ZapperZ's Great Outdoors Photo Contest

[Astronuc]

Not on the level of awesome that the rest of these pictures are on but this was taken back home when I found a patch of wild roses in the hay field

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/Scorpa/x1pbglk-vqL4Bu_5K6UsXWIBtm_OIYHL-4.jpg

Sweet and simple! And beautiful, scorpa!

I took this at the beach a few weeks ago.

Nice pic. My, Larkspur - you sure do get around!

 

[Astronuc]

Abingdon, Va is one of my favorite places. It's not far from Bristol. I like to ride the Virginia Creeper trail on my bike. A beautiful ride.

I found the link to the Virginia Creeper trail. Seems to be a rail trail - perhaps an old NS line.

 

[~christina~]

I took three shots with the same aperture but different shutter speeds[this is called bracketing] then merged them in PS. With film I could have dodged and burned areas during development to get this effect.

HD?!??!

I tried it the same technique but it looked like for me..not sure but It looked like a black and white picture...I think I have to adjust something.

I'll try it again when I'm on break.

 

[Andre]

Autumn in the Danube Valley

Pic taken from the ruins of "Schloss Hausen" looking east, Google Earth fly to 48.0895N 09.035E

The complete panorama covers some 135 degrees:

1 : 1 Detail

 

[matthyaouw]

Beautiful Andre!

 

[Astronuc]

Beautiful Andre!

Very beautiful, indeed!

 

[~christina~]

Autumn in the Danube Valley

Nice pics.

It looks like they mow the grass there

 

[Andre]

Nice pics.

It looks like they mow the grass there

Thanks, and actually, yes, they do. The peasants here like to have their meadows look like lawns. And the sheep here also like that in winter time.

So I'll see if I can get out there tomorrow again and redo the same scenario but now with half a foot of snow cover.

 

[turbo]

I haven't kept up with this thread, and I've got to say every new entry on page 4 is a winner! There are some talented photographers on this forum!

 

[Andre]

The Netherlands, Westerpark Zoetermeer today after three days of freezing fog:

 

[Evo]

Beautiful. I am hoping I can find the ice storms pictures from a few years ago.

 

[Andre]

yeah the world gets unreal with such events and yes it's a dog on that bridge.

Reed panicle a few steps further:

 

[larkspur]

Autumn in the Danube Valley

Pic taken from the ruins of "Schloss Hausen" looking east, Google Earth fly to 48.0895N 09.035E

The complete panorama covers some 135 degrees:

1 : 1 Detail

Somehow I missed these...Gorgeous! Great color.

I also love the frosty shots! I doubt I will see any snow this year.

 

[larkspur]

I found the link to the Virginia Creeper trail. Seems to be a rail trail - perhaps an old NS line.

Yes, it is an old rail trail. Some of the tressels we ride over are amazing.

 

[larkspur]

HD?!??!

I tried it the same technique but it looked like for me..not sure but It looked like a black and white picture...I think I have to adjust something.

I'll try it again when I'm on break.

I find the best results when I bracket 1/2 steps as long as the exposure is close, but on this one, I believe I bracketed by 1.5 steps.

 

[Andre]

The Netherlands, Westerpark Zoetermeer today after three days of freezing fog:

Same bridge today, dog is gone.

more later.

 

[Andre]

Same bridge and dog yesterday

and dogless today:

This picture is a merge of three portrait shape pics with 36 mm equivalent, actual size 3120 x `1434 px. Camera Panasonic FZ8

 

[Andre]

Of course Holland would not be holland if there wasn't a bike within visual range:

Same area:

 

[larkspur]

This picture is a merge of three portrait shape pics with 36 mm equivalent, actual size 3120 x `1434 px. Camera Panasonic FZ8

This really brings out the blue in the sky keeping the whites exposed nicely also.

Nice job Andre!

 

[larkspur]

It has finally been cold enough for icicles. I found these at Bald River Falls yesterday.

 

[pitot-tube]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/9873/picture26962313da1.jpg

Photo of a slide I took in Glen Etive Scotland circa 1981

 

[larkspur]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/9873/picture26962313da1.jpg

Photo of a slide I took in Glen Etive Scotland circa 1981

Looks like a beautiful place.

 

[pitot-tube]

LARKSPUR said:"Looks like a beautiful place."

It is a beautiful place but I've only seen that waterfall once - I'm surprised it isn't better known.

 

[pitot-tube]

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6664/picture26962330ic1.jpg

Isle of Skye in Scotland.The tallest pinnacle is about 50 metres high and is called the Old Man of Storr.Shortly after I took this photo I was caught in one of the worst rain storms I've seen in my life.

 

[matthyaouw]

I've been there! It's an amazing place.

 

[hypatia]

I have too, its a wonderful hike to the sky.

 

[larkspur]

Spring in the Great Woods

I took this shot last Spring when everything was that bright green.
Click on the photo to see it in a larger format.

