Welcome to the March 2014 Photography Forum Challenge

** **There are plenty of Signs around us. 
Street signs, printed signs, painted signs,
Caution or danger signs, traffic signs,
Shop signs, serious or funny signs.

Take a look around and show us what you find!

**Please remember:
**Two images per member per week.
Image size: No larger than:
800 pixels X 600 pixels
and 200KB

 

YAY ! That looks fun.  Great idea, Clive. :)

I think this might be my all-time favorite.  It's from our trip last year to Kansas.  I suppose if you were driving around drunk in the middle of the night you might miss it ...  :P

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

A super start Tara.

I will have to start looking.

 

Perfect!

No STOPping you, Tara!

HA! I am glad it is not 10 METERS per hour LOL  Mighty fine beginning of this challenge, Tara :)

The longest place name in the world here on Anglesey, North Wales and national dress thrown in too !!

 

Please click on the pic to enlarge.

HA ! I would love to hear that SAID :) Awesome, Jeff.

Signs of the times.

Great signs, jeff :)

What fun!  I'll be looking around for interesting signs.  We're on Galveston Island right now.  I bet I'll find all sorts of things!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Upper Left: Tesoros Trading Company, a sign on the end of the building in Austin Texas.

Upper Right: Just around the corner, Lucy In Disguise.

Lower Left: A small business in Lamont Alberta.

Lower Right: Blac Label? Don’t know where the “k” went.

Nice ones Wayne. It's ok about the k! Lol.

Alot of signs. And fun with the missing K :-))

must be breathing 2 times to say Jeff

K's gone LOL

 

nature guide sign at one the entrance's of NP Maasduinen about 200m from my home

minder is meer

This is the sort of sign I take pictures of most often.  My files are full of informative interpretive pieces like this.  We make sure we snap these wherever we go ... they're invariably helpful later on!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Nice one Martin and what a lot of handbags Tara.

and boots & belts

minder is meer

Zoom on the sign above the picnic tables on the second floor. What???

 

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

LOL!  Maybe we should stop in the office and ask them why they have picnic tables if they don't want people picnicing or loitering!  Makes me want to run up there for a nice afternoon loiter.  :P

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Nice one Bill but it's a good job Tara put me right on what the sign says. I couldn't quite read it and thought it said "No Fornication or Lounging on this Deck". Lol.

 

Tee hee, Jeff!

I see a no parking sign above the golf cart too, Bill.

 

Taken in the traffic this morning...

 

Well spotted Clive.

 

Hmm, seems slow here this week...

Here is a shot of a sign that was modified by someone driving a bit faster than 80 km/h!

The M49 arrow should be pointing the other way, by the way.

 

sign of the  times

a very old T-shirt

minder is meer

Today is the 7th, so I'll assume I'm safe to post something for week 2.  :P  (If I'm a day early, ... well ... shoot me, I guess!  LOL!)

The east/west streets in Galveston, Texas, go through the alphabet.  Apparently they hadn't thought much in advance about intermediary streets, because they're all labeled 1/2.  So there's L, L1/2, M, M1/2, N, N1/2, O, (and my favorite,) O1/2, P, P1/2 ... you get the idea.  The tertiary streets are either nameless alleyways or streets with names like Teal, Gull, Ibis, Palm, Teak and Sylvia.  Amuse yourself by looking up Galveston on Google maps and zooming way in, if you like this sort of thing!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

 

Quite a daffy T-shirt, Martin!

That sort of makes sense, Tara, though not very appealing.  What do they do after Z 1/2?

 

 

Anyone have any cream...?

 

It's a very narrow island, and I think the "highest" street number is U, or maybe V.  whew ... lucky that, huh?  :P

That's certainly an eye-catching way to sell berries!!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

So nice and surprising to see this great subject, and what has already been posted of course! :)

A little bird box in our garden

 

 Tweet Tweet - a little birdy told me you had someting like this...

