Peeking Out

This otter stuck his head out after a slumber. You might be thinking why are some of the animals a sleep? It is because I went early in the morning and they probably just woke up from sleeping overnight. I like this picture because I can see only the head poking out from the rock.

Unexpected Visitor

This hummingbird was not part of the zoo. The flowers that are scattered around the zoo help to bring them in. I had seen several of them earlier but I never had enough time a take a picture. Just after we passed the giraffe exhibit there was a flower patch and a hummingbird swooped in and took a seat on the branch. Then seconds after I took the picture it flew away just like that.

Hungry Bear

Koala bears sleep over 22 hours a day. The reason why is because the bears have a special chemical that helps them digest foods not digestible by humans and mammals. They have to sleep to recharge and have enough energy to digest that chemical. I was lucky enough to see both of the male koalas awake and eating. Something that happens only 2 hours of the day.

Cheetah Stripes

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world, they can run up to 61 miles per hour. The main reason why cheetahs can run so fast is that they have a hyper flexible spine. Unlike ours, a Cheetahs spine can bend and flex in almost any direction. Another helpful feature is the black markings on their face. Just like we wear eye black, cheetahs have there's built always on. This helps to improve their vision and reduce the glare from the sun.

Stare

This six foot tall, 135-pound giraffe might seem old to us but she is only 3 weeks old. Another way you can tell that she is young is by looking at the other giraffes in the habitat. The other giraffes are significantly taller and older looking. She might be tall to us humans but to the other giraffes, she is tiny.

Scouting the Area

Meerkats scout the area every place that they go, whether they are in the wild or the zoo. This meerkat was on guard when a plane flew by. The meerkat stared at the plane until it flew away and there was no more danger. The meerkats have a special system for recognizing dangers. There are different sounds for dangers from the air, land, and even from water.

Sleepy Eyed

This elephant was sleeping standing up when we walked by its exhibit. This is a younger and you can tell by the size of the tusks, this elephant doesn't have any, and the size of the ears. The smaller that the tusks and ears are, the younger that the elephant is. I wonder how they sleep in daylight, does the light not interfere with their sleeping?

Lion Fight

These two sea lions were fighting over something. It could be over food, territory, or a mate. They were fighting for at least 20 minutes and were still fighting when I left. It was a very intense fight, but I would guess that the sea lion on the right would win because he looks very fierce.

Earth's Gifts

The best thing about the sun is that it provides light, heat, and amazing sunsets for us. I have captured sunsets on streets, through trees, and through windows but never have I taken a picture of a sunset on a beach. The bright sun made some clouds orange and others a dark gray. To cap off the picture, there is a boat cruising by.

Land and Sea

During a fabulous sunset, this seagull flew down to rest on this rock in front of me. There was a fence making sure I didn't fall off of the end of the cliff but with my new stronger and more powerful lens, I was able to capture a close up. The seagull with one eye on the sea and one on the land.

Oceanside Pier

Going out from the land is this pier. The pier has multiple cranes and other buildings on it. Upon internet research, I found out that this pier is used to study the ocean and coast. The cranes might be used to pull things off of boats or out of the ocean. The buildings might be used to hold and examine the things found on the boat or in the ocean.

Fish Finder

I have traveled to California, the last three pictures have also been from California, and went to the beach to swim and take pictures. While walking toward the north, I spotted several birds in the water trying to find food. I stopped and took a picture then walked to find even more things to photograph.

Rolling Waves

The beach has many different objects and things to photograph. I chose to take pictures of many of these objects and decided to show the wave picture today. I held down the shutter and took pictures of the whole wave. I thought this was the best wave picture. The wave was about to break and the top was already rolling.

Seagulls

Seagulls wade in the water waiting for their meal to come. I was able to walk within ten feet of the bird before he moved farther away. As I approached the seagull, a wave rolled over and flooded the land. The water now makes it seem like the seagull is floating on the water. 

Littered Beach

Though some beaches have trash littered all over them, this beach had seaweed, rocks, and sea shells. The sand might not be the whitest but it provided for a clean background for these colorful littered beach objects.

Quack Quack

On this cloudy and once rainy day, I visited a park and spotted a family of ducks sitting around. This young duck had something wrong with his left leg and couldn't walk normally. He must have been calling to his parents to help him as I moved in closer to take pictures of him.

Drip Drop

This water starts off from the clouds above then when the rain falls it has to go somewhere. It travels into the ground then into the sewers and pipes. This is the deposest of those water that came from the sewers. This then dropped onto the concrete then into the pond. It's the water cycle!

