Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts from the ‘Flora and Fauna’ category

Taylor Shellfish Farms, Samish Bay, Puget Sound, Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest, PNW, Bellingham, Skagit Valley, Washington, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: low tide on Samish Bay in the PNW

This post is the third of five March Fotoeins Fridays from the Samish Bay area in northwest Washington State (USA). Samish Bay is a small body of water in northern Puget Sound, itself a part of the larger Salish Sea.

We’ve come to this place by design, but if you don’t already know, you can easily miss the turnoff from Chuckanut Drive. The one-lane road gently descends the cliff to the rail tracks and the water’s edge. On the shoreline in Skagit County is the Taylor Shellfish Farms where the big thing is oysters. It’s low tide, and the waters have backed out for hundreds of metres. Visible at centre is a farm employee in hip waders on the mudflats and inspecting the farm beds. It almost feels as if you can walk clear out to the islands in the distance. Almost.

I made this photo on 18 April 2017 with the Canon 6D, 24-105 glass, and the following settings: 1/800-sec, f/22, ISO1000, and 47mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-aLr.

Roozengaarde, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Skagit Valley, Tulip Festival, tulips, Mount Vernon, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: 1 tulip of many, Skagit County

This post is the second of five March Fotoeins Fridays from the Samish Bay area in northwest Washington State (USA). Samish Bay is a small body of water in northern Puget Sound, itself a part of the larger Salish Sea.

One tulip stands on its own surrounded by a sea of a different colour. Under overcast skies and the occasional light rainshower, it is diffuse grey light which casts soft shadows, and bright reds and purples aren’t completely “blown out” in frame. Last year’s visit (2017) to Roozengaarde during the annual Tulip Festival is memorable by the depth and variety of colours, by the potential for large crowds, and by the delicious food at various places throughout Skagit Valley.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place annually throughout the month of April. The main sources for tulips are about 30 to 40 minutes drive south from Bellingham.

Thanks to Roozengarde (tulips.com), I made the photo above on 19 April 2017 with the Canon 6D, 70-300 glass, and settings: 1/200-sec, f/8, ISO200, and 115mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins.com at http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9Lb.

17 for 17, Fotoeins Fotograms of 2017, fotoeins.com

17 for 17: Fotoeins Fotograms of 2017 (IG)

Featured: At the Germany-Austria border, from Fellhorn mountain near Oberstdorf: 8 March.

Another year gone, another 34-thousand images made* …

As the image above shows, I also spent a lot of time this year at the Austrian-German frontier, much of it at altitude.

Below I look back at the year 2017 with a selection of 17 images. Each picture is a direct clickable link to the corresponding post on Instagram.

( Click here for more )

Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia, myRTW, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: lounging ‘roos on Kangaroo Island

25 August 2012.

My year-long RTW has taken me to Australia for a few weeks from east coast to south-central coast to the west coast. So far during the short time on Kangaroo Island in the state of South Australia, we’ve seen a lot of New Zealand fur-seals around Kingscote Jetty and Admirals Arch. But curiosity naturally kicks in: where are the kangaroos? As my friends from Adelaide have naturally anticipated this question, we make our way onto the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. While it’s best I don’t get too close and touch these (cute yet wild) creatures, there’s fencing to keep the bipeds from doing something stupid. I approach quietly to within metres of the marsupials, a safe respectful distance to small koalas dozing in trees and to big kangaroos reclining on the ground.

More close-ups: Seals, koalas, & roos from Kangaroo Island

During my year-long RTW, I made this photo on 25 August 2012 with the Canon 450D, 70-300 zoom, and the following settings: 1/800-sec, f/5, ISO200, and 165mm focal length (264mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-a0y.

Curly-tailed lizard, Nassau, Bahamas, myRTW, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: reptile resident of the Bahamas

Shortly after my arrival in Nassau, this little guy climbs up a tree to my height and gives me the once over. The curly-tailed lizard doesn’t look so curly with its tail stretched parallel to the branch. Curly-tailed lizards are omnivores about 10-15 cm in length. Satisfied I’m not a threat, the lizard scurries away to explore. I’ll see my fair share of the lizards over the following weeks in the Bahamas.

