Welcome to edition 170 of the Pentax Forum's Picture of the Week. Thanks to jmschrei (Joe) for hosting last week!

This edition covers photos from June 12 - June 26, 2011. That lets you show off any shots you took last week but haven't processed until now. In other words, you can post your shots from this week AND last week.

POTW is a great place to show what you've been shooting day-to-day. It gives us all a chance to see what other members are up to with their Pentax (and Samsung) cameras in the parts of the world in which they live or have visited. We can share ideas, learn from one another, and have a good time.

So show us what you've seen in your little corner of the planet! Looking forward to seeing all of what's out there this week. A special welcome to all new members!

Again same rules as always:

1) No theme, just post your favourite pix.

2) Lets keep it to fewer than 6 images per post just so the thread doesn't get too big each week.

3) Any Pentax camera or Samsung SLR is fine, whether it's film, P&S, or DSLR.

4) Enter anything you shot last week or during this current week until the thread closes.

5) The current host will appoint the new host as an invitation via Private Message (PM). If possible, the new thread will be linked to the previous one and the new thread will start between Noon EDT and 5PM EDT on Sunday. If the thread doesn't start, please contact Peter Zack, Moderator via PM.

Here are the links to previous POTW threads:

1 Peter Zack, 2 Eaglerapids, 3 rmtagg, 4 Peter Zack, 5 daacon, 6 Bramela, 7 mtnbearhug, 8 dantuyhoa, 9 gawan,10 roentarre, 11 daacon, 12 Kris, 13 mtnbearhug, 14 SCGushue, 15 daacon, 16 maxwell1295, 17 dantuyhoa, 18 daacon, 19 maxwell1295, 19(2) daacon, 20 Bramela, 21 Syb, 22 maxwell1295, 23 maxwell1295, 24 dantuyhoa, 25 Gawan, 26 Peter Zack, 27 borno, 28 daacon, 29 gawan, 30 Damn Brit, 31 maxwell1295, 32 maxwell1295, 33 dantuyhoa, 34 daacon, 35 Peter Zack, 36 Damn Brit, 37 Borno, 38 Kevint, 39 Peter Zack, 40 Timbo13, 41 daacon, 42 daacon, 43 gawan, 44 dantuyhoa, 45 daacon, 46 Rense, 47 daacon, 48 Rense, 49 borno, 50 Rense, 51 daacon, 52 Peter Zack, 53 Peter Zack, 54 dadipentax, 55 David Whiteley, 56 planedriver, 57 daacon,58 Bramela, 59 daacon, 60 gawan, 61 virgilr, 62 daacon, 63 RickL, 64 Peter Zack, 65 Peter Zack, 66 Causey, 67 daacon, 68 Bramela, 69 georgeweb, 70 daacon, 71 seacapt, 72 daacon, 73 AOski, 74 Rense, 75 eccs19, 76 daacon, 77 xs400, 78 daacon, 79 Bramela, 80 borno, 81 legacyb4, 82 daacon, 83 gawan, 84 Rense, 85 Peter Zack, 86 davef, 87 davef, 88 xjjohnno, 89 Bramela , 90 Peter Zack, 91 daacon, 92 stevebrot, 93 reeftool, 94 jezza323, 95 oldschool, 96 Iris, 97 Rense, 98 planedriver, 99 xs400, 100 Peter Zack, 101 Netuser, 102 Photolady, 103 Tamia, 104 Irishwhite, 105 Ramseybuckeye, 106 xjjohnno, 107 Bumbibop, 108 JeffJS, 109 Tpeace, 110 Nomad, 111 Photolady, 112 rparmar, 113 Peter Zack, 114 casil403, 115 Tamia , 116 JeffJS, 117 bbluesman, 118 Clou, 119 ruggiex, 120 Jimbow007, 121 jmschrie, 122 VaughnA , 123 pop4, 124 casil403, 125 woof, 126 twitch, 127 stevebrot, 128 ohce, 129 jmschrei, 130 photolady, 131 photolady, 132 bbluesman, 133 rparmar, 134 reeftool, 135 reeftool, 136 Oldschool, 137 xjjohonnol, 138 KarenH, 139 Rense, 140 daacon, 141 Tamia, 142 JeffJS, 143 bbluesman, 144 fotaki, 145 fotaki, 146 Woof, 147 Bramela, 148 Bramela, 149 Tamia, 150 Nomad, 151 Clou, 152 drugal, 153 rparmar, 154 Nomad, 155 jmschrei, 156 noelcmn, 157 noelcmn, 158 rwfarnell, 159 ramseybuckeye 160 christophleipzig, 161 JeremytheIndian, 162 SpecialK, 163 emetcalf, 164 emetcalf, 165 stevebrot, 166 rparmar, 167 Mattt, 168 JeffJS,169 jmschrei, 170 fotaki
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[JeffJS]

Jeff....nice macro's. What lens please ?

Thank you.

They were both done with an FA77 on the 1.7x AF adapter.

[noelcmn]

John, thanks for taking on the hosting duties again. Love that first post of yours.
And as usual there are very interesting shots coming through. Been busy with the WPD-WOrld Pentax Day, only to discover that for some reason my K200D has registered all the dates as teh 19th and I cannot post some of the photos I had hope to post. Well, I can at least post some of them here.

