Fall color in Fredericksburg VA

We spent Sunday in Fredericksburg, hoping to see a few leaves left on the trees after all the recent wind and rain.  In between the nice light for pictures, we went Christmas shopping midday. Here are some highlights of our day.

A lovely tree in the little beach park near the Harry Nice Memorial Bridge.

A little park behind the Wawa at the Central Park mall.  A picturesque oasis.

Canada goose snacking.

Reflection and pier near the Chancellorsville Battlefield.

Workdwide Photowalk Winning Photos

I didn't win anything in the Photowalk Competition this year, but winning the local contest last year was nice.  I thought you might enjoy seeing the winning photo, learn about how the photo was chosen and see if you agree with Scott Kelby.  Photography always is very subjective.  

I noticed Mr. Kelby often chose photos featuring dramatic lighting, movement or dramatic colors.  Take a look for yourself. 

http://scottkelby.com/2014/announcing-the-winners-from-my-7th-annual-worldwide-photo-walk/ 

 I used a horizontal version of the Ellicott City shot below for my contest entry with slightly more dramatic lighting.  Checkers anyone?

Camera club Honors for October

I had 3 winning photos in the Camera club Competition, 1 theme (abc123), and 2 advanced.  Strangely enough, I liked an osprey photo that didn't win anything the best!  I like how much action was happening and how two birds framed the third bird.

The theme was called Abc123.  A few hours before I sent in the pictures, I was talking to Jim and noticed that the drawer pulls on our old fashioned filing cabinet looked like the letter "i" if I rotated them 90 degrees. It won third place.

A fairly recent sunrise had a lovely red glow.  I think I made sure the land was cropped off the bottom of the photo, since a previous picture was similar.  3rd prize Advanced.

                       Warm Sunset 

While photographing some gorgeous water lilies, I noticed some water had collected on a lily pad in the shape of a heart, so I called it green heart and it won 1st place in the advanced category.

Picking an Entry for the Kelby Worldwide Photowalk

Jim and I went to Ellicott City MD to participate in the Kelby Worldwide Photowalk.  I knew very little sbout the town, except that they sometimes hold a hot air balloon festival.  I checked out some websites for ideas to help me make the best use of my time.  It is a very historic place with lots of back staircases, quaint shops and rocks.  At least one store was built right into the hillside and uses the bedrock aback wall to the building.  We have to go back to go shopping!

Here are some of my favorite shots.  Please comment if you like any in particular.  I have less than a week to pick out 1 contest entry.

 1830's gothic house

Cabin 1700's

Barry the bubbleman

 The post office

Ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute

The Bald Eagle is back

The bald eagle came back this week to hang out at our osprey nest.  In the summer, the osprey share a nest with house swallows and European starlings.  Out of the corner of my eye, I think I saw the eagle shoo away some of the birds living in the nest.  But he must have gotten too busy eating breakfast to bother with the 7 or 8 birds that came back to visit their home.

The National Zoo Continued

The animals at the zoo with the most freedom and largest cages were the big cats.  There were lion cubs and tiger cubs and they were awesome to watch.  They were full of energy and played a lot, chewing on sticks, playing in the water and on the stairs.

 The male lion was in its own large pen and he paced back and forth every once in a while.  I was lucky enough to photograph him with with backlit bushes behind him.  He showed his teeth with a big yawn (below) and I heard him roar from a nearby location, but missed seeing it.

A visit to the National Zoo

On Saturday, we visited the Smithsonian National Zoo.  We haven't been there in years.  I haven't looked at all of the photos yet, but here are a few I liked so far.  It is challenging to get good photos, since most of the animals were indoors with cages and manmade walls.  Some of the exhibits even included trash, like tissue boxes and tooth paste boxes for the animals to use for play. (Small mammals)

                   Andean bear

               Reflected discus fish

           Roseate spoonbill

                       Seal

                Baby gorilla