Continue reading “#SundayStills: #Paths and #Trails to my Happy Places”
Tag: Landscape
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #224: Exposure
This week, it’s Sofia’s turn to lead the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge and she has chosen one of my favorite topics – Exposure.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #224: Exposure”CFFC: Animals Unaware #WordlessWednesday
#SundayStills: Nature is Sure #Mysterious
I agree with Terri, nature is mysterious. It can turn such thing as a tree into a fossil if it lived long enough.
Looking at the topic this week, which is mysterious, I thought about my visit to the Petrified Forest State Park in 2021. Note that this is the state park in Utah, not the national park in Arizona. Petrified Forest State Park is much smaller but it’s still an awesome place to visit.
We paid our entrance fee, parked the car, and spent a few hours exploring the park on foot, which is kind of mandatory given the petrified forest is located along a single trail.
It’s sure a mystery how these trees managed to survive this long as all around them, civilization thrived. I’d bet these trees have seen things, encountered plenty of natural events, and probably once lived with dinosaurs. It’s just amazing to think of all the things that have happened to these trees to have it survive to today. Nature is sure a wonderful mystery.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #223: Flights of Fancy
This week, John from Journey with Johnbo is hosting Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #223 and he threw out a topic with three words I don’t think I’ve heard in quite a while – Flights of Fancy.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #223: Flights of Fancy”CFFC: Catching People Unaware
#SundayStills: Photographing through Window #Glass
I do not like photographing anything – especially landscapes – through any kind of window or glass. It not only distorts the color temperature – makes the scene look cold when it’s supposed to be warm, add green when there shouldn’t be green, and don’t get me started about cloud colors – it’s a nightmare when it comes to editing these photos in Lightroom.
Sometimes though, I can’t say I have a choice like unless I suddenly sprout a pair of wings, there’s no way I could photograph in the open air more than a hundred stories above ground. I took these with my phone, by the way, in RAW before uploading them to Lightroom and stitching them to make a large panorama. If I remember, each of these images are made up of 9 to 11 images stitched together. The smaller focal lengths of the phone’s camera really helps sometimes.
I thought these came out great except for the bit of reflection, which as hard as I tried, I couldn’t get rid of them.
As much as I don’t like it, sometimes, it is the way to go and I got a few favorites that were taken through the window while the car was moving or through a plain old window.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #222: Mountains are Calling
Amy from the blog – The World is a Book… – is hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #222 and she has chosen a topic I am all too familiar with – Mountains are calling and boy, are they calling!
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#WeekendCoffeeShare – The Highs and Lows of the Week
Good morning! Come on in! It’s a good day to have some hot drinks and relax.
Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – The Highs and Lows of the Week”CMMC: October Pick a Topic – Parks
CFFC: Clouds
Wordless Wednesday: Autumn 2022 Finale
#SundayStills: Autumn’s Fleeting Moments
Seeing full-blown autumn colors can definitely classify as a fleeting moment as it’s constantly changing from near peak to peak to past peak. Yesterday was most likely the last real weekend to see autumn colors as we are expecting the temperature to drop about 10-degrees and rain this coming weekend. In my opinion, once rain comes, autumn colors are no longer pretty.
Yesterday’s trip was all my mom’s idea. She saw one of her co-workers post photos of Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon and thought it was pretty. Next thing I knew, she was calling her sister and brother-in-law (BIL), asking them if they were interested. Of course, they were. They’re off every other weekends and after this weekend, they will be working all the way into November. So I wrote, probably the last weekend for autumn colors.
Her BIL was driving. It’s always him who drives and it was a good thing it was him who was driving because I ended up sorta tricking everyone to go to the place I wanted to go.
The whole trip, for me, was full of fleeting moments because I was traveling with three adults who did not want to walk. My mom has back pain and can’t walk a few steps without complaining. She’s currently waiting to do surgery to fix that problem. Meanwhile, her sister and BIL just didn’t want to walk. They aren’t out of shape, they just prefer to sit and look at their phones all day.
Thankfully, they let me roam, for a very short time at least like a dog on a leash. If I venture too far, my phone instantaneously rings, one of them telling me to get back to the car. So I needed to walk fast and take as many photos as I could so I can have it for memory.
