Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Welcome to the 125th 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:
I have been roaming around various natural places here in Prague, Czech Republic quite a lot lately and have taken many interesting pictures but I save these for separate future posts and instead, I will use this cool snail close up that I got to capture while working out in one of my favorite outdoor gyms just a few days ago. I know you probably cannot tell by the photo but this snail is actually not the Roman Snail, which is by far the most common snail species here in Europe. This one was much larger and with a beautiful, unusually elongated shell. I think it was one of the giant tropical snails that people sometimes keep as pets and it just might have "escaped" from someone´s apartment somehow. It was a really beautiful creature. I took this picture of it and moved it to the grass so that kids wouldn´t see it and hurt it.
In the last round, we had 8 participants. After some thorough consideration, I decided to pick these 3 winners:
@richardslater with this entry from the UK:
Hey @phortun, I'll pitch in here with this photograph I took last Friday in Newhaven on the South Coast of the UK. Unfortunately, honey bees are subject to Colony Collapse Disorder, resulting in all worker bees leaving a colony for no apparent reason. The worst-case scenario is that large populations of bees die off, which would knock on all crop production as bees and other insects are required to pollinate virtually all crop species. Insects are an essential part of our ecosystem. While they may be inconvenient, we wouldn't have bread, pastries, honey, beer or vegetable oil. We must be stewards of nature not just for future generations but for our wellbeing and enjoyment.
@tommyl33 with this entry from Malaysia:
This is my entry from Malaysia for this week. The photo was taken yesterday when I was enjoying swimming at the river beside my house. This is part of series photo of bonsai made by nature in my recent post.
@iliyan90 with this entry from Bulgaria:
I’ll join you this week as well. Photo of baby storks at my village. It was big enjoyment to watch them grow. I was so sorry I lost my drone for nearly a month and I didn’t manage to follow their progress from above. Photo taken last Sunday 26 of June from earth leve at my village Resen in Bulgaria.
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.
Very nice submissions again!
And also a nice snIl @phortun
Here is some !BEER since it's almost weekend.
My contribution for this week is this lovely bright pink coloured dahlia in my backyard I took this a few days ago. I bought and planted a 'bees and butterflies' mix in spring which results in beautiful flowers.
Wow, that´s a hypnotizing shot! Incredible pattern and color. Amazing entry, thanks. Netherlands, right? ;)
Thanks.
And yup!
In a few weeks it will be Italy for a the summer holiday, but until then it's The Netherlands.
Hello and good evening from the Philippines @phortun my friend. It's ironic I came across here through @friendlymoose's post and fortunately earlier this afternoon just about when the rain pours, I saw one butterfly who kept roaming around my Red Hardy plant. And to be honest, I am a huge fan of butterflies since I was a kid. I think this tiny friend wanted to get noticed. Too magnificent not to. Please wave hello.
(Photo taken using my Canon EOS 2000d) - July 12, 2022 Thank you!
And, congratulations to the winners last week :)
Hey there, good to see you here again! This is a lovely close up, thank you :) My own entry to start out the next round tomorrow will also be a butterfly close up hehe :)
Ohhhhhhhhhh I am too early hehe.
No, perfectly on time :) Just gave you a 100% upvote btw, which means you are one of the 3 winners of this round ;)
Wow thank you so much!!!! Just got lucky! Hehe!!!
Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun: round 125
Last night I walked between the fields of Banat (Serbia).... The sunflower is in full bloom and with the sunset the evening was idyllic.... Sunflower and the sun are inseparable.
The sight of sunflowers always fills me with happiness.... I like to watch the yellow fields that disappear into the distance and seem to glow more brightly at dusk.🤗🌻
Congraulations to the winners 🌼😊
Hey there Suzana, good to see you here again with another lovely entry from Serbia! Thank you :)
Thank you very much @phortun 🤗
My pleasure 🥰
Beautiful shot! Right place, right time!
Maybe obly straighten your horizon next time 😉
Great tip! ;) As someone with a pretty severe OCD, I really appreciate straight lines and horizons in photos but I usually don´t tell my participants not to look like a bully :D
Thank!
Haha. I like others to create even better photos than they do already. And focussing on a straight horizon or even correcting it afterwards is a quick win.
Here you go @suzana72
Well said ;) I wonder how Suzana will like your version of her photo hehe :)
Thank you very much for your intervention. 🤗 @friendlymoose
I appreciate that🌸
I also like a flat horizon, but sometimes I need a different view of the distance 😉
Thank you very much @friendlymoose 🥰
Maybe 😉
Greeting everyone , I hope my entry from Sabah , Malaysia for this round is still not late .
