Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Welcome to the 112th round of my special weekly photo challenge known as Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun :)
I know a lot of photo contests with nature as the main theme were/are/will be hosted by various people on the Hive blockchain but I wanted to come up with something more than just another photo contest where participants would submit their best natural photos. Therefore, I decided to go for quite an unusual concept that I am going to introduce in the following lines.
The aim of the Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun photo challenge is not to make you dig up your photo archives and submit the best pictures of nature that you have ever taken. Instead, I want you guys to go out and appreciate the beauty of our nature right now.
The internet (and the Hive blockchain as well) is flooded with picture perfect shots of landscapes, mountains, forests, beaches etc. taken years ago. But this is not what I want to see in this challenge. I want to see shots that may not be necessarily stunning but they must be fresh, proving that you have just physically spent some time outdoors in the fresh air. But remember that nature comes in many forms. It doesn´t have to be a pristine jungle or a deep remote forest. An urban park, a botanical garden, a little grove on the outskirts of your town - pretty much any place with some trees, plants, rocks, bodies of water or any other natural features would be just as fine ;)
Obviously, there is no way for me to verify whether the photo that you submit in the challenge is really fresh or if it was even taken by you so I am relying on your honesty guys. The prizes for the winners (as described below) are more symbolical than overly motivating so I don´t expect too much fraudulent behavior in this challenge anyway.
I want to keep the rules of this challenge as simple and benevolent as possible so let´s agree on just this:
Only one entry (photo) per person per round.
The photo must be yours and not older than one week.
Add a few words about the photo, at least where and when you took it.
You can start submitting your entries to this round in the comment section below from now until the next round.
Prior to publishing the next round post, I will pick 3 winners, give my full upvote on their entries and feature them in the next round of the challenge. As long as the response is not too overwhelming, I will also try to give some smaller upvotes on all of the other entries to reward all participants.
I might change the concept and/or the rules of the photo challenge later on, depending on how things go. I usually host the challenge on Thursday but when needed for some reason, I can host it on some other day so better check my blog regularly not to miss out on it ;)
To keep up with you guys, I submit my own fresh natural photo to every round´s post too :) Here is my contribution to start out this round:
Here in Central Europe, the April weather is known to be extremely changeable and unpredictable and this is exactly what we have been experiencing lately. A period of unusually warm and sunny days was followed by a short period of snowing and freezing temperatures but today we have a clear sky again with temperatures reaching almost 20 C (68 F). Last Sunday, just after the unexpected snowfall, we went for a little hike around the Kosciuszko Hill here in Krakow, Poland. The higher we climbed, the more snow we saw. I took this close up picture at the foot of the hill though so there is not so much snow in there but I liked the contrast between the snowy blanket and the vividly green shades of the sprouting buds. I just hope the frosts didn´t ruin these first spring efforts of Mother Nature...
In the last round, we had 7 participants. After some thorough consideration, I decided to pick these 3 winners:
@kohsamui99 with this entry from Australia:
This is another photo of my walk along the coastline of Wollongong, NSW, Australia last weekend it was on the side of Wattamolla Beach, the beauty and the vibes of this beautiful clean white sand beach almost made me feel like I was back on the tropical island of Koh Samui, it was like a hidden beach no one was here at the time I was walking along this beach front I felt like the castaway movie but enjoying it for the fact that I had all this beauty in front of me all to myself.
@dswigle with this entry from USA:
Thank you for hosting this challenge! It is always fun to get out and share a piece of Mother Nature with you! This was taken in the Washington, DC Metro Area at one of the wooded parks today, March 31st! The purple trees in bloom are called Redbuds, even though they are purple when they are budding, they are red :)
@bossel with this entry from Greece:
I was cycling in the olive orchards south of Patras, Greece, on Wednesday. Close to the coast I found a tree stump swarming with huge ants which had their nest in there. Usually it's almost impossible for me to get good close-ups of ants, since they are too busy & quick. But there was one spot where they threw out the garbage, so I could just focus & wait. Still only a few good shots, but better than ever. Don't know which species it is, but probably some kind of carpenter ant (genus Camponotus), perhaps Camponotus schulzi.
Congratulations guys! It was my pleasure to give you 100% upvotes on your entries :)
I am looking forward to what you will come up with in this round.
Have fun and appreciate the beauty of nature!
I post this series in the Amazing Nature community, a great community for all nature lovers. Feel free to check it out ;)
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
last weekend i was visiting my daughter and her family. we took a walk to a playground for the children and on the way passed a small half frozen pond with lots of birds. this photo is of a barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis). at first we thought it to be a canada goose which is an invasive species here so we were not too impressed. a little research however revealed that this was a barnacle goose which i have never seen before and is not common in these parts of southern norway.
it nests in greenland or spitsbergen in the arctic far north of norway and overwinters in great britain or in the mediterranean. the small group we saw must be under migration so i was very happy to see them on their brief stopover. there were other people around and these geese did not seemed disturbed by our presence. perhaps people fed them but there were a flock of black-headed gulls that were very aggressive when somebody threw any food. these geese sat very still and seemed uninterested. being on a break from migration they were surely in need of some rest. they have likely flown a long ways already but still have to fly another two thousand kilometers to get to their breeding grounds!
