To conserve, restore, and create healthy landscapes – That’s the mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Southwest Austin. Through innovative research, the center focuses on showing the beauty and usefulness of native plants in everyday life. It all started in 1982, when our former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, started an organization to “protect and preserve North America’s native plants and natural landscapes,” as stated on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website. In addition to various exhibits of native plants, the Center helps users develop “comprehensive educational materials and consults on landscape development projects of all sizes to capitalize on the ability of native landscapes to improve communities.”

Visiting the Center any time of the year is a paradise for any photographer. There are always plenty of things to photograph. The photos here show Queen butterflies on Gregg’s mistflower.

Willow City Loop is one of the several places in Central Texas where people flock year after year to see the beautiful display of wildflowers. The wildflowers are overwhelmingly beautiful when we have just the right amount of rain in the fall. This loop is a very narrow road through private land. Care must be exercised not to trespass over private property.

Willow City Loop is a scenic 13-mile (21-km) drive known for its stunning wildflowers in spring. Particularly eye-catching are the Bluebonnets, which paint the landscape with a vibrant blue. In addition to the Yucca you see in the photo above, a few Indian Paintbrush flowers are hiding among the vibrant blues.

The loop traverses beautiful Texas Hill Country terrain, including rolling hills, deep canyons, and meadows. The photos featured here were captured in the spring of 2010.

Until next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

For Cee, with gratitude for brightening our days with the FOTD (Flower of the Day) challenge.

Thinking about our visits to Big Bend National Park, I’m going through some old photos and reminiscing about some of our favorite trails. An easy and favorite trail of mine is the one to Ernst Tinaja. I’ve been there several times. When I captured the two photos highlighted in this post, I biked to the trailhead. Most people drive the 4.5-mile (7.25 km) dirt road on Old Ore Road. It is recommended a high-clearance vehicle. On this particular bike ride, however, we did see a couple of women driving a Prius. So much for high clearance!

After you get to the trailhead, the actual trail is very short (just about 0.5 miles or 0.8 km). The closest thing that comes to mind when a visitor starts looking at these vibrant colored swirling striations in the rocks is that one is seeing the Earth inside out and upside down. Doesn’t the photo below give you the impression the Earth twisted itself on its axis? Look at the lines.

Ernst Tinaja is a 13-foot (4 m) natural rock pool. An animal might get trapped in one of these pools if the water levels are low. The rocks are very slick, making it impossible for some animals to climb back up. A hiker must also use caution not to slip and fall in one of the pools. For example, to get to the angle I captured the first photo, I had to go through those slick rocks around the pools.

Time moves fast when you are having a good time. This month marks the tenth edition of Kathleen’s ICMPC (ICM Photo Challenge). Her latest entry is ICMPC #10. From her photos, I got the idea to create ICM abstracts using our garden.

The first photo, for example, is a Mother of Thousands plant. I got my perspective photographing from below and looking up. This plant sits on a table on our deck. The blue light is the sky, visible through the open wood slates that serve as the deck cover. The late-setting sun created the golden rays in the photo. If you are curious about EXIF settings, please click the photo to see that information, including shutter speed, an essential setting in ICM.

“Purple Rain” (yup, think of Prince’s song) was an extension of what I saw in the first photo. Noticing the blue sky and trees above the deck cover, I experimented with those slates and colors coming through. The wood color has a mixture of brown and magenta. When I edited the photo, I desaturated those tones. Although the original image had a landscape orientation, I rotated the image slightly to create the illusion of rain coming down at an angle.

Although I rarely photograph at night, I figured I couldn’t go wrong trying a night ICM. I moved to our courtyard by the front of the house and got my camera low and near the ground. I wanted to get the yard lights coming through the Holly plants. I warmed up the stone color to accentuate the waves the light and shadows created.

I hope you have enjoyed this month’s ICM photos. Let me know if you have any questions or even a favorite in this set. If you want to get more information about the simple challenge rules, please visit this link.

Until next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

Today, let us swim wildly, joyously in gratitude.
Rumi

There is so much to be grateful for. When I saw Tina‘s Lens-Artists challenge, I was at a loss as to what I would share. I wanted to be succinct, which added to the challenge while ensuring that I included things at the core of my life. Her request of us was “to focus on those things for which you are most grateful.” Where do I begin?

No sun outlasts its sunset,
but will rise again and bring the dawn.
Maya Angelou

Sunrises and…

…Sunsets

Sunsets and sunrises are a reminder of life for me. I am grateful to wake up each morning feeling healthy, having a roof over my head, and enjoying food to nourish my being. I am thankful to enjoy the beauty that surrounds me.

The only calendar I need is just outside my window.
With eyes to see and ears to hear, nature keeps me posted.
Alfred Armand Montapert

If each of my words were a drop of water,
you would see through them and glimpse what I feel:
gratitude, acknowledgement.
Octavio Paz

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled
by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude
of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzer

I want to thank Patti for her In the Details challenge last week. The responses here took us into a world of unnoticed beauty. You brought us the details all around us.

This week, Tina asks us to reflect upon what we are grateful for. I have already seen dozens of uplifting posts. I know your photos will continue to bring light and more gratitude to our lives. Look at Tina’s blog to get inspired. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag when creating your post so we can easily find it in the Reader.

Ann-Christine will host next Saturday at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out another exciting challenge. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history.

Until then, keep on clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

The Centennial State, a moniker for Colorado, is a land of natural wonders. In this post, I’ll share three of Colorado’s landmarks in monochrome.

