Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Welcome to the 106th round of my special weekly photo challenge known as Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun :)
I know a lot of photo contests with nature as the main theme were/are/will be hosted by various people on the Hive blockchain but I wanted to come up with something more than just another photo contest where participants would submit their best natural photos. Therefore, I decided to go for quite an unusual concept that I am going to introduce in the following lines.
The aim of the Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun photo challenge is not to make you dig up your photo archives and submit the best pictures of nature that you have ever taken. Instead, I want you guys to go out and appreciate the beauty of our nature right now.
The internet (and the Hive blockchain as well) is flooded with picture perfect shots of landscapes, mountains, forests, beaches etc. taken years ago. But this is not what I want to see in this challenge. I want to see shots that may not be necessarily stunning but they must be fresh, proving that you have just physically spent some time outdoors in the fresh air. But remember that nature comes in many forms. It doesn´t have to be a pristine jungle or a deep remote forest. An urban park, a botanical garden, a little grove on the outskirts of your town - pretty much any place with some trees, plants, rocks, bodies of water or any other natural features would be just as fine ;)
Obviously, there is no way for me to verify whether the photo that you submit in the challenge is really fresh or if it was even taken by you so I am relying on your honesty guys. The prizes for the winners (as described below) are more symbolical than overly motivating so I don´t expect too much fraudulent behavior in this challenge anyway.
I want to keep the rules of this challenge as simple and benevolent as possible so let´s agree on just this:
Only one entry (photo) per person per round.
The photo must be yours and not older than one week.
Add a few words about the photo, at least where and when you took it.
You can start submitting your entries to this round in the comment section below from now until the next round.
Prior to publishing the next round post, I will pick 3 winners, give my full upvote on their entries and feature them in the next round of the challenge. As long as the response is not too overwhelming, I will also try to give some smaller upvotes on all of the other entries to reward all participants.
I might change the concept and/or the rules of the photo challenge later on, depending on how things go. I usually host the challenge on Thursday but when needed for some reason, I can host it on some other day so better check my blog regularly not to miss out on it ;)
To keep up with you guys, I submit my own fresh natural photo to every round´s post too :) Here is my contribution to start out this round:
It´s been a beautiful, warm and sunny day today and I just spent a few hours outside, basking in the sun and watching the nature slowly awakening from the winter sleep. It was in the Jordan Park here in Krakow, Poland where I took this close up of the snowdrops. However, it´s really difficult to enjoy the nice weather, flowers and everything when you know that in the neighboring country, not far from here, people are actually dying in war. Yes, I am talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It´s heartbreaking to see what is happening over there :( Stay strong Ukrainian people.
In the last round, we had 11 participants. After some thorough consideration, I decided to pick these 3 winners:
@danghao with this entry:
I have a photo taken with a drone last Thursday, this is the Da Nang Bay, Vientam. Below is the Tho Quang fishing port. That' s also my new post for today, hope you like it.
@friendlymoose with this entry:
We have been suffering from storms like Duddley, Eunice and Franklin in the past two days here in The Netherlands. But although the weather is impetuous the first trees are already starting to blossom. This is the Japanese Maple I photographed in my backyard this week.
@dswigle with this entry:
Spring is in the air, but, this morning, I couldn't really tell. It has been warm, but, the rain took over the sky today. I still have been seeing a couple of leaves hanging on the trees from the fall, I think they will not release until the new ones push it out. Walking in the rain was a brisk, adrenaline experience for me. A nice hot shower after it really got my blood flowing. Good morning from here! This is my entry for this week. It is from the Washington DC metro area.
Congratulations guys! It was my pleasure to give you 100% upvotes on your entries :)
I am looking forward to what you will come up with in this round.
Have fun and appreciate the beauty of nature!
I post this series in the Amazing Nature community, a great community for all nature lovers. Feel free to check it out ;)