Birds: Mallard in early s\Spring

Mallard in early spring, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Straight shot with
300 zoom lens. No effects. Nashua Creek, Belle Isle, Detroit, MI.

bird: gulls

a couple more from Mary.

birds: gull from Pictured rocks

Gulls at Pictured Rocks, by Keith Taitt.

birds: gull at the marina

I feel guilty because I haven't been posting but I've been so BUSY
that I haven't had time to look for my best work. Or tweak it. So
here's a bird for August 4th. I took it this morning.

BIRDS OF SCILLY

Sandlings. I had camera on wrong speed here as it was at 300mm but forgot to up the speed to allow for camera shake. So this was the best of a bunch.

Blackbird singing on a post. Our blackbirds at home have bright yellow beaks but Scilly blackbirds' beaks are redder.

A thrush amongst the lettuce seedlings. The thrushes and blackbirds on the Scillies do not fly away from humans

Two lesser black backed gulls obligingly posing on a rock

Late evening on Bryher. I added the birds since this was how I remembered it but couldn't get a pic with all these birds in at the same time. There are Lesser Black backed Gulls flying and perched on the end of rocks. There are Oyster catchers flying over the sea to the left and there are shags flying over the sea to the right.

ANIMALS - FARM ANIMAL

And this is after using liquify plus the ordinary smudge brush. It is also for a zany images comp we are having at CPS. Thanks to Mary for inspiration!!

This is the original

Uncropped and Unmanipulated

One 4 The Calendar

Milnethorpe Walk, Takaka, Golden Bay, Takaka

I shot this image when Sarah my daughter and I were visiting my sister Kim who lives in Takaka. It won POTD on the Digital Image Cafe site 6.11.08

SUMMER LUSHNESS

More lushnes in these giant gunnera leaves in the garden at the Vine where I went with my friends. Another version of the fractilius filter but this time the lines are more white than black.

These are my old schoolfriends sitting amongst the abundance of cow parsley and grass. The white field in the background is covered in daisies. Later that afternoon we saw them mowing it so we got there just in time. There is a frac filter on this which has been faded in Edit-Fade. Then I historied back Sheelagh and Ting.

Flower Photo Monday: The Peony Tulips

Funny that none of us have posted to the flower theme! I have SO MANY
FLOWER Photos! That's just the problem though.

I decided to post this, not because it's my best flower photo, it's
not, but I like it anyway and it's cheery. It's funny how these
tulips remind me of peonies! And it is right in our backyard. As
soon as I have time, I will try to find some other ones that might be
closer to being really outstanding, I hope.

I do so love flowers and spring, but have been terrifically busy! Phew!

Flowers: Tulips in the early morning sun

I am not sure why I found this senescing tulip so interesting. But I did.

may 12 flowers

SCILLY FLOWERS

The first five pics are all on Bryher the little island which we stayed on.

1. In the church.

2. There are many flowers all around the Scillies that have either escaped from gardens or from the flower farms. Sorry don't have a name for these ones.

3. I believe these are geraniums. I remember Carole giving us some when we lived at our previous house and they just kept seeding everywhere. But they never grew as big as this!

4. Have been searching for name of these succulents but cannot find it at the moment. They are everywhere growing out of walls and on the ground.

5. Gorse bushes from the top of Samson Hill on a foggy afternoon

6. This last one is on the main island of St Mary's. You can see the ferry "The Scillonian" which comes in from the mainland once a day - weather permitting

Flowers: Columbine

Here is one of the pictures of Columbine I took while playing with my
new right angle viewer with my macro lens.

Flowers, new toy

For my birthday, I got a new 90 degree viewer useful for viewing the undersides of flowers. I also got an 8 gig card for the camera.

Flowers: Cups of Sunlight

Cups of Sunlight, by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

EYES - THE CAPTAIN DROPS IN

I took this picture at our drop in morning in the village hall. Stephen is quite a character in the village. I don't think he could have ever been too bright but his mum so worries about him now as he is starting to get forgetful and doesn't always know where he is. She thinks he is getting alzheimers. He always tells the same stories every week several times. I know them all off by heart. But he is very helpful with getting out the tables and chairs and he always helps Anne by opening the doors so she can bring her wheelchair in. Anway I took this picture the morning after we'd had a lecture at CPS entitled "My Kind of People" by a photographer called Barbie Lyndsay. She had quite a few pics in this style with someone in the front and someone else behind which she preferred to having two people alongside eachother. I told Stephen he wasn't to smile. I really like his watery eyes and also the way his mum is looking so concerned for him. It got 9.5 points out of 10 at the New Members Comp and I am hoping it will do well on Tuesday for the Image of the Year comp. BP don't like it though - not even an Editors Pick!

EYES - FABIANA

Or this?

How about this?

This was taken way back on 30th Jun and I am just finding time to go through and pick and sort and file. Fabby was 1 year old on 10th August. She was already walking when this was taken.

COLOURS - WHITE Scilly Lilies

This was a lucky occasion. I was taking pictures of these lilies and finished and we walked on. Later I found I'd lost a new pair of glasses I'd only just bought for £2.50. So we retraced our steps and found them by the lilies. When we returned the light was so much better. I have never been so pleased to mislay a pair of glasses. By the way you pronounce Scilly as Silly so Silly Lilies sounds good though they don't look silly!

ORANGE PURITY

A wonderful beer on the Scillies. Used the fractalius filter in black and historied back in the beer.

Yellow: calla

I have to redate this.

See what I mean?

If I have time, I want to play with this.

Yours is so fine.