Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light

>>:::<<
bright sources
illuminating a path
in multiple ways
>>:::<<

Different light sources exist in this photo.  Artificial light illuminates from the ceiling and reflects off the metal elevator doors, and natural light coming through large windows to the left adds brightness to the inside of the building.

This is the inside of the cancer hospital where we spend a lot of time for my mother’s cancer treatments, procedures and tests.  It certainly doesn’t look or feel like a hospital, but that was the intended design – to make the patient and family feel like they were NOT in a hospital.  Even the individual patient rooms give the feeling like you are in a nice hotel room, only with a hospital bed.

I interpret “Let There Be Light” in two different ways for this posting.  First, providing light inside of the building, and second, hoping that the visits here will help provide bright light for us at the end of the tunnel with my mother’s cancer journey.  There is nothing significantly new since the last posting.  We are continuing her regular aggressive treatments and waiting to see what the next scans and tests will tell us.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change and Clouds

Dramatic Clouds, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
unsettled waters
sailing in flying vessels
clouds of change
>>:::<<

The last line, “clouds of change” can be taken literally, or metaphorically.

These dark, threatening clouds rolled in so fast one afternoon that it rapidly turned a sunny day into a gloomy day.  In this photo, the clouds look ripe and ready to burst, which they did.  We got what felt like buckets of rain suddenly pouring down on us.  How quickly things can change.

 This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a picture that says CHANGE.
The Wild Weekly Photo Challenge encourages us to point our lenses toward the CLOUDS. 

.
Linking up with:
PHOTO ART FRIDAY
(border texture used is PDPA Serve Life)
WEEKLY TOP SHOT

Weekly Photo Challenge: Future Tense

>>:::<<
heartfelt invitation
excited for your return
spring migration
>>:::<<

Doesn’t this body of water look lonely, eagerly awaiting the return of migratory birds to fill it full of life, including the adorable playfulness of a whole new generation of baby birds?

It’s still phoneography month, and this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge encourages taking another photo with our camera phones.  I took this photo with my iPhone almost two weeks ago at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah, USA.  The water was mostly covered in ice still, and was too early for the migratory birds to make their appearance.  We heard that the migration would occur a little later this year because the ice was taking longer to thaw, but we made the trip anyway hoping to see some year-round birds including bald eagles.

One year ago, this section of water was about like you see it (minus the ice), and full of various birds.  However, having one of the driest seasons on record left this area and other units of the refuge dry or drying up by mid-summer, when we made our previous trip.  It was sad to see this so dry, but the refuge was also keeping and diverting water only in priority nesting areas.  At least we were able to see a higher concentration of birds in the priority areas.

It is refreshing to see this refuge full of water again and I am anxious to return when the migratory birds start arriving.  According to information from the refuge, the birds have survived worst conditions than last year, but lets hope the future is better and brighter for them.

Here is another photo I took last weekend, on our second trip to the refuge this year.  The bird is a Great Blue Heron.  This photo was taken with my Pentax DSLR.

Heron Silhouette, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

I’ve had several postings in the past related to this refuge.  The refuge is on a delta of the Bear River in the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake, and is the largest freshwater component of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.  It “offers some of the most phenomenal water bird watching in the Western United States.”  According to the US Fish & Wildlife Services, the refuge is “acclaimed as one of the world’s 10 best birding areas” and has “long been considered one of the most valuable wetlands in the intermountain west region.”  It is a 74,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge and is host to millions of migratory birds yearly.  Located the edge of two North American migration flyways, the Central and Pacific flyways, it is an important resting, feeding, and nesting area for birds in both flyways and is a habitat for more than 200 bird species.

The mountain range you see in the first photo is the beautiful Wasatch Range, home to many world class ski resorts and a host of other outdoor pursuits.  Further to the right (south) near Salt Lake City, and just into these mountains, is where I live.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details

Part of a dinosaur leg bone fossil imbedded in a large rock face. There also appears to be clam fossils along the lower right side of the bone. (See the hand at the top right corner for perspective on size.)

