The 2012 Countdown - Part 5

The 2012 Countdown - Part 5

As 2012 winds down, I hope it’s been a happy, healthy, and enlightening trip around the sun! This year has been personally rewarding for me as I saw my daughter married this past month as well as having my son get engaged at the wedding reception.

Photographically, the second half of the year was slow as wedding plans and my teaching demanded more of my time. I was not planning to post my annual countdown, as I did not feel I had shot enough to warrant a year-end retrospective. However, after sitting down and looking over my 2012 images, I have to say I am pleased with the results and have changed my mind.

The rankings of the Top 25 of 2012 came from a formula I created that takes into account the feedback received from Facebook, Twitter, and 550px.com as well as the traffic the image generated on my Blue Lion Photos website. I hope you enjoy seeing a few familiar shots mixed in with some you might have missed in the past year.

Part 5 of the 2012 Countdown (# 6 - #9)

#9 - Bluebonnet Siesta

#8 - Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron

#7 - Emerald Tree Boa

#6 - Hydrangea

Thanks for visiting and spending a few minutes here --- Tomorrow I'll post images 2 - 5 here! Hope to see you back! Feel free to share the 2012 countdown with you friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+! 

Please comment below & let me know your favorite of the images above! 

THE TOP TEN BLUE LION PHOTOS OF 2011 - Post 3 of 6

Welcome to Installment 3 of the Top Ten most Viewed Blue Lion Photos of 2011. Today you get to see the 5^th and 6^th most popular images of the year.

NUMBER 6: “BeeBonnet”

This image of a bee pollinating a bluebonnet in Allen, Texas is one of my personal favorites as it evokes memories of one of my favorite, secret bluebonnet patches. I enjoyed many visits to this patch until I discovered the city of Allen recently built a “Hydropark” on this very spot. This coming spring I will just have to spend some extra time trying to discover another “secret” bluebonnet patch close to home!

NUMBER 5: “My ‘Bluebird’ of Happiness”

The most common statement I hear when people see this image is, “That’s not REAL is it?” Of course it is real. It’s a Lilac Breasted Roller I had the great fortune to shoot when I was in Botswana along the Chobe River. These beautiful birds are relatively common there, but that does not take away from their stunning coloration. I always love that this image helps to educate people about a creature they often never imagined could exist!

Please return tomorrow to view the third installment of this series where I will share the 3^rd and 4^h most popular Blue Lion Photos of 2011!

Previous Installments:

Post #1

Post #2

Nature's Nice Surprise!

Here in North Texas we are being pleasantly surprised with a very good local crop of wildflowers. Late winter predictions were pretty dismal as we are dealing with a profound drought throughout much of the state this year.However, it seems the the area around Ennis, Texas is having a stellar year, and this year's month long Bluebonnet Festival is a rousing success. I have been there the past two weekends to shoot this year's carpets of bluebonnets (lupines for you out of staters!) and Indian paintbrushes and the views have been very rewarding. I 'm heading back on Saturday to see the downtown area fully decked out for the actual festival events and to shoot some areas that were not quite in prime form last weekend. If you are within a day's drive of Ennis, I strongly recommend you visit in the next two weeks! You will not be disappointed! You can use the Bluebonnet Festival link above for detailed directions from the folks in charge of things in Ennis!

Click in any image to see it in the original gallery

Visit Skywatch Friday for more stellar skies!

Wandering along the Bluebonnet Trail

Bluebonnet Carpet

Bluebonnet Pond

One of a Kind

Don't Fence Me In

Springtime Palette

Click in any image to see it in the original gallery



Enjoy more floral fun at TODAY'S FLOWERS

This was a small slice of MY WORLD

This weekend I had the great pleasure of visiting the town of Ennis, Texas. Enis is the home of the Ennis Bluebonnet Festival and the Bluebonnet Trail. This celebration of the blooming of the State Flower of Texas lasts for the entire month of April and they have been lucky to have a great crop of flowers on hand to start off the month. According to all predictions, the drought we've seen here in north and central Texas was supposed to really put a downer on this year's crop of bluebonnets, but if this weekend is any indication, the season looks to be pretty healthy! On this first weekend of the festival, the crowds were small and the roads that make up the "trail" were well marked. I strongly recommend visiting the website for the festival and getting an up to date map with current conditions and specific areas with the best blooms as these will change throughout the month.  Enjoy my sampling of this weekend's Texas Color. I may well return there nest weekend!

Spring has Sprung! (Finally!)

Yesterday we took my daughter back to college after her spring break and spent almost 8 hours on I-35 between Dallas and Austin, Texas. We were sitting  in the car at 4:22 pm local time when the moment of the Vernal Equinox passed. While the scenery along the interstate was less than inspiring, we did pass by a patch of our beloved state flower, the Texas Bluebonnet which reminded me that there is indeed a lot to look forward to here in Texas come springtime. The expectation for this year's crop of wild bluebonnets is not good as we had a relatively dry autumn, a ridiculously cold winter, and a drought stricken last two months.

In hope that there are good bluebonnet images to be had this spring I am posting these from last year in the hopes that those of you not fortunate enough to bein Texas during the early spring can enjoy a bit of Texas in far away lands!

Bluebonnet Hill

Bluebonnet Sky

Beebonnet

Click in any of the images to view it in the original gallery.

This is a post to the MY WORLD Meme

Pretend you did not read my words above and this qualifies for WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ;-)

If you like more flowers, visit TODAY'S FLOWERS

Beebonnet

Last year I was lucky enough to get word of a small (several acre) patch of bluebonnets just a couple miles from my home here in  in North Texas. I spent portions of several days visiting this patch hoping to get some good landscapes of these iconic Texas flowers (bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas and Texans are rightly proud of this!) I was successful at composing some pleasing landscapes, but I also was able to get a few good macro shots of individual blossoms. This image, titled "Beebonnet" is my favorite of the bunch as the bee was a most willing and cooperative "model"!  

Beebonnet

Allen, Texas

Click in image to see it in the original gallery

Enjoy other fun animals at the CAMERA CRITTERS meme
Getinto a Blue mood at BLUE MONDAY.

MACRO FLOWERS SATURDAY & FLOWERS ON SATURDAY are also a great places to get your "floral fix"!

Want more Macros? Give MACRO MONDAY  a try.