 

[Astronuc]

I took this shot last Spring when everything was that bright green.
Click on the photo to see it in a larger format.

Very nice, Larkspur!

Where's Abe?

 

[larkspur]

Very nice, Larkspur!

Where's Abe?

He was in this one.

 

[Astronuc]

A couple of pelicans just before they dove into the water. I took this with my cellphone yesterday evening while standing on the beach in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6861/multimediamessage11lr5.jpg

Now I'm on my way home - maybe.

 

[larkspur]

Beautiful colors Astronuc.

 

[Astronuc]

Beautiful colors Astronuc.

I love late afternoons and sunsets when the sun shines on the clouds, and the sky and clouds glow shades of blue, yellow, orange, pink, red/crimson. I wish that I had taken my real camera.

 

[turbo]

The low-rez pictures out of that cell-phone almost look like impressionist paintings. It would have been a good time to have a real camera there, though.

 

[Astronuc]

Great places to go!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22904905/

Some day I'll get to Tahiti.

 

[Moonbear]

The low-rez pictures out of that cell-phone almost look like impressionist paintings.

I was thinking they looked almost like watercolors. Interesting effect.

 

[JasonRox]

As far as I know - yes.

Where is this place?

 

[Astronuc]

A great climber who unfortuantely died on Nanga Parbat. His site has some incredible photos of some of the greatest places on earth.
http://www.karlunterkircher.com/en/index.html

Another favorite area - the Karakorum and Baltistan - particular around the Baltoro Glacier.

http://www.summitpost.org/parent/349020/6000-meters-peaks-in-pakistan.html

Paiju peak is perharps my favorite. :!)


And what I consider to be a Holy place - Baltoro Glacier and the peaks sourrounding it :!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baltoro_glacier_from_air.jpg

The view is eastward along the Baltoro Glacier. Concordia is the split with Godwin-Austen Glacier left and Upper Baltoro Glacier to the right. It's now my desktop.

Mitre Peak in near center and the Gasherbrums are just left of center above (or east, or behind) Concordia.

 

[Astronuc]

A friend who does a lot of kayaking told me about this guy who helps people build custom-made kayaks and who builds his own as well.

Cape Falcon Kayak - http://www.capefalconkayak.com/

 

[Astronuc]

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ll/ll1.htm

Virtual cruise along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ll/ll3.htm


My ancestors are from this general area. Some interesting history from the area.

From: The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster
By Edward Baines, Esq.
Volume IV. 1891. Pages 48-49.

RISHTON, three miles east-north-east of Blackburn, is a large, dreary, barren tract of moorland, near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and containing a spacious reservoir belonging to that navigation. It was styled a manor in the time of Edward de Lacy, who died 42 Henry III. (1257-8), and in 4 Edward II. (1310-11) two carucates of land in Rishton were in fee of the castle of Clyderhou. Before the reign of Edward I, it had given name to a family who held a moiety of the manor of Clayton-le-Moores, and, like the latter, it was held in equal portions--one moiety by the Rishtons and the other by the Talbots of Bashall. The Rishtons were an offshoot of the ancient family of Blackburn.

In 30 Henry III. (1245) Gilbert, son of Henry de Blackburn, had the manor of Ryssheton-juxta-Harwode bestowed upon him by Robert de Praers in free marriage with Margery, sister of the said Robert, when he assumed the name of his estate, and in the "Liber Feodorum" is returned as holding the tenth part of a Knight's fee in Ruston. His son and heir, Henry, married, in the reign of Edward III., Margaret, a daughter and coheir of the house of Clayton, of Clayton-le-Mores, by whom he had a son, Gilbert, who died 18 Edward I. (1290). The estate descended in direct lineal succession from father to son until the death, without issue, in 1425, of Richard de Rishton, the fifth in descent from Gilbert, who died in 1290, when his younger brother, Roger, was found to be the next heir. This Roger was father of the Richard who inherited the Rishton property, and of a younger son, Roger, living in 1474, the first of the line of Pontalgh.

Richard, the eldest son, who inherited Rishton, was the progenitor of the line that continued in possession for six generations, the last of whom, Nicholas, son and heir of John Rishton, sold his patrimonial lands in Rishton, with Dunkerhalgh, to Judge Walmesley before 1582.

