WordPress weekly photo challenge: Unexpected

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 want to start this post with a big announcement: my 2014 nature photography calendars (choose between five different themes) are available for sale at 50% off on my online Zazzle store today (all other products are 20% off). Enter code BLKFRIDAY541 at checkout; code valid until November 22, 2013, midnight. All calendars are made to order in the USA so you support the US economy with your purchase, and a starving artist (me!). I also appreciate any referral through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and of course your blog or website.

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “unexpected”. If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

I’m only going to show you one photo for this photo challenge, simply because I think it illustrates it perfectly. I know the Oxford Dictionaries recently named “selfie” as word of the year, but seriously, “photobomb” would have been my pick.

Here’s nature’s version of a photobomb: an unexpected mallard duck flying in front of a white pelican as I was trying to take its picture. Thanks, dude.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Unexpected duck flies in front of pelican
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Unexpected duck flies in front of pelican

You can view the rest of my photos of white pelicans in San Diego here.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers

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.

Remember my 2014 nature photography calendars are available for sale on my online Zazzle store.  All calendars are made to order in the USA so you support the US economy with your purchase, and a starving artist at the same time (me!). I appreciate all referrals through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and of course your blog or website.

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “layers”. You can click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

I enjoy the many layers of petals on a rose, especially when the petals themselves are layered with dew drops or raindrops.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of white rose petals
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of white rose petals
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of pink rose petals
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of pink rose petals

The orange protea pin cushion flower has a spectacular set of petals that go from layer to layer.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of an orange protea pin cushion
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of an orange protea pin cushion

I love the dripping layers of pine tree sap on the tree bark.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of pine tree sap
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of pine tree sap

Check out the colorful layers within that tree sap.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of colorful pine tree sap
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of colorful pine tree sap

And how about the beautiful layers of the Fourth of July fireworks?

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of Fourth of July fireworks
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of Fourth of July fireworks
Wordpress weekly photo challenge: Layers of Fourth of July fireworks
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Layers of Fourth of July fireworks

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Eerie

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 WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “eerie”. You can click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

These rain clouds creeping and crawling over the hills of San Diego during a winter storm always look eerie.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge - Eerie crawling clouds during a San Diego rainstorm
WordPress weekly photo challenge – Eerie crawling clouds during a San Diego rainstorm

The landscape in front of those hills was just as eerie looking as the clouds on that day – out of this world.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge - Eerie Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego, California
WordPress weekly photo challenge – Eerie Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego, California

There’s something quite eerie about fog, don’t you think?

Wordpress weekly photo challenge - Eerie foggy morning in San Diego
WordPress weekly photo challenge – Eerie foggy morning in San Diego

Especially when the fog is very thick and you can barely see a few feet away.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge - Eerie foggy morning in San Diego
WordPress weekly photo challenge – Eerie foggy morning in San Diego

I love the eerie effect of a full moon creeping out from between the clouds. Can you hear the coyotes howl?

Wordpress weekly photo challenge - Eerie full moon coming out from behind the clouds
WordPress weekly photo challenge – Eerie full moon coming out from behind the clouds

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Horizon

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 WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “horizon”. You can click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

Here’s the horizon at Coronado Beach, hidden between the dune grasses.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: horizon at Coronado Beach
WordPress weekly photo challenge: horizon at Coronado Beach

I enjoyed taking this photo of pink grasses as they shoot across the horizon in the foreground.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: horizon with pink grasses in the foreground
WordPress weekly photo challenge: horizon with pink grasses in the foreground

Here’s the horizon on top of the mountains in Idyllwild, California. On that clear day, you could see up to 100 miles away.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: horizon at Idyllwild Park, California
WordPress weekly photo challenge: horizon at Idyllwild Park, California

How about this moon going up the horizon in the daylight?

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: moon at the horizon
WordPress weekly photo challenge: moon at the horizon

I love the beauty of the horizon at sunrise.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: horizon at sunrise
WordPress weekly photo challenge: horizon at sunrise

And at sunset.

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: horizon at sunset
WordPress weekly photo challenge: horizon at sunset

WordPress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you

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 WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “the hue of you”. You can click on the photos below for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

I love anything colorful and I enjoy most colors out there, but I know that pink, purple and blue tend to be my favorite. I love wearing these colors and I enjoy spotting them in nature as well. Here are a few of my favorite colors that make me happy every time Mother Nature uses them on her color palette.

This has to be my most favorite color to find in nature: magenta. It really says, I’m happy!

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you - lampranthus productus iceplant
WordPress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you – lampranthus productus iceplant

Magenta and purple together look very pretty too.

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

Who can argue that all shades of purple look beautiful?

The hue of you - purple wildflowers
The hue of you – purple wildflowers
The hue of you: purple flower looks like fireworks
The hue of you: purple flower looks like fireworks

And fuchsia is nature’s burst of laughter, as in this pink water lily.

Pink water lily
Pink water lily