Lens Artists Photo Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images

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We are happy to welcome Steve Hyde as our guest host for this week’s challenge. In honor of World Photography Week he is challenging us to share five pictures that show our love of photography – Our Best Ever Images.

Choosing five images from thousands of photos was not an easy task. I finally narrowed it down to the following images.

This is one of my favorite bird images of all time. There is a tree in our neighborhood next to a small pond where I often see birds hanging out. Several years ago I captured this Wood Stork and Egret perched on one of the limbs of the tree.

I have many Butterfly images that I have posted in the past. I dug through my archives and found this image of a Monarch Butterfly on a pink flower with a Black-Eyed Susans in the background.

Monarch Butterfly with Black Eyed Susans in the background

Up until a couple of years ago we always had a boat. We spent many happy hours with our children and grandchildren riding through the salt marsh in the saltwater rivers and creeks exploring the uninhabited islands and sandbars. One of of favorite places to go was through the narrow, winding creeks that the locals call the Mosquito Ditch.

The Mosquito Ditch

I love to take wildlife photos. This pod of Orcas in Alaska is one of my favorites because we almost didn’t see any Oracas on our trip. We had taken two other wildlife cruises in other parts of Alaska and saw many different kinds of wildlife but we still hadn’t seen any Orcas. Our last opportunity to take another wildlife cruise was in Valdez. The scenery and wildlife was spectacular. All of a sudden this pod of Orcas surfaced right beside the boat. I was ready with my camera and was able to capture a few photos before they went on their way. This is one of my all time favorites because it almost didn’t happen.

Pod of Orcas in Alaska

My final image is my favorite landscape. I chose it because it brings back happy memories of our trip to St. Lucia to celebrate our 30th anniversary many years ago. Seeing this view each day from our villa was magical.

Pitons, St. Lucia

I enjoyed seeing all of your wonderful Over the Top responses to Egidio’s challenge last week. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to guest hose Steve Hyde for this week’s fun challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #408: Best Ever Images.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 22 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

40 thoughts on “Lens Artists Photo Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images”

  14. Love your solutions to the challenge, Beth.

    The pod of orcas would have to be a favourite. That’s the thing with cruises or boat trips. You never know when (or if) you’re going to see one of the wildlife features the tour guide or trip advertising is going to feature.

    Nature can be a hit or miss affair and as much as we all like National Geographic photographers work, sometimes they have to spend days/weeks or months on standby waiting for the action of animal/bird to appear.

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    1. Thanks Vicki! You are so right about wildlife photography. I really enjoy wildlife photography. I wish I had days or weeks to wait for the perfect shot! I was really lucky to capture the orcas.

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  16. What a beautiful collection, Beth! The Wood Stork and Egret and that gorgeous Monarch are among my favourites, but the final landscape is absolutely magnificent. I can see why it brings back such happy memories.

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    1. Tins, I had to include the orcas. It was my last chance to see orcas. I couldn’t have gotten the photos if they hadn’t been right next to the boat. One of those lucky moments I’ll never forget.

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