The E Type Jaguar is 50 years old this year.

My ex had one of those before I met him, a silver convertable.

Toketee Falls, east of Roseburg, Oregon

Welcome goofyfoot, I see some professional equipment used there! I still use my old film camera for anything complicated as I've had the equipment a long time so always there when I need it.

This is a typical wooded Surrey road actually in Sussex just before Haslemere but near the border.

If you consider a now obsolete XTi, a 55-250mm lens and a tripod as professional equipment, so be it.......

It is more a product of photomatix and photoshop......the effort of hiking in darn near finished me off!

Well it is gorgeous whatever you used!

Goofyfoot: Welcome! I noticed you posted to nearly every thread here today and they were ALL fabulous pictures! (Granted, you live in one of the most beautiful states I've ever visited, but even so, lovely "eye"/technique)

Satguru: I'm still waiting for a picture with more than 2 persons in it. I remain convinced that an invasion of the body-snatchers has taken place in your adjoining neighbourhoods LOL (nice photos though!).

SpanishLiz: I thought Precious looked pretty smug in both : )

SOTHC: Love the otters. And so VERY nice to see you posting here again! Have missed your sense of humour

Martin: Did you also visit the Smithsonian? (or did you "do" that on your last trip abroad?) It's one of my dream destinations. I got sort of close once but only made it as far as Baltimore and then on to Richmond.

Szabs: Wonderful sunflowers!

Love the bats too, eagerly anticipating Auntie's possible snake encounter : )

Glad you enjoy my sadly inadequate efforts..........I'm an HDR adherent, so there is quite a little post-processing involved.

Ah, when I said professional equipment I could see some effects would be impossible with a compact, but the depth and colour had also been enhanced which needs quite pricy software as well. But it's about the end result, and if I could brighten, focus and even out mine better they'd bring a lot more from average to reasonable. With the compact if the light isn't just right they look too dark, whether it is or even when it's bright and coming from the wrong direction. My solution is just to take many more and reject the dark ones, which is the one benefit of not wasting film on such attempts.

re: expensive software.........my daughter attends San Francisco's Academy of Art University, so she (and I)get student pricing on software.

Depth and color enhancement is the result of HDR, 5 separate exposures were combined to create the final result.

Sorry to disappoint you Jakeroo, but it's winter and there were no snakes in evidence.
Here's what I saw;



I felt I was walking down a bush road with wattles in bloom and the smell of eucalyptus in the air. In reality it's 300 hectares surrounded by dense suburbia.
The land was used for quarrying basalt from the late 19th century until the 1980's, and later as a municipal tip (rubbish dump).
Finally it was decided to fill the deep quarry holes to form shallow ornamental lakes and to landscape and plant the area as an urban park to be known as "Newport Lakes".
I was last there a few years ago when it was still rough and weedy with young trees struggling through drought. I am so impressed with the way it looks now, I think I'll be taking frequent short bushwalks.

Jake. Due to the limited amount of time I had available to me in Washington DC that day,
it was quite literally a flying visit to the Air & Space museum and here was no opportunity
to visit any of the other museums unfortunately. It was a dream of mine to see the A&S one
though so I'm glad we were able to go there.

This is the Capital building in DC..

A splash of blue......

and some purple

This is a pair of Gang-gang cockatoos. The name is derived from an Aboriginal language. The female is all grey and the male has a red head. Unfortunately they are on the endangered list because of loss of habitat.

Waltham Abbey church in Essex

Still at Newport Lakes;



This is a view across the South Lake.

Here, chicky, here chicky...

Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon

That is just stunning

Welcome to Epping Forest

Popular children's song in Australia:

PLEASE DON’T CALL ME A KOALA BEAR

by Don Spencer/Allan Caswell

I’m a koala, not a bear, and I don’t think it’s fair,
The way that people always add a word that isn’t there.
I’m a marsupial (and proud of it),
And there can be no doubt of it,
I’m closer to a kangaroo
Than I am to a bear.

CHORUS:

So please don’t call me a koala bear,
I’m not a bear at all.
Please don’t call me a koala bear,
It’s driving me up the wall!
If your name was Tom and everyone called you Dick,
Perhaps you’d understand why I’m sick, sick, sick -
I’m simply a koala and I want the name to stick,
Please don’t call me a koala bear!

I live here in Australia, in a eucalyptus tree.
I’m as cuddly, cute and charming as an animal can be.
I don’t understand, fair dinkum,
How anyone could think them Grizzly bears and Polar bears
Are anything like me.

I mean, how much can a koala bear?!

Goofyfoot, your photos are beautiful. I can't decide if I'm looking at a painting or a photo.

MG: awwwwwwwww on the koala. Thanks for the "tune" as well : )

GoofyFoot: (can we call you something for "short"? GF? Your real name?) Your userid doesn't seem to "fit" your photography skills - that last one is every bit as breathtaking as the previous one of waterfalls : )

Flopsy: that's one purdy-birdy (nice shot - sunlight was perfect to accentuate the iridescent tail feathers!).

Ozzz: Whatever the weight of their baby is, I suspect, but lol! Reminds me of how much wood could a woodchuck chuck ~

Speaking of "babies", here's a pregnant mamma doe resting in the shade beside a golf course bunker (apparently she had no idea how badly I golf LOL)

I don't know if it's just me but above the deer it looks as though there's a giant ant ready to pounce so the quality of your golf may not be her main concern!

This rather less than scenic image made me laugh. Behind the dead caravan, the wasted windmill, and the reclining flagpole, someone had painted the hut!

Snapped on a buddleia in my garden this morning

GF, that Japanese garden is just beautiful.

Auntie - Beautiful reflection on the lake
GF - Breathaking photo
Flopsy - Don't know if I would like to be the chicky around that gorgeous rooster.
MotherG - Little koala looks so cuddly and loved the tune provided.
Jake - Doesn't matter how good or bad YOUR golf is, I really don't think that is a good resting place for a pregnant mama, somebody is bound to hit her sooner or later!
Christina - Gorgeous shot

Ripe grapes on the vine ready for picking.

Although the appellation, "goofyfoot" refers to a snowboarding stance, and not how badly I dance, for ease of reference pehaps simply Larry would suffice.

I am fortunate enough to have a pond on my property, providing source material for much of my photography.

Here is an example: A dragonfly from last fall.