The red ginger near the local museum . Personally i didnt know that it was the red ginger when i took its picture , but then i search it in google and let me know that it was the red ginger.
Well the winners were already picked and upvoted by the time you submitted this lovely entry but I´m going to upvote it anyway, it´s a very nice close up ;)
Thanks so much . Congratulations to all winner. ;). I ll make sure to join earlier next round !PIZZA !LUV !LOLZ !H-BIT
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they’re so full of themselves.
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@phortun, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of @tommyl33
Use the !LOL or !LOLZ command to share a joke and an $LOLZ
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Thank you for picking my photo, I am honoured :) Congratulations to @tommyl33 and @iliyan90 for their fantastic shots!
For the next round I would like to submit this picture of a Milk Thistle:
Thistles are an important part of European history, used to make cheese in Portugal due to high quantities of vegetable rennet. Across Europe the thistle provides food for Honey bees, which in turn produce honey for us to eat. Finally, in Scotland legend has it that an invading Norseman trod barefoot on one of these prickly subjects giving his position away enabling the Scots to defend their homeland - to this day the humble thistle is an emblem of Scotland.
Wow, that´s a lot of interesting info about thistles :) Thank you for that and for sharing this great picture with us. Greetings to the UK!
Thanks so much. Great picture milk thistles
Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun: round 125
BG
Здравейте това е снимка от язовир Маслово около София, България правена на 7.07.2022 когато отидохме там с децата на разходка
EN
Hello, this is a photo of the Maslovo Dam near Sofia, Bulgaria taken on 07/07/2022 when we went there with the children for a walk
Hey there, welcome to the challenge :) Thanks for this great entry.
Turbo šnek!!😂👍
Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun: round 125
Congratulations to all the winners 🎉😊
I took this wonderful picture of rural Bengal two days ago 👌🥰
Location: Bangladesh
Thanks for checking out the winning shots from the last round and for submitting your own entry in the new one! :)
Hi, I took a photo of the snail on Tuesday in front of the Jewish cemetery in Jičín-Sedličky. I don't know what else to write about it.
Jsem rád, že můj šnek inspiroval tvého šneka k soutěžnímu výkonu :) Díky za příspěvek.
Díky za upvote.
Hello snail :).
Hello @tommyl33 !
What a great snail capture @phortun 😁 love them… painted a few as paintings.
Congratulations to the winners @richardslater, @tommyl33 and @iliyan90 🥳🥳😎 great entries!
Have a wonderful week further 👋🏻☀️💃🏻
Hey Little Bee! Thanks for stopping by again :) I´m sorry you submitted your last entry from Paris when the winners of the round were already picked :( I hope to see some more natural beauty from you in this round though! Have a lovely weekend :)
Hi @phortun 👋🏻😁
Did I? I thought I checked the payout / enter date… or is it sooner hahaha 🤣 holiday vibes… all the way 🤪😋 Missed that.
Will have a look what I find for this time. Still catching up with everything at home, work and here. Will get there soon 🤓
Thank you so much, have a lovely weekend too 👋🏻☀️😁
I post the contest on Thursday but I pick and upvote the winners on Wednesday, I have to do it like this because some entries are already six days old on Wednesday so it wouldn´t be possible to upvote them on Thursday :) But no worries! Join whenever you feel like ;)
Aha… cool. Got it 😁 thanks for explaining.
Think I just missed it and didn’t look what day it was 😇😎
I will 😉😎 thank you @phortun enjoy the Friday and your weekend!
Well the easiest way to see if the winners are already picked is to check if the entries are already upvoted by me ;) If they are, the round is over :) I usually do the upvoting on Wednesday evening...
Ok, will keep an eye on that @phortun 😁 thank you kindly!
Enjoy your day, hope the weather is lovely. Here it is crazy hot 🥵 hahaha 🤣
Thanks so much . ;).
You are welcome @tommyl33 👋🏻😁
Congrats to the winners. This time it was animal's turn :)
Yeah :) It does look like the rounds have been having some common themes lately, interesting :D
congrats to the winner. their photos are pretty good.
Thanks for checking them out ;)
Congrats to the winner. The entry from Malaysia of bonsai is marvelous !
Yeah, I liked that one too ;) Cheers!
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!LUV
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This is my contribution, I could have done the bumblebee or the hedgehog I also captured this week but this momma and her calf ( thickbackcows ) are this weeks entry
Hey, thanks for joining this challenge with this lovely shot. Can you just add the location please?
The cow fields in Rotterdam Holland