I opened with a photo of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park as seen from the Pulpit Rock Overlook. Of all Colorado national parks, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison gets the fewest visitors, averaging about 300,000 annually. The river cutting the bottom of the canyon is the Gunnison River. It took that river two million years to carve this canyon. The canyon’s depth is 2,250 feet (685 meters) in its deepest part. To give you a better sense of size, here are two well-known world landmarks’ heights: The Eiffel Tower is 1,063 feet (324 meters) tall; and the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet (381 meters) tall. What I love most about the photo above is the leading lines on the walls pointing down to the river and the escarpment on the right side, guiding the viewer to stay in the canyon.

In contrast with Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Rocky Mountain NP averages around 4.3 million visitors annually. The photo I chose for the park is Alberta Falls. It’s a popular hike in the park but doesn’t get as much publicity as its many beautiful lakes. How the water flows in this waterfall guides us to follow its trajectory. Incidentally, this long exposure was shot handheld with my camera resting on my knees (I used that process a lot instead of carrying a tripod).

In closing, I share an urban photo. Surprised? This was photographed from a highway lookout point on the Dillon Reservoir in Silverthorne, Colorado. We were blessed with beautiful rainbows after some afternoon showers for two consecutive days. The rainbow and the two minor reflections were the lines guiding me to the mountain in the background.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness #21 and guest host Sarah, of Travel with Me.

It is no wonder that the Latin name for a daisy flower is Bellis perennis (pretty everlasting). With so many varieties, a daisy flower is generally called a common daisy, lawn daisy, or English daisy, for example. This particular photo was taken in El Salvador in the beautiful Hotel Santa Leticia in the summer of 2008. It was a quiet place with gorgeous, manicured grounds. There were lots of flowers attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. Sitting on the porch of our cabin was enough to appreciate all the beauty around us.

Becky, thanks for giving us updates about Cee.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the U.S.’s second-largest canyon, approximately 120 miles (190 km) long. In some areas, its width varies from 6 mi (9.7 km) to 20 miles (32 km). It is also relevant to note that you can drive your vehicle to the bottom of the canyon, some 820 ft (250 m) below the visitor center. It extends from the Texas cities of Canyon to Silverton. One of the park’s landmarks is the Lighthouse formation seen above. The trail up to the base of the Lighthouse is very easy and used by hikers, bikers, and horse riders.

Once you reach the base of the formation, you can climb up to the saddle between the two hoodoos. You can see a hiker near the bottom of the Lighthouse in the photo above. The climb is strenuous in some sections, but the view from up there is breathtaking, as you can see a vast canyon section, as in the photo below.

Although Palo Duro is located in the Texas Panhandle — about 483 miles (777 km) from Central Texas — the scenery there is worth the long drive.

Patti’s latest idea for the Lens-Artists Challenge was to “get closer and closer to the subject, focusing on a particular detail(s).” Thanks for this great opportunity and idea, Patti. It allowed the “excuse” to go around our home and look at the details. Now that we have lived here for four months, our courtyard garden and backyard are taking shape with more colors. The landscape was pretty much present in this home, but now we have started adding our touch of color.

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray,
and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
Allen Klein

The featured photo is a composite of some flower additions to our courtyard. Right by the front door, we have two pots of Wax-leaf Begonias (Begonia semperflorens). They thrive in both sunny and shaded areas. So, we also planted some more in the courtyard where they get plenty of morning sun. The other flower on the left of that photo is a Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana). The striking flowers resemble shrimp and can be grown in partial to full shade.

Let’s take a closer look at these two plants.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius

On the left, you can see the waxy texture of those leaves in more detail. Upon closer inspection, the photo on the right shows the rich textures in the petals and color contrast with the center stamens. Clicking on the images will provide a full-size image.

The Shrimp Plant was potted in an area along the courtyard that can also be seen from the living room. I wanted guests to see colors when seated facing that living window. If they look outside, they will inevitably see a pot of Wax-leaf Begonias outside the window and a Shrimp Plant farther out. It is also an excellent place for me to photograph wildlife coming to those plants from the comfort of our living room. Now, look at the details and textures of the Shrimp Plant.

The small part of the flower you see on the left photo eventually falls off. You can see it hanging by a thread on the image on the right. Feel free to click to enlarge the pictures and see those details.

I found I could say things with color and shapes
that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.
Georgia O’Keeffe

Many thanks to all of you who brightened our days with your beautiful silent photos. I confess I did not expect such a response. Thank you for the fantastic, gorgeous images.

I look forward to seeing how you will respond to Patti’s challenge. Look at her blog to get inspired and see the easy directions she gives. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag when creating your post so we can easily find it in the Reader.

Tina (of Travels and Trifles) will host next Saturday at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out another exciting challenge. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history.

Until then, keep on clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

You can find many social media sights focusing on famous landmarks in Big Bend National Park. I have several here in Through Brazilian Eyes. After all, Big Bend is one of my favorite national parks in this country. Although I am not in the mood to do much right now, photography is an excellent coping mechanism for the election results from a couple of days ago. I can see beauty in the world around me.

“In order for the light to shine so brightly,
the darkness must be present.”
Francis Bacon

Why such a negative mood? I know people who may lose health insurance if the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) disappears. I am married, but just like many others in a same-sex marriage, mine could be eliminated. Particularly for people in the United States, if you don’t understand why your “gay friends” are scared right now, then you don’t have gay friends. You only know a gay person.

Posted for Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.