Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Guitarezan is: 

“Balls”

My photos …

No “balls” entry would be complete without photos of the familiar balls played with as youngsters.  Store bins are filled with all colors and few children, I know of, have never played with a ball.  This ball and the two photos below are “Runaways” in hiding from their owners who forgot them after a bit of play.  I see many on my end of our street as the grasses afford perfect cover.

 

This particular ball has visited my end of our street more than a single time.  I have photos I took of it on several occasions.  Notice it has a friend hiding in the upper right corner.

 

This is the friend, which I collected after taking its photo.  I gave it as a present to my visiting brother-in-law Dan who loves to golf.  Dan has a large collection of runaway balls, all of the species “golf”, as he goes regularly to collect lost, runaways, giving them new homes in buckets.  The runaway golfs even get a bath and a blow dry before being sorted out and nested.

 

This ball is a natural I noticed when taking photos of the above Golf.  This fuzzy looking green sphere appeared, after some study, to be a form of moss.  I actually have no real idea what it is.  I picked it up anyway plus a few others lying there.  I placed them in a new home in my garden.

 

This photo pictures my granddaughter, in the yellow soccer top.  I took it at the only soccer game I have seen her play in.  It was a rousing game and she gave the ball and the other players a good bit of exercise.  Eden is no longer a soccer player but she is a regular runner, running with her dad for exercise and at special, runner’s meets.

 

I took this photo at the ball park in Rockford, Illinois at a RiverHawks game.  It was a good game and great fun.  The ball is the white streak, approximate left of center in this image, headed for, the batter hopes, a solid connection with his bat.   

I am a fan of a lot of sports played with ”Balls” and in fact a fan of sports.  I love sports movies about Golf, Baseball, Football, Hockey and any Olympic sport plus a few.  Though I seldom participated in any sport I appreciate their value, except for those involving mud, blood and/or pulling hair.  I see most sports as healthy activity and believe we might all be much better off playing with balls over and above playing with computer keyboards.

Thank you always for your comments.

Keep on taking those photos,

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from PhotoMom1216 is: 

“Animal Tails/Tales”

 My Photos

I really like Okapi and the tail end of the animal is as beautiful as the front SO taking photos of front and backside is always a treat.  The tale of his tail is, he is a cross between a zebra and a Giraffe but the truth is, as I know from stories passed down, the Okapi has ancestral roots in a small ancient horse.  How else could he possibly have the large, soft eyes he has (photo not available, you have to go to the zoo to see the eyes).  Look into the eyes of nearly any horse and you can see the Okapi and vice versa.  … Read more of his story,  HERE.

 

Animals are usually, flat out, eye appealing.  I love spots and legs that go all the way up, the classic look for any Giraffe.  The tail of the Giraffe, however, presents some thought processing.  To have such a small tail attached to such a magnificent animal conjures up, once again, more ancient passed down stories.  What could possibly have motivated a gene pool to have whittled a tail of its size to an animal so tall?  The tail certainly has little use as a rudder or for swatting flys and it couldn’t possibly make much of a handle.  There in lies the Giraffe’s story I’ll relate.  The tail of the Giraffe is the size it is to make the Giraffe less likely to be caught by tail grabbers who exist as respected members of all African tribes.  The job of the tail grabber is, chase, grab and drag, any animal of edible value and provider of the wife’s fur coat.  Without tail grabbers all members of every tribe would be starving and the women, naked.  So there you have it …   Read more, HERE

 

This well recognized tail has little hair on it.  Elephant hair is coarse and prickly like wire and it provides beneficial health related products like hair brushes and tooth picks.  The back side of this elephant is in our local zoo where it petitioned it’s spot so as to be catered to by the keepers of it’s enclosure.  Though short, the elephants tail does come in handy for younger elephants to hold on to and jerk annoyingly around when the mother elephants aren’t giving them the attentions they need.  One little known fact about the tail of the elephant is they are normally pink or blue during pregnancy as this allows the balance of the group to know what to expect so they can get their elephant shower shopping done early.  Everyone knows all Elephants help with the baby sitting so it’s important to be ahead of the event.  MORE HERE …

 

This is a local cow and by local I mean it lives on a farm about 50 miles from my home.  One of the things most people don’t know about cows is they are also related to horses as they have the same big, soft, brown eyes.  This cow made sure I got the story straight repeating it twice in my ear.  Her name is butt-er-cup by the way, another little tidbit she dropped at the time.  Her tail, she tells me, is very useful especially for fly swatting and the strands can be and are, braided into useful things like belts.  She was a little skittish the day of this photo as the bar-b-que was hot and they were serving.  The special of the day was pork so she relaxed after reading the menu.  If you want to Read more, click Here for MORE about Cows.

