A Photography Walk on the Wild Side

Summary

Rhonda Carrier's photography walk in central Florida captures images of wildlife and nature starting with the letter "W" as part of a weekly iPhone photography challenge.

Abstract

Rhonda Carrier, an iPhone photographer, shares her experience of participating in a weekly photography challenge themed around the letter "W". She documents her neighborhood walk, capturing stunning images of wood storks, water lilies, a great blue heron, wall art, and turtles. The photographs reflect the beauty of the local ecosystem, including the birds and other wildlife in their natural habitats. Carrier expresses her appreciation for the challenge as it encourages her to observe and photograph nature in new ways.

Opinions

Rhonda Carrier expresses a fondness for wood storks, describing them as one of her favorite birds.
She appreciates the opportunity to capture a great blue heron near water lilies, noting its elegance and the serendipity of the moment.
Carrier admires the unexpected wall art found by the water, pondering the artist's identity and the artwork's reception.
She finds joy in the simple act of observing turtles sunning themselves, reflecting on the contrast between the active small turtle and the stationary larger ones.
Carrier cherishes the moments spent with her granddaughter, sharing in the wonder of nature and the curiosity about the local fauna, such as tadpoles.
She values the convenience and capability of her iPhone for capturing nature photos during her daily walks.
The photographer acknowledges the weekly photography challenge as a source of inspiration, helping her to stay creative and attentive to her surroundings.

Photos of things that start with W

An online iPhone photography group I participate in (Deena & Lou’s Weekly iPhone Photography Challenge on Facebook) assigns a topic each week. This week‘s topic is things that start with “W”, so I went for a Walk to capture photographs in the Wild. Actually, I just walked around the neighborhood but I found beautiful “W” photos.

Wood storks are one of my favorite birds. These large birds (1-1.1 m) with a wing span of 1.7 m are often seen wading in freshwater ponds and marshes here in central Florida. Their diet is mainly fish but they also eat crayfish, crabs, insects, snakes, and even baby alligators.

A wood stork wading in the water (Photo credit: Rhonda Carrier)

For the next photo, I stopped to view the water lilies growing in a rain ditch. I’ve been watching them for several days trying to catch one in full bloom. I was happy this time to catch a great blue heron wading near the water lilies. The heron is almost as tall as the wood stork but somehow it seems more delicate, more petite. Its habitat, like the wood stork, is freshwater ponds and marshes. It eats fish, frogs, turtles, snakes, insects, and almost anything else it can catch.

Water lilies and a great blue heron wading in the water (photo credit: Rhonda Carrier)

As I walked along the road glancing into the rain ditch, I found this wall art painted on the side of the ditch. I wonder who stopped to add this clever scene to this area? Who has time to do that? How many people stop to see it and admire it?

Wall art by the water (Photo Credit: Rhonda Carrier)

Continuing on my walk, a tiny freshwater turtle splashing into the pond water caught my attention. The larger turtles in the group stayed where they were. I realized they were sunning. They were warming in the Florida afternoon sunshine. The little turtle popped its head out of the water a few times but didn’t seem ready to get back on the small floating raft to join the group warming in the sunshine.

Warming in the afternoon sunshine (Photo credit: Rhonda Carrier)

As you can probably tell from the light in the last photo, the last shot was on a walk on a different day, but it is a favorite of mine. My granddaughter is waiting and watching and wondering, where are the tadpoles? We decided that the water in this drainage ditch isn’t fresh enough any longer for tadpoles to live. We hope that most of them developed fast enough to grow legs and hop out of the water. We hope the bushes nearby have tiny toads living in them.

Waiting and Watching and Wondering Where the tadpoles are. (Photo credit: Rhonda Carrier)

I love my iPhone. I always have it with me, so I am able to capture nature photos on my daily walks. I enjoy having an online group assign a new topic each week. It helps me to stay fresh and to frame things a little differently each week as I walk and as I wonder about what I am seeing.