In the Background
Here’s my interpretation of “In the Background” for this weeks challenge. It’s a portrait of Peter scuba diving off the island of St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean with his new best friend!
For more information about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.
Caribbean Octopus by Cathy Ulrich
Caribbean blue
Tentacled Cephalopod
I’ll turn my light off
Today, I celebrate my first anniversary as a member of the WordPress family! Nearly 14,000 views, 400 followers, and a wonderful new group of friends as well as a Freshly Pressed, I’m so glad to be a part of the Blogosphere. My blog has evolved over the past year from an extension of my online healing course to a platform for my photography and new-found love of poetry. It has expanded my world in ways that I never thought possible.
Thanks to all of you who have followed, commented and extended your friendship on this journey. Thanks for your humor, insight and commitment in sharing your own journeys on your blogs. I have learned so much from all of you. My life is immensely richer for having met you, and I look forward to seeing what this next year holds for us here at WordPress. In conclusion, here’s a gallery of some of the highlights from the past year. Happy Easter, Everyone!
Love,
Cathy
For this week’s Haiku challenge, I chose a shot from our last scuba trip to St. Kitt’s. This gorgeous creature is now a menace to the reefs in the Caribbean. As a non-indigenous species (it hails from the South Pacific and was introduced to western waters from someone’s hobbyist aquarium in Florida), it has no predators and is breeding rapidly in that part of the world. Fortunately, even though the Lionfish is extremely poisonous, it moves very slowly. So a careful diver can avoid touching its dreaded dorsal spines.
I invite you to comment in Haiku – either about this shot or about your favorite vacation destination. Three lines – five syllables – seven syllables – five syllables. And have a great Sunday!
Lion Fish in Focus by Cathy Ulrich
Pouty expression
Angel’s wings give bitter pain
Do not tread on me
Welcome all. Are you ready to get your haiku on? Here’s our photo for the week and I’ll start the thread. 5-7-5 – I like to count on my fingers.
Cephalopod’s Domicile by Cathy Ulrich
Hiding Octopus
in coral habitation
keeping eye on me
Now you! I’ll reply in haiku…
Fairy Castle
“At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don’t really expect it. It’s like one day you realize that the fairy tale might be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it’s not so important that it’s happy ever after, just that it’s happy right now.” Dr. Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy
My fairy castle was a stalactite formation in the freshwater caves near Akumal, Mexico. This shot was taken during a guided scuba dive in the remote cave system called “Dream Gate” – an experience of a lifetime.
Orange Frog Fish by Cathy Ulrich
Here’s my interpretation of “Unique” – an elusive and unusual creature that I encountered on my scuba trip to St. Kitts in the Caribbean last summer. This Frogfish was hanging out (literally upside down) on an orange sponge, camouflaged so well that we would have missed it had it not been for our guide’s keen eye. This shot was taken with an Olympus XZ-1 in the Olympus PT-50 housing. I used a Light & Motion Sola 1200 video light and the internal camera flash.
For more information about the Weekly Photo Challenge click here.
Juan Carlos in the Cenote by Cathy Ulrich
For this week’s photo challenge, I chose a shot I took while diving in the Cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Peter and I did several guided cave dives with a certified Cave Diver – Juan Carlos seen in this photo. It was an amazing experience. This shot was taken during our surface interval between dives. We came up from the first dive called “Dream Gate” and dashed through the jungle, batting off mosquitoes to this small hole in the ground with the tip of a ladder emerging from the hole. Juan Carlos climbed down the ladder and as we’re continuing to bat mosquitoes who are winning at that point, I hear his voice coming up from the bottom of the ladder: “It’s okay. Come on down. You’ll really like it. Trust me!” So we did – and here’s what we saw…
These caves were the source of fresh water for the ancient Mayans. A huge underwater cave system that they viewed as the womb of Mother Earth. You can see roots of trees that have made their way from the roof of the cave into fresh water at the bottom as well as stalactites hanging from the top of the cave. This shot was my interpretation of “Illumination” because this beautiful place lies hidden in the dark until we turned the light on…
For this week’s photochallenge, we are asked to share photos from our year. So here is a collection – one for each month of 2012. If you’re viewing from the home page, click on the title for the post and you’ll be able to see the gallery.
Scuba Weeble by Cathy Ulrich
This photo includes a little backstory: In November, Madame Weebles created a contest to raise money for Movember. Being extremely camera-shy, she decided to post nine photos of her friends and one of herself and the contest involved guessing which photo was hers. I guessed right and my prize was a Weeble from her extensive collection. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and found my very own Scuba Weeble! I’m an avid Diver and amateur underwater photographer. It was the best surprise ever. Thank you, Weebs!
To see some of my underwater photography just click on the term in my categories on the home page.