Hey there, thank you for this beautiful picture and a lot of interesting text! Great entry :)
https://ecency.com/cesky/@zirky/awakening-probuzeni
Bohumín / 13.4.2022
Mám rád začátek jara. Na stromech a křoví se objevují první pupeny listů a objevují se první květy. Často se u těchto pupenů zastavím, a něco ve mě se plní zvláštním, krásným pocitem.
I like the beginning of spring. The first buds of the leaves appear on the trees and bushes and the first flowers appear. I often stop at these buds, and something inside me fills with a strange, beautiful feeling.
Díky za další hezký soutěžní příspěvek. Technicky vzato máš všechno v pořádku, ale ocenil bych, kdybys příště aspoň ještě jednu nebo dvě věty (anglicky, ale stačí překladač) o tvé fotce přidal, tak jak to dělají ostatní soutěžící ;)
Děkuji za upozornění. Příště se pokusím být důslednější.
V pohodě ;) Jak říkám, stačí jedna dvě věty. Žádný román :)
Text doplněn.
:-D
Už jsem tě vybral jako vítěze i s tím stručným popiskem, měnit už to nebudu. Tak příště ;)
Wonderful shots again!
Here's my entry for this week.
Yesterday when I was walking in a local park I saw a Buzzard flying in between the trees. I have seen them before, but not very often. But this time I saw him landing on the ground. I tried to get in closer to get a good shot. This was the best I could get before it noticed me and flew away.
Location: The Netherlands
Wow! That´s cool! I mean he still let you come unusually close :) Very nice shot, thanks for sharing it with us here in the challenge.
I was in stealth mode 😉
Congratulations to the winners!
This is my entry for your contest, my dear friend.
Photo was taken today afternoon in Hungary, on our favorite place, we was walking with the dogs.
The sky was so beautiful, the field is again green.
I like so much this view.
Spring and the nature are so beautiful. 🌿🌸
Greetings!
Hey Juditka! Good to see you here again :) Thank you for this beautiful entry, I hope you didn´t get too wet from the stormy clouds :D
Have a nice evening!Hi, dear @phortun, it didn't rain, this is an interesting photo, the sun is shining on one side, and next to a black cloud.
I love this part of Brunswick Heads in New South Wales, Australia yesterday I was here in Brunswick Heads town doing a small renovation job on friends bathroom when I finished up I took a little walk along the pier to get some nice fresh fish to take home for dinner. I love walking down this walkway it divides the Brunswick Beach from the Brunswick River it's such a cool scenery to see the Brunswick river stretching out to the mountains.
Awesome scenery, thanks man! :)
Thanks buddy 👍
It is still very cold for this time of year in Serbia. We know for much warmer Aprils that this one. Anyway, I went out to my garden to take a picture of something I think might be interesting.
This is a laurel tree which decided to welcome this Spring with a lot of small yellowish flowers. And, interesting enough, they smell very nice!
The picture is taken in my garden this morning in Zemun (Belgrade), Serbia.
Enjoy!
For your best, from my heart!
Maria
Hey there, welcome to the challenge! Thank you for this nice entry. Greetings to Serbia! :)
Thank you 💖
I taken this picture on sunday when i visited Lahore zoo with my family i also captured many other beautiful scenes but due to rules that one pic for one person i just posted 1 pic.
Hey there, welcome to the challenge :) Personally, I prefer wild nature to captive nature but it´s still nature so your entry is legit of course. Can you just add the location please?
Thanks, the zoo is located in Lahore pakistan.
Right now in Nigeria, the weather is hot. The farmers are into nurseries, on top of that every garden are full of different kind of nursery. I don't know a challenge like this will come up, while walking yesterday I take some pictures of garden fully of greenish nursery of plant.
Here I present you Cocoa plant nurseries.
This picture is taken yesterday evening.
Below is the evidence of screenshot from my gallery.
Hey, thank you very much for this interesting entry, it´s been a while since we had an entry from Nigeria :)
Oh I'm so happy for hearing this. Thanks also for this great challenge
When nature comes to play it usually awesome and beautiful.
Here in Nigeria, we are just entering into the raining season. This is a picture I took some hours ago while going for private lesson.
The picture is about a dry tree in the mist of the green tree. Whenever I passes through this place I feel marvel about nature. Why can’t every tree dies and it’s the biggest of them all. Will I say it doesn’t have strength to withstand nature . I wonder and concluded that when nature takes its place , it leaves space so as to appreciate him the more.
Nice shot and interesting write up, thanks! :)
Am happy that you love it. Thanks for bringing up the contest
This is nature. It's so beautiful and full of vitality. I only have a smartphone. If only I can take photos of this standard !
Just give it a shot and share the result with us here in the challenge, you have nothing to lose :) I shoot just with my phone too btw. These days, even phones can take decent photos.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 3/43) Liquid rewards.
Uuuuuuf that blue water is so inviting, just like the one you posted from Mexico.
Yeah. I think most of us are actually suckers for these kind of waters :D
Congrats to the winner!
I liked the second photo. A reminder of summer ;)
Thanks for checking out the winning collection and hopefully see you in the new round :)