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 “face”. 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.
Nature can display faces in so many ways and places. There’s the cute face of the mama panda bear.
A word a week – face of a giant panda bear
The big bug-eyed face of the orange dragonfly.
A word a week – face – orange dragonfly with big eyes
There’s the face of the tiger longwing butterfly (Heliconius hecale) with his rolled-up proboscis.
A word a week – face with proboscis of a tiger longwing butterfly
There are the faces of two brother grizzly bears enjoying some intimate moment.
A word a week – faces of two brother bears
There are the faces of animals carved in the wood on purpose.
A word a week – faces of animals carved in wood
And the face of a woman that Mother Nature drew in this tree trunk for us to notice.
A word a week – face of woman in tree trunk
Mother Nature also likes to use rocks to make faces.
A word a week – face of man in a large rock
These hidden faces of a man and a dog (profile angle) are some of my favorite faces to spot in nature. Can you see them?
A word a week – face of man and his dog in rock cliff
And finally even the sky can show you faces, like this smiley face in the clouds!
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 Macro Monday at Lisa’s Chaos. Remember you can click on each image to see it in a larger format. And 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.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph another orange dragonfly. By now, I’ve realized that accomplishing such feat requires two things: a lot of patience, and a lot of luck.
I was standing by a small pond and noticed three orange dragonflies constantly flying back and forth right above the water. After some time, I saw one of them getting away from the surface of the pond and browsing the tree branches in the area. Well lucky me, it landed on a branch not far from where I was standing! I slowly made my way towards it and I don’t know if this dragonfly was just tired and needed a break, or wanted to give me a break, but it let me get close enough I didn’t have to zoom and I actually used the macro feature of my camera. And this is what I got.
Macro Monday: close-up of an orange dragonfly
It moved its wings a bit after that and I snapped this shot. Still a beautiful orange dragonfly.
Macro Monday: orange dragonfly on a branch
When it had enough of me looming right over it, it flew to a branch further away and I zoomed to get this shot, just because the dragonfly took off.
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.
There are many ways to escape but I think my favorite is through books. Nowhere else can you visit faraway lands and people, real or imaginary, at any moment in time. My latest escape? The Guardians of Childhood book series by William Joyce. Wonderful adventures!
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape with the Guardians of Childhood
Living in San Diego, there are many places I can escape to. The first one I think of is the beach.
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape to Coronado Beach
I can also escape to the mountains.
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape to the mountains of Idyllwild
I can escape to a magical fairyland by going up these stone steps.
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape to a magical fairyland
Or escape deep into the beautiful details of nature.
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape in the details of an orange dragonfly
Oh, and now that I got myself some new Pirelli tires, I can escape really fast. Zoom zoom!
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape with Pirelli tires
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 “orange”. 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.
Orange is far from being my favorite color but I love how nature displays it boldly. My favorite display has to be this orange dragonfly I captured a few weeks ago. It was a lucky shot for sure. You can see my photo of a blue dragonfly here.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange rose at Balboa Park
I tried to use the very cloudy sky as a background for the next photo. I kind of like the effect, although I bet this rose would be absolutely beautiful on a blue background since the two colors are opposite on the color wheel.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange rose at Balboa Park in San Diego
And here’s a last large burst of orange roses for you!
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange rose in San Diego’s rose garden
This next rose is more subtle and displays a mix of orange, yellow and light pink. I love this type of tea roses and they usually smell very good.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange tea rose in Balboa Park rose garden
Of course, roses are not the only flowers that are orange. Here are a few more orange flowers I’ve photographed in the past, like this beautiful orange protea pincushion.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange protea pincushion protea flower
I’m not sure what the next flower is called but I love its big fuzzy petals.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange flower with fuzzy petals
I like the orange leaves of fall foliage. We don’t get a lot of that in San Diego, so it’s nice to spot it here and there.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange leaves of a sumac tree in the fall
Of course, I can’t participate in an orange theme without displaying an orange, can I? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
A Word A Week Challenge – Orange on the orange tree
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 know I promised you some photos of the beautiful Ramona lilacs I spotted a couple of weeks ago during a hike and I’m still working on these photos. But today I’d like to share something quite special because this is a first for me: my first photo of an orange dragonfly. Remember you can click on the photos below for a larger view.
Last year I posted my first (and only) photo of a blue dragonfly. I felt it was beginner’s luck and now I know it really was. Have you ever watched dragonflies? They never stop flying, literally. They only stop for a minute at a time, and that’s for a total of a few hours a day. So if you see one stop by next to you, enjoy it while it lasts.
Dragonflies are different from damselflies, which are a lot smaller. We had one of them enter our home last week and it landed on the window blinds, longing to go back out. I helped it find its freedom back. Phew!
Blue damselfly
These damselflies are everywhere right now, and they’re quite people friendly. Dragonflies are harder to spot. So when I saw a large orange dragonfly fly over my head while walking through the San Diego Botanic Garden, I had my fingers crossed. After circling a few times, the dragonfly landed on a brush twig and it didn’t take me long to realize what it was doing. It was surveying its next lunch, a bunch of bees snacking on the nectar of a bush in bloom.
I had to figure out how to take a picture of a fleeting dragonfly while being surrounded by busy bees. And guess what? I got my one shot. And guess what else? It was my only shot, because the dragonfly didn’t like me ruining its cover and it flew away.
Lucky me, the shot was perfectly in focus. This is what I got:
Orange dragonfly
Now I’m thinking of cropping this photo a bit but I’m not sure which way will look best so I’m asking for your honest opinion.
Here’s crop option #1, with a similar composition as the first photo, but zoomed in. The dragonfly is in the bottom right corner.
Zoom of an orange dragonfly
Here’s crop option #2, where the dragonfly is more in the top right corner. I tend to favor this one shot.
Close-up of an orange dragonfly
Here’s crop option #3, where the dragonfly is centered in the middle of the photo, towards the top.
Macro of an orange dragonfly
And here’s crop option #4, in a vertical format, making the stick stand out more. This is more zoomed in on the dragonfly so you can see its details better but of course the photo files ends up being a little smaller since it’s cropped quite a lot from the original file.
Orange dragonfly resting on a stick
Which cropping option do you like best? Or do you like the original photo best? Thanks for helping me out!
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.
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