Photography

[ozzie]

Orchids are indeed beautiful flowers with so many different variaties. We had friends who used to grow them and were part of an Orchid club.
They said they were kind of easy to grow as long as you didn't water them too much. They had them in pots all over their house.

[LennG]

Let's stay at this flower show we went to

Try these unusual species of Cactus on for size






















And my favorite--HANDS UP

[LennG]

Somewhere back in the thread, someone mentioned that some of the pixs were great for a calendar.

In keeping with my 'Spring' theme, let me post some pics that if anyone does want to make a calendar or screensaver, here are some to start. If any have appeared already, my apologies, I'm too lazy to go back and look.

[ozzie]

Here are a few more I just uploaded from the camera

[ozzie]

We recently hung a couple of hummingbird feeders in our yard. What a wonderful treat watching them hover and dart while feeding. I was lucky enough to get some decent shots.

[ozzie]

And here are some Cardinals that came for a visit

[LennG]

Lou

Some truly GREAT pix there. Sorry I haven't contributed to this thread in a while. I have many new pix from recent travels, but I haven't even gotten them out of my camera yet, so give me some time to catch up.

I LOVED the hummingbird shots where they are flying, looking at the nector tube. What camera are you using, and if you set it to a speed, would you know what speed it was set as to not blur the wing? Just curious, but again, great shots.

[LennG]

Let me see what I can contribute here. I'll take a break from flowers now. I was going thru some of my pix from some of our travels in Europe and though I don't like to show 'travel' pix to friends, I thought I would post a few here, just to give a taste of different countries and different environments.


People enjoying the Spanish Steps in Rome (At this time, you weren't allowed to eat anything on 'The Steps'. They literally had policemen all over, telling anyone with even a banana, to either put it away of leave and they weren't too nice about it either)





The remarkable London Eye (We had to make reservations for a set time, 3 months in advance to avoid the tremendous lines)






This is the gardens and back of Catherine's Palace in St Petersburg Russia. It was basically destroyed during the War and rebuilt to exact specifications. It was where Catherine The Great supposedly lived)






This is a rooftop view over the city of Tallinn, in Estonia. Many cruise ships stop here while doing a Northern Europe cruise. It was relatively unknown, but it fast became one of the highlights of these type cruises. Just a wonderful 'old city' behind these huge walls that are so typical of a European city way back when.






Back in London, at the Tower Of London, they do a changing of the Guard with a full marching band







In Helsinki Finland, they have a huge open-air market, where they prepare all different types of food on huge skillets, pans` and it is literally as cheap as one can want.







Back in Rome once again, and the famous ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. You are NOT supposed to take a pix in the chapel itself and when you are ushered into the chapel, you feel like a sardine in a very small can, there are so many people crowded into this room where they let you stand. But you can see just about everyone trying to hide their phones while snapping pix. I used my regular camera while being ushered out and just took a couple of quick pix which came out much better than I expected.







More to come if you like.

[ozzie]

Your photos are beautiful, Lenn. The shot of the palace reminds me so much of Schunbronn Palace in Vienna. Same type architecture, same type sprawling gardens. I guess maybe all palaces are similar. Not descending from Royalty, I can only guess! HAHA.
I will post a pic of Schunbronn when I get a chance. Did you go inside Catherine's? We only saw the palace and the grounds from outside, we didn't get a chance to go in.
Your Sistine Chapel shot is jus t wonderful!

The camera I used for the bird shots is a Nikon coolpix L830. I just had it on one of the auto settings and let the camera do the work. To be honest, the camera has a lot of features that I really need to learn how to use. I have to find a class or instructor somewhere that can help me with that.

[LennG]

We did a 2-day tour of St Petersburg, Russia, off of a Baltic Cruise and YES we did get to go inside. It is truly remarkable. We got to see the inside of this Catherine's Palace, Peterhof,  Yusupov Palace, the Hermitage, et al. After a while, they all started to look alike, but we were awed.

