Welcome to another round of Picture of the Week. This is edition #279 covering 01 September through 15 September.

Many thanks to all who have hosted the previous POTW threads.

POTW is a great spot to show off any shots you take in the upcoming week, or last week that you haven't processed until now. In other words, you can post your shots from this week AND last week.

Same rules:

1) No theme, just post your favorite pix.
2) 5 or less images per post just so the thread doesn't get too big.
3) Any Pentax or Samsung camera, film or digital.

The current host will invite a new host 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, 259 Davidw0815, 260 Davidw0815, 261 ruggiex, 262 ruggiex, 263 mecrox, 264 pentaximus, 265 pentaximus, 266 SpecialK, 267 SpecialK, 268 filoxophy, 269 mecrox, 270 mecrox, 271 mecrox, 272 Paleo Pete, 273 Paleo Pete, 274 geomez, 275 geomez, 276 geomez, 277 mecrox, 278 mecrox

A warm welcome to everyone: I hope you all have a great week, so do please join this thread and share your recent photographs. It's a great way to appreciate what everyone is up to and how they see it all around the world. Here in the UK, the long run of summer weather has broken and - so far - it's been a week of sunshine, showers and long country walks.



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[mtux]

beautiful shots mecrox,
for long time I've been busy in Single challenge,
so here is some shots from yesterday, I visited some paddy fields.

[ramseybuckeye]

Mark, thanks for hosting and starting off with those two shots. I love you old Oxford photos, but these are excellent too but just really different.

Mehrdad, two excellent pics, I really like the paddy fields, something I've never saw, great composition.

[SpecialK]

Tall ships festival in Dana Point.

[mtux]

Thanks Tom, your are shot is stunning, the reflections are really awesome.

SpecialK, your first and second shots are nice, kids in the second one brought an smile on my face

[Paleo Pete]

Some of my recent shots

50mm and extension tube, M series f1.7 version



just a 50mm, the A series this time.



Gotta do some work on my 200mm Vivitar again, it should get a better shot than this...and it's not focusing to infinity, only about 150 feet...

[SpecialK]

Banning Stagecoach Days...

Waiting for the stick-pony race.


Shotgun Lil.


Stagecoach.


Bubble boy. He would not shoot more when I asked him to.


Gunfight skit.

[StevenMatchett]

I love sunsets

[StephenHampshire]

Taken on a photo charter on the Swanage Railway - a day of poor weather redeemed by the evening light!
Evening at Corfe | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Paleo Pete]

No macro this time, just the 50mm f1.7



Got lucky and caught one flying



Gotta throw in the butterfly I guess..

[nosliwmit]

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've posted on POTW. Saw these two on my dog walk the other day. Had to dash back up to my apartment to get my camera and fortunately they were still there when I got back. One is obviously a kingfisher of some sort but not sure about the other. Snail kite maybe? Need to break out the Birds of Panama book... The raptor photo was taken at ISO 3200 but I think it's the sharpest photo I got all day...

[SpecialK]

Taken on a photo charter on the Swanage Railway - a day of poor weather redeemed by the evening light!

Almost like a painting :-)

[mecrox]

I love the attention to detail in your two shots, @mtux, especially the skies, the colours and the long perspective.

Lots of brass from @ramseybuckeye, that must have been a sight.

Some good stagecoach fun from @SpecialK. Shotgun Lil gets my vote. That chap on the ground looks a bit unwell. Must have eaten a bad oyster!

A super atmospheric sunset from @StevenMatchett and a beautifully lit and framed photograph from @Stephen.

More great macro shots from @Paleo Pete. I love the bees (?); bees are so hard to resist especially bumblebees. The last shot in your second set is just like the skipper butterflies we have here, though the ones local to me are a bit browner by the look of it. They are very active beasties around all the blackberry bushes here when the season for them is on.

These are two fabulous birds to have seen on your walk and to share with us, @nosliwmit. There are Eurasian kingfishers here but I've never seen one locally. There are red kites and buzzards here out in the countryside but I've never got close to one.

Anyway, lots of different views from around the world this week. So sorry I haven't been in more often but it's been a bit hectic here and no photography since last weekend.

Plus, we need someone to take over the thread for next week. Any volunteers?

[noelcmn]

Thanks for taking on Hosting duties again Mecrox, and as usual some excellent stuff here. Mtux, I just love those paddy fields. Would love to see that one day. SpecialK- a big grin on my face at "Big John". and there I thought he was buried in an old mine shaft .

Saw some rather large water pipes during one of many travels around Johannesburg,and they presented an opportunity for some shots.




And then onto the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens.

This fellow was wonderful to see- completely relaxed, and allowed several shots before the arrival some people got her to fly off. I got some more of her a bit later. Female Cape Rock Thrush.


Spring is making its presence seen


I am yet to identify this fruit, I thought it was Marula, but it is not.


Some of the flowers




Bird life is abundant in the Park. I was there specifically to catch a glimpse of the pair of breeding Black Eagles. The female, completely out of season, has laid two eggs, after the first (in season) batch failed to hatch. Great excitment about that. While looking out for them, I saw these just above the Eagles nest.


Here was a half hearted attempt to get one of the Eagles- this is the male, the female had discreetly and completely unnoticed, returned to the nest. I'm sure they have a ploy here-I was hoping to get one of them as they approached the nest, but got distracted by the male flying around. A ploy-very clever. I will return to see if I can be more alert this time. And also with the 170-500 Sigma Lens. This with the FAJ 70-300.

[SpecialK]

.

Nice series.