Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 225 – Wildlife Close to Home

November 17, 2022Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, WildlifeTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Wildlife Close to Home34 Comments

In this challenge Anne asks us: ”From squirrels to birds, wildlife is around us. What non-domestic animals live in your neighborhood or nearby?”

The salt marsh, salt water creeks, rivers and the Atlantic Ocean attract an abundance of wildlife close to my home in coastal Georgia. Whether on the beach, in the waterways, in my neighborhood, or in my own back yard I am grateful to be able to see such a variety of wildlife.

*Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin near Tybee Island, Georgia*

Wading Birds

Birds of Prey

Backyard Wildlife

Insects in the garden

Many thanks for Sofia’s Lens-Artists Challenge #225 – Wildlife Close to Home

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 224 – Exposure

November 12, 2022Posted in Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged Camellia, Exposure, Lens-Artists, Palm Trees, Photo Challenge, Pink Camellia18 Comments

In this challenge Sofia asks us to work on exposure. We can use our camera’s shutter speed or play with the aperture settings when we are shooting. Another way to work with exposure is to change the exposure when editing.

This is a great challenge for me because I tend to be on the lazy side and let my camera do the work using the automatic feature. This method is great when I’m shooting wildlife that moves and I don’t have time to change settings quickly. Often, when taking photos of other subjects I’m not happy with the results if I let the camera do the work.

The two images below were taken just minutes apart. I used the camera’s automatic settings for the first image. I used the manual settings to change the shutter speed to 1/20 to achieve the overexposed look for the second image.

In the images below I played with different settings to capture the first camellia of the season. For the first image I set the aperture to a low 4.6. I set the shutter speed to 1/4000 for the second image.

Many thanks for Sofia’s Lens-Artists Challenge #224 – Exposure

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 222 – Mountains are Calling

October 28, 2022Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged Denali, Lens-Artists, Mountains are Calling, Photo Challenge, Rocky Mountains20 Comments

Amy has asked us to share our joy of visiting/climbing mountains. I live in coastal Georgia where the nearest mountains are many miles away. Some of our most memorable trips are ones we took to visit mountains.

A few hours north of where I live is Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia at 4784 feet in elevation. I don’t have a picture of the mountain itself but here is a view from the top.

View from the top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia

If we travel a little farther north into North Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia we can visit the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains National Park or take a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Cataloochee Valley Overlook Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We can keep going farther north in Virginia to take a ride on the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.

We’ve made a few RV trips to the western United States to visit the majestic mountain ranges there.

Storm over Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado

Pikes Peak – “America’s Mountain”, Colorado

We even traveled to the Canadian Rockies.

Of all the mountains I’ve seen, the ones in Alaska are my favorites. The rest of the images are from our RV trip to Alaska several years ago.

Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), 20,320 feet tall, is the tallest mountain in North America. The last three images were taken from three different locations. No matter where you are when you see it, it is an amazing sight.

Many thanks for Amy’s Lens-Artists Challenge #222 – Mountains are Calling

2022 Alaska and the Inside Passage – Part 8 – The Inside Passage to Vancouver

October 27, 2022Posted in Alaska, British ColumbiaTagged Alaska and the Inside Passage, British Columbia, Inside Passage, Vancouver, Viking Cruise, Viking Ocean Cruise, Viking Orion15 Comments

August 29, 2022 – After our exciting bear watching excursion in Ketchikan we returned to our ship for an early afternoon departure from Ketchikan.

We enjoyed a late lunch ending with Success Cake, our favorite dessert.

While enjoying a delicious Italian dinner at Manfredi’s that night we watched a Canadian Pilot boat pull along beside our ship. Both vessels were moving as the Pilot boarded our ship.

August 30, 2022– Cruising through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan, Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia was a perfect last day at sea.

By afternoon the sun was shining and we finally saw blue skies. It was a perfect day to sit on the sun deck and take in the spectacular scenery as we cruised south.

August 31, 2022 – Our ship arrived in Vancouver in the early morning. We disembarked about 9:30 a.m. and said goodbye to the Viking Orion and our amazing Alaska adventure.