Lakeside Reflection

The smooth waters of the lake provided for a crystal clear reflection. The big green trees are mirrored almost perfectly onto the brown waters of the lake. In fact, the lake is so clear that you can see the different shades of green that are reflected in the lake.

Flying Flowers

While walking around the neighborhood searching for photos, I came across this bunch of flowers that were extended from the main branch. I walked beneath it and looked up again into the gray sky. The sky provided for a nice clean, not counting the tree, background.

Blooming Time

Some of these flowers have bloomed and some have stayed the same and not bloomed up. The time is right for them to bloom. There is probably enough water, there is defiantly enough sunlight, there are bees to pollinate the flower, and there is oxygen. What is holding them back? Is it just not the right time? Who knows.

Sprouting to the Sky

As I looked for interesting and new sights to capture I can across this pine tree. As I started taking pictures of it I came underneath the pine needles and put the dark gray sky behind the green needles. The picture came out beautifully with the gray background and the even darker pine needles to counteract the background.

Droplets

After a summer night came the dew and some light rain. Most of the rain had fallen off of the leaf and into the sewers but a few droplets stayed behind. These droplets that stayed behind were all over the leaf. I tried to get the other leaves in a blur and focus on the leaf that had the most droplets of water on them.

Summer Colors

These flowers have the colors of summer. The yellow and orange flowers represent the sun and heat of the summer and the white represent the clouds, which people long for in the hot summer to cool us off. I zoomed up to these flowers and captured them in their prime.

Veins

Veins are tubes that form circulation in every living thing. Leaves use their veins to move objects in and out of their leaves, or in this case the leaf. This leaf has many veins that travel throughout it. There are two main goals that the vein does. One is to support the leaf and the other is two transport materials such as water, food energy, and minerals.

Race

I walked into a game of two Squirrels racing up and down the tree. Once I too stepped close, this Squirrel stopped racing and stared me down. He looked at me from the time I arrived to the time I had even walked away. Then the two Squirrels continued their racing game once again.

Air

The best thing that plants and green things do for us is to make oxygen. Without plants, humans would probably not survive. If we did happen to survive we would most likely be living on man-made oxygen. It would be like us living in the ocean. Not only do plants help to give us oxygen but they take out carbon dioxide. A gas that we could live without.

Nectar

It starts off as a bud. As the stem, air and sun help the bud, the spouts and blooms into a flower. In the center of almost all flowers is nectar. This is the way that bees make their honey. They take the nectar mix it with some liquids and there honey is. There might be a step or two in the way but this is the simplified version.

Spotty Walkway

To help save the walkers from the Texas heat, trees were put overhead to help cool off the walkway. The trees help to block some light but not all of the light is blocked. This is good because if all of the light is blocked then it might be too dark. The light let through also lets the people underneath see the clouds and the sun above.

Color

As the bright sun shone overhead the flowers were illuminated from the top making the tops bright purple if not white. The bright colors are then shone onto the Bee. The yellow Bee is slightly blended in because the bright yellow and white are some what the same making the Bee almost invisible. But it's not because it's the main object that is focused.

Sky Chapel

On SMU's campus is their church, Perkins Chapel. On the walkway up to the Chapel is beautiful purple flowers and benches. The dark purple flowers contrast the bright sky and light colored Chapel. This has the perfect light and dark contrast and the dark trees also help. They provide a dark background to help bring out the Chapel.

Flying High

I said yesterday that an American flag would be featured later and here it is. I waited for the wind to blow the flag across the camera, that took a really long time since the wind was blowing directly into me. I seized the very brief moment and I have this. I almost missed it because a started to leave and had given up hope. Remember though, anything with patience is possible even the wind changing directions.

White House

It might not be white or have the butlers and secret service, but this red-brown building has the columns and looks of the White House. It has the dome on top and has three floors. There is an American flag behind me, which will be featured later that makes it, even more, like the White House.

Old School

As this school, SMU has been around for 116 years. Some of the buildings are new and modern while others are more classical and some are old school. This more classical building has a walkway up to it's front pillars and tall door. Something else interesting about this picture is the two twin lightposts on the sides of the picture. They are symmetrical so that is nice but they are covering some of the windows which is not good.

Open Water

In the earlier parts of the day, around 10, there were no boats on the water. I was confused but then jumped on the chance that with no one around that lake would make for a cool picture. The clouds were yet again in my favor. They are just scattered randomly making the picture have different points to where your eye is drawn to. An added feature I didn't realize at the time but realize how wonderful it is now.

