7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 6

My friend Ben challenged me to a 7-day nature photo challenge, and that seems like fun, so I’m going to take him up on it. If you want to play along, you can send me a photo at [email protected] and I’ll post your nature photo up here with credit in the form of name, nom de guerre, website, etc. and we’ll nature photo the shit out of this challenge.

Day 6: Wilted Sunflower

Photo is long and narrow, running along the length of a dry, brown sunflower with wilted leaves and pods

Reader contributions!

From David N:

An close up of a finch sitting among thin, bare branches. Snow appears as blurred streaks, and snowflakes rest on the finch's head. The photo is in excellent focus - the feathers of the bird are sharp and clear.

Here’s a finch from this afternoon, near one of 3 feeders. He’s just LOVING the shit out of the weather.

You can see more of David’s work at photosoutdoors.com

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 6
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7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 5

My friend Ben challenged me to a 7-day nature photo challenge, and that seems like fun, so I’m going to take him up on it. If you want to play along, you can send me a photo at bio_dork@hotmail.com and I’ll post your nature photo up here with credit in the form of name, nom de guerre, website, etc. and we’ll nature photo the shit out of this challenge.

Day 5: Winter Berries

Nature Challenge Day 5

Reader contributions!

From Phil H:

magpie

This is a magpie that was sitting in my grandparents’ nectarine tree yesterday. Not having much to do, and without anything worthwhile on the TV, we all went outside to watch it jumping around (originally it was much deeper into the tree) and calling out for a good half hour.

From Leslie P:

DSCN0925

I took this last winter of my car in Stamford, CT!

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 5

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 4

My friend Ben challenged me to a 7-day nature photo challenge, and that seems like fun, so I’m going to take him up on it. If you want to play along, you can send me a photo at bio_dork@hotmail.com and I’ll post your nature photo up here with credit in the form of name, nom de guerre, website, etc. and we’ll nature photo the shit out of this challenge.

Day 4: Sunset at Wood Lake Nature Center

Photo Challenge Day 4

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 4

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 2

My friend Ben challenged me to a 7-day nature photo challenge, and that seems like fun, so I’m going to take him up on it. If you want to play along, you can send me a photo at [email protected] and I’ll post your nature photo up here with credit in the form of name, nom de guerre, website, etc. and we’ll nature photo the shit out of this challenge.

Day 2: Squirrel at Dawn – Powderhorn Park

DSC_0027

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 2

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 1

My friend Ben challenged me to a 7-day nature photo challenge, and that seems like fun, so I’m going to take him up on it. If you want to play along, you can send me a photo at [email protected] and I’ll post your nature photo up here with credit in the form of name, nom de guerre, website, etc. and we’ll nature photo the shit out of this challenge.

Day 1: Setting Sun Nature Photo

The sun has set. A thin strip of orange is visible beneath a blanket of black clouds. A dark blue sky still faintly touched by the last of the sun is at the top of the photo and is reflected off the still surface of a lake in the background bottom of the photo. Tall trees with bare branches an skeletons of low bushes are black silhouettes against the lake and sky.

This is the product of a Galaxy S4 – I am still amazed at what cell phone cameras can do these days. I mean, sure, it would be clearer with my Nikon and a tripod, but not bad for a handheld night shot.

This is the view from my the back of my work building. After nearly 10 years, the view remains a reason to get out of bed in the morning on days when the going is tough.

7 Days of Nature Photos: Day 1

Powderhorn365

I live in a neighborhood called Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis. The neighborhood runs a project called Powderhorn365, the point of which is to gather stories in the form of photographs and captions of people and places that can be found in Powderhorn. I volunteered to be a photographer, and on Friday my first picture went up! Click the thumbnail below to go to the Powderhorn365 website to see other stories from my new neighborhood (and the full image of my first evar P365 photo!).

Photo shows a a Latina carrying a pink shoulder bag, a white purse. She's wearing a red-white plaid button up blouse. He hair is straight, dark brown, shoulder length, parted down the middle. Shes looking directly at the camera and giving a small, closed-lip smile. Behind her in the background, a building with the words "Pillsbury House" is visible.

I believe that photography can be a way to remind us that we do all have unique situations and circumstances, and also that there are shared experiences that we can understand, and through those better connect with each other. Shared stories have the potential to build stronger, more supportive and diverse communities.

 

Powderhorn365

The North Shore Trip

This past weekend the Hubby and I drove up to the North Shore, and we ended up cramming in a lot of activities. On Friday I had to work a half day, and that afternoon before we left the Cities, we took in the Minnesota History Center’s Prohibition exhibit. I did some museum tweeting, which you can see on Storify by clicking the image below. 

storifyprohibition

Then we drove 2.5 hours north on Highway 35 to Superior, Wisconsin, which is right across the river from Duluth, Minnesota. We checked into our hotel and I was ready to crash, but we somehow managed to drag our butts out to see The Monuments Men. It was awesome and totally worth the putting on of pants. Continue reading “The North Shore Trip”

The North Shore Trip

I am way too excited to visit this church.

ZOMG I JUST LEARNED ABOUT WIKI LOVES MONUMENTS!!!!

Exploration! Adventure! Scavenger Hunt!

Okay…having used my weekly allotment of exclamation marks, let me take a deep breath and tell you about how I’m probably going to be spending my weekend.

I just clicked on a banner ad while I was in Wikipedia and was directed to the website Wiki Loves Monuments. It’s a big crowd-sourcing project designed to add photos to the Wikimedia library. And when I say “big” it’s like I’m saying “the sun is big.” 40 countries are participating and tens of thousands of people are expected to take part.

So here’s the exciting, scavenger hunt-like part. You don’t just upload any old photograph of any old monument; Wikipedia has a list of the monuments of which they want photos. I haven’t heard of a lot of these places so it’s time to go exploring! I downloaded the Wiki Loves Monuments app for Android – I can use the GPS function to help me find and identify local landmarks. But I can also find them beforehand using my country’s Wiki Loves Monuments webpage. Here’s the United States:

US level

Image shows a MapQuest map of the United States, Canada and Mexico with regional capitals displayed. Text at the top of the image includes instructions for how to use the interactive map.

When I get down to the Twin Cities level I start to see large circles indicating numbers of monuments in the area:

494 694 level

The 494/694 loops shows four blue circles with the number of monuments in those areas.

And at the city level – in this case, Minneapolis – exact location markers for each monument become visible.

Minneapolis level

Mapquest Map of Minneapolis – approximately 50 green markers are displayed.

I work in the southwest metro and one of the monuments that’s not too far from me is a Catholic Church called St. Hubert’s. When I click on the green tag, information about the monument comes up:

St. Hub

A zoomed in map of the Chanhassen/Eden Prairie/Minnetonka area. A pop-up window containing a photo of St. Huberts and the address of the church is visible, as well as four other green tags indicating other nearby monuments.

So…that’s how I’ve arrived at starting my weekend at a Catholic church.

I heartily support crowd-sourcing and free licensing (yay Creative Commons!), I love exploring, I love photography and I am a pretty frequent user of Wikimedia content. I am So. Excited. to get moving on this!

If you want to participate, make sure to check out the Wiki Loves Monuments webpage and the guidelines about uploading photos, find monuments in your country and area, and then go have fun! And if you are already participating or decide to start, let me know – maybe we will be able to do a post about the monuments that Biodork readers have visited!

I am way too excited to visit this church.