New Blogger Stock Photos and TWO5: 9/3/18

Welcome to September!  Already a new month.. this year has gone by so quickly.  But we are just beginning to get into my favorite season, so I’m ok with that.  Is it fall yet?

This week, I got only one new photo onto Instagram and five up on 500px.  But the good news is I’ve been working on some exciting things on my website.  I’m cleaning up some things behind the scenes, and I’m now offering affordable web-quality stock images for fellow bloggers!  I only have a small selection there now, but stay tuned; I’ll be adding a lot more in the coming weeks.

As for the photos posted to social media, this first one hails from Instagram.  I’ve been keeping with the wildlife theme there, and I like that it’s lending me some consistency on what I post.  Have you been enjoying seeing the animals from around the world?

This particular fowl is a muscovy duck, and this was taken at the lily pond at Punaluu Beach Park in Hawaii.  I discovered a real gem there – the ruins of an old luxury restaurant.  You can read all about it and see all photos in their ruinous glory here.

Next, an image I keep coming back to.  I’ve rendered this one in full color, muted, autumn-shifted, and black and white.  I love the simplicity of this scene, and the fine details of the wooden planks.  This was along a trail near Cannon Beach.  I love the quiet peace of those coastal trails.

This picture looks like it could have been taken downstream from the other, but this is actually in the opposite direction – a waterfall just off a road in Washington on the way to another hike.  This waterfall is really cool, because a trail leads up the short drop to the stream up top.  From there, we could follow the water to a secondary, smaller waterfall nestled in all this Pacific Northwest greenery.  Further, the X shape is just a fascinating feature.

How about a change in color scheme?  This is one of my favorites from our wintery trip to Yosemite National Park.  The fading sun lit up the sky in spectacular pastels, and those little clouds added the perfect texture to the sky.  Although, I wish I had photographed at a slightly wider aperture, as this lens is a touch soft closed all the way down.  Lessons learned in landscape photography!

Getting near the top of my list this week, here’s a national park much closer to home.  This is the beautiful Crater Lake, with its characteristic gnarly tree standing watch.  This is a very popular spot for photographers, as it provides some interesting foreground.  Later that night, we returned to wait out the moonset to photograph the Milky Way over the lake.  It was so cold that night… but the resultant image was worth it!

Finally, my favorite of this week.  This is the iconic Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (and if you look closely, you can see another arch in the background).  I really like this shot for the details and the tone of the clouds.  Furthermore, this isn’t the typical picture you see of this famously photographed arch; the tight crop lends more of an ominous impression.

Which is your favorite photo this week?  Look forward to more next Monday!

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