Texture Tuesday and Prompt Addicts Animals

Today was Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's website with a theme of "in the garden".  I fell in love with textures when I participated in my first Picture class with Tracey Clark.  Someone posted a picture that had textures and I was immediately hooked.  Since then, I have collected many of Kim's textures as well as others that are free on flickr (an on-line website to post photos).  I love using textures, they can turn an ordinary photo into a thing of beauty.  It took a bit of getting used to adding the textures, adjusting the opacity, choosing the one that enhances the photo, and does not distract.  I look at some early ones and cringe, but then again, as with everything in life, practise improves the process. 

This week I am the guest prompter for our flickr group, The Prompt Addicts.  Each week we receive a prompt (a theme for the week) on Sunday, thru the week we post our photos that fit the weekly prompt.   Last week, Claudia (one of our group leaders) decided to add "best of show" to the week.  We now vote on the top 5 photos of the week, which I think has upped the ante a bit and encouraged our members to add their best to the group pool.  At the end of the week, 5 people are awarded a "best of show" on line certificate.  I have gotten a little off-track with explaining all of this...but this week my prompt is animals.  We have had everything from flowers to babies to vintage but not animals.  It's been fun.  I love animals and I have loved capturing the images that I have posted this week.  The racoon, the llama, the fox and the bunny all were shot at a small local zoo.  We could get fairly close to the animals, but some were in cages with such thick screening you could not shoot thru, all you got were shots of fencing.  grrrr.  They had a baby barn owl and a baby owl that were sooo cute, but alas no pictures. 

I titled this one "Fox Hole" not original but appropriate....

These little guys are right here in the neighborhood.  Two Canada Geese families had babies a week or so ago, one had 2 goslings, the other had 3.  Aren't their cute little fuzzy butts cute??  Actually, don't tell them, but I think their butts are quite big.  All I have ever see them do is eat, eat, eat, sometimes they are laying down eating....no wonder their butts are so big.  These babies grow so fast, before you know it they will be as big as their parents. With all the rain, the grass is especially nice and green and I am sure tasty, thus the rate of growth. 

This poor llama has some serious dental issues.  Get me some Crest White Strips, please!!


This little sweetheart posed so nicely for me.  This is the way I like to see bunnies, caged, that way they are not eating my garden.  We have a hawk family nesting on top of the water tower in our neighborhood, so we may not have any bunnies this year or mice....yea!!!!

"All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it." ~ Samuel Butler

Until next time,