Explored

The Incans used llamas as pack animals and for wool and meat. Machu Picchu, Peru AIMG 1066

Machu Picchu is believed to be the estate of a 15th-century Incan emperor. It is located at an altitude of 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) in the Andes mountains of Peru. AIMG 1045

The challenge this week for the Sunday Challenge Group was selective lighting. I decided to photograph Scruffy, my toy Indian elephant. Not owning the proper equipment, I used a cookie box as a camera base because my tripod would not go low enough to the ground. I put a crappy flashlight with uneven lighting on the floor at a 45 degree angle to Scruffy to provide an interesting light source. SLIMG 3731

View from the Boston Harbor AIMG 3664

The Sunday Challenge for September 14th is "Get Personal! Something that you own." I like elephants and minerals so I thought that I would post some photographs of both. The minerals starting from the left upper corner, proceeding clockwise and ending at the center are quartz crystal, agate jasper (with jade "log"), unakite, tiger's eye, turquoise*, Dalmation jasper, malachite and lapis lazuli. *The seller claimed that the elephant was carved out of turquoise but I suspect that it was carved out of another stone and dyed turquoise color. It does not have the striations that I would expect in true turquoise. It was an unusual carving, so I bought it anyhow. Elephants

Summer Fireworks over Boston Harbor AIMG 3715

Mallard duck in flight AIMG 3770

Great Blue Heron Not the Sunday Challenge: Water AIMG 3754

I was so busy fiddling with my tripod and the live view screen that I neglected to notice that this little mallard duck had photobombed my shot of the Great Blue Heron. Not the Sunday Challenge: Water AIMG 3757