What's Better Than A Full Moon?

A full moon with partial cloud cover!

 

Not too bad for a shot taken with my cell phone. 

Sharing with Friday Skywatch

On The Prairie

A glimpse of the beauty seen on the prairie.

 

Scattered across the prairie are hundreds, no thousands of small ponds and lakes teaming with wildlife, offering a soothing atmosphere and providing great reflections.

 

But my all time favorite sight on the prairie is the breathtaking skies! A vivid blue that seemingly stretches into eternity, often gloriously interspersed with brilliant billowy clouds. More photos and information about the location of these two photos can be seen in this post.

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Jame's Weekend Reflection

and

Friday Skywatch

Nature

This week I did something that I have never done before. I entered a photo contest. I figured oh why not, it might be fun. The contest name is "It's Amazing Out There" and is held by the Weather Channel. The contest is open to both professional and amateur photographers, with pretty good payouts for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. There was no limit to the number of photos one entered so I picked a number of my favorites and decided to go for it. I figure it is kind of like playing the lottery, if you don't play there is definitely no chance you will win. At least by entering I have a chance, even if it is an extremely slim one. LOL

In addition to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place they also have an honorable mention called "peoples choice" which is determined by the number of votes the photo receives during the voting period. Now that I may have a better chance at. So here are the photos I entered. Just click on the title if you want to boost my ego and cast a vote. ;) 

Voting runs until 11:59am eastern time August 26th. Oh and by the way everyone can cast one vote a day.

Some of these may look familiar as I know I have shared a few here and on my other blog. Just click on the image for a larger view.

Title: Peek-a-Boo
A young mule buck sits quietly in a ravine just off a hiking trail in Rapid City, SD.

Title: Trail Hog
This was taken on one of the many hiking trials in the Hanson-Larsen Memorial park. Trial rules forbid going off the path which isn't bad as the paths are fairly wide. Yet, this biker nearly ran me over even though I was standing on the very edge of the trail.

Title: Late Winter Run  A runner taking advantage in a mild winter day added a nice burst of color.

Title: Winter's Lace
The delicate icy snowflakes on this twig reminded me of lace.

Title: Ocean View
Ocean View Beach, Norfolk, VA

Title: Oh Barnacles!
Barnacles become beached after attaching to a piece of driftwood.

Title: Historic Landing
A sea gull lands on what was probably once part of the historic Ocean View Amusement Park. For more about the amusement park check out this post.

Title: Golden Sea
The shells, sand and rocks give the crystal clear wave a golden appearance.

 Title: Cotton Candy Clouds
What can I say? I just love a spring sunset.

 Title: Angry Clouds
Dark clouds mix turbulently with lighter grey and white clouds in the midst of an incoming storm.

Title: Storms Eye
Shortly before a storm as two large cloud formations joined at sunset this eye shaped clearing could be seen.

Title: Vibrant Summer
The rich shades of greens and blues provide a striking background for these vibrant red orange Lilly's.

Title: Digging Out
Twenty four hours after being hit by the blizzard of 2013 my son-in-law sets to the task of digging us out.

Title: Lone Locust
While stopped at a rest stop amid a swarm of locust I noticed this one locust all by itself half way up the wall of the building.

Title: Sunrise Adventure
A single motorcyclist rides into the sunrise.

Title: Solitude
A young girl sits in solitude before the rushing falls.

That wraps up my entries. 

Have you ever entered a photo contest?

Drop me a line in the comment section, I would love to hear all about it.

Sky Watchin

I have been pretty much in hibernation for a while now but I wanted to let everyone know I haven't forsaken this blog. After the New Year I hope to be back to my click happy self, but in the meantime here are a few sky shots.

Wishing all a very happy holiday season!

Drama In The Sky

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

It has been a few weeks since I have participated in this fun blog hop so I am rather excited to be contributing today. I hope you enjoy my interpretations. This weeks prompts were: Paint, Green, Eyelashes, Shapes and Clouds.

Paint:

With a few days leave my son-in-law decided to pull out his models and do a bit of painting.

Green:

I did get a few other shots for green, but for weeks I have been wanting to post this shot of a green flag. So I hope no one minds I pulled from my archives for this prompt.

Eyelashes:

Wanting to capture a unique red white and blue shot a shot for this prompt I convinced my daughter to put on make up and let me photograph her eyes.

Shapes:

This one took a bit more thinking, as I wanted to capture more than just one or two shapes. Here I found circles, rectangles and even a triangle. 

Clouds:

Who can resist a few puffy white clouds, I sure can't.

Please be sure to check out the other submissions at:

View From My Back Yard

Once again the week has flown by at break neck speed, delivering us to Friday. 

 With the tropical storm just off the coast we have seen some pretty awesome cloud formations. I hope you enjoy these photos of the view from our back yard.

 Last but not least a turtle blew in.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and

Have a terrific weekend, and while your at it grab your camera and capture some great memories!