Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: pond

(+ 5 insets) (please view large) :) It was another crisp, frosty, and beautiful morning for my walk today! In fact, it was warm enough this afternoon that I took my bike out for my first ride of the season! Just for the 15 minute distance around the block but it was lovely and I got the chance to look for Saturday Self-Challenge "signs of spring" in case there might be a flower or baby animal to take a picture of. Not much to find but I had a great time! Today I'm sharing an image I took yesterday on my hunt for "signs of spring" pictures. I wandered down to our seasonal pond in hopes that I might possibly spot a strand of frog eggs clinging to the algae. I knew it was a long shot but I thought I'd go see just in case I got lucky. I took a long time slowly creeping around our pond, crouching down and staring intently into the water. In the water I found aquatic beetles in large and nearly microscopic sizes, water skimmers racing around on the surface and little gnats in tiny clouds here and there. I found lots of aquatic plants growing like crazy in the water and rafts of algae floating on the surface. But I didn't find any frog eggs…or frogs for that matter. What I did find was an enormous sense of peace and serenity. Crouching silently, I could hear birds singing in the trees and I was quiet enough that a frog or two ventured a croak back and forth. Looking into the water was soothing, as were the soft plants I saw and the gentle movement of the insects swimming and flying around. I made my way around the edge and spotted something white clinging to some weeds. When I got closer I saw that they were feathers! I took some pictures just in case they turned out to be interesting. When I looked at them on my computer I was surprised at the detail and wonderful bubbles that I hadn't noticed before. And, as I worked on this picture I realized that it was a perfect candidate for a black and white image! I immediately thought of Valfal , who I'm dedicating this picture to. She's one of the admins for Saturday Self Challenge and a longtime friend here on ipernity. We'd had a really interesting conversation over the past few days about why we like black and white photography and why I don't often post them but I love the medium very much. This dedication is both a nod to our love of b/w and a tribute to spring. Ducks land in our pond to see if it's good for raising ducklings, but I'm happy to say they don't stay because it's not safe. However, I sometimes find a stray feather or two like this one and I've learned that pictures often turn out well! (I'm also posting a few of my favorite b/w images from my archives for you to see) Pam, I know that you don't prefer black and white photography but I happen to know that you do love dogs that are black, white, and a mixture of the two! :D I found a collage of black Flicka and black and white Lucas that was an instant favorite when I saw it the first time…I covered it with notes because I loved it so much! What fun to revisit this wonderful gathering of lovely images of your dear Rainbow doggies. How we love them. hope that today has been treating you ok…I know you've been through a lot lately so I'm sending many virtual hugs your way!

(+7 insets!!) This morning I woke up feeling so happy! I was really delighted with how my hammock pictures turned out for my post yesterday and I have been so touched by the wonderful comments I've gotten. I am all a-glow! It feels great when you make a challenge for yourself and achieve the goal you'd hoped for! The fact that you guys like the pictures too is icing on the cake! Hooray! I looked out to see that there was yet another incredible sunrise, along with amazing fog banks swirling around the Table Rocks. Of course I had to take pictures, and I've shared them as insets so you can see how lovely my morning started off! :) On top of that, when I walked down the road on my first lap, the golden light shining on the trees created some really beautiful reflections in our seasonal pond, which has FINALLY filled up (It's usually full by November)! I got a bunch of pictures of the reflections that I'm sharing too! I kind of went crazy, I hope you enjoy them! :) Today's picture is for Happy Fence Friday even though it's actually Thursday here in the United States. In addition to my main picture I am also including an inset. Each was taken on our trip down to San Anselmo over New Years. Nathalie and Brian live on a nice-sized property with endless subjects to photograph. One of the things that kept catching my eye was the cool fencing along one side. Old and weathered, some was crusted with lichen and moss, other spots had rust stains running down from the nails. While I was investigating the front corner, I noticed the sun shining through the trees created a lovely dappling on the fence. It was so pretty that I knew it would be perfect for my Happy Fence Friday picture! The inset fence picture was taken on the first hike we did up in the hills above their home. You may recognize that sun flare and Oak tree from the sepia picture I posted a few days ago. While looking through my photos today, I was surprised to discover that the first sun flare image I took included a fence line. I wondered if I might be able to use it for an inset but wasn’t sure. The picture was kind of uninteresting but it hit me…I could play with textures and I bet it would look great! Picking one textured image is the hardest part…it's such fun to fool around with the various looks! Pam, is your pond full now too? When did yours fill up (if it is)? We haven't had as much rain this year, nor has it been as cold. I wonder what it's like for you guys? Are the dogs playing in the pond or is it frozen over? I had to make sure Zoey didn't jump into our pond when it was icy but I don't think it has ever been solid. I used to imagine what it would be like if she ran onto the frozen pond, tried to stop and then spun around in circles…I never got to see that reality but just thinking about it made me laugh! :) I am thinking good thoughts about you my dear…hope your day has been good! Explored on 1/10/19, highest placement, #4.

Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! A couple of months ago, Steve and I visited a large public garden because we'd seen a friend's photography and hoped to see some of the same things. There was a huge variety of plants and flowers, and although we were too early for much of the show, we weren't late for the DUCK SHOW! There were two large ponds and many beautiful ducks, geese and other waterfowl to photograph. I managed to get very lucky with this shot, and captured this pair's lively discussion! :D (Thanks very much to Hawkeye (Art) for the extra information about the unusually colored duck on the left, it appears to be either a male Saxony or Leucistic Mallard, how COOL!) Early Announcement and Invitation: I have decided to do another A-Z project after this one is finished, and would like to invite all who are interested to join me! It's going to be about a month before I'm done with this current project, but I wanted to bring it up now so you can begin thinking about it to decide if you'd like to join in the fun! The requirements are as restricted as you want to make them: you can make it easy by having it like mine, "Anything that starts with the letter", or you can have a theme for your project, such as "A-Z Birds", "A-Z Flowers", "A-Z Insects". Keep in mind that a theme can be anything, such as photographic terms, or things that are a specific color, or items in your house or tool shop. The sky is the limit with an A-Z project, and yet, it's only 26 pictures, so it's not a project that will take over your whole life. Start thinking about it now, and if you want to join in, you can begin capturing and processing your pictures, placing them into a folder to upload as I upload mine! Explored on May 21, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

A couple of weeks ago I was creeping around by our front gate with my camera and listening to the amazingly loud voices of the frogs singing at our seasonal pond, which is about 20-30 feet away. If you have never heard a pond of frogs croaking in the spring, you would be very surprised to discover how noisy they are! For instance, our pond is about 600-700 feet (213-243m) from our house, or about 1/8 of a mile away. We can see it, but it's not close. When those frogs turn up the volume, WOW! You can hear them clearly from the house (though not from inside). I didn't want to get too close to the pond because they can feel my footsteps, no matter how quiet I am, and suddenly they will become silent, which makes me so very sad. :( But eventually I couldn't resist, and my light steps (Godzilla stomps) signalled them all to be quiet. Awwww... :( I walked down to the edge of the pond, marvelling at its "to-the-brim" fullness, and smiled. With the strange weather patterns, Steve and I wondered if the pond would fill this year. Happily, it's been full for a few weeks now, and the rains keep coming, so if all goes well, the pond will have water in it until about June or maybe even July. It's an important breeding ground for our local frog species, so the longer there is water, the better chance there is for the tadpoles to transform into frogs. The funny thing is that I NEVER see frogs in or around the pond. I always hunt for them, but they are perfectly camouflaged and also, they dive to the bottom of the pond or retreat into holes or under plants. So on this day, as I crouched quietly at the side of the pond, looking in vain for frogs, I almost fell over when I actually SAW one!! I looked and suddenly a little Pacific Tree Frog swam lazily up to the surface and floated there just long enough for me to take some pictures. Then, when I paused to adjust the settings on my camera, I looked through the eyepiece again, and...GONE! But see? I have PROOF!!! I finally SAW ONE!!! HOORAY!!! :D Explored on ipernity on March 28, highest placement, #2.

