Welcome to Picture of the Week #259 covering 24 Mar 2013 through 07 Apr 2013.
Thanks to casil403 for taking on the hosting duties last week. If you would like to host next week please send me a PM, otherwise I will be asking you. POTW is a great spot to 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. We can share ideas, learn from one another, tell stories, and have a good time. There are just so many splendid photos out there so let's see them here at POTW 259!



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 records of 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, 216 jmschrei, 217 Exandr, 218 Noelcmn, 219 Noelcmn, 220 sergiu, 221 sergiu, 222 sergiu, 223 sergiu, 224 sergiu, 225 sergiu, 226 sergiu, 227 sergiu, 228 Davidw08, 229 reeftool, 230 reeftool, 231 cif, 232 mecrox, 233 mecrox, 234 glennbp, 235 glennbp, 236 pentaximus, 237 pentaximus, 238 pentaximus,239 Paul, 240 Nick Nero, 241 Arnold, 242 Arnold, 243 Arnold, 244 Arnold, 245 Nick Nero, 246 ramseybuckeye, 247 ramseybuckeye, 248 Douge, 249 Douge 250 Douge, 251 Dr Orloff, 252 lukulele, 253 lukulele, 254 nosliwmit, 255 nosliwmit, 256 nosliwmit, 257 casil403, 258 casil403

[Davidw0815]

StDevious - Great set! I like the vintage treatment of your images. Very dramatic skies!
kain - Not only the glasses are amazing in the image... Great capture!
casil403 - Love the shallow DOF in your images. Great work!
Pentaximus - Get set! Seems like you had a nice easter weekend.
noelcmn - Love the light in the first two images. Amazing captures!
paulh - Great set. I especially like the first one.
csmoore - Your images make me want to play with my flash as well. Beautiful low key work!
ramseybuckeye - Seems like you had a great trip - especially the shot of the bar is great.
Alamo5000 - amazing work you're presenting this week. My favorite image is the one of the blue flower.
lukulele - Sounds like you had quite an exciting weekend. Great shots!
wolfiegirl - Very cute baby! I know the problem with capturing a smiling baby: my 3 month old son really smiles a lot, but never when a camera is present...

Unfortunately I don't have anything to show here. Lately it's my fate that either I don't have time or the weather is really bad... Hopefully that's going to change this weekend because I've planned to make little photo excursion.
Have a great week,
David

[paulh]

@ramseybuckeye & david: Thanks for commenting - and thanks to all for another great batch of photos this week (so far)

[reeftool]

Its been a hectic past few days as I'm having surgery tomorrow for bone spurs in my foot and I've had a ton of stuff to get done before I'm laid up. I did get together for an Easter morning sunrise service which our church does every year on a local mountain top. It was a stunningly beautiful morning.

[mecrox]

Many thanks for hosting, David. Kites, Nashville, prayer flags, Easter ... a lot of things this week! Here are a few of mine, Just a trip to an old church near here dating from 1170, so Norman/Romanesque architecture at base with many later additions. Not sure anyone really knows what the "beak head" carvings by the door are meant to represent, but they are slightly sinister and unsettling. I used K5/K-01 mostly but the last shot is from my MX-1 - not a bad result from a camera with a small sensor.



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Last edited by mecrox; 04-04-2013 at 11:42 AM.

[noelcmn]

Thanks for hosting David!



Is that straight out of the camera or with lots of PP? Either way it's gorgeous!

@ csmoore - love that last green smoke shot!

@ casil - what gear do you use? such clarity and smooth bokeh on the wolfberry!

From this weekend.



It is so hard to capture her laughs and smiles. She does it all the time, but not often for the camera. It's almost like half the time they're only for me.... (least that's what i tell myself anyway... who says my photog skills need more work? )

She's just too gorgeous Wolfiegirl. Personally I found emotionally it was difficult to take shots of my son. especially when he smiled! moment lost.
BTW, some processing done, especially sharpening, exposure and colour. Not much but still. Thanks for your kind comments.

[Runegutt123]

Close to where I live

[Sagitta]

Figure I'll share this one from the 26th. Its about the best I've shot in the timeframe involved.

[jmschrei]

Thanks for hosting David. I have not posted here lately but I can see there are many wonderful contributions already. Here are a few shots from the past weekend that look like autumn or winter rather than spring:

K-5 + DA 15 Ltd



MX-1



MX-1

[tahoejeepmom]

I want to play.

[alamo5000]

Alamo5000 - amazing work you're presenting this week. My favorite image is the one of the blue flower.
David

Thank you! Those are not just any old blue flowers.

Those are Bluebonnets from Texas. In spring they bloom and are everywhere. They literally come in huge fields as far as the eye can see sometimes. We also have native red flowers (called Indian Paintbrushes) and yellow flowers as well... so when all three of these mix up it makes for very beautiful scenery

[ChatMechant]

With the k-01 and da 55-300.


Thinking about picking up the da*50-135 or maybe the 60-250 but dang this little guy still brings the goods.

[noelcmn]

Here's some from my visit to Rietvlei Nature Reserve. Saw this rather large Preying Mantis-length about as long as my hand. It sat quietly contemplating while I shot of a couple of shots.




Here's the size


Urban leisure

[nosliwmit]

Wow, some great photos this week! In particular I love Noelcmn's mantis, Casil403's prayer flag, Alamo5000's flowers and ChatMechant's lily(?). And I think I've seen a lot of photos of Norway lately that make me want to visit!

I spent a lot of time this week going through photos I took the previous week on a trip to Chiriqui province in western Panama (most of Panama's produce and coffee is grown there). Saw an amazing variety of colorful birds including the elusive Resplendent Quetzal. The males have very long tail feathers. Used my DA 55-300mm lens quite a bit but I don't very often get results as lovely as ChatMachant's... All of these were with the 55-300 though, except the red buds, which was my F 50 1.4. The second photo is a quetzal, the fourth is, I think, a flame-breasted tanager and the rest are just other things I saw...

Hope you're all having a great weekend...