Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth

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This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is earth. At first, I thought I’d skip this photo challenge theme because I couldn’t think of any photos to use. Then I read Cee’s description of earth and I figured, hey I could do that! Earth: Clay, Rock, Dust, Sand, Mud, Crystal, Powder, Shadow, Space, Darkness, Gravity, Bone, Silicon.

Below is my personal take of this theme. Remember you can click on any photo to view a larger image.

Southern California is covered with dirt and rocks, not much green overall. Cactus, succulents and short bushes like California Sage Brush are what grow best here.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - succulents growing in dirt and rocks — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – succulents growing in dirt and rocks

I enjoy painted rocks and these rocks from the San Diego Botanic Garden are a cute and subtle way to ask people to stay away.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - painted rocks — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – painted rocks

Of course San Diego is not all dirt and rocks. It also features beautiful beaches, my favorite being Coronado Beach. It is always listed as one of the Top 10 beaches in the U.S. and it deserves it.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - San Diego sandy beach — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – San Diego sandy beach

My last photo is from Idyllwild, California. I call it the face in the rock, and it’s pretty obvious why. This is as if Earth was watching us as we walk by.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - the face in the rock — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – the face in the rock

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is wood. Last week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme was water and I couldn’t stop thinking of the many photos I could sort through to select the final few.

This week’s wood theme was a little more challenging for me. I didn’t want to show you just trees, trees and more trees. Yes, I will display a few trees below, but I also wanted to show you objects made out of wood. I hope you enjoy my selection of wood photos.

This HUGE wood sculpture is to welcome you to the small mountain town of Idyllwild in Southern California, about two hours north of San Diego. The man who created this sculpture for the town (apparently he wasn’t done with it when I snapped the photo) sells many other wood sculptures, mostly of wildlife. They’re just beautiful.

Cece's Fun Foto Challenge - Wood - Wood sculpture in Idyllwild, California — Cece’s Fun Foto Challenge – Wood – Wood sculpture in Idyllwild, California

Here’s the same Idyllwild wood sculpture from a different angle.

Wildlife wood sculpture in Idyllwild California

Here are two Stellar Jay birds perched on opposite branches of a pine tree. This photo was taken in Idyllwild too, where Stellar Jays are easy to spot.

When we stayed in Idyllwild the first time, we rented a dome house made entirely out of wood inside and out. Here’s a part of the interior walls and ceiling to show you what a dome house looks like. Pretty neat, huh?

I took the next photo on the Star of India ship at the San Diego Maritime Museum with my kids (working hard!). That ship was used in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russell Crowe and it’s still an active ship to this day.

Star of India - San Diego Maritime Museum — Star of India – San Diego Maritime Museum

As for these last photos, let me tell you a funny story. I took them at Dos Picos State Park northeast of San Diego a couple of years ago and never used them for anything. But I still saved them on my computer, because I knew I would use them one day for sure. And now the day has come. I present you a pile of wood!

Here is the pile of wood from up close. I find it pretty nice actually.

January 25, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bird photos, California Photos, Forest Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Tree Photos, Woods PhotosTags: California pictures, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood, dome house, dos picos state park, idyllwild california, idyllwild wood sculpture, photography, photos, photos of trees, photos of wood, pile of wood, San Diego, san diego maritime museum, star of india, wood photos, wooden dome house 11 Comments

Small waterfall at Mission Trails park, San Diego, California

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Water

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is water. Water is a precious resource in Southern California. “Precious” as in rare, and as in expensive. They aren’t many large areas of water around San Diego (besides the huge Pacific Ocean) and what are labeled as “lakes” here would probably be labeled as “ponds” in most other states.

I have a lot of photos of water to share. Ocean water, river water, rain drops, dew drops, frozen water… So I think a photo gallery will be best. You can click on any image to view all of them in a slideshow format. I’ve used these photos in previous posts so I’ve left the original captions. This way, if you’d like to view the original post, just search for the caption text in my website’s Search box.

