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****Magali --- LOL @ You!  Thanks for thinking of me .. blushing!!

There are some fantastic uploads in this thread.. some lovely close-to-home-exotic scenes.  I'll have to find another one to upload :)

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So, I sat for a while trying to figure out what on EARTH I was going to offer to this forum, as this little town of Welkom in South Africa is hardly classified as "exotic"!!
Then I realised that, in a sense, it is because the whole town is peppered with gold mines all over the place.  It has to be the weirdest town to live in, I have to admit.
I've been here for 6 months now and I'm still getting used to it!!
So, here is a picture of a gold mine. 
We actually climbed up an old mine dump yesterday and I took quite a few photos. 
When my "spider" series is done, I'll be uploading some in my gallery :-)

Hope this is "exotic" enough!!
Kath

Schlicht Germany, 2008 Kirwa, 24 August 2008

I'm back and I'm posting this entry! Enjoy!

welcome back

This first entry is...well...its a mix of the "typical" image of palm trees that most people think of when you say "California."  We haul them in from places (like Southern California) where they really like to be, stick them in the ground here and force them to grow in our stifling, dry summer heat and in our hurrican-force wind storms during the winter. 

Most people see this incredibly deep blue sky (not altered, by the way...) and think "how beautiful!"  This sky goes on for weeks and weeks and weeks with not a distinguishing mark other than a passing plane. I find it incredibly depressing after a month of this - blue, blue, blue!

Still, putting the two together (the sky and the plams) and then adding them to downtown office buildings, there does seem to be something exotic in the mix.

I have 2 more entries I'm thinking about...

So, Piet, Shari, Bruce, TARA!  LOL I'm in!

PJ, I would consider architecture to qualify as exotic.  I've always liked the Ziggurat building at night.  :)  

Love your mountain pass. It's not easy to get a good sky on command up there but this has that heavy ominous feel as if you are being challenged. A very commanding shot.

And now for my second post to Exotics...

I've tried for over a year and a half to get a good shot of this place. It's difficult because it has so many components that can be highlighted. Putting them all in one shot doesn't work for the angle of things.

The club is located between 2 buildings. The "basement" of the building to the right is the inside dining area.  It is reached by walking down the stairs on the pedestrian mall to the patio. The plants and fountains on the patio are charming and they always seem to have some some live entertainment going on in the evening.

I don't know why I keep going back to photograph this place.  It's just that the whole concept fascinates me. There are a few similar eateries in Old Sacramento, but they are more for the tourists (and charge big prices for average fare with more "standard" entertainment on weekends only).

one of my towns two piers

That's so awesome. BIG pier! Looks like a lot goes on there too!

Quote - Nag! Nag! Nag! Tara!!! LOL  Ok, I am making my attempt to show exotic but it's not easy since temperatures have climbed back to the 100 degree F mark and I'm always cranky in the heat...
....

This first entry is...well...its a mix of the "typical" image of palm trees that most people think of when you say "California." 
I have 2 more entries I'm thinking about...

So, Piet, Shari, Bruce, TARA!  LOL I'm in!

Hé hé PJ !  Sure U hav pics to show us
Please going on ...!

Amitiés
Magali

Awwwwwwwwww, Magali you have talked me into it... I have one left. Not the best but one I think could fit in... I don't know...

This is fun though, looking for something that might be of interest after over 25 years of looking at them day in and day out...I just wish I had something as great as all these others being posted.  What a wonderful display of culture and scenery!

Moi???  NAG???    * looks innocent *    Hummpff.  I prefer to think of it as encouragement.  Support!  Challenging my friends to be the very best they can be ... to stretch their limits!   LOL!  :)  

I love your exotic shots, PJ, and am looking forward to the third one you mentioned.  I would have been oh, so happy with just the two, but you DID let it slip that you had another one, and ... well ... I would hate to ruin my reputation at this late date! 

:)

I really can't decide... what shall it be, Tara? Long shot or close in? I have two to choose from.

The long one is not so long and the close in is ... close.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm... I hate making decisions! LOL

James that's not a pier, that's a business complex!

PJ you and Kendra make my "bucket list" so long with places in the States I would like to visit, that it would take me three years to tour the place. LOL

Oh yes, Kendra, you changed your avatar before I could inquire about that huge cognac glass???

