Welcome to edition #209 of the Pentax Forums' Picture of the Week. Thanks to ramseybuckeye for a nice job of hosting edition #208.

This edition covers photos from 31 March - 14 April 2012. 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 favorite 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, Mirrorless, 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 xjjohonno, 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, 171 xs400, 172 TOUGEFC, 173 TOUGEFC, 174 Warped, 175 MaryAD, 176 Davidw0815, 177 baro-nite, 178 baro-nite, 179 pentaximus, 180 lukulele, 181 lukulele, 182 rob 1234, 183 lukulele, 184 lukulele, 185 pentaximus, 186 ramseybuckeye, 187 ramseybuckeye, 188 StDevious, 189 Free Soul, 190 Clou, 191 brvnara, 192 Pentaximus, 193 Noelcmn, 194 Noelcmn, 195 GmcarsMAN, 196 jmschreii,197 wolfiegirl, 198 xjjohnno, 199 Arn , 200 Peter Zack, 201 bluestringer, 202 cif, 203 RollsUp, 204 noelcmn, 205 Davidw0815, 206 Davidw0815, 207 cif
208 ramseybuckeye

[paulh]

Here's a couple random shots to start things off...

My wife's little potted cactus finally bloomed after 5 years!




Light patterns on the ceiling from a glass lamp:

[SpecialK]

Thanks for hosting!

[ramseybuckeye]

Thanks for hosting Paul, that cactus is beautiful, I hope it bloom more often for you now that it has started. Better go walk the dog.

Kyle, you find the coolest looking places. But, what is that in the fourth pic?

Chipping Sparrow:




This wasn't quite pulled of right:

[lukulele]

Thanks for hosting Paul. A week in the mountains comes to an end.

[xjjohnno]

Thanks for hosting this week's POTW Paul, for some weird and wacky reason your pics are not visible to me at the moment.
Popped into the Botanical Gardens so some pics.

[noelcmn]

Thanks for hosting Paul. My apologies to Ramseybuckeye, that I missed contributing to his POTW last week, caught up with processing the over 2000 images from my trip to the Kruger National Park. I'll post some of htem here, that is the ones I had hoped to post on last weeks POTW. They do not exactly fall into the time frame for this weeks POTW, but I hope yo'u'll accept these. I'm merely posting them to show off the fantastic wildlife life that is found in Kruger Park, especially birds.

Vulture


Wattled Plover


Lilac Breasted Roller a bird whose feathers the famous King Shaka of the Zulu nation used in his royal head gear.


Juvenile Gabar Goshawk


Dragonfly


Huge tusker coming out of the riverbed


Mire to follow

[noelcmn]

European Bee Eater


Yellow billed stork


Martial Eagle

[jmschrei]

Thanks for hosting Paul and it looks like this POTW is off to a fine start. Nice weather and a little time off for the holiday weekend has allowed me to get out with my camera more. It may not look like spring with ice still on the reservoir but I found my first wild flowers yesterday (and they were not dandelions!)

[SpecialK]

Kyle, you find the coolest looking places. But, what is that in the fourth pic?

That is the former swimming pool in what is now the Peter Strauss (the actor) Ranch State Park in Cornell, on Mulholland Drive, west of the Hollywood hills. Has a ranch house, a few other buildings, a stone tower, small dam, hiking trail, and that peacock. It's across the street from those other buildings above.

[cif]

Thanks for hosting Paul

[Davidw0815]

Happy Easter, everyone!

Roadside Easter decoration

[paulh]

Thanks everyone for your contributions so far!

SpecialK: You always seem to find the most interesting locations in SoCal - another nice set.
Tom: nice ones - your macro work is getting pretty impressive!
lukulele: beautiful flowers & I love those rustic settings (and shaky-looking buildings!)
xjjohnno: those are some exotic-looking flowers - esp like that first shot.
noel: great wildlife shots - Kruger National Park is on my bucket list!
Joe: great to see Spring finally made its way to your neighborhood - great scapes & clouds, as usual!
cif: nice set of B&W shots - you seem to find so many unique and unusual scenes.
David: happy Easter to you, too - nice colored-egg bokeh!

[Oldschool]

Great start to the week. Thanks for hosting, Paul. Here are some of the sights on 5th Ave. on an Easter Sunday....

[ramseybuckeye]

European Bee Eater

I saw a piece on television about this bird that just amazed me. They showed in slow motion how they catch bees, and in pretty much one motion whack the bees against something to knock the stinger off. They were shooting them at the other end of their migration, I think it was in the Ukraine. Gorgeous birds and fabulous photo!