 

That's delightful!  I don't know how Bill and I will fit through that tiny little hole, though.  :P

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

These signs I found at a children's playground. The lettering on the sign below says: This playground is smoke free. Be an role model. Because children have a right to healthy areas!

Here's another sign. Maybe the car drivers get distracted by the promotional poster.

Two great signs Klaus.

My first is a plaque that hangs on the inside of a bus shelter. It is written: Donate to your children, we will be happy to advise you. :)

This is a sign that hangs in an open-air museum, where are exhibited the way of life around the beginning of this century. As the pictures show how people used carved(?) the country. The text: Labor is nobility. You'd better wear out than to rust.

How fun to see signs from elsewhere!  :)  Thanks, Jacomina.  The bottom one looks like people using a plow.  That's what we would call it when they "carve" the land.  They're plowing.  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Ha, thank you dear Tara, I had doubts about "carve", as you probably understood. :)

Yes, but it was quite clear what you meant, along with the picture.  :) 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Two great signs Jacomina both being 'signs of the times'.

In the Uk we call it 'Ploughing'!

I am already donating to the grand children!!!

Pluffing?  Plooing?  Oh!  Plowing!  Even the way we spell the word over here, it isn't clear how to say it.  Maybe that's pl-OH-ing?  Good heavens.  It's a wonder we can communicate with each other at all!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thank you, my friend Jeff.
Haha, so by you is nothing more to get, now you just have to become death, and your grandchildren are for sure multi-millionaire.
Sorry, for my cruel words. (Just kidding, of course).

Quote - Good heavens.  It's a wonder we can communicate with each other at all!

So fun observed, Tara.
And now you can supplement what is even more to use when 'observed' is ment to say; (possibly) because it has to stay fun, huh?
Too bad we can't look each other in the eyes, because then you would not have to speak a word to me, I could see and feel what is meant to say.In a wink of an eye
just by passing by
coming to each others country
each others place
I would welcome you all
with grace.

Over the years we seem to get to know each other quite well and know not to take any offence at what we might say!!

Quote - Over the years we seem to get to know each other quite well and know not to take any offence at what we might say!!

Beautiful words, Jeff.

Great signs everywhere! and many with accidental humor - its not easy to see each little sign in our life, there are to many... ;-) my first is about 200 m from my home, its a little boring...

A very colourful sign Priska.

 

I love the signs, Klaus, Jacomina & Priska.

You made an interesting point, Priska.  We are so used to all the signs that we just do not see them anymore.

 

 

The sea looks so inviting!

There are good reasons for the sign at Wolfgat, on the False Bay coastline near Cape Town.  Aside from the currents, it is only 11.5 km (6.5 Miles) from Seal Island, feeding ground for Great White sharks in the bay.

Best not to swim, no matter how hot it is!

 

 

what a beach and no swim! .. wonderful captured sign! ... found a very old style sign in Fribourg

These pictures of the sturgeon were taken by me to make a billboard out of it for Mondo Verde

 

~ Photos are small paintings created in your mind before you press the shutter! ~

these pictures of the DUCKS were taken by me to make a billboard out of it for Mondo Verde

 

~ Photos are small paintings created in your mind before you press the shutter! ~

Super pics Clive, Priska and Ilona.

@ Jacomina:  Looking forward to that day when I set foot in your beautiful country and am able to look you in the eye for the first time!  :)  We plan this trip in our minds over and over, but Mandy says, "Not while I'm around!"  And so we wait with excitement (to be there) and trepidation (that we will lose Mandy of course - she's so old), and continue to plot and plan.  :D

@ Priska:  Your sign is not at all boring!  We have no such signs here, and I'm intrigued by the idea that the town of Wanderweg is in both directions at once!  LOL!  Well ... I assume that's your word for "path," or some such.  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

hehe, yes the yellow signs always are hiking path, or simply path. In this case its the same way for bicycles, roller skates, hikers, and its the main street of our village, also for cars, bikes, Vespa, Tractor. segway and everyone... all together, you see I life in the sticks..;-)

Hi Prisca, the direction indicators from your first opload, are familiar to me. I wish I was there right now. So, I'm a little jealous. ;-)
In your second beautiful sign, is this in the city of Freiburg in Germany?
And your words about interpreting the signs given in ones life, I like your observed around this.

