Ritva’s challenge is Portraits. She says “Whether you choose to ask a stranger, do a self-portrait, take the portrait of a friend, family member, or acquaintance, or photograph animals and birds, the goal is to connect with another person or subject and tell their story through your image.”
I enjoy nature and wildlife photography and am not comfortable asking strangers if I can take their picture. I didn’t have to ask this young man to pose for a portrait. I was holding up my phone taking pictures of a Junkanoo Band from the Bahamas performing as part of a St. Patrick’s weekend celebration when he walked over to me and posed. He liked having his picture made!
I’m much more comfortable capturing bird and other animal portraits.
This bear and the female elk seemed to pose for me.
I will end with my favorite portrait of Blondie, our beloved Yellow Lab who was part of our lives for many years. She’s been gone since 2017. I still miss her every day.
For this challenge Anne asks us to share what has enriched and/or changed our life.
I’ve had many changes in my life but what changed my life the most was surviving ovarian cancer. In July, 2010 I began a ten month battle with ovarian cancer. I am grateful that my cancer has not returned since I finished treatment.
Most cancer survivors I know say that the cancer changed them. I know it changed me. I look at the world differently now. I have learned that life can change in the blink of an eye and no one knows what tomorrow will bring. I have learned that life is too short to put things off. I have learned it is important to enjoy life every day. I know that every day is a gift.
Two of my passions are travel and photography. One of the things that kept me going during treatments was planning an RV trip to visit family and visit a few bucket list places. We began the trip two weeks after I received the good news that I was in remission.
The RV trip was just what we both needed. We called it the “Celebration Journey”. Every day was an adventure and I was never at a loss for something interesting to photograph. The header image of the two seahorses was taken at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga near the end of our journey. The rest of the images are of some of the highlights from the trip.
We camped with a view of Cypress trees at Lake Bistineau State Park, LouisianaWe met some Texas Lounghorns at Copper Breaks State Park, TexasWe explored the Petroglyphs at Petroglyphs National Monument in New Mexico with my brother and his wifeWe visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park in ColoradoWe saw lots of Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, ColoradoWe saw herds of Bison in Custer State Park, South DakotaWe went to the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park in Minnesota with our daughter’s family
After we returned home I continued to enjoy my photography and we have been on many more fun adventures since then.
For this challenge JohnBo of Journeys with JohnBo has asked us to pick a word and feature three or four images that represent that word. I have chosen the word river for this challenge, specifically the Mississippi River.
We recently returned from a river cruise on the lower Mississippi River from New Orleans to Memphis. All of these images were taken during our journey the last week of February. I was standing on our veranda in our stateroom when I captured the header image of vessels passing under the twin bridges over the Mississippi River at the Port of New Orleans.
Tugboat pushing a barge on the Mississippi on a foggy morning near Natchez, MississippiBarge on the Mississippi between Vicksburg and MemphisSunset over the Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi
For this challenge Patti has asked us to show pairs of the same image in color and black and white. She also asks us to compare the differences in mood, texture and light and which version we prefer.
I have featured this bright yellow house in St. Kitts before so I decided to see what it would look like in black and white. The color version looks like a happy place while the black and white version feels like a scene from an old movie set in the tropics. I like the color version better.
The next image is of an old gold mine along the San Juan Skyway in Colorado. The color image shows the details of the aged wood contrasted with the green trees. The black and white image brings out the texture of the wood and trees. I prefer the black and white image because it reminds me of an old photograph.
The following image was taken on a sunny day at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, Georgia. In the color version the blue of the sky and ocean give me a feeling of a beautiful day at the beach. In the black and white version the dark sky and shadows give me the feeling of a storm coming. I prefer the color version of this pair.
Tina brings us the fun challenge of cats and dogs. I’ve always been a dog person. When I was growing up we had dogs but never had a cat.
Family Dogs
Shortly after Henry and I married we became Labrador Retriever owners. Through the years we have had two different black Labs, a chocolate Lab named Blue, and Blondie. Blondie was our best friend and traveling companion for many years. She traveled thousands of miles with us in the back seat of our truck as we towed our RV around the U.S. and Canada. She chased tennis balls and swam in great lakes, oceans, creeks, ponds, and rivers.
We lost her in 2017. I still miss her today.
BlueBlondie riding on the Alaska RailroadBlondie loved tennis ballsWe lost our best friend and traveling companion in 2017.
Working Sled Dogs in Alaska
During our Alaska travels we enjoyed meeting some of the working sled dogs in Denali National Park and visited the Iditerod Headquarters to meet some of those beautiful dogs.
Denali Sled Dog Lukor Denali Sled DogDenali Sled DogIditerod PuppyIditerod dog team taking a break
Working Sheep Dogs
When we traveled to Ireland we enjoyed a demonstration of sheep dogs herding sheep.
The University of Georgia mascot Uga (pronounced “ug-a”)
The University of Georgia Mascot is a pure white English Bulldog named Uga. There have been eleven Ugas through the years. UGA IV attended the Heisman Trophy banquet in 1982 with Herschel Walker who won the Heisman Trophy that year. UGA V was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the number one college mascot in 1997 and had a part in the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
Below, in the image on the left Uga VII is walking on the sidelines in front of his air conditioned dog house during a home game in Athens, Georgia. On the right is Uga X at an event in Savannah. The latest mascot is Uga XI who’s real name is “Boom”.
A Cat who was a Mayor
In 2013 we met a famous cat named Stubbs who was the Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska. He passed away in 2017 after serving as Mayor for 20 years.
Stubbs, the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska in July, 2013
Wandering Dawgs 