Tara keep going with the challenges or nags, whatever they call it but it works!
Let me see if I still have something I can upload here. My part of the world is flat, so when i upload one pic without bushes, you have seen a 100 miles in one direction. lol

Piet, speaking of bucket lists, I'd love to see your neck of the woods.  :)  That glass by the way, that was a Warp Core Breach.  In Las Vegas, the Hilton has the Star Trek Experience and when we were there for a trade show a few weeks ago we found out they were closing it down.  Well I had to have one last Warp Core Breach at Quarks.  :)    It was the small one too.  5 ounces of rum and whatever else they put in including dry ice to create the fog.  (the large has 10 ounces of rum)

Drank the whole thing.  :) 

looks good to me Kendra......

Well, let's see ... if I get to pick between seeing all of something and seeing part of something, you just KNOW I'm gonna pick the artsy shot every time!   So ... I'd like to see the close in shot, please, PJ.  :)

Dang.  I want a warp core breach at Quarks!  I'm sorry I missed the avatar.  And I love those horses!  Very exotic.  We don't see stuff like that in Seattle.

Piet, if I look in any direction I see huge fir trees, mountains, and water.  Oh.  And clouds and rain.  We don't have horizons here, so I'd love to see one of yours! 

I'm just glad to know James HAS a leash, no matter how long.  (Oops!  Sorry ... wrong thread.)

I like the horses and wagon myself. I hear we are having God Rush Days in Old Sacramento this weekend. I went last year and got a few shots but the temperatures were over 100 degrees F and, frankly, I didn't care much about dashing about for photos. It was a race to see which would melt first...me or my camera. It's only going to be in the mid-90s this weekend but I don't know that I will brave it for more shots. They have wagons carrying people all over down there on the brick streets and about 40% of the population turns out in period garb.

Enough of that... Ok, Tara. :-) I already knew the answer to my question... I'll post up the partial here in a bit. Never let it be said that PJ isn't cooperative.

:lol:

Sacramento has artwork displayed in every corner - statues, murals, fountains, tilework, arches and more ... Everything is in some way a reflection of our state's heritage or history. Previously, in my gallery, I posted a portion of the Sisters of Mercy memorial statue in which one of the sisters is kneeling beside a baby wrapped in a blanket. One of the comments on that shot was that the baby could not be made out in the deep shadow, which was my intention, BTW, since it was not my chosen subject at the time.

I went back to that statue every morning last week trying to find the right light to catch a shot of this rock-child, but the sun just wasn't cooperating, however, I was able to capture this one moment when a ray of sun broke through the branches of the redwood trees around it and illuminated the one foot of the baby.

So, there you go. My exotic is a stone-cold foot. End of story.  :tt2:

Oooooooohh.  Thank you, PJ!  You are MOST cooperative!  :)  What a great shot.  The light is awesome ... totally worth the trouble you went to!  The statues in the town I live in are wonderful, but they're mostly metal abstracts, so it's great to see this.  Thanks again!  :)

Awesome light PJ, it has that Tutankhamun tomb like feel about it.

Kendra exotic definitely. I live on the route of the old transport/mail route crossing Africa and I would love to to a re-enactment of a (mail) coach like this one. About that elixir, you said Warped Core Bridge, huh and 10 ounces of rum... and you drank the whole thing. :ohmy::ohmy::ohmy: Good grief, I bet that stuff straightens your hair and knocks the socks of a tick on ones horse.

Tara, let me see if I can find a pic showing the vastness of the flat lie of the land. I made a pano once but I make no promises... Whether wide open space qualifies as exotic remains to be seen.

St.Andrews chuch,Kinson..... the village that i live in......

There's nothing that says "England" like a really old church with a graveyard.  Did you know we don't have graveyards alongside churches here?  Not to mention old buildings.  None of those, either. 

We don't have graves near our churches either. It seems to creep the congragations out...:-) The best we can do, I think, is to put a tiny chapel at the center or back of the cemetery - next to the gift shop or the archieves, depending on the age of the cemetery...Yup, our old cemetery has a place to buy t-shirts and history books on local sights. But then, it all fits because they give guided tours both day and night through the sections, telling stories about those buried there and serving wine and cheese after the tour is over. :-) And THAT doesn't creep people out? Go figure...

Love the Church!!!   One of these days I want to take my camera to Europe.  Churches, the Highlands, standing stones, Castles.... one day.    I am doing Alaska next year if I have to go broke to do it.  Maybe Europe in a few years.  :)  

For those that missed the avatar, here is a Warp Core Breach: 

And this is the mini.  The regular size, fit for 2, is twice that with 10 ounces of rum.  Believe it or not, one trip I went with a friend and we each consumed 2 of those.  We spaced them out so it wasn't too bad and we maintained the common sense not to go out on the Vegas strip after but we did do the Star Trek Experience after one and were asked what room we were in by some guy at dinner.  :)   Viva Las Vegas!