Hi Clive, So tempting this sea, it is that there is, it's dangerous, but in principle, when I see water, I always run and take a dip. The landscape on your beautiful photo looks fantastic! 

Hi Ilona, nice how you give an impression here of the Gaia Zoo.
I recognize the signs, anyway, it's beautiful there.

Oh, and Tara, so a nice picture of the future as you described, so I have a surprise credit, I'm curious. thumb up!

Another sign, this time made of stone. These trail-signs can be found in some places here in the woods, sometimes they are quite helpful.

A splendid sign Klaus but it wouldn't tell me anything!!!

Wonderful challenge this month.
Unfortunately, I do not have photos of signs at the time, but I hope to make some shots before the end of the month!

Congratulations to all for the beautiful pictures included!

Kind regards from Sicily! :)

Hi Klaus,

I love those 'natural signs', which one can see often in Germany.
Your photo is beautiful, and I choose for Heiligenberg; don't know how many km I have to go upwards, so even don't know if I'll reach the top of it (some day).

This is a sign that I saw standing in the front yard of a house. I don't know whether it is in other countries the custom, for if there was born a baby, they do notice this event also through some sort of announcement, on the front of their house, or (as here) in the garden . Very often they make a stork, which holds a white diaper in his beak with a 'baby' in it.

This was in Sittard last week. You see that creepy 'Diesel-head', and on the left a part of the window of a shop. I guess they have that 'Diesel-sign' in other countries too(?)

@ Clive, I was I was shocked by your avatar, :lol:

@ Maria~Concetta, I hope to see you soon, take it easy, huh? :tt1:

p.s. You can also see me, taken the picture. :blink:
I just did see it myself.

I do see you Jacomina and these are two very nice signs.

Hi Jeff, so nice you see me! :)
But it's a dangerous place, huh? So close near the mouth of that guy.

@ Jacomina:  I've never seen the diesel guy, but I hope you stay far enough away if you see him again!!  It's a great picture, though, and I love the reflections and the "split-screen" effect.  And the baby sign is wonderful!  I've never seen such a thing before.  It's a delightful custom!

@ Clive:  I had to go back and look at your new avatar ... :D  It's wonderful! 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

 

Hi Jacomina, as Tara says that 'baby sign' is something we do not see around here - I cannot say I have ever seen one before, other than 'Baby on board' stickers in the back windows of a cars.

The avatar is a bit of fun with me wearing my son's party glasses... he took the shot for me too.

 

ZIBI, the litter busting ostrich created by cartoonist Dov Fedler in 1979 to inspire a nation to “Zappit in the Zibi Bin”, has been brought out of retirement by the City of Cape Town in a 3 year rights deal with the cartoonist, and with an option to extend the flightless bird’s contract even further.

This was in 2010 for the Soccer World Cup.  This bin is at Wolfgat, were I took the shot of the 'No Swimming' sign.

 

Wine barrels used to mark the entrance to Delvera, an agri-village in the Stellenbosch winelands with lots of little shops with arts & crafts, restaurants and kids activities.

Our company hosted a roadshow there last week.

 

** **

Etna and his smoke signals in the background and the fuel sign... an "explosive" coupled! ;-)

The photo was taken this morning from car park in the supermarket where I go grocery shopping!

I wish you all  a splendid weekend!  :-)

 

Two great pics Clive and yours really goes down with a bang emmecielle.

Three good additions to the clallenge.

Please come to stay, I love birds !!!

When we stopped by, Michael was out to lunch:)

 

French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

can you imagine whats this? this road is near the way to the spawning - area... ;-) children are going in the early morning before school and help them over the road..

superb picture Maria, seems you have a direct pipeline from Etna to Agip;-)

Jeff, I do hope your birds can read this invitation! so lovely!