150 million year old fossilized clam shells imbedded in a large rock face. (I hope hubby is not upset that I didn’t get a model release for his fingers!)

Dinosaur National Monument, located on the border between northeast Utah, USA and northwest Colorado, USA, is the only national park area set up to protect a historic dinosaur quarry.  It is one of the world’s best windows into the late Jurassic period and is home to an amazing display of fossils from this era.  The vast diversity of plant and animal fossils found there helps reveal its ancient environment.  (Click here to see my previous post on this monument.)

Along the park’s Fossil Discovery Trail, one can view a few large dinosaur bones and bone fragments that are imbedded in the rock face along the Morrison Formation spur trail.  These dinosaurs lived approximately 150 million years ago.  Approximately 163 million years ago, the area was an ocean environment.  If you look carefully, you can find small clam-like fossils and one-hundred-million-year-old fish scales!

One could definitely get lost in the detail looking at both large and small fossils imbedded in these large rock faces.  Fascinating to realize how ancient the remains are!

Sign at the beginning of the trail.

Morrison Formation spur trail at Dinosaur National Monument

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a photo that means Lost in the Details to you.  (This challenge is about getting lost in the details. Once you’ve found a subject you want to photograph, challenge yourself to work a little further into the scene.)

.
Linking up with:
PHOTO ART FRIDAY

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward

Moving Forward Through Storms, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
the snow will still fall
paths and journeys will shift
moving forward
>>:::<<

This is a combined photo and doodle image, which I worked on this morning in the warmth of my home and surrounded outside by one of a few snowstorms we are receiving this week.  Also, this blog, which includes my explorations and experiments with photography, digital manipulations, doodling, haiku, etc., was created in 2011 as a therapeutic way for me to move forward in the midst of many developing health issues and chronic pain.

Here is a larger version of the doodle.  I created it on my iPad using the Paper by 53 and ArtStudio apps.  Before moving forward with more doodling recently, my attempts consisted of very bad stick figure drawings.  🙂

.
This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
is to share a picture that says FORWARD to you.

 Linking up with:
PHOTO ART FRIDAY
TEXTURE TUESDAY
(kk textures used: edith and sybil)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss

Scrub Jay Kiss, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
winter bling
enhances my allure
snow kisses
>>:::<<

.
.
…and here’s also a KISS photo I took in Brugge (Bruges), Belgium:

Romance, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

.
This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
is to share a picture that means KISS to you.

Linking up with:
TEXTURE TUESDAY
PHOTO ART FRIDAY
CAMERA CRITTERS
BIRD D’POT

Weekly Photo Challenge: Home

Home, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
priceless journeys
in seas of euphoria
the sky is my home
>>:::<<

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
is to share a picture that evokes home to you.

Linking up with:
PHOTO ART FRIDAY
CAMERA CRITTERS
THE BIRD D’POT
WEEKLY TOP SHOT
NATURE NOTES

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Ladybug Handstand, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
have you ever seen
a ladybug in a handstand
dare to be different
>>:::<<

Glad to be participating in the Weekly Photo Challenge after being absent for a couple of months.
Post-processing done in Photoshop Elements 10.  Here is the original photo:

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a photo
that says unique to you.

Linking up with:

PHOTO ART FRIDAY
THIS OR THAT THURSDAY
CAMERA CRITTERS
WEEKLY TOP SHOT

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

Great Blue Heron Reflection, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
drifting to unknowns
migrating towards new paths
past dreams vaporized
>>:::<<

Here is a literal and figurative interpretation of this week’s theme.

Thank you for the nice well wishes on my last posting!  I really appreciate your visits and kind comments.  Postings on both of my blogs and visits to your blogs will be sporadic and sparse for a little while.  Thanks again for your patience.  Time will tell what my new path will be, and it has been a long road.  But for now, there is still a lot of healing to do.

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a picture
that means reflections to you.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Near and Far, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
nature’s howls and whispers
carving majestic landscapes
visual symphony
>>:::<<

This photo was taken at Dead Horse Point State Park in Southeastern Utah, USA, near Canyonlands National Park.  The discovermoab website states that “The view from Dead Horse Point is one of the most photographed scenic vistas in the world,” the panorama of the Colorado River Canyon.  (Also, see my other posting here, from the same park.)

