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Featured Work

Attacus Atlas by Anne-Marie Bokslag

Featured in the Just Butterflies group. A = Attacus Atlas / The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) is a large saturniid moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, southern China, common across the Malay archipelago, Thailand to Indonesia. In India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in a non-commercial capacity; unlike that produced by the related Silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), Atlas moth silk is secreted as broken strands. This brown, wool-like silk is thought to have greater durability and is known as fagara. Atlas moth cocoons have been employed as purses in Taiwan. Atlas moths are considered to be the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area (upwards of c. 400 square cm or 65 square inches). Their wingspans are also amongst the largest, from 25-30 cm (10-12 inches). Females are appreciably larger and heavier. (The largest lepidopteran in terms of wingspan is thought to be the White Witch, Thysania agrippina. A record specimen of Attacus atlas from Java measured 262 mm while Thysania are claimed to be about 270-280 mm or 11 inches. Based on some spread specimens and angle of wing, actual measurements of around 289 mm have been estimated.) Atlas moths are said to be named after either the Titan of Greek mythology, or their map-like wing patterns. In Hong Kong the Cantonese name translates as “snake’s head moth”, referring to apical extension of the forewing, which bears a passing resemblance to a snake’s head. Atlas moths are predominantly tawny to maroon in colour with roughly triangular, diaphanous “eyes” on both forewing and hindwing, bordered in black. The purpose of these dramatic, gossamer portals is not clear, but they are thought to play a role in predator avoidance. Their bodies are hairy and disproportionately small compared to their wings. Patterns and colouration vary among the many described subspecies. Male Atlas moths are distinguished from females by their smaller size, more tapered wings, and larger, bushier antennae. Neither sex possess fully-formed mouthparts and therefore do not feed; throughout their 1-2 week adult life they survive entirely on larval fat reserves that they build up while they are caterpillars. Females are sexually passive, releasing powerful pheromones which males detect and home in on with the help of chemoreceptors located on their large feathery antennae. Males may thus be attracted from several kilometres downwind. Atlas moths are unsteady fliers and the female does not stray far from the location of her discarded chrysalis: she seeks a perch where the air currents will best carry her pheromones. Once mated the female lays a number of spherical eggs 2.5 mm in diameter on the undersides of leaves. Dusty-green caterpillars hatch after about two weeks and feed voraciously on the foliage of certain citrus and other evergreen trees.[8] The caterpillars are adorned with fleshy spines along their backs which are covered in a waxy white substance. After reaching a length of about 115 mm (4.5 inches), the caterpillars pupate within papery cocoon interwoven into desiccated leaves. The adult moths emerge after about four weeks. / Source: Wikipedia Picture taken in the butterfly house in Northern Animal Park in Emmen, The Netherlands. Canon 1000N
A is for Anemome by Dave2119

A is for Anemone
White Anthurium © by jansnow

“A is for Anthurium” I’ve only seen red Anthurium before until I came across these at Cactus and Tropical in Salt Lake City, Utah. “White Anthurium ©” was featured in Outsiders / “White Anthurium ©” was featured in 12 Great Features – Cha… / Panasonic DMC-TZ5.
Kylemore Abbey - Ireland by Arie Koene

A is for ... Abbey
A=Aquarium:) by KseniyaTataKP

paper 80g/m,pens
fall in the water by dc witmer

“A” is for autumn It doesn’t matter whether we love the fall, or fall in love, a change takes place that makes the current ‘season’ of your life seem better, even if it’s only for a short while. Embrace it with enthusiam, you just might be surprised on it’s duration. The leaves may come and go, but true love last forever. So, take some time and reflect on what life has to offer, because after all, change is good. shot on the Little River, Smoky Mountains /
I'm Keepin' My Eye On You by Victoria DeMore

A is for Alligator Gator at the aquarium Canon Rebel XT w/ Canon 18-55mm lens / Polarizer & UV Filter used Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Aquarium
Angel by Donna R. Carter

“A is for Angel” I had fun making this adorable preschooler even more angelic. Canon EOS 450D Digital Rebel XSi / Photoshop Elements 5.0 Diffuse Glow
Anhinga A is for Anhinga by Rosalie Scanlon

