Members Photography

Hi All!

For a long time, since on oGEC I have started to post off topic posts to the Forum Members Pets thread I have been thinking, whether it should be good to start up a new one.

I am to put up here both nature and urban (hey! urban-nature) shots those are do not fit the 'pets' nor 'seasons' category.

My general purpose with this topic was to get sight of closer (or wider) "wilderness" (e.g. smaller-bigger arthropodae or frogs, birds and other wild animal, even interesting plants, be it a flower or a moss) around members, also to gain extra knowledge from the experts around GE forums. That was the reason why originally I have named this post Wild Backyard, but really why not to give a wider angle of our cameras? One of you has advised that I could broaden it to include photography as a more general subject , so all your masterpieces taken walking around are welcomed!

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A t t e n t i o n !
Some of the shots might disturb people who do not like (close looks of)
insects, bugs, spiders, amphibians, rodents, mollusks, etc...

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My first attached photo is about spiders of course, taken yesterday in the garden: 

"Just off the c0c00n"


Best,

g


camera info:
by the start i use a simple 10,2 mega-pixel (samsung lens, 6.3-18.9 mm), automatic camera.
from january, 2012. i use a 14 Mpix fujifilm compact cam with fujinon lens, 5 x zoom, f=5.9-29.5 mm, 1:3.3-5.9
from 2014. i have another compact camera: Canon PowerShot 2500, 16 Mpix, 5.0-25.0 mm, 1:2.8-6.9
from 2017. you will find shots made by a SONY Cyber-shot, Sony lens, 5xopt.zoom, 3,2-6,4/4,6-23

This fledgling Great Horned Owl at Descanso Gardens is developing nicely. Adult plumage has replaced much of the nestling down. "Ears" are beginning to develop. It has kicked all remains of the nest it was hatched in off the limb on which it sits. It won't be long now.

   

I just love baby owls and those are great shots, Hill.  Syzygy, I don't even mind the enormous quantity of spiders.    Just so I don't run my face through that nest in the dark - arrgh!

Still taking pictures of un-pretty things.  Tonight's theme: two abandoned gas stations.

The red and white one...1950s



The green and grey one...early 1960s

Not exactly Wildlife but different to be sure.  We spotted this fine fellow in the City Park across from our favorite local restaurant. This akin to the other "Silver Men" one sees around the world.  He is on one foot!

RIP, Barnie, old friend.

...and one more before I head out to Tampa... Lake Mirror in Downtown Lakeland, FL with two of our resident black Swans. Lakeland is known for the Large number of Mute Swans that populate it's lakes.  The original pairs were a gift from Queen Elizabeth just after WWII. No one is sure where the Black Swans arrived from.

Scorpions are usually nocturnal and, being of a similar color to their surroundings, they are often hard to see... unless you have a uv light source along.
Here are two comparison images of a small scorpion taken with flash and with uv.  HERE is an article about scorpions and uv light.

Wow, Hill!

This pair is bringing home the arthropods and cleaning the nest at Chilao in the Angeles National Forest.

Hill, I see the white-headed male cheats with some red.  Very nice shots, as always.  You have a great lens.

Around the small farm town of Merrill, Oregon.

  I think of this as the Russian Orthodox church ruin.





 <<< Red-winged blackbird. Trust me.

Merriam's Chipmunk at Chilao a few days ago.

May 3, 2015 17:55:12 GMT Hill said:

This fledgling Great Horned Owl at Descanso Gardens is developing nicely. Adult plumage has replaced much of the nestling down. 

G+ kindly made a gif for me of a Velvet Ant. The jerky motion of the gif duplicates the way these insects move. Velvet Ants are actually a species of solitary wasp. The female has no wings, but still has a powerful sting. The much more rarely seen male has wings, but no stinger. 

 

hey, that velvet bee or whaddaheck is just great!
thank you Hill!

here we are with two recent fellows from where even the king goes on foot.(:
 
we call this Pannon snail

and a spider (without closer ID)

 A few days a go, Eaton Canyon Nature Center had a talk about California Condors. Before the meeting they showed off some rescued owls, a Western Screech Owl, a Great-Horned Owl, and a Barn Owl. 
   
 

May 14, 2015 4:04:21 GMT Hill said:

G+ kindly made a gif for me of a Velvet Ant. The jerky motion of the gif duplicates the way these insects move. Velvet Ants are actually a species of solitary wasp. The female has no wings, but still has a powerful sting. The much more rarely seen male has wings, but no stinger. 

Velvet Ants are also known as "Cow Killer" ants just because of that intense sting! The Eastern Velvet Ant is not quite as fuzzy with a black stripe on the back of it's abdomen! 

