17/52 - Photo Project 2013

It's been an amazing week - with the Flickr blog accolades and all. When I looked back over the uploads to Flickr, I realized that the award-winning photo, so to speak, was within the project week. There are some other great photos, but I can't not choose it. So again, here's the 'winning' photo:

Also, this photo above, has at time of this blog post publishing, 1,961 views - the most EVER on any photo of mine.

But here are some runners up, including one taken yesterday:



   

I think it'll be a quiet photograph day today, but I'm off on Monday and Tuesday, so who knows what this week'll bring.

Flickr Blog (and other recent photographic accomplishments)!

There's a theme of the week group sanctioned by Flickr, called #Flickr Friday. They post a weekly theme on Fridays and we have the weekend (or so) to shoot it. I did the very first one, but have been a bit busy and have fallen off the wagon a little bit. But this last week's theme was Black and White - and on a whim, I converted some of my macro shots into B&W. And they picked mine to be in the blog!!

Check it out here!!

This is the winning photo:

It's 1 of 8 photos and there's about 4,000 people in the group (though I'm not sure how many actually submitted this week). The odds were not in my favor and I am really pleased as punch to have been recognized! And there are some stunning submissions to the pool.

Between that and recently winning back-to-back Photo Floods (best picture of the Flood) with Photo Flood St. Louis (Tower Grove East) and (Carondelet Park) - I'm kind of riding high on the fact that my peers and colleagues are liking my work!

I'm really honored by all of the 'wins' and it makes me want to work harder on continuously producing 'winning' results, at least in my book.

Here's to upcoming photographic adventures!

Macro Water Droplets

I may be obsessed with these now. I am really loving my macro lens - but this past Saturday, I had an opportunity to photograph a very dew drop'd hosta plant with fabulous results:

I got a really great compliment on this photo from a professional photographer - which had me feeling very nice.

And then, when I went back the following Monday, I was obsessed. Sadly, no frost or dew that morning, but I re-discovered the Climatron and spent literally HOURS in there obsessed with water droplets:

                  

                 

The next rainy day that I have off, you know where I'll be. Or a dew drop'd or frosty morning. I can't wait to learn more techniques in better capturing these droplets.

16/52 - Photo Project 2013

It has been quite the eventful week in American news: with the Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent manhunt and a gigantic industrial accident has rocked the US and thrown them for a loop.

For me, it's been a quiet work-filled week but I didn't worry because I had another photo meetup with Photo Flood St Louis - this time in one of my favorite places on Earth: the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was chilly but warmed by the time we were done.  Again, I went with the macro lens but I had a lot of fun. Here's the winner for the week:



And the runners up:
 
    

I'm going to have to try hard to get some photo time in this week... another busy week at work for me. Perhaps a pre-work drive is in the cards today. Or tomorrow.

Incidentally, the first runner up photo, submitted to another meet-up group (two groups, one morning) is getting rave reviews. It's a really tough call on which one is better. I MUST try droplet photography again soon. It is so much fun. Definitely need patience and a tripod perhaps.

Nothing Cuter...

than a baby bunny in Spring. Unless it's your garden they're living in.

   

They're also far less jumpy than their adult counterparts which benefited me. This one (and another unseen by camera) were hiding in the daylilies.

Sorry, mom, they really are cute. As long as they're not eating your flowers. Then, I'll happily let Pippin chase those suckers away with her get-off-the-planet voice/bark.

15/52 - Photo Project 2013

All of the photos taken this week, were taken yesterday in a two hour photo meet-up at Carondelet Park (Again with Photo Flood St Louis). I'd been to this park once before, with my mom, on a chilly day sometime ago. But it was nice to revisit the park - especially in good company. It's a challenging park to shoot for sure, but I think I got some pretty decent shots. I'm super excited for next week - another visit to Missouri Botanical Garden.

Meanwhile, content yourself with this winner:

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Runner up:

It was a tough call - by the end of the project I may change my mind...

Spring is here, can you tell? My photos are going to be flower heavy for a little while. It's one of my favorite things to shoot aside from ubran decay. Less story, but natural beauty.

Counting the days until Missouri Botanical Garden! 

14/52 - Photo Project 2013

My weekends have certainly been busy lately. On Sunday, I spent practically ALL day at the Zoo with a fellow photographer friend and got a million (not really) pictures. Yesterday, I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden, for the first time with the macro lens in hand. Since I've been to my favorite garden a million times, I decided to get up close and personal with the flowers this time  - totally worth it.

Here's my favorite:



And the million runners-up:

             


        

And about any photo in this post.

Easter Sunday at the St Louis Zoo

Zoo animals get enrichment from time to time - usually food or toys. Something that enhances the animal - behaviorally, environmentally, socially, psychologically, etc. The St. Louis Zoo made a whole Easter Sunday day of it - so, thematically, most enrichment were egg based (literally or figuratively). It was really enjoyable to watch some of the animals get their enrichment. I saw a few occurrences of it before just wandering around the zoo with a friend/fellow photographer.

One of my most favorite places in our zoo is Big Cat Country. We have Amur tigers and leopards, a panther (or is a jaguar?), two snow leopards, two pumas and a pride of lions. One male, one female and three female offspring, two of which I believe are twins.  I had a 'front row seat' to the lion enrichment. They were all lying about the delightfully warm day and as soon as they spotted their keeper, they were all on alert. She tossed in egg pinatas with cinnamon and some sort of wood fibers that they apparently love. It was thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Here's just a FEW of my faves from that visit:

            



And here are a few faves from the rest of the visit:

     


           

You can check out the rest here.