenge at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This cheetah was laying down quietly, waiting for lunch to be served. When it heard the zookeeper behind the scenes, it started meowing, just like a cat (OK, a big cat). It was a great moment to witness, but today all I can share with you is the visual part. 🙂

A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom - Cheetah at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park
A Word A Week Challenge – Zoom – Cheetah at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward

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.

The new WordPress weekly photo challenge theme is forward. I’m always looking forward to the next best photo opportunity, so I can display it here and on my online store. I’m so behind on uploading new photos to my store, and I’m looking forward to working on it over the next week or so. There are lots of good photos to add, that’s for sure.

Remember you can click on any of the photos below to see it in a larger format.

I’m always looking forward to exploring new hiking paths, and there are a lot of them in San Diego. Here’s one path in Mission Trails park I haven’t tried all the way yet.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward the hiking path
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward the hiking path

Today, I’m looking forward to enjoying the cloudless blue sky, after three days of gray clouds, rain and hail.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to a blue sky
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to a blue sky

I’m also looking forward to the raindrops helping my rose bush grow new rose buds for the spring.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to new rose buds
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to new rose buds

Finally I’m looking forward to new strawberries this summer. That is, if I can get to them because the slugs and pill bugs do…

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to strawberries
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Forward to strawberries

Lots of things to look forward to! What are you looking forward to on your end?

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Red and White

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 the colors of red, white, or red and white together. How about some hibiscus to illustrate this colorful theme?

Remember you can click on each image below for a larger view.  Here’s a beautiful red hibiscus flower to start with.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Red hibiscus flower
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Red hibiscus flower

A white hibiscus flower is just as pretty, believe it or not. It even has a little pinkish red on it.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: white hibiscus flower
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: white hibiscus flower

There’s also the beautiful ornamental pear blossoms of San Diego’s Balboa Park. They don’t smell good but they sure are pretty!

Pear blossoms at San Diego's Balboa Park
Pear blossoms at San Diego’s Balboa Park

Now, if you’re looking for red and white on a single picture, take a peek at my budding strawberries. Amid the green and red leaves, you can find a few white strawberry blossoms.

Red strawberry leaves and white strawberry blossoms
Red strawberry leaves and white strawberry blossoms

Spring is almost here but Christmas wasn’t that long ago and ’tis the ultimate season for red and white!

Santa Christmas lights: red and white
Santa Christmas lights: red and white