 

This particular black, hairy, tail is one which has moved itself to my door step.  I am a dog person actually which I have repeated to this cat several times.  It insisted I feed it, which I have with store bought cat food, but it has been thankless so far not allowing me to touch it.  If and when I am able the vet will get a call as parts of it just above its tail will be scheduled for removal.  That is if it lives long enough as it is after the birds I feed which brings to mind a few other tails/tales.

Have a super week,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Closethippie is:

   “Uniforms”   

A toast to the men and women in uniform.  I am a flag waver but have no photos of men or women in uniform.  In place of photos:  A list of my family members who served or are serving.

Husband:  JBlain, Air Force Vietnam Conflict

Brother-in-law:  ARoberts, retired Navy Officer 40 years

Nephew:  BRoberts, Navy

Nephew:  MRoberts, Army

Brother-in-law:  DNordheim, Marines

Cousin:  VBoyer, Army

Cousin:  JBoyer, Army

Cousin:  VSchneider Army WW11

Serving now: 

Nephew:  DNordheim, Special Forces Red Beret

Son-in-law:  MHovenga, Army and Navy, 28 years

 

 

Have a great week and thanks always for your comments,
 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Eneventure is:

  “Hidden”  

There is a world of photographic opportunity for photographers “Hidden” in the darkness of night.  Playing with images, in hiding, since the purchase of my first digital camera, I find it to be fun and interesting to work towards capturing good, “hidden”, night time images. 

Some of my “hidden” night photo attempts from recent late evening drives.  

I like night lights.

 

These lights are pulled from the image below.

 

As I take so many night photos from a moving car, it takes deep concentration on my part to adjust settings and hold still enough to get images with lighting and lights I’m happy with.  Flash is useless for distance you focus on in a moving car so I have had to work at learning camera settings and ways to steady myself.  If it’s really dark out, it’s likely I’ll get nothing of identifiable interest, only wildly wavy colors and shapes.

 

Neatly laid out rows of street lamps always catch my eye.

 

 

All of my images are not taken on the move but at pulloffs when we are able.  This is the case in this and the following images as flashing police lights and pulled over cars on I71 between Columbus, and Cincinnati are plentiful and this one was in a business lot.

 

A clandestine close up of a pull over.  It reminds me of televisions most wanted or CSI, me being the covert.

 

There is a lot of searching of the vehicle while a young passenger stands beside the car.  (*To display this image, I had to edit in a good amount of light.) 

 

The driver, sitting in the back of the second cruiser, is being questioned.

 

This isn’t much of an image.  It’s cropped out of the above image with lighting adjusted then displayed nearly full photo size.  What I hope to show is the bit of an image the camera caught of the boy in the back seat which I couldn’t see with my eyes at the time of the taking.  I only knew he was there from movement and more light a little earlier.  The image does show you the camera sees everything “hidden” from human view if you allow the camera the settings it needs to gather enough light.

There is tremendous potential for great night photos in all areas of the world.  What I wouldn’t give to have had digital cams 20 or more years ago while active enough to turn myself into a super sleuth of the “hidden”.  And wouldn’t we all love infra-red. 

I have a lot to learn.  My camera has a lot of settings I hope not only to master but understand.  I am in hopes my captures, of images “hidden” in the night and otherwise, will improve.  I have hopes for a really fine night capture worthy of a frame.  I want to prove to myself, the purchase of my camera wasn’t a foolish expenditure. 

Tripods:  I have several and their use is mandatory for the best night images but from a moving car, tripod use is a near impossible trick.  I have to rely on mastering settings, steadiness of hand and no bumps in the road.  I’m working on my end of it.

 

Thanks for your comments, have a super week and have fun taking your photos.