More Cloud & Ground Lightning

In one of our many summer thunderstorms, I got several photos which included close cloud-to-cloud lightning and more distant cloud-to-ground lightning. I posted one of these a few weeks ago, and here's another. (In fact, this one includes two ground strikes, but one of them is rather faint.)

And from a more recent storm where I got several nice shots, here's some lightning flaring across the sky.

It's been a good summer for lightning photos - if you like them stay tuned because I've got lots more. And for more sky-themed photos, visit the awesome Skywatch Friday meme.

Dog Wash

This week's PicStory theme is animals. And from my perspective what better photo this theme than a photo of my favorite animal, Socks? Here's a photo of him after a shower. This is a rare photo not taken by me, this was taken by my son while I was drying him. (That's me in the background holding him.)

He doesn't like showers, but he loves the blow-dryer. And he knows he gets his favorite treat when it's all done!

Red Rock Canyon Quarry

For this week's Scenic Sunday post, I'm taking a break from Bellevue and going back to October of last year for some shots of the Red Rock Canyon quarry, taken right around sunrise during an early-morning hike. I started before the sun was up to try to capture that great early morning light.

This is a great off-season hike because it's lower in elevation, so it's generally free of snow, and in town, so it's close.

Grey Waterfront Fountain

Here's another grey-sky shot from our Seattle trip. This is Waterfront Fountain, in Waterfront Park, in Seattle. For some reason, the F-shape makes me think of Facebook, even though I'm one of the few people on the planet who doesn't use it. And yes, this was taken in the rain, as were many of my Seattle photos this spring.

This is in memory of Klaus Peter, one of the maintainers of the Skywatch Friday meme.

Solar Light Pattern

This post is dedicated to Klaus Peter, the founder of the awesome My World Tuesday meme, who recently passed from this world. Others are carrying on the meme. Events like this put things into perspective.

One night when I was taking some lightning photos I turned around and noticed the patterns cast by our solar light. I already had my camera and tripod ready, so I shot it and this is what I ended up with.

The tiny white spots are hot (bad) pixels on my old camera, and they're one reason I'd like to replace it. And that's a small part of My World this week.

Theatre of Dionysus

For Sunday Scans this week, here's the last of my photos from Greece in 1973. This time it's the Theatre of Dionysus. There's so much to see here I'd love to go back again, as an adult with a clue about photography and a decent camera. But I have to admit that I'd be nervous about all the unrest and strikes, and I'm not sure I'd lay out the large amount of money to travel there at this time.

Bellevue Botanic Garden Trail

Here are a couple more photos from the lovely (and free) Bellevue Botanic Garden, this time some very green shots from the trail. It's very rainy here!

For more scenery, wet and dry, visit the Scenic Sunday meme.

Tree Sky

I liked this photo of aspen and pine trees from a recent hike near the Palmer Reservoirs, and thought it would be perfect for the Skywatch Friday meme, as well as this week's PicStory meme, with the theme of "Sky."

Portland's Burnside Bridge

I ended up with lots of bridge photos when I was in Portland, so here are some more for the Sunday Bridges meme. This time it's the downtown Burnside Bridge.

If you like bridges, I've got several more to post yet!

Stoa Of Eumenes

I have just a couple more photos from Greece and then we'll move on to another part of the world. This week it's the Stoa of Eumenes.

For more scanned fun, visit the Sunday Scans meme.

Watery Bellevue Botanic Gardens

Continuing my tour of the Bellevue Botanic Gardens, here are some of the lovely water features, in the grey light from the cloudy and rainy day when I was there.

The next one was taken through some leaves, with a very wide aperture to blur those leaves and create a frame for the water. I'm not sure it's completely successful.

But I did like this green reflection.

I think this is appropriate to link to both Water Wednesday and Scenic Sunday. Visit both memes for lots of great photos!

Varied June Sunset

If I don't respond to your comments for the next couple of weeks, it's because I'm working an absurd number of hours these days. But I still appreciate comments and followers, and I've got several posts scheduled so the blog will remain active! And to answer Linda's question, the falcons are not used to keep the runways clear of birds.

This week's Skywatch Friday photos were all taken on the same late-June evening, from my yard. I thought the variations in the sky over a short period of time (just over an hour) were impressive, and would make a fun entry.

I'll never get tired of the sunrises and sunsets out here.

Air Force Falcon

The mascot at the Air Force Academy is the falcon, and they have several live ones. Here is a young one, on his trainer's hand. These are flash photos taken at night.

What amazing birds to see up close! And for more interesting sights, visit My World Tuesday.

Mycenae Citadel Walls (Greece)

For Sunday Scans, here's another 1973 photo from Greece, of the Mycenae Citadel walls, complete with 1970s-era tourists.

Bellevue Botanic Gardens Flowers

While staying in Bellevue earlier this year, I took the opportunity to visit the Bellevue Botanical Garden, which was close to our hotel. I was impressed, and I've decided to start posting some of the photos from my visit. Here are some of the flowers which I enjoyed. It was a cloudy day, raining by the time that I left, but I was still happy with some of the photographic results.

Every photo I took in this garden was taken with my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens - there wasn't much light, and I really wanted to experiment with using a single non-zoom lens in the field as well as trying a narrow depth of field, forcing me to actively compose the photos. There are several more posts to come from this area. But until then, visit Scenic Sunday for more scenic shots around the world.

Twisty Lightning

Here's another summer lightning shot (taken in my yard as my lightning shots always are) - I liked how curvy this strike was, just twisting everywhere. How did it ever find its way to the ground?

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For more skyward photos, visit the Skywatch Friday meme. And don't worry - I try to stay safe for my lightning shots. We can see for many miles so these strikes are usually further away than they look. I've only been caught by unexpectedly close strikes a couple of times (the closest of which was a couple of streets away and struck a tree), and in any case I'm usually sheltered when I take the photos. But regardless, there's a unique excitement to capturing lightning photos!

Fox Run Socks

For both the My World Tuesday and Pet Pride memes (the latter of which is new to me), here's a photo of my favorite dog, Socks, in Fox Run Park. He's getting older, as the grey is really starting to show. But he'll still happily hike for miles with me.

We often go to this park for walks, as it's close to my house and has several miles of natural hiking trails. It's one of our favorite places!