1 picture in a note above ! :) Steve and I went to Medford today to do our weekly shopping, but we had so much to do that I decided not to bring my camera, and instead waited until I got home to go out and find my Picture of the Day. It's been such a dry autumn that our seasonal pond has only a tiny bit of water in it, but there was plenty for a pretty image, so I took Zoe and Moosie with me (not a chance, Molly the Muck Monster!) and since it was almost dark, I made a beeline for our miniscule pond. It's been warming up and most of the snow has melted. The frozen pond is largely thawed out, but still has a rind of ice a layer of snow and a coating of frost. Just what I was hoping for! On the surface were lots of leaves, and with the combination of melting snow and sparkly frost, it was lots of fun getting a nice selection of images. However, when I got back to the house and looked them over, my very favorite one is this one, which was the very first image I captured! :) Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis. Wikipedia: Pierre Bonnard

In September it rained enough that our seasonal pond began to get a bit of water in it, but sadly it's been dry for most of this past month and the water dried up, leaving some moss and algae at the bottom. I went over to take a look and found this exceptionally beautiful leaf laying on the algae and could not resist capturing it for everyone to see! :) (Thanks to Jerry Jones for his texture, "Paper Box 1")

This was supposed to be a picture of cute little Pacific Treefrog tadpoles. However, when I looked at the image on my computer, I discovered that two Water Boatmen photobombed* my idyllic scene! One of them is clearly mooning me, how rude! Look at the large size to see these guys all up in your grill! *photobomb definition by Urban Dictionary: "to drop in a photo unexpectedly...to hop in a picture right before it is taken." Do a search on Google Image for "photobomb" and you'll find countless hilarious examples! There are also many websites dedicated to photobomb pictures...enjoy!

Back in October, the day before Halloween (10/31), Steve and I went to a beautiful park in Ashland, Oregon, called Lithia Park. We wanted to take pictures of fall colors, and while we were there, we found a pond full of happy Mallard ducks! If you have read my new profile, one of the two images that Steve took which pushed me over the edge to move up to a full-frame sensor, was that of a female mallard duck flapping her wings. This was *MY* best picture of that flapping mallard. I think it's a nice picture...but...the difference in quality between mine and Steve's (shown in the first comment below) filled me with great frustration. *I* wanted to take shots like HIS, not like MINE! (By the way, if you haven't read my profile, you can see it here: www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ ) This image was taken on October 30, 2011.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Looking around for interesting frost shots a couple of weeks ago, I wandered down to our seasonal pond. At this time it only had a small amount of water in it, as it hadn't rained much. I was delighted to find a thick coating of ice on the surface, rippled and encasing leaves under the surface. Here is a leaf, edged in frost and sitting on the surface of the pond. If you look closely, you can see the shapes of leaves under the ice! :D I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in January, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Looking around for interesting frost shots a few weeks ago, I made my way down to our seasonal pond. There hadn't been much rain so there was only a small amount of water in it. I was delighted to find a thick coating of ice on the surface, with frozen air bubbles encasing leaves under the surface. Here are some bubbles encased just under the surface of the pond. If you look closely, you can see the shapes of leaves under the ice! :D I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in January, 2012.

Zoe, our Boxer, took her tennis ball on our walk yesterday but she dropped it at the edge of the pond and it rolled out onto the ice. You should have seen Zoe's face! Her expression said it all: "Bummer." (Happily, she has lots of other balls, so not all is lost!)

I knew it would rain today and when I looked outside, the dark clouds told me it would be a race to get my pictures before it began pouring! Down to the pond I went, and there I found my subjects for the day! After a few minutes, the rain began to fall, and I was mesmerized by the droplets falling into the water. I managed to get this picture of a droplet hitting the surface of the pond and bouncing into the air! Anthony J. D'Angelo is an author and motivational speaker dedicated to empowering students. Anthony J. D'Angelo Bio

Isn't it so very sad? This poor tennis ball is now floating mournfully in our pond with melted dog slobber on it. Zoe has long-forgotten her beloved ball, since she has plenty of others, but every time I see it, I have to giggle at the memory of Zoe's face as it rolled out onto the ice a week or so ago. I wonder when she'll get it back?! :D (By the way, I made this a selective color piece)

This is my alternate for today, a pair of feathers I found floating on our seasonal pond. The surface tension of the water around them makes a heart and I thought it was just beautiful! I had planned to make this my pick for today but Steve insisted on the pampas grass! What do you think?