Cultural Portraits, Nature’s Textures, Landscapes And Daily Observations – The Weekly Community Roundup

Welcome to our weekly community wrap-up.  It's been another amazing week on the Light Stalking forums with great photography by the community and the discussions in the forums have been engaging and very inspiring in the recent weeks. We've had more members joining the community the last few weeks, making the forum experience even more exciting.

Here is the Photo Of The Week that is judged by Federico every week. This week's photo of the week is by Patrick. Read more about it here – Photo of the Week – December 11th

Copyright Patrick

The weekend photography challenge from last week was “Cultural Portraits” and members came up with their creative interpretation of the theme by capturing very interesting shots – some of them are shared below.

This week, we have a new challenge that has some very beautiful submissions already. Join the challenge here – Festival Colors

Here are some “Cultural Portraits” photographs from the past week's challenge that we thought were great and should be included here:

Copyright Wendy P Copyright Retired Grunt Copyright Patrick While visiting a village in Iraq – Copyright Retired Grunt

Here are photos shared by members in other forums like General Photo Chit Chat, Landscape Photography, Macro Photography, Astrophotography, etc.

We are small and struggling against the flow, but struggle we must – Copyright Steve Rocks and water – Copyright Steve Hot Springs Terraces – Copyright Robert Apple Copyright Robert Apple Moon over the Thermopolis Anticline – Copyright Robert Apple Copyright Tersha Monument Hill , Thermopolis Wy – Copyright Robert Apple The Bird Bath – Copyright Robert Apple Copyright Diane Interesting Threads in the Forums:

Our members have started some very interesting threads so you can follow and get inspired and some where you can also post your own photos. These are great ways to learn more in terms of photography and the natural world we live in.

Moments Through a Dirty Windshield – Started by Retired Grunt, who will be posting photos from the project weekly. These are moments of life that he captures while he drives although some are taken while parked. From 2017, shot with a Canon 7D – Copyright Retired Grunt

I was on my way home and saw that the pond on an Amish farm was being cleared off. Every year around January – February, they cut large chunks of ice and stack them on their wagons and load them into underground cellars that are used as coolers for all their personal food. This keeps their food fresh all spring and all through the summer.

Another shot from January 2025, with the X-T3. Same pond – Copyright Retired Grunt Copyright Retired Grunt Mono mood – A series of interesting photos in monochrome by Patrick Copyright Patrick Just keeping an eye on things – Copyright Patrick The essentials: Glass, caffeine, and patience – Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Tonight's Sunset – Copyright Robert Apple The Family of Asteraceae – Robert has started this very interesting thread where you can find asters where you live, take photos of them and post them with information on where you found it and the name, or you can just post the information on what you can discover and if possible, other members can help with the name or other details. Rob’s Daily Shot – Rob is going to post a shot daily in this thread and keep it going as long as he feels like it. He believes it could be a way to improve, share, get opinions and mainly just to have a bit of fun. Some of the shots are shared below, but make sure to check out the rest in the thread! Steve’s Start and Finish – Steve will be posting both the image’s starting point and its most recent finish and if possible may share some other notes about the potential he saw when he decided to frame and focus. Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Interesting Topics And Discussions: Gone Bananas – a discussion on Nano Banana Pro, started by Rob Eyers Insufferable Bores – Check out this thread started by Rob about pseudo-intellectual gatekeepers in photography. This is Disruption – Patrick shared this interesting podcast – worth a listen and follow if you like podcast or anything creative A Win Against AI – Check out the news! Also some interesting discussions happening in this thread! How long have you been Practicing – Patrick started this discussion and is just curious in a general way how long the members have been doing photography. I have been in photography for… – Rob started this discussion – Have you guys ever noticed that somebody who leads with how long they have been doing Photography is usually about to say something to offend somebody else? How do you improve? – Rob started a very interesting discussion on how photographers may fall into a few different groups. Join it here.

If you are someone who captures images with your smartphone, we have a Mobile Photography Challenge where you can post your mobile photos and also check out the works by other photographers. The images must be captured and edited on a smartphone. Join to submit the photos over here.

Copyright Diane Copyright Pat Garrett Copyright Patrick

There are also some members' picks that are featured. These can be chosen by any of the members and are put in a whole new thread of their own and called out as being a great addition and shot for the forums. Check out those stunning captures here.

Patrick started a thread late last year – “Community Inspired Photo Story Challenge” – capture a story in 3 to 6 photos that hold personal significance and post them with a brief description. While that thread was started to be completed within a week, it has been open with ongoing submissions for the past year and is still open where members can post their stories.

Copyright Frogdaily

Here are some throwdowns to follow and post your own photos, or you can start your own throwdown too.

Creative Aperture Throwdown – Robert has started this interesting throwdown aimed at capturing the lights creatively this holiday season. Robert says, “With all the lights this time of year, it is the perfect season for this and you can do it with any lens.” I anchored the camera and shot this 7 times with different apertures in a lens baby double glass and blended the bokeh together , that light was from some battery operated string lights behind the manger – Copyright Robert Apple Photographing Natures Textures – Started by Robert Apple – Pano, Macro, or anything in between. Only Rule, Nothing Man-Made, natures effect on man made objects is OK. Lichen – Copyright Tersha Close Up of Hot Springs Mineral Deposits – Copyright Robert Apple Pano of Inactive and Calcified Thermal Channels – Copyright Robert Apple Copyright Patrick Frosted – Copyright Tersha Streaks of rain – Copyright Patrick Ladybird eggs – Copyright Stefanie Markham Gerbera centre – Copyright Tersha Copyright Stefanie Markham Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Copyright Deborah B Copyright Tersha The hood of our car – Copyright Retired Grunt Wildlife Throwdown – Patrick started this throwdown as we have quite a few new members in the forum who are interested in wildlife photography. Please feel free to post anything wildlife , whatever you love your choice from tiny beast to to kings of the wild. Eurasian Goldfinch – Copyright Patrick Copyright Tersha Copyright Patrick Copyright Tersha Copyright Patrick Female chaffinch – Copyright Patrick Male chaffinch – Copyright Patrick Copyright Frogdaily Toy photography Throwdown – A throwdown that Patrick has started, where you can submit your toy photography if you are someone interested in that genre. Medical Throwdown – Started by Patrick – to post photos of medical products , jars , bottles , equipment,  packaging , anything you like with any device you want. Everyone needs to give their photo a caption for some context – only 1 rule – Nothing inappropriate please  2025 Reflections Throwdown – Started by Patrick, in this throwdown, use a unique way to capture your own reflection, whether abstract or otherwise. There are many beautiful images to go through for some inspiration. Patrick himself has been doing one a week and it is amazing to see how reflections can be interpreted creatively, especially self-reflections. Copyright Patrick Copyright Retired Grunt Your Pets – Share photos of your pets here. Gone but still present – Copyright Patrick Copyright Patrick Rob started a throwdown – “Abstract Flowers” – a very interesting one and it has some very creative and absolutely stunning shots already. You can participate here.

And, there are images posted in the Shark Tank forum where members request for constructive criticism/feedback on their photos.

If you'd like to join in with our members, feel free to join us on the forums.  We'd love to see you there, and we are a friendly bunch.

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