Random Photos

[DennisN]

This barren tree top is close to where I live, so I'll go there today with my zoom lens
and see if I can get closer to this group of crows .

I didn't find any crows at that time, but I found two blackbirds, one male and one female, and a seagull juvenile...


Blackbird (male)

The female blackbird was running around with food in her mouth, and I had a thought that if I sit down and act calmly maybe she'll get curious and come a bit closer. Luckily, she did :

And last, a seagull juvenile (the parents were close by and keeping a watch):

(all shot with Sony 55-210mm)

 

[pinball1970]

I didn't find any crows at that time, but I found two blackbirds, one male and one female, and a seagull juvenile...


Blackbird (male)
View attachment 362291

The female blackbird was running around with food in her mouth, and I had a thought that if I sit down and act calmly maybe she'll get curious and come a bit closer. Luckily, she did :

View attachment 362292

View attachment 362293

And last, a seagull juvenile (the parents were close by and keeping a watch):

View attachment 362294

(all shot with Sony 55-210mm)

We have lots of swifts nesting in my area, one under the gutter!
I would need something a little better than my tablet to get an image however!
The little blighters dive bomb me in the morning and when I am coming home sometimes.
Astonishing manoeuvres, in pairs or single they come in low then swerve off at crazy angles at speed. One was so close I could have jumped up and touched it.
Every time I get my tablet to video them they hit the sky.
One day I'll get something.

 

[Borg]

Midnight last night.

 

[collinsmark]

"Outside the pub" (ambient, artificial light)

Taken with my cellphone (Google Pixel 6). This photo was taken back in February. I had nearly forgotten that I even took the photo because, well, the pub I guess.

[Edit: As I recall (as best I can) there was a lovely going away party going on inside for a good friend. Maybe I should have titled the photo "Going away" or something like that.]

 

[jtbell]

Midnight last night.View attachment 362346

What was the temperature outside?

 

[Borg]

What was the temperature outside?

Not tropical.

 

[jtbell]

In a yard down the street this morning:

 

[Point Conception]

Midnight last night.View attachment 362346

Is this location close

 

[Borg]

First one.

More travels today. I'm home!

 

[DennisN]

These guys made my day, truly... it was very fun to watch them.

Regretfully I had not the best gear for the occasion, I was just walking around in a park with a 35mm lens, so these are heavily cropped...

Edible frogs (Pelophylax kl. esculentus)

Hello...

In the right habitat... it's amazing how well their camouflage works; they were very, very
hard to spot in this environment!

Here is an uncropped photo as an example; go ahead, try to spot the frog!

Spoiler

The frog is right in the center of the photo.

Frog party!

And last, a beautiful old tram in operation (which @jtbell probably will appreciate ).

 

[jtbell]

I wasn't acquainted with that museum tram, so I did some Googling and turned up the Malmö museum tram. It started in 1987, hence about ten years after my brief visit to Malmö.

 

[jtbell]

Meet the Atomic Mouse of Georgia, which overlooks highway I-75 near Ringgold, about ten miles south of the Tennessee border.

 

[Point Conception]

Only go to the T21 mall for the Foodland supermarket. But give them credit for design

see

 

[DennisN]

My cat lying strategically in front of the tablet, again.
She wants max attention.

(shot with smartphone)

 

[collinsmark]

Mr. Mittens, my neighbor's kitty, snuck in and up to the guest bedroom on trash day (See Fig. 1). He looked so cute I couldn't resist getting the camera out.

Figure 1. "Late morning trash day."

I have yet to determine if trash day is Mr. Mittens' favorite day of the week, or his most stressful. Though I am certain it is one of the most exciting for him, as an outdoor kitty.

New smells, new piles of stuff, lots of activity, as the humans drag their sacrifices out for the upcoming procession of the great trash beast. I venture to guess he may very well enjoy the early morning part of the day.

But then, invariably like clockwork, the trash beast arrives. It slowly perambulates though his familiar turf, roaring, grunting, beeping and squawking to no end, enormous in size and sound. All the while it grabs, lifts and undulates the recently placed sacrificial containers high in the air, devouring their contents and punishing them for being close to its path. I can imagine that Mr. Mittens finds the climax of the weekly ritual unnerving.

After all is said and done, It's understandable that Mr. Mittens seeks repose in the warmth and safety of a bed comforter to reflect on the recent excitement.

 

[jtbell]

On the way home from Huntsville, Alabama earlier this month, I stopped in Blue Ridge, Georgia to ride the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

The other end of the line is in the conjoined towns of McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee. The boundary crosses the station platform and the main street.

This steel bridge originally spanned a different river in a different town.

Better not mess with the folks here!

I arrived back in Blue Ridge in time to watch the departure of a rail-bike tour.

 

[Point Conception]

What a Beauty

 

[jtbell]

There's something about that blue...

 

[Point Conception]

Good day to get out of Dodge

Jomtien Beach

 

[jrmichler]

Just came back from the hardware store, getting ready to turn down my driveway, and look what's in the way. I need a dash cam with a better camera.

 

[jrmichler]

Four little guys running around the back yard this morning. No mom in sight. We regularly have does drop their fawns on our property, generally near the upper left in this photo. Adult deer walk through our yard, while the fawns bound around and act like a bunch of very active three year children. Saw four fawns with a doe a half hour ago, but did not get a good photo. Taken through the living room window with a cell phone camera, not cropped.

 

[gmax137]

I know it's not a photo but I thought it belonged in this thread

 

[jtbell]

 

[davenn]

Aurora in Iceland from my 2023 visit

 

[Algr]

Lions are growing like yellow roses on the wind.

 

[Algr]

 

[DennisN]

Some shots taken today, shots I usually don't do (black and white and street photography)...

A very cool place called "Arsenik" (eng. "Arsenic"), inspired by gothic fiction

The Central Station

(Gear: Sony A7R + Helios 44 58mm f/2 + Hoya orange filter, which increases contrast when shooting black and white)

 

[collinsmark]

I know it's not a photo but I thought it belonged in this thread

View attachment 362640

Figure 1. Comic

Just in case anybody is scratching their head as to why this strip is funny (and it is funny. See Fig.1). The customer is holding a twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera.

TLRs were very popular and pretty common during the middle (maybe early middle) 20th century.

Here's a picture of my Yashicaflex, a TLR camera (see Fig. 2):

Figure 2. My Yashicaflex, a twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera.

Unfortunately for me, the aperture dial is frozen. I haven't attempted to repair it (yet). At least the shutter mechanism still works, although I haven't tested the timing.

You can still find used/second hand TLRs for pretty cheap. They're a great and relatively inexpensive way to get into medium format film photography, if you wanted to introduce yourself to the art while film still exists. (You just need to find one that still works).

Here's a wikipedia article on TLRs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-lens_reflex_camera

 

[jrmichler]

This little robin was the last one to leave the nest. An hour after this photo was taken this morning, it was gone. I put up the nesting platform to stop robins from building nests in that gutter. I take the nest down after the new birds leave. Sometimes another bird will come along and build a second nest immediately after the first nest is removed. I have another nesting platform on the other side of the house that stops birds from building nests on a light fixture. Cell phone camera with minimal cropping.

 

[Borg]

In a museum in Scotland.