Plethora Red Hot Pokers, or Aloe flowers.


Oh Dear


There's a brave new world out there


We had a solar eclipe last week, which lasted a few hours too. Started at a place, taking some shots, moved elsewhere for the actual eclipse, only to discover I left my tripod at the previous place. I was not pleased with myself. Tried anyway, to get some shots, with Sigma 170-500 + x2TC. This is one of the shots- cropped quote a bit.


Bad news for those living in the northern hemisphere-Spring has begun to make its arrival known already here in the southern hemisphere. Tomorrow is our winter solstice. Here is the evidence of Spring.


Cheerio
Noel

[rparmar]

Robin ....interesting abstracts you've created in your reimaginings blog. But isn't this photo-montage/photo-compositing by another name ?

No doubt! There is nothing new under the sun. Only something new for me.

[SpecialK]

SpecialK....can't make out what the Epitaph is all about but is that an original Shuttle craft - the fisheye makes it difficult to scale


Keep it rolling folks

The memorial just has names of serviceman, who I think are at that cemetery.

The shuttle is a model about 20 ft long in front of a building that houses some graves of aviation pioneers. That cemetery is off the end of the Bob Hope airport in Burbank, hence the jet above it.

[Nomad]

Here are a couple from today at the local animal farm

[Paleo Pete]

nice stuff, I like the kitten shot.

A few recent shots

Train at the local switching spot, it's almost always parked here. Taken with M42 Lentar 135mm at f8.



Click image to view larger size.

A Cardinal. Vivitar 200mm M42 at f8



Click image to view larger size.

Managed to get the same bird in the air, not great but I think it's a pretty cool shot anyway.



Click image to view larger size.

One of the best shots yet of a Redwing Blackbird. This one got really close, maybe 20 feet. Vivitar 200 again at f8.



Click image to view larger size.

Female Bluebird looking into her nest. Vivitar 200 at f8.



Click image to view larger size.

Been spotting a lot of young birds - Barn Swallows, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Mockingbird, Sparrows and this Tree Swallow, most likely raised in the same nest the Bluebird is using now, Tree Swallows were using it a few weeks ago, I watched the pair swap places several times. Now Bluebirds are in it.



Click image to view larger size.

All but the Cardinal and train were taken on Sunday at the same general location. Cardinal was a few days ago, train was last week.

[JeffJS]

[fotaki]

Noel....nice set of varied photos. The Aloe's must be spectacular to eyeball. Love the kitten and you did very well with the hand-held eclipse.

Nomad...nice shots especially the little Bear cub.

Pete...some great bird shots from you - as usual. I recall your recent comments about suffering discomfort for your hobby. Good stuff doesn't come easy obviously.

[fotaki]

No doubt! There is nothing new under the sun. Only something new for me.

I'm also interested in re-working some of my past work. Had a thought you may have discovered some new magic technique.

[noelcmn]

Thanks Paleo Pete and Fotaki.
Not hand held-rather precariously perched on my camera bag (the soft kind) with remote shutter release. Coul donly take some shots when the eclipse was diagnally visible. Once i moved overhead, precarious won and I gave up.

[xjjohnno]

John, thanks for hosting this week's POTW. Some excellent pics coming in from all points of the globe.
Street pics around Melbourne.

[rparmar]

I'm also interested in re-working some of my past work. Had a thought you may have discovered some new magic technique.

The real magic always resides in exactly the same place... the mind. This is simply a law of our kind. Applying it to photography one needs to find new ways to think through old problems -- and by "think" I certainly do not mean only analytical thinking.

The surrealists were engaged in that exercise as a matter of course, and I still refer back to their methods... though they were predominantly literary they can be applied to other forms. W.S. Burroughs came up with the next innovation, though he was kind and credited Brion Gysin. Cut-up, punch-in methods etc. were implemented already by him on computer and by others (me, for example) some decades later. Doing so now is trivial: a research project that involved a months of coding I can replicate in an hour.

The trick today might be the inverse: how to get away from the computer. Going back to physical collaging is refreshing. It might be easier done in Photoshop but the results would not be the same. In this case I restricted myself to not cutting and not damaging the original items. At the end of the shoot they all went back to their original locations in my home. (This is also an interest of mine, a reliance on the personal and domestic, now that such things are uncool.)

It's intriguing to see what connections the mind creates between items thrown together at hazard.


the triangular man




fuses from heaven




shadow of the vacuum

[xs400]

Robin, those 2 images are great. Nicely done. Excellent Idea, thanks for posting.

BTW, that vacuum tube has a bent pin. I still remember replacing bad vacuum tubes on old radios (Yes, I'm old).

[fotaki]

The real magic always resides in exactly the same place... the mind. This is simply a law of our kind. Applying it to photography one needs to find new ways to think through old problems -- and by "think" I certainly do not mean only analytical thinking.

....(SNIP)....

It's intriguing to see what connections the mind creates between items thrown together at hazard.

I see where you are going with this - using totally the power of the mind. As you say some intriguing images you've produced.

[fotaki]

.........

BTW, that vacuum tube has a bent pin. I still remember replacing bad vacuum tubes on old radios (Yes, I'm old).

Oh dear, that includes me.