Anhinga as shown in the wild by a small lake. These are very pretty birds when they have their wings spread to dry. They have to do this as they dive underwater to fish, and they do not have natural oils on their feathers, therefore they have to hang their wings out to dry. A is for Anhinga. Image taken at Lakes Park, Ft. Myers, Fl.
"A" is for Anvil by DanceswithCats

“A” is for Anvil…..A very basic tool. / In simplest terms it is a block where another object can be struck. / It isn’t good for shaping claws; I tried it and no luck. While Anvils aren’t that interesting / Especially for cats… / For the next Treasure Hunt I’m ready, / My entry will be a “Bat”. Sincerely, Rocky
Prague (Upside Down Horse) by Anne-Marie Bokslag

Winner of the Animal Statues Challenge in the 12 Great Features group and therefore featured in this group. / Featured in the Statues and Such group and / in the à EUROPA! group. Who knows where I am hanging?....Solved by Ajax Visiting Prague I saw this strange statue. David Cerny is the artist who made this upside down Horse sculpture. A dead horse, hung by the legs from a beam, appropriately enough at the bottom or ‘bum’ end of Wenceslas Square in Prague, the meeting point of drugdealers and pickpockets. Astride the dead horse, (who seems to be a mare or a gelding, in fact), sits a representation of St Wenceslas, the patron saint of the country. / The horse is hung in the opposite direction to his role model, vertically and horizontally. Being dead, and upside down, it is sticking its tongue out at the archetype at the far and top end of the boulevard, so massive, yet elegantly balanced on just two legs. For those who do not know the deep symbolic significance of it all, some local lore and history. / 1. St Wenceslas (The “Good King” of the English Christmas carol) was a Christian who ruled the country in the 10th century. He was murdered by his half-brother Boleslav the Cruel, on his way to Church. (a snippet from my father’s English-language play for schoolchildren about Good King Wenceslas here) / 2. The statue which adorns the top of Wenceslas Square is by Josef Vaclav Myslbek, whose surname is better known to Prague visitors as a modern shopping mall, Na Prikope. / 3. Wenceslas Square (boulevard would be a better way to put it) used to be the city’s Horsemarket. Between 1678 and 1879, there was an equestrian statue of St Vaclav there by Jan Jiri Bendl. The Square got renamed to Vaclavske namesti in 1848, when a celebration open-air Mass was held at the statue. When the National Museum was designed at the very top en of the square, the architect sought a new statue to go with it, and a competition was formally announced in 1894, but Myslbek had been working on his piece since 1887. Myslbek was not the outright winner, but got ahead (by a nose so to speak) of the romanticised design by Bohumil Schirl, through reworking his concept into a very symbolic and national revivalist Christian patron. He added four saints, St Ludmilla (Vaclav’s grandmother), and St Prokop at the front, St Vojtech and St Agnes at the back. The equestrian statue was finished in 1912, the entourage added gradually to complete by 1922, the year Myslbek died. The statue, which carries around the plinth the emotional motto, “St Wenceslas, leader of the Czech lands, do not let us or our descendants perish” has served as a rallying point during all subsequent times of crisis and triumph. Curiously, St Agnes was canonised to sainthood only in November 1989, days before the Velvet Revolution. / 4. Legend has it that St Wenceslas and his knights are sleeping underneath Blanik Mountain in Central Bohemia, and when the going gets really tough, they’ll come charging out to vanquish all our foes. / 5. In reality, the nearest Blanik is the cinema near the statue, currently showing American Pie – and ordinary cinemagoers come charging out, nights, to get to the metro, probably having slept through the film. / 6. The Myslbek statue is undoubtedly the meeting point in Prague. Meetings are variously arranged ‘by the horse’ or ‘under the tail’, perhaps to reflect the nature of the rendez-vous. (Ocas or ‘tail’ is, like the German Schwanz, an alternative slang word for a gent’s reproductive accoutrement. Aletrnative to “bird’’, as in the Pushkin reference at the beginning, or the American giving thereof) So the rotationally symmetrical arrangement of Cerny’s equestrian statue is a contrast and a provocation in more ways than one. It might become the alternative meeting point and wreak havoc in ordinary Burghers’ meeting schedules, if it stays up a while. Meanwhile, the possibilities for interpretation are virtually endless. In some ways this is a self-portrait of the artist, in that he is once again taking advantage of an absurd situation, riding the absurdity to triumph. So far, no graffiti. The petitbourgeois don’t express their disapproval that way. But there is plenty of tut-tutting going on. Nowadays it hangs in the Lucerna Palace, kind of a shopping center, near Wenceslas Square in Prague. Camera Canon 350D / Canon Zoom lens EF-S 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 II USM / Exposure time 1/10s / Aperture value f5.6 / ISO 200 / Focal length 24mm
Oh, sh..... not again! by Arie Koene

