Welcome to the new round of Picture of the Week. Thanks to Bruce for hosting last week. Let's see plenty of great postings over the next week.

This week covers May 20 to June 3, 2012

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, 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 bluestringer, 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 noelcm, 205 Davidw0815, 206 Davidw0815, 207 cif, 208 ramseybuckeye, 209 paulh, 210 Oldschool, 211 SpecialK, 212 mecrox, 213 Pentaximus, 215 bramela

[jmschrei]

Here are a few shots to start the week off.

[Bramela]

thanks for taking up the running, Joe, and a couple of nice spring day shots to get things going.

In contrast, a couple of rainy day shots:

[Zorglub]

We could do with a bit of rain soon, too hot for my taste at the moment.

--

From a visit to an old barn that hid many lovely scenes just waiting to be captured. Both on a tripod, ISO80, K5, DA 21







This one is for Bruce who taught me the wonders of flower photography during the Single in X challenge - always love your shots!

---

Last edited by Zorglub; 05-27-2012 at 02:14 PM.

[Bramela]

I love that first shot inside the workshop. There is much interest in that, well done!

[reeftool]

Last summer I came across some nesting Blue Herons while hiking in the mountains. The birds were just learning to fly and leaving the nest for nearby tree limbs. That was in early July so I decided to drop in this past weekend to see if they were back. I only found one nest. Last year there were three. They are nesting in a beaver pond in a dammed up brook that flows into the Ausable River along the bottom of Whiteface Mountain. The floods from Hurricane Irene did a lot of damage but the beavers and the pond are still there. She has 3 very young chicks. There was only one place where I could get close enough to get shots and still had to crop a lot.



The beaver pond. The nests are in the trees to the back of the pond.


The view from the beaver dam. I eventually climbed along the lower side of the mountain to get closer.


A pretty tight crop. I need to get a tripod or monopod up there. I was kind of straddling a small tree on the edge of a cliff. I'm going to try getting back up there soon.

The beaver pond was shot with the 18-55 kit and the herons with a Sigma 70-300, all with a K5.

[xjjohnno]

Joe, thanks for hosting this week's POTW.
Some bird pics from a walk in the park.

[jmschrei]

Nice start to the week everyone.
Beautiful flowers Bruce, I always think that rain adds to floral shots.
Torben (Zorglub), that barn definitely yielded up some treasures, thanks for sharing them.
Richard (reeftool), those heron shots are amazing, even with a tight crop they came out with a lot of detail.
xjjohnno, a nice bird series - the parrots in the wild are always a treat for those of us who only see such birds in pet shops!

Some more shots from this weekend. Although our spring is late compared to many others we are several weeks ahead of our usual schedule this year and it is such a treat to see life return to the land.

[noelcmn]

Joe, thanks for taking on hosting duties. Your appreciation of Spring and summer is tangible, which I would guess is pretty understandable seeing that you have so many months of winter. My experiences of people living in the Northern Hemisphere (and this is from the two occasions I have been in Europe) is that they appreciate summer so much more that we do here in South Africa, probably because our winters are so mild, and temperatures reaching 23 degrees during the day. And some great shots coming through once again. Bruce, I am continue to be amazed at the similar flowers you have in Australia and South Africa. A contribution from me, an eclectic one.
Going it alone


Locust trying to hide from me.


A drop of sunshine


Drops of Jupiter


Satelite dishes


Nelson Mandela Bridge, erected in honour of our first Democratic State President and world respected icon.


Have a wonderful week everyone.

[ramseybuckeye]

Joe, thanks for hosting and you've gota beautiful starts so far, excellent images all!

not much yet, I took some yesterday that are still in the camera, this one from Sunday:

[ruggiex]

Thank you for hosting!

Just a couple random images from the weekend.

[lukulele]

Thanks for leading us onward Joe. Blue Ridge(Parkway) Music Center trails south of Galax, Va. and some Alleghany County, NC Farmer's Market visitors.

[pentaximus]

Wow. Many great shots already. The heron nest is just fabulous! Stopped in at my mom's house while she was out of town and took a few. I had the Rokinon 85/1.4 on my K-x, so that is the lens for all of these. The shelf bird shots are all with the paltry available light of early evening and all are wide open @ f1.4 and iso 1600. The garden shots are all iso 100 and f1.4 except for the flowers, which are at f2.







Does anyone recognize the books on the shelf here?



And a few shots from the garden:









Keep on clicking those shutters, everybody!

[smf]

Comments and criticism are most welcome (by e-mail or Personal message, if you prefer not to post in this thread). Thanks!

Handheld Pentax K100D at ISO 400. I think all were made with the SMC Pentax-DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm with Polaroid Studio Series .43X Wide Angle Lens attached.
Another photo of an ant in the floral setting is in the following thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/weekly-photo-challenges/187643-project-52...-backyard.html

[Oldschool]

We spent the past weekend in Washington DC and visited Arlington National Cemetery....