Photography – Page 2 – Wandering Dawgs

Sunday Stills – Stormy RV Trip

January 29, 2026Posted in Nature, Photography, RVingTagged Photo Challenge, RVing, snow, storm, Sunday Stills22 Comments

Terri’s latest Sunday Stills challenge is Storm. She titled her post “Riders on the #Storm” and took us along on a some of her stormy road trips.

Terri’s challenge reminded me of a cross country RV trip we took towing our 5th wheel trailer. We left home in early April, 2007. Our plan was to drive north to Wisconsin and then travel west on I-90, visit Olympic National Park and then drive south along the coast on Highway 101 to see the Pacific coast in Washington, Oregon and California. What we didn’t plan on was driving through snow during the first part of our journey.

We started seeing snow flurries in Illinois. When we got to a campground in Wisconsin the snow was really coming down. The featured image is of our dog Blondie in the snow for the first time.

We left Wisconsin and started west on the interstate. We ran into a huge snow storm in Minnesota. The road was icy and driving on it was terrifying. We decided not to try to go any further when we saw a sign for a motel at the next exit. We parked in the motel parking lot hoping they would let us stay for the night with our dog Blondie. The desk clerk was very kind and let us have a room near the parking lot exit so we could take Blondie in and out without disturbing the other guests. Luckily they had a restaurant and we were able to have a hot dinner. We kept our eye on the weather and the road conditions all night. The next morning the roads were predicted to reopen later in the morning. The hotel staff was very helpful and let us have a late check out while we waited for the roads to open.

Snow covered trees beside the interstate in Minnesota

A farm in the snow beside the interstate in Minnesota

When the roads were opened back up we hit the road and continued west. We arrived safely at a state park.The rangers checked us in and since we were the only campers there and we could have any site we wanted. The water was frozen but there was electricity so we were good. We had quite an adventure camping in the snow in this beautiful park.

We had the park to ourselves at Blue Mounds State Park in Luverne, Minnesota

The next day we continued our westward trek. The weather was clear the next few days as we wandered around South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana without any problems. Our final stop in Montana was another snowy adventure. Everything was fine when we went to sleep that night. The next day we woke up to several inches of snow. We were headed west with more snow moving towards us from the east so we got out of there as fast as we could and arrived safely at our next destination in Washington.

We woke up to snow in the campground Garrison, Montana

We were grateful to have survived the storms and were able to enjoy nice traveling weather for the next two months as we continued our west coast adventures.

Many thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills challenge Riders on the #Storm

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #382 – Rejected

January 26, 2026Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Rejected42 Comments

For this challenge Egidio is asking us find some photos that we have rejected because for whatever reason we have not previously published them. Maybe the lighting is wrong, they are out of focus, they are too busy or they just don’t look right.

Egidio gave us some great examples and ideas on how to improve a photo that didn’t turn out the way we hoped. I chose a few photos to work with and had fun using some of his suggestions to edit them to create a better image.

A year ago we took a boat tour through the swamp in a Louisiana Bayou. The conditions were terrible for photographs. It was winter and pouring down rain. I used my cell phone because I didn’t want to have my camera get soaked. As our guide was telling us stories about witches and ghosts in the swamp we passed by an old cemetery. In the photos below the first photo is the original unedited version I took as we went by the cemetery. It is out of focus and doesn’t have the creepy feeling I wanted. I started the editing process by cropping the photo. I then added an old paper filter and added texture to get the effect I wanted.

In the next pair the unedited version in the first photo was taken a few years ago on a jaunting tour through Killarney National Park in Ireland. I wanted the person in the blue shirt to stand out more so I cropped out the horse’s head and added some texture to the finished photo.

I took the original photo of the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming as we were driving towards the park entrance. I thought the original was kind of boring so I converted it to sepia tones and added texture to give the feeling of an old photograph.

My final edit is of a herd of bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota. The unedited original on the top is ok, but not great. For my edited version I started out by cropping for a closer image. Next I adjusted the color a little and added a texture to give the effect of a painting.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Ritva’s Minimalism in Black and White last week. I really enjoyed seeing all of your great responses.

Many thanks to Egidio for his challenge Lens-Artists #382: Rejected. I hope you will join us for the challenge. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and link back to Egidio’s post.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, January 24 at noon eastern time when Egidio will be hosting our next challenge.

You can learn more about how to join the Lens-Artists challenges here.

Every Day is a Gift

The Flower Hour – African Iris

January 20, 2026Posted in Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged African Iris, Photo Challenge, The Flower Hour, Winter Blooms21 Comments

This African Iris in my front flower bed bloomed the first week of January this year during a warm spell. Once the weather got colder the blooms went away. Hopefully there will be more flowers in the spring.

Many thanks to Terri for this week’s Flower Hour challenge The Flower Hour #14: A Friendly Amaryllis

Terri posts a new Flower Hour Weekly challenge every Tuesday. If you want to join in the challenge you can find out more about it here.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #381 – Minimalism in Black and White photography

January 18, 2026Posted in Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged beach, Black and White, Lens-Artists, Minimalism in Black and White, monochrome, Photo Challenge42 Comments

Ritva has challenged us to combine minimalism and black and white photography. She tells us “This week, I encourage you to embrace this artistic fusion and challenge yourself to capture images that marry minimalism and black and white.” To help us get started she says to “Aim for simplicity by eliminating unnecessary elements. Harsh light reveals structure while soft light creates mood, and contrasting blacks and whites deliver a striking visual impact.”

This is my first try at using minimalism in my photos. I had fun creating these images and hope that I succeeded in meeting the challenge.

Sometimes colorful flowers look better when converted to black and white. Removing distractions by replacing the background with pure black allows the viewer to focus on the details of the flowers.

The next two images were found on the sand at the beach. I removed the sandy background with solid colors to create the minimalist images.

The final image uses negative space to focus on the surfer in the water.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Anne’s challenge last week. I enjoyed all the places you took us as you showed us your walks around the corner.

Many thanks to Ritva for her challenge Lens-Artists #381: Minimalism in Black and White. I hope you will join us for her challenge. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and link back to Ritva’s post.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, January 24 at noon eastern time when Egidio will be hosting our next challenge.

You can learn more about how to join the Lens-Artists challenges here.

Every Day is a Gift