This was the my first time going to Provo Canyon. I’ve always stuck to the Alpine Loop as it’s closer to home and I happen to think it’s more beautiful up by Mount Timpanogos with all the aspen trees. If you’ve ever been in the area, you’ll know what I mean. Even in summer, it’s beautiful with its white trunks and its leaves dancing to the breeze. I made a trip there back in August (before the accident) and couldn’t get enough of the place.
I fell in love with this picture as soon as I blew it up on my laptop. Another fleeting moment as we were parked in one of those tiny turnout on the road and as soon as I got out of the car, my mom began yelling, “How can you do such thing?” She was talking about how I led her BIL to the Alpine Loop when I knew fully that it’d be a narrow road that required drivers of one direction to yield to oncoming traffic.
I drove on this road before and didn’t encounter any problem. The only one that might have a problem might be my mom as she doesn’t do well in narrow road situations.
Anyway, I ignored her and focused on finding compositions. After all, I only get this one shot and everyone was waiting on me, so I must make it quick despite I could stare at this golden landscape for hours, maybe days.
The Alpine Loop was surprisingly crowded. I’ve never seen so much traffic that it was backed up. Perhaps maybe because many people knows to come here to see fall colors and that this would probably be the last weekend of 2022 to see such color.
After my accident, I became very anxious whenever something comes too close to the passenger side of the car, almost like a kind of claustrophobia. With the traffic, my uncle was forced to steer the car toward the trees a few times, causing me to panic as I seem to be doing quite a bit lately. These were definitely moments I didn’t want to remember from the trip and was relieve when we were no longer on the narrow road.
All in all, I am very grateful for the trip as I got a photos for memories despite my time there was very limited. I guess my goal to see autumn colors in 2022 is now fulfilled.
CMMC: October Autumn Colors
CFFC: Texture
#SundayStills: Monthly Color – #Lava
This week, Terri at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is challenging everyone with the color of Lava or a mix of orange, dark brown, and black. What an unusual mix of colors…
Continue reading “#SundayStills: Monthly Color – #Lava”Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #220: One Subject Three Ways
This week, Patti – hostess of Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #220 – challenges us to look at one subject three ways.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #220: One Subject Three Ways”CFFC: Smooth
US-Canada Trip 2022 After Thoughts
As of Sunday evening, I was home again, in my own bed, enjoying a quiet night rest. No more sharing a bed with Mom, no more listening to her snoring, and no more having to listen to her loud YouTube playing all night long. The trip has ended at last.
Continue reading “US-Canada Trip 2022 After Thoughts”
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #219: Treasure Hunt
Tina from Travels and Trifles is the hostess for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge and the theme of Treasure Hunt is chosen.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #219: Treasure Hunt”US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 11
For reference, day 11 is referring to September 30 2022.
Continue reading “US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 11”
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 10
For reference, day 10 is referring to September 29, 2022.
2 more days until home…
I felt a bit better, not coughing as much, though my voice still sounded pretty bad. The tough part has been getting through the night because that’s when the stuffy nose comes and I begin to feel like I’m choking. I think it might be caused by the dust in the motels which exacerbated the problem.
We stopped by the New Jersey State House in the morning. It was sorta a drop-by since we were heading toward Trenton to avoid bridge tolls. In the west, we call this the Capitol Building. I’ve never heard of it referred to as “State House” before. I learned that when I couldn’t find “New Jersey Capitol” on Google Maps.
This is definitely by far the oldest Capitol building I’ve ever been to. It was originally built in the late 18th Century before it was burned, rebuilt, renovated, and added several more wings over the years to accommodate the growing state.
It was also the one with the tightest security measures. It was like going through the TSA checkpoint at an airport. I must empty my pockets, place everything in a bucket, and walk through the scanner. We were also not allowed to tour the building ourselves. We needed to call and schedule a tour. Thankfully, the people at the Capitol building were willing to do an impromptu tour.
I learned a lot about the state of New Jersey on this tour like how it’s blueberries and peaches are well-known. I find it so fascinated to learn fun facts like these. The tour ended after 20 minutes and our guide led us to the door.
The outside of the complex is just as interesting as the inside like this tree that was dedicated to George Washington who famously crossed the Delaware River nearby and this fountain, which makes a great photo opp.
After the State House, we headed to Chambersburg, PA, where we will spend the next 2 nights and we’re planning to tour Gettysburg the next day,
This is Another Story 