I know this is supposed to be about wildlife and nature, but I hope I can broaden it to include photography as a more general subject (if syzygy doesn't mind!).  For instance, I like to make odd photos, or make ordinary things look a little strange.  I just happened to be hanging out behind the grocery store yesterday...

Fire truck



Army truck

hey, not at all Diane! Topic subject and now my edited OP initiative allows that content.
I have always found pleasure watching your shots. All have some unique mood, strange it made me feel that i have already been there or just have already seen that scene...(:
So just keep up the good work!

My recent one attached below is some still life after the storm.

'Toxic jacuzzi'
Still life with rainwater-filled ashtray full of stubs and a dead Crane fly. 
In Hungary we call this insect Lószúnyog - 'Horsemosquito' in mirror translation.

May 28, 2015 7:34:34 GMT syzygy said:

'Toxic jacuzzi'
Still life with rainwater-filled ashtray full of stubs and a dead Crane fly. 
In Hungary we call this insect Lószúnyog - 'Horsemosquito' in mirror translation.

They have many names across the world...Here in the deep Dark South we call them Mosquito Hawks 

That's what we call it in the wild west, too, Barn.  Ours seem to be much more gangly than syzygy's and the ones I see online.  I had no idea until today that they do not eat mosquitos! 

I actually have some spider-related photos!  Sheet webs are the webs of my nightmares.

A little cutie named Lino spotted by my granddaughter and I. He was a passenger in a 1950 Chevy. 







Linkville Cemetery.kmz (762 B)

na, some recent shots (2016.march-june)

boiler room mood with candle light:


earthworm love or 'a brick can not be an obstacle': (I cannot stand not to imagine that the other endings also meet under the brick)


hairy bracket fungi:

syzygy, the boiler room is side-ways when enlarged. It's the kind of photo that intrigues me, by the way! A little bit spooky and great light/shadow. 


I love old trucks and cars. That's just the way it is. Here is a 1975-ish Mack. They used to be the truck to have in this area for logging (they're bomb-proof!), but I hadn't seen one in ages until I happened by this dump truck.



The famous and much-coveted bulldog, Mack.



Mack truck KF.kmz (727 B)

Today, while visiting the one time Návay castle near Óföldeák, I noticed fighting Stag beetles on giant oak trees, also other ones doing something else.
Both behaviour is part of their engendering routine, but oh my... someone please shoo those shameless voyeur flies!(:

[slide captionposition="1" wrapperstyle="padding:10px 0;border-top:2px solid #eee;border-bottom:2px solid #eee;width:650px;"]https://res.cloudinary.com/syzygy/image/upload/v1586240688/IMG_2584_ckorkc.jpg
...
res.cloudinary.com/syzygy/image/upload/v1586241279/IMG_2578_pdahuz.jpg
shoo!
res.cloudinary.com/syzygy/image/upload/v1586241279/IMG_2577_vb5ufi.jpg
shoo, you...![/slide]


for castle and vault photos check photo layer!


Nvay castle and vault.kmz (822 B)

p.s.: yep diane! something happens to images which have been edited...
EDIT: done

was not the best decision to make this turn.
well, good old saline soil likes company...(:

help got stuck too and only a second tractor could set us free. (2 hours off work)

do not think I had been nervous! NOT AT ALL!

Oh no!  What a hassle, syzygy! It seems that deep mud was hiding under a layer of innocent-looking wet grass. I won't ask what kind of words you were using during this time...

A windy afternoon at Lake of the Woods, Oregon. Very popular family camping spot in So. Oregon.





Lake of the Woods.kmz (742 B)

looks more dreadful than it is.
has sting however rather peaceful animal.
at worst its tingle is not worse than caused by a simple honey bee or a smaller wasp.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_violacea



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beautiful natural treasury right there in Oregon. thanks for great photos Diane!

***
oh, and just have noticed another reply of you to comment after  my stuck in mud with the Lada NIVA
well i would have had luck even... one meter more and done, but slipped down the narrow ridge -just as usual...(:

devastating soc-real building with some industrial-art ornament on firewall in the middle of my -besides- beautiful town.
please let me title image as we write in hungarian:


SZOCREÁL

sunset in the village / summer 2017. / Terény, Hungary

From my recent trip to the N. California and S. Oregon Coast.

Cape St. George...site of an old lighthouse, manned 1891 until 1975.  It was then unmanned, then decommissioned in 1995 and abandoned. The buildings were for the use of the lighthouse keepers when they were ashore. The light itself was - and still is - 6 miles offshore on Dragon Rocks. 











The lighthouse is on Little Black Rock, which cannot be seen on GE. South West Seal Rock nearby is a haul-out spot for seals, which can be seen. Of course, the lighthouse Panoramio shots are not available. There is a vintage photo of it on Wikipedia.

Point St George.kmz (779 B)