WIND challenge ends tomorrow, Friday 11/30. Please email me your top 3 faves in order with the photographer's name and photo name. I will post the winner over the weekend. Thanks everyone!

askssk@comcast.net

With the challenge deadline quickly approaching, I decided to get at least ONE new picture submitted.  I saw the flag out in front of the main building here at the Chaska site, and decided to take a picture.  I know I've already submitted something similar in the past but this picture has a story.

It was cold outside, with the wind driving the "feels like" temp down to a point where a seemingly bright guy like myself might think to don a jacket (no such luck).  Freezing, with an ice cold camera in my quickly numbing hands, I tried to get a good shot of the Beckman sign with the flag flapping patriotically in the wind.  Only one problem, someone decided to put a light pole right in my way making it impossible to get a shot of the sign without the flag covering part of it up.  There was no time for cursing, as my short sleeved shirt wasn't providing much protection from the elements, so I took a few shots and hoped for the best.  Back at my PC, I found a shot that I liked (sort of) but of course the flag was obscuring part of the Beckman sign.  That’s when I decided to fire up Photoshop and see if I could give this shot a chance.  The attached picture is the result. The 'A' and 'N' at the end of Beckman were completely fabricated in Photoshop (one of the more challenging things I've done so far).

Alright, a lot of hot air for nothing, but it was fun none the less.

Enjoy.

Beckman Flag   Beckman Flag Pre Photoshop

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In case some haven't voted yet.....here are a few late-comers.

Amy, I think you've stumped some folks with this challenge.  I found it quite difficult to capture the movement initiated by wind.  But the entries thus far are very good.

I don't know about anyone else but I really enjoy these challenges and this one was great!!!!

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Here is my in office attempt or this chalenge

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Well, it was a very windy day on the Brisbane River over the weekend and I was kept very busy in the power boat recovering wayward sailboats at the hands of inexperienced cadets. By Sunday afternoon, they had learnt better boat control in stong winds and thus the evolution was a success. The boats in the photo here are not ours, but from a small sailing club just up the river from us. We sail corsairs and the corsair racing regulations prevent us prom sailing with spinnakers. The river gets quite busy when the wind is up!

In such conditions, I only take the P&S on the boat, not willing to sacrifice my "good gear" to salt water damage.

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I went up to Arrowhead Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains last weekend.  The wind was keeping the clouds from going over the mountain.  I took a picture of our "two national flags" at a McDonalds Restaurant up there.  The other two pictures show a wind surfer in the Pacific Ocean and a few sail boats just outside the San Francisco Giants stadium hoping to get a Berry Bonds home run.America's National Flags Wind stopping the clouds Wind surfing Windy San Francisco Bay

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I worked in Marathon last Sat. and it was pretty blustery.  This was taken at a restaurant called The Island.  Great food however, I ran out of quarters.

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I didn't get a lot of opportunity to play with the camera while I was in Sydney last week. It was wet the whole time, but I managed to get this crane with a severely wind beaten flag on it's wire into a part of the little blue sky there was. The clouds proved far too much of a distraction for this rather small flag, so I opted for a clear backdrop. Taken with my easy to pack point & shoot. I have it set on 3:2 format these days so I don't have to keep second guessing the composition between 3:2 of the DSLR and the normal 4:3 of the P&S.

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It was a pretty windy day when I took these, however, the wind was blowing higher up and my skeletons only got a gentle push.

They look a little like they are dancing.

These were taken before Amy's challenge and I did not think I would be using them for more than self amusement.

But here it tis, enjoy.

Here we go work them bones!

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I was at a park earlier this year when I snapped some pictures of this father and daughter flying a kite together.

Hope you enjoy.

Kite Flying - 1 Kite Flying - 2 Kite Flying - 3

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Yesterday I arrived inThe Park just before sunrise and there was a strong breeze blowing off the ocean. This clump of sawgrass flower caught my attention.

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A couple of photos displaying the effects of different combinations of water, light, and wind.

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If it's wind, then there must be flags.

I cought the same four flags from different angles, for quite different compositions.

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Woke up to a beautiful, clear blue sky today.  There was a great breeze blowing all morning, and so I set out to capture a few pics of the effects of the wind around the neighborhood.

The first is one of those tall cylindrical nylon "beings" that businesses use to get the attention of passersby.  He was really whipping around both from his blower fan and from the gusts of wind, and I was really happy with the way my camera captured him.

The second and third are of a few palm trees near a local shopping strip.

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Here are a couple of shots of my youngest from a quick trip to Chicago last year. These were taken just outside of the Adler Planetarium.
Silly Seagulls Windy Face-off?

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A future cricket bat? No, our Willows are too dry and brittle so they live happily on the river banks. I remember playing in the willows as a kid. They made fantastic climbing trees and tree houses until the winter took all the leaves away and left the stringy fronds to hang about until the spring...

No doubt, Kenneth Grahame found inspiration for his book in a willow tree when he was a child.

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It wasn't a particularly windy day - it was just a cross-breeze that occured while she was getting out of the car.  

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