Siena – Italy

Recent Work

Bumble Bee by SKNickel

“B” is Bumble Bee / Photo taken July 6th, 2009 / Roseburg,OR
Double Bubble - B is for Bubble by BarbL

Taken July, 2009
to bee or not to bee by dc witmer

I borrowed some extension tubes for close-up shots, and this little fellow was one of my first models. shot in the UT Gardens near sunset ‘B’ is for Bumble Bee / shot on July 1st
Fishing With The Bears by Rick & Deb Larson

FEATURED IN IMAGEWRITING ON 7-02-2009. FEATURED IN ALASKA ~ BEYOND YOUR DREAMS ON 7-01-2009. FEATURED IN BEARS OF THE WORLD ON 7-01-2009. PHOTOS BY DEB Camera: SONY A700 (above photo info) f/6.3; 1/400 sec.; ISO-800; 230mm. AS IS with minor contrast adjustments. ‘B’ is for BEAR My husband’s cousin and her husband came to Alaska (their first trip) to spend a little time with us, we picked them up at the airport in Anchorage (Wednesday the 17th of June) and then headed south to the Kenai River where we spend the majority of our summers camped out. On the three hour drive down they were lucky enough to see a few moose along the way (this fulfilled one of the items on my husband’s cousin Carol’s Bucket List). Since the first run of Kings (Chinook salmon) on the lower Kenai River wasn’t that hot, we decided that we would introduce them to fishing for reds (sockeye salmon) on the upper Kenai River (Thursday June 18th), so we packed up all the gear we would need and off we went for the approximate 1 hour drive to the area of the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers. After sitting in line for about an hour we finally inched our way into the parking area at the Russian River ferry. Now it’s time to get the hip boots on, rig the poles and gather up the other necessary gear that we would need (stringer, fish bonker, extra leader line, hooks etc.), then off we go to find a spot amongst all the other anglers strung out along the river bank. We are lucky enough to find an area that would allow three of us to fish, but low and behold we were NOT the only anglers who wanted to fish that same area, on the bank lay a young (approximate two year old) grizzly bear. He was so relaxed, stretched out keeping an eye on the river, the anglers and maybe the FREE fish that some kind and unknowing angler would provide for him. We (Rick’s cousin, her husband and our son) enter the river and see if one or more of them might be lucky enough to catch a salmon while also keeping a very close eye on the young bear. After a while he gets up and checks things out along the bank area, finding a filleted out salmon carcass he drags it back up to the bank area and cleans the little bit of salmon meat off the bones, then looks around for more. The bear finally wanders off into a wooded area (at which point our son has one salmon on the stringer), we continue fishing …..(I am still standing guard on the river bank with our gear, my son’s fish [one must have all gear within three feet of themselves at all times or encounter a $300 dollar fine while fishing this area] and camera in hand). About 15 minutes later, here comes the young bear strolling along the bank area and working its way towards me and my husband’s cousin Carol (who just decided to take a little break from fishing), I pick up the one end of the stringer with my left hand (keeping my camera at the ready in my right hand) and we both start moving out into the river (now to paint the picture a little better, the stringer is in my left hand and the fish at the end of the stringer is being carried with the current downstream towards the area the bear is coming from)….the bear keeps stopping from time to time sniffing the air [we are up wind from him] then once again starts walking upstream, by now I am getting a little bit worried as he is not only walking upstream towards us, but is also walking out into the river at the same angle as our sons fish which is at the end of the stringer….[do I just let go of the stringer or do I wait and see what this young one has in mind]. I take the second option, and wait. The bear continues roaming and looking around, steps over a couple more filleted out fish carcasses and then happens along some other anglers catch (three reds on a stringer)…..[much relief is running through my mind], as I am clicking away….one picture after another! Now the bear picks up one fish, not realizing that there are three attached to a stringer line, he stumbles on one fish but manages to keep the one in his mouth….then he decides it’s time to try another tactic….keeping the one in its mouth, he starts to back up towards the river bank and the woods while using its front paws to drag the other two fish with him (which are attached to the stringer but he isn’t into the ‘knowledge of mankind’ and what they use to keep their fish linked together), after whacking at the other two fish with its front paws, the bear and three fish finally disappear into the woods ....as the angler who unknowingly contributed to the bears feeding, realizes he just lost half of his allowable catch of 6 reds. The man just shrugs his shoulders and continues fishing….this is just another day in Alaska fishing the Russian and Kenai Rivers with the bears (blacks and browns) of this area. The angler whose fish were taken returns to the river bank to replace a lost hook and when he starts to go back into the river, the bear wanders back out of the woods…..the man called out to the bear ‘that was the last free meal that he was going to provide, and he hoped that the bear enjoyed the free meal.’ What a way to welcome first time visitors to Alaska…..this was one item that was NOT on either of their bucket Lists, but no matter they were so excited for the opportunity that this young bear provided them, and they could go home and actually say that they fished for reds with a grizzly in Alaska! / / Goodbye Carol and Frank….we can’t wait for your next visit (who knows what Alaska will have in store for you).
"B" is for Butter by DanceswithCats