In the Bahamas during my year-long RTW, I made the photo above on 5 May 2012 with the Canon EOS450D, 70-300 zoom, and the following settings: 1/25-sec, f/5.6, ISO100, 300mm focal length (450mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9BV.

Flowers aflame, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

I was skeptical of a visit to tulip gardens.

“They’re just flowers after all.”

When I lived in Heidelberg, Germany, my friends wanted to travel to the Netherlands before pregnancy kicked into full swing. They wanted to visit Keukenhof and Amsterdam. I was excited about Amsterdam; I was unsure about Keukenhof.

But one step inside the tulip gardens in Keukenhof was enough to turn my head and my opinion about tulip fields spun completely around.

That was 2002, and this is 2017. I’m highway-bound along I-5 into western Washington State to see tulips.

During the annual tulip festival in April, the Skagit river valley is populated by fields of daffodils and tulips, in eye-popping yellow, red, orange, purple, and white. The overcast skies with diffuse grey light provides ideal light conditions with no strong shadows. The explosion of colour should surely melt hearts and convince minds, if the change to my once obstinate stance is any indication.

( Click here for images and more )

Honu, green sea turtle, Halona Cove, Oahu, Hawaii, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: sacred green ‘honu’ (Oahu)

With plenty of places along the South O’ahu coastline to stop for the view, one of the most memorable is the Hālona Blowout Lookout, and I catch sight of the sacred “honu”. “Honu” in Hawaiian is the green sea turtle, which to some first Islander families is a sacred deity not to be harmed or consumed. The green sea turtle is an endangered species, and according to NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Islands Regional Office: “all green sea turtles in the Pacific Islands Region are protected by the Endangered Species Act.”

The Hālona Blowout Lookout and Beach Cove are about 30- and 40-minutes drive from Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center and the city’s international airport, respectively.

I made the photo with the Canon PowerShot A510 on 22 January 2007. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-8G3.

Lavender and bee, Argyle Village Gardens, Ambleside, West Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: the promise of life (West Vancouver)

In West Vancouver’s Ambleside neighbourhood, there’s a “hidden” sight not far from the Ferry Building Gallery and Ambleside Pier. The community Argyle Village Gardens is full of sweet scents and colourful flowers. But there’s more: listen carefully, and there’s a buzz that’s not man-made. The multiplicity of bees bouncing and popping from one flower to the next makes for a happy hopeful sight. This is the fulfilled promise of summer under a bright yellow sun, in a light ocean breeze, of the natural cycle of life in full swing.

I made this photograph on 15 July 2016 with the Canon EOS6D, 24-105 L zoom-lens, and the following settings: 1/160s, f/14, ISO500, and 99mm focal-length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-8E6.

UN FAO International Mountain Day. International Mountain Day celebration 2015 in Chile/Brazil: photo by College João Paulo of Brazil and the University of Magallanes (UMAG).

11 December: International Mountain Day

Since 2003, December 11 is International Mountain Day as designated by the United Nations General Assembly. Annually, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) observes the day:

… to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain peoples and environments around the world.

•   Mountains cover almost one-quarter (22 percent) of the Earth’s surface.
•   Mountains host about 50 percent of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
•   Up to 80 percent of the world’s freshwater supply comes from mountains.
•   One in eight people (13 percent) around the world lives in the mountains.
•   Mountain tourism accounts for almost 20 percent of the worldwide tourism industry.

The following provides a glimpse to the mountain environments around the world and to the challenging conditions our ancestors would have faced and endured.

( Click here for images and more )

San Miguel de Allende, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato, Mexico, myRTW, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Ring around the flowers, SMA México

On our morning stroll to breakfast within San Miguel de Allende‘s “Centro”, this stand of large paper flowers for sale appeared at the (northwest) corner of Calle Canal and Calle del Dr. Ignacio Hernández Macías. It’s almost picture-perfect, but it’s no surprise I’m recalling a similar motif by renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson at a Japanese funeral in 1965.

In 2008, UNESCO recognized the town as World Heritage Site, which is about three to four hours (one-way) with bus or car from México City.

I made the photo with the Canon 450D and 18-55 IS kit-lens on 4 March 2012 during my year-long RTW. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-8BG.

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