When I’m visiting the parks in Southern Utah, I tend to notice the character of old curly trees almost as much as I notice the breathtaking scenery.  Sometimes these trees appear to be growing right out from bare rock.  I often try to compose a photo with one or more curly trees in the foreground, and the photo above is one of those attempts…the trees are in the foreground nearest to you on the left…and the further to the right you go, the more distant the formations are.  The constructed lookout point (upper left) and the people offer a perspective on the size of this spectacular landscape.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

>>:::<<
wait for bullet train
within my long journey home
business traveler
>>:::<<

I took this photo at the Shin-Osaka train station in Osaka, Japan while waiting for the bullet train (shinkansen).

Although this photo is photoshopped, I wanted to place emphasis on the businessman and the sign, and blur the rest of the image.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Merge

Avian Acrobat, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
nature’s theatre offers
glorious performances
personification
>>:::<<

Two different applications of “merge” exist in this photo.  First, I created a digital merge with two different photos to show movement of the chickadee – on and off the bird feeder.  Second, I merged nature (the chickadee) and the performing arts (acrobatics) together into one concept.  I then applied a texture for the background.  The title I gave this image is “Avian Acrobat.”

When I saw the photo of the chickadee on the feeder, it gave me the thought of an acrobat with outstretched arms, trying to balance on a highwire.  I used the photo of the chickadee flying down off the feeder to give the impression of someone falling off the highwire.

Anyway, it was a fun project.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

Progression, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)
Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Nature Notes, Tuesday Tips and Pics, Rural Thursday, Flower Art Friday

>>:::<<
bouquet of rubies
floating atop emeralds
romantic red tulips
>>:::<<

These photos, which I took in our yard, show three different “growth” stages of the same tulip blooms.  Three years ago (which is a different year than when these photos were taken) these same tulips reached a maximum height of 3 feet, just less than 1 meter!  What a growth spurt!

Yesterday, when I was searching for the symbolism of the red tulip, I found that it means “perfect love” or “true love” and is the 11th wedding anniversary flower.  Coincidentally, hubby and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this past weekend – another representation of “growth!”

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a picture
that means GROWTH to you!

References:

• http://www.teleflora.com/tulips/flowers-plants/tulip-detail.asp
• http://www.ehow.com/facts_5829637_red-tulip-mean_.html

Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement

Hummingbird Wings, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

>>:::<<
amazing swiftness
forms wisps of elegant swirls
hummingbird flight
>>:::<<

This is a black-chinned hummingbird at one of our feeders.  I normally photograph hummingbirds at high shutter speeds, but for this photo, I decreased the speed to 1/60.  It makes for an overall blurred photo of the hummingbird in flight, but I like how it captured the motion of the wings.

The photo below is one I posted last autumn of a mule deer buck in our yard chasing after a doe during the rutting season.  He is running FAST!

Huntin’ for Lovin’, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a photo that means MOVEMENT to you.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moment

Contemplation, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on photo to enlarge)
Linking up with Your Sunday Best.

>>:::<<
spontaneous snapshot
candid and unduplicated
a fleeting moment
>>:::<<

This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is to share a picture that captures a fleeting moment on the street.  It’s rare for me to attempt street photography, so I had to dig deep into the archives for this photo (scanned from a negative and leaving just a hint of blue color in the ocean).  I’m drawn to the mustache, hat and quiet contemplation from this older gentleman, and the energizing feeling of the ocean backdrop!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Friendship

Friends, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (Click on image to enlarge).

>>:::<<
storms rise and fall
seasons merge into another
true friendship endures
>>:::<<

Photo submitted for his week’s WordPress photo challenge.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Today

Meet LITTLE MISS OUTGOING…

“Hello, pleased to meet you!  Wanna Play?”
. 

…and LITTLE MISS SHY…

“Please don’t take my picture.  I’m very, very shy.”
.