In his notes to the Visitation of 1533, Mr. Langton relates a curious story concerning John, the father of Nicholas Rishton. His kinsman, Ralph Rishton, of Pontalgh, having formed an illicit connection with Anne, daughter of James Stanley, of Cross Hall, the lady's mother, who was then a widow, living at Holt, in Rishton, carried her daughter by night to Harwood Chapel (Great Harwood Church), and forced the unfortunate young woman, who was then three months gone with child, into marriage with John Rishton. In spite of the efforts of her unnatural parent, Mistress Anne effectually resisted cohabitation, and she was eventually released from her difficult position by a divorce.(1) In 4 Edward II. (1311) Joan, daughter of Sir Robert de Holland and widow of Sir Edmund Talbot, son and heir of Thomas Talbot, of Bashall, held two carucates of land in Risseton as the fourth of a knight's fee, which had been granted to her and her husband by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and which had been previously held by Adam de Rishton, a bastard; and William de Haskayth other two carucates of the Lacys, earls of Lincoln.(2) In 23 Edward III. (1349) John de Radclive and Joan, his wife, held, in dowry of the same Joan, one carucate of land of the inheritance of Thomas Talbot's heir, in Rushton, of which twenty carucates constituted the fee of one knight.(3) The heir was Edmund Talbot, who died 46 Edward III. (1372), leaving a son, Thomas Talbot, who was outlawed for debt 3 Henry V. (1415), when his manor of Rishton was taken into the king's hands. In 15 Henry VII. (1499-1500), Sir Thomas Talbot, who had married Alice, daughter of Sir John Tempest, of Bracewell, and who, by deed dated 2nd August, 2 Richard III. (1484), had a grant of an annual payment of L40 for the part he took in the betrayal (in conjunction with the Talbots of Salesbury) of King Henry VI., enfeoffed Thomas Tempest, apparently his maternal uncle, with the tenth part of a Knight's fee, and the rent of 9d. in his lordship of Risshdeen.(4) The Talbots had the privilege of free warren in this township. Sir Thomas Walmesley purchased the moiety held by this family before 1598 from Thomas Talbot and his brother and next heir, John Talbot, of Halton, and it is now enjoyed by his representative, Henry Petre, of Dunkenhalgh, Esq., who now owns all but a very limited portion of the township.
. . . .

It's interesting that some recorded history goes back to 1245.

 

[Astronuc]

Another cool place to visit Lord Howe Island of the coast of Australia.

http://www.lordhowe-tours.com.au/lordhowe_gallery.htm

 

[Andre]

Today's hike destination was the Cascade d'Ars

Obviously not the best season but we just happened to be around.

the fall starts here.

 

[hypatia]

What a beautiful cascade waterfall, lovely photos.

 

[rolerbe]

My life as a liveaboard. Hardship <sigh>

 

[turbo]

My wife forgot her lunch on the counter this morning, so Duke and I took a ride to her workplace to bring it to her. On the way home, I pulled over on the River Road, and snapped a few views of the mountains. I decided to stitch them, but had not really planned on it originally because I didn't have a tripod with me. For that reason, I did not shoot in the "panorama" mode, which would have locked exposure, etc for the series and you can see banding in the sky where the photos were stitched.

The ski areas are quite happy with the early snow, and with the current cold-snap, so they can make even more artificial snow and build a hard base in preparation for natural snow from future storms. They have lots of trails and open terrain groomed and available for skiers. The recession is hurting their traffic, but at least when people can scrape up the dough to pay for travel, lodging, food, and lift tickets, they'll find nice show conditions and lighter-than-normal crowds.

 

[Astronuc]

Andre has some great photos as always!


One of my favorite places on Earth - the Pamirs

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/12/20/travel/20091220-pamir-slideshow_index.html


I am saddened by the political developments there and in the Karakorum over the past 3 decades.

 

[turbo]

Winter can be a pain in the butt, but there are some high points. Here are a couple.

Sugarloaf Mountain as seen from a clearing on the road I live on.

Bigelow Mountain (Big and Little peaks) as seen from route 201 a couple of miles from my house.

I took these pictures today while on a pilgrimage to a local business to get tire chains for my snowblower. When the snow let up Wednesday after 3 days of steady light snows it was too heavy for my snowblower to handle and it kept spinning on the packed snow below, so I used my tractor to clear all the accessible places, and had to resort to snow shovels and a scoop to clear the rest.

 

[Astronuc]

The Pamirs are among my most favorite places on earth.

Enjoy!

http://www.pamirs.org/panoramas.htm - stunning vistas!

http://onthesilkroad.blogspot.com/2007/06/pamir-highway.html

 

[turbo]

Rugged part of the Earth for sure. Beautiful.

The Appalacians have been so heavily glaciated, rounded and otherwise weathered - they were probably gorgeous during and after uplift.

 

[Astronuc]

Rugged part of the Earth for sure. Beautiful.

The Appalacians have been so heavily glaciated, rounded and otherwise weathered - they were probably gorgeous during and after uplift.

Yeah - about 400 million years ago.

I would be happy to sit down and die (when the time comes) right here!
http://www.pamirs.org/images/panoramas/new/big/Wakhan%20from%20Yamchun.jpg

Although the Baltoro Glacier at the base of Paiju Peak is equally alluring.

The only problem is that I'd have to haul the wood for my pyre many km.

 

[Borek]

I always wonder how long it takes till such place becomes just a view, as any other. Sure, better to see Pamir than Mount Sunflower in Kansas.