When we were waiting to get into Catherine's Palace, they had this 'band' playing Russian folk music to entertain us. I was taking a pix of them and one of the trumpet players saw me and sort of gave me the 'evil eye'. Didn't bother me in the least.

[LennG]

I posted a thread on the main board about Memorial Day with some of my pix. Here I can be a bit more engaging and post pix to really get a feeling of some of these things.

First of all, I have to say we have been to Washington DC many, many times. When our kids were young, we went every year. Times were different and most things were open and free and no security checks. All buildings had tours, the White House, Congress, etc. We were there one year over July 4th where they had the most remarkable fireworks display over the Washington Monument. I have great pix but they were on film and I can't get them on here.

Washington is such a photogenic city. With all the monuments, museums, buildings, if you are a photographer, it is like you died and went to heaven. To spend time just admiring the Lincoln Memorial, reading the words to the Gettysburg Address, to the Smithsonian where you can see everything from the Ruby Slippers to the original American flag over Fort McHenry, to Lindbergs Spirit of St Louis. We have viewed the original Declaration of Independence and watch how they print money. We had written to Senator Clinton one year asking for a tour (it was doable then for the asking) and we had our own personal tour person who showed us all over Congress. We have been to the FBI building and then to Ford's Theater to see where Lincoln was assassinated. (a fee for this) and then the pandas in the zoo. Simply a marvelous city.

So, on our last venture there, several years ago, I had to revisit Arlington National Cemetery. It has been a long time since we were there to view the Changing of the Guard ceremony by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We also wanted to revisit the tomb of JFK and some other cemetery plots of famous people who are buried there.

So to see the Changing of the Guard Ceremony is easy as the Guard is changed every 30 minutes from April till October I believe and then every hour at other times. It is done 365 days a year all thru the night regardless of the cemetery is open, rain, shine, snow, or cold they are out there and the ceremony continues.

[LennG]

Today I'd like to continue with some of the pixs of my travels around the globe. I always take loads of pix of the 'normal' touristy things, but I also try to capture a feel of an area or place by trying to take pix of things around the main site, like a cafe, a street vendor, or even signs (which I am big on). I also love pix of those winding narrow streets that one thinks of when thinking about 'olden' European cities. We love to explore these types of areas and streets, if for nothing else than to get away from many of the touristy people. We love to find maybe a small out-of-the-way restaurant to have a bite and sample some of the cities or nations' traditions. Now don't get me started on all the Gelato's we have enjoyed, especially in Italy.


The Sherlock Holmes Pub in London






The White Cliffs of Dover






Room in the Hermitage in St Petersburg





Drinks in an outdoor cafe in Barcelona






A little outdoor cafe near the Leaning Tower of Pisa where we enjoyed a lunch







In Malta, there is a sort of Medieval City called Mdina. My favorite all-time movie is the Maltese Falcon. When I saw this, you know it was a must-see pix






Off a cruise, we stopped at an island in the Canary Islands. This one had an active volcano where they cooked chicken over an opening. Pretty cool

[LennG]

Some very unusual signs or stores that I found very cute or interesting


A sort of different store in Barcelona






A barbershop in London






A wonderful museum in Tallinn, Estonia






Beer wagon in Lisbon






Ice Cream place  right inside Buckingham Palace






Another ice cream shop in Valencia Spain




And I just loved the look of this place, a good old fashioned book store. I believe around London

[ozzie]

That bookstore looks like the kind of place I could spend HOURS in.

[LennG]

More vacation pix. As I saif before, Ialways take pix of the famous landmarks, but I also love to take pix of the area, the people, the unusual to really remember how this place felt and some special memory it might hold.


In the Roman Forum in Rome






One of the entrances to the Vatican







In Valencia Spain, a very unusual picture board







Messina, Sicily







We were leaving this city on our ship just when the sun offered some spectacular rays onto it. (I believe this is Genoa Italy, but not positive right now)






What I refer to as a lazy canal, I believe in Marseilles France






And in a small square in Copenhagen, where they know how to relax when taking a break