What a great challenge Patti has set us this week. Spring makes me hopeful. Everything is renewed, life is starting again. It warms the soul and gladdens the heart. Flowers, fresh leaves, butterflies, bees, birds singing and young birds to observe. I am so grateful to mother nature for all she gives.
John asks us to share some images before and after editing. I tend to crop and adjust shadow of many of my images.
Here I have darkened and cropped the wood anemone.
Changing to monochrome is another edit I enjoy playing with. Here I have also darkened and cropped the image a little too.
Another monochrome edit below, no cropping this time just a bit of darkening.
Many thanks to John for this week’s challenge “Before and After“.
In John’s LAC challenge this week, he asks us to look at the many composition factors in photography – namely Shape, Form, Texture, and Light. This week I will focus on “textures” that I have found in nature.
Many thanks to John for providing inspiration for this week’s post.
There has been lots of frog sound coming from our garden pond this week – a sure sign of spring. We have over 150 frogs and the croaking is like a very loud cat purr. I love seeing them reappear every spring.
Some have no fear and you can get quite close – frogs are so photogenic.
It appears to get too much for some frogs – and they need time out – hanging out around the edge of the pond.
And sometimes even among the flower beds.
Many thanks to Donna for this week’s challenge – sound.
For this week’s challenge I have chosen the second verse of Gerard Manley Hopkins – God’s Grandeur. I am not a religious person, but as a teen doing English in school this poem spoke to me.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this week’s challenge.
I was going to share lots of dramatic coastal images and then it snowed last night, which dramatically changed our landscape. So here are some snowy images – we don’t get snow often and when we do it quickly goes, so I never miss an opportunity to get some photographs.
But I thought I’d still share some of those coastal images too from the dramatic west coast of Ireland.
Many thanks to Patti for this week challenge theme – dramatic.
First row: Some curious cows. A tortoiseshell butterfly on one of our trips to Wales this year. A glorious autumn walk.
Second row: A vulture from our trip to Eagles Flying, never knew vulture could be so handsome. Great yellow bumblebee – try and get at least one good photograph each summer and this was the 2023 one. Rooks are so full of character, nice to get a close-up.
Forth Row: Geese peacefully grazing with stormy waves behind them. The delicate ring plovers. A surprise with the wildlife camera – a full portrait of a badger.
Fifth row: Our friendly robin who we call Timmy, around all the year looking for his breakfast, such a trusting character. Then a beautiful stonechat, gorgeous little birds. Finally the yellow of birds-foot trefoil against the red of sheep sorrel in a lovely wildflower machair meadow.
Some memories of 2023. Looking forward to sharing more with you and a big thank you to the LAPC team for their inspiration throughout 2023.
Many thanks to Tina for allowing us to share some “last chance” images for 2023.
Murtagh's Meadow 