Travel theme: Stone

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Today I’m participating in Where’s My Backpack’s Travel Theme photo challenge. This week’s theme is “brown”. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

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Sometimes I use stones as a background for my photos, for example to feature raindrops on a spider web.

Travel theme: Stones with rain drops on spiderweb
Travel theme: Stones with rain drops on spiderweb
Travel theme: Stones covered with raindrops on spiderweb
Travel theme: Stones covered with raindrops on spiderweb

In San Diego, water is a precious resource and stones and rocks are often used as a ground cover among succulents.

Travel theme: Stones as a ground cover
Travel theme: Stones as a ground cover

I love this stairway on the trail made out of stepping stones.

Travel theme: Stones make a stairway
Travel theme: Stones make a stairway

Sometimes nature leaves you a hidden message as you walk by, like this face in the stone.

Travel theme: Stone with hidden face
Travel theme: Stone with hidden face

Humans have a less subtle way to get the message across on stones.

Travel theme: Stone with message
Travel theme: Stone with message
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Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual

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: Unusual.

What a tough challenge! And so I’ve decided to pick a few photos where there may be more than meets the eye.

This first photo is very seasonal. If you’ve ever wondered what Rudolph the red nosed reindeer looks like when he lands on the roof, here’s your answer.

Rudolph the red nose reindeer on the roof
If you’re looking for Rudolph the red nose reindeer, he’s on the roof!

If you’re wondering what the photo below is, these are spider webs from grass spiders covered in raindrops.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: raindrops on spider webs on grass
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: raindrops on spider webs on grass

Here’s the hooded lady with a walking stick in a tree trunk.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: the face in the tree trunk
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: the face in the tree trunk

I love the hidden shapes or images in nature. Here’s a pretty obvious face in the rock.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: the hidden face in the rock
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: the hidden face in the rock

Now here’s a less obvious face in the rocks. I see a man’s profile (looking left) in the rock. On his right, I see the profile of a dog’s head looking left too. Can you see it? Now, that’s unusual!

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: a man's face and his dog in the rock
Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual: a man’s face and his dog in the rock

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate

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Remember you have only two days left to enter my contest to win a free copy of my 2013 photo calendar!

There’s nothing more delicate than life. Life of a person, life of an animal, life of a plant. Life comes and goes, sometimes unexpectedly. It’s been a tragic week for America, especially so close to Christmas. Children are the most delicate kind of human beings, and yet they can be so resilient.

I’ll stick to photos of nature today to illustrate the WordPress weekly photo challenge theme, delicate. Make sure you click on each image if you’d like to see a larger version of it.

I recently took photos of raindrops on spider webs on two separate occasions. One-finger touch and both the spider web and the raindrops can be gone. You can view more of these spider webs here.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate raindrops on spider webs
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate raindrops on spider webs

And you can view more of the spider webs below here and here.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate raindrops on spider webs over river rocks
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate raindrops on spider webs over river rocks

And here are a few photos of flowers, which are a very delicate part of nature. I have no idea what this flower is called but I love the fuzziness all over its petals.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate, fuzzy petals of a tropical flower
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate, fuzzy petals of a tropical flower

The flower below might be a hibiscus but I’m not sure (I’m terrible at flower names). I just love the pollen on top of the stigma, and the delicate petals and their delicate color.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate petals of a hibiscus
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Delicate petals of a hibiscus

Sunday Post: Concept

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’d like to start this post by reminding you that the contest to win my 2013 photo calendar is still going on and it’s easy to participate. Make sure you don’t miss out!

Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Concept. It took me a while to figure out what type of photos I’d use for this challenge. But then, the idea simply showed itself to me. Yesterday morning, I took a look outside in my garden after I got downstairs and this is what I saw: very tight spider webs covered with the cold morning dew in about a dozen spots on my artificial turf.

Remember you can click on each image to view a larger view of these spider webs covered with tiny rain drops.

Sunday Post: Concept - raindrops in spider web on grass
Sunday Post: Concept – raindrops in spider web on grass

What’s interesting is, until that morning, we didn’t know the spider webs were there. The dew made them appear. Now you see it, now you don’t. What a concept!

Here’s what a spider web with tiny raindrops look like from up close.

Sunday Post: Concept - tiny raindrops on spider web on grass
Sunday Post: Concept – tiny raindrops on spider web on grass

Here’s another photo that shows you how well and tight the spider web was built.

Sunday Post: Concept - raindrops on spider webs, green grass background
Sunday Post: Concept – raindrops on spider webs, green grass background

I like the concept of mixing two natural elements, in this case a spider web and dew drops, to create an interesting subject. I also like the photographic concept of close-ups, so here are a few photos showing the tiny raindrops on these spider webs even better.

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

I hope you enjoyed these photos. Would you have guessed I can’t stand spiders? They really gross me out but they can create some masterpieces if you look closely.

By the way, if you like these photos of spiderwebs, take a look at another set of photos I took of a spiderweb with large raindrops over colorful river rocks here and here.

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