Fern fiddle heads

Three of the many types of ferns that grow in this temperate rain forest I call home over here on the West Coast. By the end of summer the larger species of ferns can form bushes over 6 feet high!

Wayward Skies

In Kansas the saying is "If you don't like the weather now, wait a couple hours and it will change." This time of year that couldn't be more true. It seems as if one minute the sky is clear and blue and the next storm clouds roll in. These were taken out at Ron's house from atop a 30 ft. tripod, well a windmill anyway, to get above the trees. Both are 5 shot HDR images.

Desert Rose

A rose like no other I know. Rich in color and very little fragrance with a large bloom.

A summer plant that loves full sunlight. It lives in a pot off the north porch when the temperature warms and the sun is high.

In the fall when the temps become cool and the sparse blooms have fallen off, it lives in front of a window inside the sun room. A peculiar plant that seems to shiver and shake when the mercury drops below 50F.

May 18th of this year the African import rewarded us with it's first flower of the season. Will there be more? Who knows! The most has been three since it came to live with us three summers ago. Like all things in the desert, enjoy the beauty as it comes!

Home is where the heart is

Bumble Bee Close Ups

All of these are shot with Nikon D300 and Tamron 18-250mm lens from about a foot and half away. None of them have been cropped.

More Cropping from the D800

 

The original shot with the Nikon 105mm micro lens at f5.6.

 

The crop

Cropped Shots from the Nikon D800

 

 These were all taken with the Nikon 105mm "micro" (macro) lens and cropped about 50%.

 

This first photo is some kind of tiny little flower that I of course, have no idea what it is called. Look for the little bee inside the white flower on the bottom left.

 

 

This is the inside of a "purple flower". I'm pretty sure that's the name. LOL

 

Weed seeds, better known as a dandelion.

A recent creation by Jake

Jake has really come a long way with his video creations in a short time. This latest creation is mostly slow motion bike video and a really well thought out sound track to go with. If your internet is good enough to look at a 3 minute youtube video check it out. Oh and make sure you have your speakers turned on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJBNRCBQbs

I took this shot from last weekend in my backyard.  I saw this guy took this watermelon right out of my plate while I'm sitting just 5' away.  

An Old-timer.

A rose by any other name...

 

I guess it's going to be a flower kind of week.

Morning dew

Took both these pictures the other morning before the Sun had a chance to evaporate the dew which had formed overnight.
(Both these pictures look much better if you look at them in the larger size by clicking on them.)

Itsy Bitsy Spider?

Cruise season again...

Pilot boat returning to Port Hardy

Diamond Princess heading south past the mouth of Hardy Bay

There are a number of Cruise Ships that do the Vancouver to Alaska Cruise each season. This is the Diamond Princess returning to Vancouver after just such a cruise. However a ships Pilot is required to be aboard before the large ship is allowed to make it's way through the narrow inside waters between Vancouver Island and the Mainland shore. The Pilot is placed aboard just north of Port Hardy on the Northern Tip of Vancouver Island where I live and stays with the large ship until it docks in Vancouver.

76 Frames

This photo was inspired by another photo I seen on Facebook. The other photographer was glad to share how he did it with me. Then I used Google search how to set the camera up for the star trails. This image was made using 76, 30 second exposures, converting them all to JPEG, then using a image stacking software to make a composite. I  hope to be doing a lot more of these types of images in the future. 

Looking Up

Devon Tower

While sitting and watching the people go by; I found this slatted view when looking up. Fifty stories rising into the sky, makes quite an impact on these flatland prairies that I call home! 

Sphinx

Guess she was guarding the house from mice Egyptian style... Ha ha!

Starting to get into some nice Spring weather over here on the Coast. A little rain now and then and plenty enough Sun to fill in between times. Perfect weather for massive growth by the lawn anyway!

First thing I thought...

Found myself in the "Bright Lights" of Vancouver last weekend and had the chance to play tourist for a couple of days. It was fun just wandering around taking pictures of this and that and so many neat little places to eat not to mention all the places I could have shopped if I was more into that. Though I did check out a couple of very nice camera stores.

Anyway back to the story... One afternoon while out playing tourist I came across this large as life bronze bull in front of some important building, probably a bank or something. First thing I thought was Parker would probably appreciate this, so I took a picture.

My, what big eyes you have

 

 

An osprey from our Oklahoma trip last month.

Mystery Eagle

We found this guy sitting among a colony of prairie dogs. Not sure if he was just resting or hunting. 

After a short period of time he grew tired of the tourist and took to the air. I tried to identify this eagle but could not come up with a clear cut decision on what kind it was. It might be a immature Golden Eagle?

Busy as a... Pollinator

Very busy time of year for the bees and other pollinators. Found this bee and a half dozen others checking each and every flower on several large Rhododendron bushes in front of my home. I'm sure between all of them each flower got checked several times!

Shallow Dive

 

The long weekend has me thinking about a vacation and when I think about vacation there's one place that always comes to mind first.

 

This honu (Hawaiian sea turtle) was swimming in the shallows in front of our condo one morning looking for some breakfast so I dove in with him to get a few snap shots.

Getting Low

 

We had a crop duster flying a field next to our house the other day so I thought I would see how close I could get, without getting sprayed of course.

 

I was able to get in a spot where he was making his turn and coming back around to the field. This was taken just before he got to the field and is not cropped at all. The plane was only about 50 feet above my head we I took this.

 

This looks like it would be a lot of fun but the only thing I can think of is a scene from the movie Space Cowboys where Tommy Lee Jones took up a kid on a birthday flight and it didn't end well for the kid.

Just a nice picture...

Nothing profound about Seagulls, especially over here on the Coast... Common as Pigeons or Crows anywhere else. But what the heck I guess they deserve a bit of recognition now and then too. So here it is, my Ode to Seagulls in the form of a photograph.