Naw, it's simply because you like to buy a new camera every month...

The expressions on their faces are priceless. Lot of fun in this set.

Jeez, where are my sunglasses!

The tree seems to be fading away into clouds.

I enjoyed this glimpse of Eastern European traditions

Ah ha a "melanistic adder" also known as "Sir Edmond the Black Adder" ;-)
Yes, it could be, thanks. I didn't want to get too close and I didn't disturb the snake, so don't know how big it is. I'd guess, about 75cm long and maybe that is a zig zag patttern

Wonderful - I can see why it's a favourite. I especially love pear trees.

Hi i stumbled on this site and signed in emediately.
Nice to see the DPR community is "saved".😋
I am at this moment very buzy in getting comfortable in our new house and my main pc is still i a box waiting to be set up.
When i am i somewhat less stormy waters i will post here some image's.
For now i am only lurking i think.

A Sunny Week In Northwest England

The weather has been lovely this last week, all the more surprising as I've had a week off, which is usually a cue for, shall we say, less than optimal weather to kick in and do its worst. But no, pleasant sunny weather has persisted all week regardless. Shocker!

Having said that, as I managed to engage myself in a technical project involving a microcontroller and an addressable light strip I haven't actually seen that much of it and only managed to get out on a couple of relatively short walks when I could tear myself away from the exciting tinkering.

Still, they were both very enjoyable walks, featuring some nice local English countryside and of course, the obligatory anthropomorphic trees I seem to see everywhere.

All images taken with the Nikon Z7+24-70 f/2.8S or Fujifilm X-H2 and 100-400 f/4.5-5.6. Processed with Capture One Pro 23 and mostly employing a CPL.

1 - Chorley Town Centre from the Anglezarke Viewpoint

A quite soft telephoto shot of the town centre from Anglezarke. I initially thought the softness was the Fuji's erratic AF doing its thing (i.e. not reliably focussing), but in this case a 100% live view revealed a swimming soup of heat haze, so on this occasion I'll let it off.

2 - Rivington Pike and a Field Full of Buttercups

Does what it says on the tin.

3 - A Curious Tree In A Field

This tree can be encountered on the path to Jepson's Gate. There's more to it than you can see here though.

4 - A Curious Tree In A Field (telephoto)

The tree stands on the crest of a small hill in the middle of a field, surrounded by a short piece of fallen wall on two sides, with what appears to be a standing stone at one end of the wall, that has at some point been repurposed by a farmer as a gatepost, although the gate is long gone today. Now, I thought this was Jepson's Gate as, well, it's a bit odd, given how it stands alone in the middle of a field and all, but apparently (as I found out later) Jepson's Gate is a small stone circle that I completely managed to miss on the rest of the walk. Ah well, there's always next time.

5 - The Tree, The Rock and The Transmitter

The enigmatic Winter Hill television mast and its accompanying transmitters are really in the way when trying to photograph this group.

6 - Where'd The Transmitter Go?

However, if you get really, really low you can hide the transmitter behind the standing gatepost stone thingy. My knees did not thank me for this though. It's a pity the wall in the distance at the back of the field looks like a continuation of this one as it really isn't.

7 - Two Trees

What I hadn't realised, until I drew alongside the tree is that it's in fact two trees locked in a timeless embrace.

8 - When 2:1 Just Isn't Wide Enough!

This was taken on the 2nd half of the walk having looped back from Lead Mine's Clough. The tree on the horizon is the same one seen in the last few pictures. It's a single full width shot cropped in a 3:1 ratio because a narrower frame didn't seem to do it justice.

9 - A Creepy Tree

A walk in the local countryside wouldn't be complete without a creepy tree, although this looks more mythic than creepy. There's probably a sword/stone/headless horseman (delete as applicable) buried amidst its roots.

10 - Buttercups

This was taken on a walk to Great Knowley Woods in the middle of the day.

I didn't realise until putting this post together, but I've managed to catch a small flying thingy as it moves in for a landing in the topmost flower. Upscaled from a tiny crop with Topaz AI.

11 - Buttercup Season

Buttercups, they're everywhere at the moment and look great.

12 - Blossom

Whilst working my way through the woods I noticed this small flower on a tree branch basking in a small patch of light as it broke through the canopy above. This is a 100% crop from the original image.

13 - Another Creepy Tree

Another walk, another creepy tree. This one's looking a bit more angry than the last one though. It also didn't quite fit within the 24-70's gaze, so I ended up taking this as a two shot vertical pano and stitching it together Capture One.

14 - Surprised Tree

The tree on the right appears to have an expression of surprise as it gazes down at its fallen buddy below. The light was quite nice too for such a bright sunny day.

15 - A Dancing Couple

I photographed this pair some years ago, but lost track of where they were. Fortunately I stumbled back across them again on this walk.

Getting fired and going full spectrum. How's everyone's week going?

This one seems to be the best composition. Could the wall once have been longer, with a gate in it, that has perhaps been demolished for reuse of the stone?
The Buttecups are lovely too.

Lurk away, join us in the future.

I like the timeless embrace shot in particular.

I like the purple backdrop more than the acid green plant here.

I got rid of the big blurry shadow with PS beta AI, what do you think ?

I like it !

I like this one best, from that rock, wall, tree scene.
Something soft to kneel on might help quell the complaints from you knees :-)
Another possibilty of course is to clone out something like a transmitter if it disturbs and distracts in a shot. It's not forbidden to clone things out and I would have no qualms about it.

So much better. I was going to suggest that but didn't want to be overly picky.