…two different ladybugs, yet two different personalities captured today!

This week’s WordPress photo challenge theme is “today” – it’s about TODAY. This day. The day you’re reading and reacting to this post. No rules or guidance on what to post other than the photo must be taken today.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands

Daibutsu Hand, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (Click on image to enlarge).

Daibutsu, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (Click on image to enlarge).

For this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, I am using Buddha hands to represent the theme.  I took these photos of the large Buddha statue, called Daibutsu, at the Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan.  (See my posting here for more information.)   They show the right and left hands of Daibutsu positioned in two different “mudra.”  A mudra is a symbolic gesture, usually with the hands, used in Hinduism and Buddhism.  Mudra is used primarily to indicate the nature and function of the deity.

The first photo shows the right hand, and the second photo shows parts of both hands.  The right hand is in the “Fear Not” mudra, called Semui-in, in Japanese.  The left hand, which is visible in the second photo, is in the “Welcome” mudra, called Yogan-in.

The Semui-in mudra represents protection, peace, benevolence, and dispelling of fear. It is usually made with the right hand raised to shoulder height in front of the chest, the arm bent and the palm facing outward with the fingers pointing up.  In Japan, when this mudra is used with the middle finger slightly projected forward, it is a symbol of the Shingon Buddhism.

The Yogan-in mudra signifies offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion and sincerity.  Primarily represents the fulfillment of wishes and granting of benefits to humanity.  The palm offered slightly turned up.  This mudra is usually seen in combination with the semui-in mudra.

I tried to make the first photo look like mostly like an old and faded black-and-white, yet keeping some of the color in the hand to emphasize its focus.

Other interesting information:

• Daibutsu (大仏) is the largest bronze statue of Buddha.  It is almost 15 meters tall and weighs 500 metric tonnes.
• Todaiji Temple (東大寺 Eastern Great Temple) is the largest wooden building in the world, even though it is only about two-thirds of it’s original size (57 meters x 50 meters).
• Construction of the Todaiji Temple began in year 728 and was completed in 752.
• Nara was the ancient capital of Japan from years 710 to 784

References:

• Weekly Photo Challenge: Two Subjects
• Wikipedia – Mudra
• onmarkproductions.com – Mudra
• planetware.com – Nara Todaiji Temple

Weekly Photo Challenge: Blue

Great Blue Heron, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (Click on image to enlarge).

>>:::<<
the ocean above
hugs a striking splash of color
great blue heron
>>:::<<

Just over a week ago, we made another trip to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to see what birds had arrived since our last trip in March, and obviously to take more photos!  We were excited to spot many more birds and bird varieties, and even noticed that there were a few more Great Blue Herons (at least five more).  Most of the herons we saw were along the water’s edge foraging for their primary diet of fish.  I took some photos of these birds standing in the water, but I find them more beautiful when they are in flight.  This makes capturing non-blurry photos much more challenging, but I’m happy with this one.

This week’s WordPress photo challenge theme is “blue”:  the Great Blue Heron, the blue mountain in the background, and the blue sky.  I cropped the image showing the bird leaving the photo so that I could include more of the mountain.

Other postings from this bird refuge:

• M! Challenge: Migration, etc.
• N! Challenge: Nature, Nuisance, etc.
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Together
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocused

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocused

Unfocused, a photo by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (Click on image to enlarge).
. 

I am still learning.
               ~~Michelangelo

There is certainly no shortage of out-of-focus photos I’ve taken.  Few have been intentional, most have been unintentional.  This one is unintentional, and you can see where the camera focus was for this photo (right).  The unfocused birds are a Great Blue Heron and a Seagull.  The reflection in the water of the birds are also unfocused.

This is another photo taken a few weeks ago at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Other postings from this bird refuge:

• M! Challenge: Migration, etc.
• N! Challenge: Nature, Nuisance, etc.
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Together

Other interpretations for this week’s challenge:

• WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
• windagainstcurrent.com
• 50yearproject.wordpress.com
• ruthbaileyart.wordpress.com