Oh my!  Thanks for sharing that.  I'd missed it earlier, and DS9 was my favorite.  Thanks!  :)

Sadly they're closing the Star Trek Experience.  When we arrived there for the trade show there were Trekies everywhere.  We had taken our daughter this trip and while they were at the valet waiting for the car the first night and I was running back to the room for my camera, they met Robert Picardo.  I missed seeing him by a couple of minutes and while we aren't big Star Trek fans we do watch Stargate Atlantis and he's on it.  My husband didn't put it together that he was Woolsey on SG, he just remembered him as the hologram doctor on Voyager (and from the Star Trek Experience ride).  :) 

Attached Link: Foggy Morning

"Foggy Morning"  http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1738116

I live in a place where there's fog, but no really old buildings.  To me, it's the architecture in this shot that's exotic.

 Here is one for you.  Taken a while back at Payne Creek State park which is maybe 30 miles from my house.  Momma gator and a few babies.

Wow - cool shot!  I hope you were using zoom!  :)

Hey James - when was St. Andrews built?  I looked on line, but couldn't figure it out.

Quote - Wow - cool shot!  I hope you were using zoom!  :)

Hey James - when was St. Andrews built?  I looked on line, but couldn't figure it out.

Yes definitely using the zoom!  Wouldn't want to get close to old mom there.  They were across the river from us.

Quote - There's nothing that says "England" like a really old church with a graveyard.  Did you know we don't have graveyards alongside churches here?  Not to mention old buildings.  None of those, either. 

Gee, I thought it was the Fish& Chips, Macs, Fog, and Crazy Royal Family ;-)

So many new entires I am amazed. Bob we get fog here once a year for a day maybe two at most and then the farmers count 100 days for the first frost to occur. Excellent photograph.

To the late comer Floridean with the Gator pic, awesome! I am sure there are more exotic places near you? Shall we hold our breaths?

Jules we know so little about Aus, enlighten us!

Kendra, I am so happy you held the bowl low, else we would not have spotted you. 10 ounces, 2 of those? I am making calculations here and they look terrifying. :-| This is the part where I am tempted to load the "Don't try this at home" banner...

I also agree with others on the church James, something exotic about England's old churches.

Owhhh Wendy, it's the little cute family you showed me in july........ brrrr
when I showed my sister's shot, she's afraid by a gecko & she wrote in her mail :
" I met an aligator when opening my kitchen window at 7AM"

cause I may not show the photo of my sister ( it's not mine), I show you there what kind
of "aligator" gecko we meet in Provence ( South of France)

Here it's a baby on my terrace, near a green"twiggy" to compare sizes

Surely  it will grow enormous  ...  :b_uncertain:

Oh I try to upload again my pic but that doesn't work

Maybe my quota in this thread  is complete ( only 3 uploads ...?)

So to see the geckos ( mine and the one it scarred my :scared: sister ),

Peek a view there:

http://picasaweb.google.fr/laelia78/Gecko?authkey=sCjKaR_KGjE

Amitiés Magali

 Magali

Your geckos are cute!    I think they sell those in pet shops here.  

By the way I use photobucket to host my photos and then I copy the direct link into the photo attachment window and it works.

Wendy

On a side note, I didn't realize until I was looking back through here that they were going to close down the Star Trek exhibit in Las Vegas.  So sad, that's one of my very favorite places, I've been there twice and yes, I photographic evidence of me as a Borg....

Magali - your image has to be smaller than 200kb, and less than 800x800 in order to upload to the thread. 

Denise - a Borg?  I want to see that! 

Oh, yes; a Borg, and then in the Captain's chair on the command deck, and I also have one of me as a showgirl, and as the wife of Conan the Barbarian....all pretty darn funny!  Not sure I could put my hands on all of them, though; since my parents have moved in I'm all in disarray...

I'll wait . . .

( hums "Jeopardy" theme song )

LOL!    :)

You MIGHT want to have a seat and maybe drink a cup of tea or something...because I'm not going out to dig them up tonight!  Silly wabbit!

LOL!  Okay.  I'll be patient.  :)

Mick

Mick, I think that tall ship on the dock is pretty exotic and the lean on that metal tower is very... well..., I keep waiting for a gust of wind to pair up with a sudden tidal surge to take the whole thing down. :-)