Hey there my Hive friends and followers!
Welcome to the 218th round of my special weekly photo challenge known as Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun :)
Important note: I have been hosting this challenge in the same format for almost 4 years but I recently decided to introduce some major changes to it so please read all the updates below. The essence of this challenge stays the same though so the intro part will be the same as it was before.
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 ;)
HERE COME THE UPDATES
Originally, the prizes for the winners were just my full upvotes given to their entries but since, unfortunately, I lately had to power down significantly, my upvotes are not that big and motivating anymore so I decided to reward the winners of each round with additional 1.5 Hive each. So now, the winners get my full upvotes on their entries plus 1.5 Hive each. All of the other valid entries will be rewarded with some smaller (usually 50%) upvotes too so that all participants get rewarded for their engagement in this challenge.
In the past, I usually hosted this challenge on Thursday but because of the reasons described below, I cannot guarantee that anymore so now, I may roll out the new round on Thursday, Friday or even Saturday so if you guys don´t want to miss out on the fun here, please check out my blog regularly.
Also, in the past, I always tried to lead by example and thus open each new round with my own fresh natural photo taken during the previous 7 days. However, as you might now from my recent posts, me and my wife are now taking care of our newborn baby and it takes just so much time and energy that I simply don´t have the time to go out and take fresh natural photos anymore (btw late autumn and winter here in Central Europe are not favorable seasons for natural photography anyway) so instead, I will be using my old photos from cool natural places around the world that I have been to. Hopefully, in a few months, I will be able to go out to nature regularly again and take a nice fresh picture for each round just like I did it over the years but before that happens, I will show you some beautiful natural places that I got to see during our travels. It will also be a nice way for me to remember and relive those moments from the times when it was just me and my wife, traveling around the world - happy, young and free :)
THE RULES
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 7 days.
Add a few lines about the photo (at least 50 words) including the date and location.
You can start submitting your entries to this round in the comment section below from now until the next round. If you want to create a separate post as your entry, you can do that but please always remember to submit your entry in the form of a comment here under this post as well. I only check the entries submitted here as comments.
Prior to publishing the next round, I will pick 3 winners, give my full upvotes on their entries and send them 1.5 Hive each as the prize. The winning entries will be featured in the next round of the challenge. I also give smaller upvotes on the other valid entries as I mentioned before.
So that´s it. Let me now open the new round of my photography challenge called Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun :)
I hate to start these lines with another apology for being late but my real life has been crazily busy lately and this might well be one of the last rounds of this challenge, at least for some time. I thought I would be able to keep at least my two regular series alive even during these hectic times but apparently, I´m failing to make it happen. Sorry about that. Will see what the next few weeks will bring but it´s quite possible that I will have to pause this challenge as well as my Monday tipping contest for some time. Now on to the picture. This spectacular place is called Laguna Kaan Luum and it´s hidden deep in the jungle just a short drive south from Tulum, Mexico. The dark part is a giant cenote that the visitors are not allowed into. The lagoon looks empty in this shot but in fact, there were crowds of people behind me on a wooden pier when I was taking that shot. Yucatan is full of breathtaking places like this one. I really hope to come back one day. With my family of course. Florecita should see all the amazing places that her mum and dad once called home...
In the last round of this challenge, we had 7 participants. After some thorough consideration, I decided to pick these 3 winners:
@triplug with this entry from Turkey:
I send you my best regards from Romania and I am glad to be here again with a new entry. We had a few days of holiday in Istanbul, Turkey where I tried to make the most of every day I spent there. Unfortunately, the weather didn't hold out much for me and on top of that, there were protests in Taksim Square on May 1, so I missed more than half a day because of that, yes, I know, I could have re-planned that day, but unfortunately, even if I did, I had no public transport, the trams were stopped all day and the taxi option was very expensive. So today I share with you the picture I took on May 29, 2024 exactly the day I arrived there. The photo was taken in Gülhane Park in Istanbul's Eminönü district.
@nill2021 with this entry from Venezuela:
Greetings friend it is true the internet is full of perfect photos to me although I like photography I'm just an amateur who walks with his phone capturing images, I love especially the natural spaces. In my country, Venezuela, began the winter season something that nature is grateful, this morning I went out to the garden flowers are beautiful, I love to see how the water runs and how the drops look, so I did not hesitate to find my phone and take the picture I hope you like my flower at this time I do not remember the name.
@godfish with this entry from the Czech Republic:
Since the weather doesn’t seem to be in favour of taking new astonishing pictures outside, I have to submit one of the shots I took last Wednesday in Kunratický les in the south of Prague, Czech Republic. Believe it or not, it only takes a few minute-walk from the nearest metro station to get there. However, the forest is quite large, you could fit a village in it. Or an early 15th century castle and a herd of mouflon :)
Congratulations guys! It was my pleasure to give you 100% upvotes on your entries and send 1.5 Hive each, you can check that out in your wallets :)
I am looking forward to what you all will come up with in this round :) Have fun everyone and don´t forget to... Appreciate 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 ;)
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