Jacomina, great this announcement for once its not a stork, i just like it! and yes, my sign was from Fribourg in Switzerland, thats the town where one of my daughters is living.

Well seen Bill and Priska.

Too bad Michael wasn't there.  That might have been fun!  We could find out if we're compatible, or perhaps if we should travel.  LOL!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I am always photographing signs.  I was just in Southern Arizona and found a couple. 

Someone posted this on the the mailboxes, and someone else had an opinion.

(By the way, both photos taken with my phone camera)

Two great pics mbz.

That second one illustrates the political issues in Arizona very nicely, Melissa!  What a great find! 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Burrow Mump at Burrowbridge on the Somerset Levels.

 

So this must be in the Shire close to Hobbiton.  Where are Bilbo, Frodo and Samwise..?

 

South Biloxi Mississippi, not far from the Gulf of Mexico.  There's a lot of swampland around these parts! 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I wonder who warns the alligators and snakes about the presence of humans!!

 

Nice one Tara.

hehe, so lovely sign from Jeff! just agree with Hobbit town :-) ...and i stay here after seeing Tara's sign - no snakes or alligators in Europe.... better for me ;-)

There are little signs way down near the ground, on the other side of the water.  LOL!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

What fun here! Here is the sign what stands across our street, which I also posted in my gallery this week.

What it writen on it:

Free walks on trails and roads.
From sunrise to sunset.
Dogs on leash.

btw The board is completely skewed. And I didn't do it ;-).

Thank you for interpreting for us Jacomina, even in zoom I didn't understand the words !!

Hi Jeff,

The bold (dark blue) letters I have not translated. There's the name of the area, namely: "Het Geleenbeekdal".
Wich would be translated something like: The valley of the river of the city, Geleen.
The sign is very old, and dirty.
I'm old too, hehe! But not dirty, btw :closedeyes:

The other challenge photo's, I put them somewhere on my p.c., but can't find them anymore. (that comes when one is far toooo old ;-))

Oh, I have an alternative to the pictures I can't find. Hope this is okay? This board is in the petting zoo. You can see the head of Miriam, Anna and Tamara. (our oldest daughter with two of her children.)

Such a fun sign!  :)  I like the barnyard animals.  We have signs like this over here, too, where you may put your head through the hole and appear to be a cowboy or a policeman or some such thing.  Always very silly and fun!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I figured since I was late to the game, I'd sneak a couple more in...it's almost a new week. ;)

Taken on our trip to Cocoa Beach.

I never did find Jeannie...but I found her street :)

That is a beauty Jacomina and another two super shots from mbz.

Ilove your special signs mbz. I wonder where Cocoa beach is, but there is a lot to read ;-).

@ Tara and Jeff, Thank you for your nice respons!!
And I would like to see you two as a cowboy, but then upon a real horse ;-). hop, hop!

@ Jacomina:  LOL!  I have pictures of me on a horse, but gosh ... they're about four or five years old, and they're on my external hard drive, and it would be really hard to find them and ... and ... and ... (I can come up with a million reasons to NOT show you a picture of me on a horse!  LOL!)  If we come upon a sign where we put our heads through, though, I'll make sure you see it.  :)  Oh ... and Cocoa Beach is in Florida, which is that big sand bar (or peninsula) that sticks down out of the southeast corner of the United States. 

 

@ Melinda:  Terrific signs!  They're so indicitive of a beach culture.  Gosh ... Alaska one day and Cocoa Beach the next!  I guess next week you'll have to go to Maine, and cover everything.  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thank you dear Tara, for your information, and I will rejoice myself to see your head (in a hole).
I'm wondering what undercarriage I will come to see. LOL.

The Florida beach sounds great to me, but I wait with a visit to it, until they have purchased normal sighns. ;-)

LOL!  If i ever see normal Dutch signs in Florida, my friend, I'll be sure to let you know!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

 

Thanks you all for joining in and sharing signs from around the world.

In the April Forum Challenge lets take a look at all the creepy-crawlies with six legs around you!