Pilot

The last time I checked, boats this smaller didn't have autopilot. I mean maybe some but not enough to drive, control, park the boat. This means that a human has to pilot the boat. In this picture, we were tied up to the boat but if we were on the lake at the time and this was the same picture, I think something would be wrong.

Moss

In the shady morning then the sunny afternoon is this rock covered in Moss. I took this picture in the afternoon so the light was on the rock. This meant that the sunlight was coming from behind the rock. For some people, it might be bad but I think this is actually good. The sunlight creates a shadow from the Moss adding some more character to the picture.

Lake Peephole

Peeping through a hole in the trees is the lake. On our side is the green grass and moss and then the tree create the door. Once you open the door you can see the lake, a few power lines, and a boat. I made the sky a bright white to counteract with the dark trees and grass. Looking through the peephole is an amazing view. You can see clear across the lake and it is one of the most pretty lakes I've seen.

Disappearing Sky

As the sun sets on this beautiful lake, the trees and lake houses made for the perfect bottom to the bright sunset up top. The sun was shining away from the trees which made the trees dark and some even black. I would like to thank the Whitehead's for inviting and hosting us, I gained some amazing pictures that I would never get anywhere else.

Nightfall

As I hinted yesterday, I am starting this series on a lake. I didn't have an underwater camera or a way to take pictures from above, but ground pictures are one of the most seen pictures. It was cloudy that night so the sun could sometimes go through and other times not. That is why some of the clouds are red and others are gray, some are being hit with the sun and the others are not.

Pollination

As this part of the Dallas Arts District comes to a close, I am going to open up a new category. This new category will feature water, a boat, and a place to put the boat on. Don't worry about the Dallas Arts District coming to a close because I will be going there and taking pictures all the way until April 2018. Just wait a minute or two and that series will be back.

Summer Flower

Most people think that bees only come out in the spring to make the flower bloom but they really are out between spring and the beginning of fall. Without bees, the Earth would become a dark and deoxygenated place. Bees help provide the Earth with oxygen since they keep the flowers alive. Without them, could you imagine what life would be like?

Honey

Honey is that sweet thing that we put on biscuits, bread, and anything else that needs something sweet to it. It takes around 22,700 bees to make honey. That might seem like a lot of bees, but if the queen makes 100,000-200,000 bees a year, does it seem like a lot now? This means that one colony of bees makes about 5 jars a year.

Summer

Nothing beats the Texas summer heat than some cold water. Still in the arts district, this park has a water feature, a tree 'house', and a play area. As I tried to get the pictures of the water, I was very aware of what the water might do. I tried extremely carefully to stay as far away as I could and not get my camera, or me, wet and I only got a few specs of water.

Closer Look

This is another example of looking closer. It only takes a few seconds to move closer to that object, but one look at that could change your life. You could look at a fountain or flower but try something weird or different and see what you can find. Maybe that one look could change your whole view on that object you looked at.

Rainbow Way


Above an entrance to a park is this multicolored arch. The architect of this didn't stop there with the cool features. They added the symmetrical, white beams to add even more interesting features to the arch. I wish I could have taken a picture from above but that would require a way to lift the camera and I didn't think that was the best.

Wrong Seat

As birds fly they get tired and they have to rest. This bird decided to rest on a chair and not a tree. First, the bird went to another chair but I walked too close and scared it to this chair. I crept up ever so slowly this time and was able to get this picture of a bird sitting in the wrong seat.

Through the Air

Most people only see the fountains as water shooting up from the ground but take a picture of that water and you are able to see the individual droplets of water. The water is not always as the eye can see it. Any person walking by this might just see a stream of water shooting up and then back down. The next time you're by a fountain, stop and take a closer look. It might be more than rising and falling water.

Ant's Eye View


Down on an Ant's level, is where the tree are towering above and humans are monsters. We always see from a Bird's eye view but almost never from the ground up. I wonder how big we are, or how big some of the Oak trees are to the ants. Those must seem enormous. Just think, we believe that some skyscrapers are tall. How do the Ants think of them?

Rainy Tree


In the same inch deep pool of water as the Sunny Tree, the rain had started to fall and the water started to ripple. This picture could not have been made if it wasn't for the sun and clouds. The sun was blocked and the clouds provided a clean gray background. If the sun had been out, the background would have been blue and bright white.

Protection

On the outside of another museum in the Dallas Arts District, is a guardian. Not your average human security guard but rather a marble carved Lion. This artist gave every piece of the Lion something that a real Lion might have. I wasn't able to go inside of the museum, but I captured the first thing that you would see, the guard 'dog'.