Got a trip to Beijing 3 weeks ago. Took 1 hour visit to the Forbidden city in the late afternoon before it was closed. Not many visitors. The colors of the roofs, walls, posts, grounds, gates, trees and water...were contrast but so harmonic. I  felt peaceful. It was an enjoyable walking tour.

Long time not visiting Stanley Market, first time for my kids there too. Nice place and nice weather, just a bit warm. Sun was shinning and lights entered into the long corridor with making a contrasted picture.

We spent half day there, walking around, shopping and eating. There are quite many nice restaurants. We enjoyed our lunch in one there which having a beautiful scene.

During my recent trip to the UK I managed to ride on two steam rail excursions and visit two preserved railways, three castles and one nature reserve, finishing up with a couple of days at a vintage race meeting. Needless to say I took lot's of pictures but to keep this short and sweet here's one castle, one train, one bird and one car !

  Leeds Castle  Settle-Carlisle Express  Great-crested Grebe  Historic Grand Prix car locks up it's brakes.  

My first night skyline shot. What do you think?

I thought I'd give this eagle shot a little more of the "Proud to be an American" treatment.  What do you think?

 Our Nation's Symbol 

Thanks,

Josh

Here are some random photos from the last week or so.

Enjoy.

 Goose in Flight  Puppy and Master  Windows to the Soul  Christmas Lake  Stone Arch 

Here are some wildlife photos that I captured recently.

Enjoy!

 Wood Ducks  Lovers Quarrel 

I found this family of geese near my neighborhood the other morning.

Enjoy.

 Goslings 1  Goslings 2  Goslings 3 

I bought the new Canon PowerShot G10 to replace my ageing DX7590. The DX is starting to have a few issues with the selection dial and often changes programme mid-shoot! I was looking for a compact that is easy to carry when out on the bicycle or motorcycle. And I didn't want the bulk of the superzooms. The other key factors was ability to do manual focus and to capture in RAW. The G10 uses the same RAW as my 400D and is 14.7MP.

We haven't had any sunny days since I've had it, but that hasn't stopped me having a play with it anyway.

  Canon G10 samples. 

Early in March I had to go to Auckland, New Zealand for work. While I had no opportunities during the day or evening for any personal activities, I did take advantage of the sunrises each morning for the two days I was there. This is Rangitoto Island, with the sun breaking through the early morning clouds.

 Rangitoto 

Later in March I went a couple of hours south of my home to the Sundown Resources Reserve. Now scattered with abandoned tin mines, my purpose was to get a Sunrise over the mountains. Unfortunately, the sunrise the following morning was well hidden behind the thick cover of the overcast skies. Never mind. I'll just have to go back until I get what I want! The trip wasn't wasted though. I managed not to only see, but to also get a photo of the shy and elusive Black Wallaroo as well as some morning twilight shots of a couple of Wallabies. And a not-too-bad sunset on the first day. I only had the weekend available to me so I took what was offered!

  Wallaroo     Wallabies  Wallaby01  Sunset 

My family and I went to the Minnesota Zoo last Saturday.  I got a chance to try out both my 50mm prime and 70-300 VR lenses.

 Minnesota Zoo 

Enjoy.

I got a couple of eagle shots last Wednesday morning at an area lake.  It was snowing quite heavily so the eagles are somewhat obscured by snowflakes.  When I first arrived, I noticed a group of large birds out on the ice.  When I got out of my car, I spooked a Great Blue Heron out of the weeds which caused the large birds to take off an fly over to some trees.  Eventually, the large birds began coming back to the spot on the ice where they were before.  I noticed that they were all eagles.  There was one mature bald eagle in the group with its white head and tail displayed proudly for all to see.  It turned out that the eagles were feeding on a rather large fish out on the ice.

I especially like the shot where one eagle is swooping down, scaring off another that was feeding on the fish.

Josh

 Eagle  Eagles_Fish  

Okay, for the first time in history we have a tie for 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

For 1st place: "#2460A" by Red68Charger and "Train Station" by JSHobbs.

For 2nd place: "#629" by Red68Charger and "JH_286_24_2000" by JSHobbs.

For 3rd place: "#103" by Red68Charger and "JH_290_22_2000" by JSHobbs.

Limited entrants and limited votes. Thanks to Larry and John for your great entries.