“B” is for Butter… / an edible emulsion of fat globules, / made by churning milk or cream, / most common for cooking and table use it would seem. But give me just that half-a-chance, / To sneak a dainty lick, / and into a stick of butter will go my tongue, / real quick! Regards, Big Momma As is capture taken with my Kodak Easyshare ZD710 camera on July 5, 2009.
"B" is for Blue Balloon by raindancerwoman

Take at the 4th of july celebration in Pigeon Forge Tennessee / shot 07/04/09
Hoo Hoo are you looking at by Karen Moore

B is for Barred Owl A large stocky Owl that has a loud barking hoo, hoo sound as well as other calls and screems. This Owl is useually only seen by those who seeks it. Normally would hide in thick groves of trees in lowland forest, where it rest quietly during the day and comes out at night to hunt and feed. This is rare to see during the daylight hours. With all the rains we have had the fields are flooded and there is plenty of crayfish, frogs ,rodents and small birds for him to get his fill during the day. If you look closely at the photo you can see that he is wet, as well as a bit bloody in the face. Must have caught him just after a meal. This was taken 7/5/09 off Key Ride Road, Felda, Florida.
Garden Buddha by Tamara Valjean

Buddha statue embraced by hops in my sister’s garden. Shot this with my Panasonic point and shoot camera. 7/3/09 B is for Buddha
Strike? by sewcrafty

“B” is for Bowling. Bowling ball headed for a strike? As is; Nikon Coolpix 5700 Photo taken 6/29/09, after the start of 12 Great Features’ A-Z Treasure Hunt challenge.
Mardi Gras Beads Abstract by Kim McClain

Colorful Mardi Gras Beads for PARTIES! B is for BEADS! Photo created July 2009
A day at the beach... by Hannah Fenton-Williams

Isacc hale beach park (Pohoiki) Big island Hawaii / As is / Nikon coolpix p60 / Challenge info: / “7/3/09 B is for Beach” Featured in Bits and Pieces group
UNDER THE BRIDGE by Scott d'Almeida

MILLENIUM BRIDGE IN LONDON i love this piece because of the light play with the dark bridge overhead and the golden tones of the buildings. very happy with this long exposure shot / B IS FOR BRIDGE

This is a challenge themed group where voting will determine the features. Only images that comply to themes of the challenges can be submitted. All others will be removed without further explanation. Work must be submitted to the group to enter the challenges.

Only the Top 10 Winners will be featured, the winning image artist will be the featured member and winning image will be the avatar until the next challenge winners are chosen. All non-winning works will be removed after a short time. ABSOLUTELY NO NUDITY or SAFE FILTERS.

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Spotlight of the Week
Undercover by Karen Moore