I hope you enjoy these photos of water!

Small waterfall at Mission Trails park, San Diego, California

Travel theme: delicate frost on leaves

Close-up of raindrops on netting

Let’s be wild weekly photo challenge – water – wet branch after the rain

Sunday Post: Natural Resources – water – Lake Hemet, California

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Sea – the waves at Coronado Beach

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Reflections – Water lilies at Balboa Park in San Diego

Sunday Post: Concept – close-up of raindrops on spider webs on green grass

Travel theme: Stones with rain drops on spiderweb

Let’s be wild weekly photo challenge – weather – a wet lemon in San Diego

January 17, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Fruit Photos, Ocean photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Water photosTags: California pictures, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Water, dew drops, ocean waves photos, photography, photos, photos of water, rain drop photos, raindrop photos, San Diego, water photos, waterfall photos 10 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Metal

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is metal. I didn’t think I would participate since none of the photos I have on file contain any metal (at least not that I can remember). I also couldn’t think of any place I would go and take photos of metal without the images looking ordinary or simply boring.

That was until yesterday afternoon, when I took my kids to the Cabrillo National Monument / National Park. We originally went to visit the tide pools. After waiting in line for over 30 minutes just to roll through the park entrance and paying $5 for our visit, we waited another 20 minutes going downhill trying to reach the tide pool area. Why that area is only accessible by car and there are no paths from the main parking lot area is a mystery to me. A park ranger finally told us to turn onto a road on the right hand side that said “no outlet”. When we reached the end of it after another few minutes, we found a secondary parking lot where we could have parked… if there had been a parking space available! But of course there was none. Why the park ranger sent us there in the first place instead of telling us to turn around is another mystery to me. So we could do nothing else than give up and drive back up the hill, park in the main parking lot and view the tide pools from very, very far away. Needless to say, I’m not ready to go back to the Cabrillo tide pools any time soon.

The view of the city of San Diego and the ocean from Cabrillo is quite impressive (I’m saving a few photos for a future post). The on-site museum consists of one large room describing the Spanish explorers in the 1500s, and that’s about it. Fortunately there’s also a lighthouse you can visit. That lighthouse is famous from having operated for a very short amount of time, finding itself in thick areas of fog at the times of the year it would be most needed. Oops…

Here’s what the Cabrillo lighthouse looks like as you walk towards it.

Here’s a closer view of the Fresnel light part from the other side of the lighthouse as the sun was setting down. And yes, my photo is a little crooked but I wanted to show you how ridiculously cold and windy it was when I took this picture. Brrrrrrr…. Still, notice the metal railing, as well as the metal light cover and ladder. Yeah, metal! Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Metal? Checked!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Metal - top of the Cabrillo lighthouse — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Metal – top of the Cabrillo lighthouse

January 13, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photography, Photos of San DiegoTags: Cabrillo lighthouse, Cabrillo monument, Cabrillo national monument, Cabrillo tide pools, California pictures, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Metal, photography, photos, San Diego, tide pools 6 Comments

Capture The Colour 2013 photo contest - blue dragonfly

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Your 2012 Outdoors and Nature

One of my goals for 2013 when it comes to my photography activities is to participate in more photo challenges. I hope to mingle with other photographers of all levels, get more people to see my photos and gather feedback.

This past week, I joined the Project 365 – 2013, where I will attempt to post a photo almost every day, both on my Facebook page, as well as the Project 365 2013 Facebook page. I love to see the other photos people submit on a daily basis!

I’ve also decided to join Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which takes place weekly. This week’s theme is “Your 2012 Outdoors and Nature”, with a focus on people and animals. If you visit my site regularly, you’ve probably seen all of the photos below already, and I apologize. If you’re new here, I hope you enjoy my photos of outdoors and nature animals. You can click on each image to see a larger view in a slideshow format. You can also access much larger photos directly from each post, available from my Animals page, which needs some serious updating. Another of my 2013 goals!