On Tom's photos: (full size)

In the photo without the block I find my eyes bouncing around all over the place looking for something. I should be focusing on the dock, but somehow it doesn't seem to lock me in. For the one with the block I see the block first, but it seems to help put everything else in place. They're both great photos, but if I was going to hang one of these on the wall at home or work I'd go for the one with the block.

Thank you for uploading these two right behind each other. I don't think I'd have caught on to the effect if they weren't together.
 

I see the resemblence. Most clearly after the screen stops scrolling. While the picture is moving it reminds me of both a line of mushrooms and a tray full of McDonalds hamburgers. Strangely, I don't seem to have any photos of either. :-)
 

Wide angle shot of the clear blue sky over this part of Germany today. It's been like this, without a contrail in sight, for a couple of days and nights now since all the flights were grounded due to the volcanic ash cloud. It won't be much longer before the many thousands of people who've had flight plans disrupted and the airlines that are loosing tons of money find a way to start flying again, but while they're grounded there is at least one small benefit for the rest of us.

Did somebody say "aquarium"? That reminds me of a bunch of photos I took in the aquarium in Gatlinburg a couple of years ago. Wonderful place.

Bob

Hey there bud. You got a ...

Some of the flowers and trees around here are already in bloom, and some are just starting to get their first buds. I was out walking after dinner and kept thinking a bud all by itself might turn out interesting. Luckily (ha, ha) I just happened to have a camera with me.

"Feuerwanzen" it is. Thank you. I looked up Pyrrhocoridae on the web and found out all kinds of interesting things about them, including that they have wings. I'm glad these were walking around looking for a mate instead of flying. It made getting the picture a whole lot easier. :-)
 

This is from early in the week, when I was sitting on a deck in Alabama and watching a few carpenter bees hovering nearby. Trying to get a good shot was a challenge of it's own because they never really hold still and they're too small to track with autofocus, at least not with my Rebel Xsi. Keeping manual focus on a small randomly moving target - fun! Also discovered you've got to use a really fast shutter speed because apparently their whole body moves when their wings are buzzing. I'm back home now and there don't seem to be any carpenter bees around here, but the next time I'm in Alabama I've got to try this again. It's a fun way to get to know the camera.

I was standing there, looking over the hedge at the trees and flowers beginning to bloom in the garden of the Roman Museum, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a sparkle of red moving along the edge of the parking area just a few feet away from me. I glanced that way and my first thought was of a lady bug. I looked a little longer and noticed there were dozens of them moving around, but none of them were flying. I looked a little closer and – ***“That’s no lady!”***

 

Anybody know what these cute little springtime bugs are called?

Thank you. I'm very happy to be included in this wonderful collection of photos. Congratulations to all.

Zeppelinbrücke, Pirmasens Germany, 3/29/2010

A nighttime shot of the bridge near my house. I used a touch of photoshop to get it to look the way I see it, but only a little.

Hi martial,

Why choose? Why not just store the highest quality image you can in all three formats to give yourself the best chance of having an archive you can use in the future? Once you decide a picture is worth hanging on to then doesn't it make sense to take a little extra time to be sure you've got something you'll be able to read later on?

Speaking of later on, if your idea of long term is anything over roughly five years then you probably ought to look at these articles. They've got some information in them you'll need to think about.

"How long is long-term storage?" http://news.cnet.com/8301-21546_3-10309283-10253464.html
"Long-term personal data storage" http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=376

Best of luck, no matter how you decide to approach this.

Bob

This is supposed to be a two lane road with a speed limit of 100 KPH (About 62 MPH) but for some reason I felt like driving a little slower than that today.

How about a "sign" that spring is on the way?

I think it's time they used a different name.

This one is for when it's time to take a break from walking around and looking at all the other signs.