blue heron
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Filling Your Photographic #Bucket-List

This week’s Sunday Stills photo challenge theme is “Bucket List images.” What exactly do I mean by this? A bucket-list image is that person, place, or thing you want to photograph before you kick the bucket!

As a participant in the Sunday Stills photo challenge, this is your chance to share new and old images that constitute your bucket list. As a photographer, what do you hope to capture with your lens?

Bucket Lists consist of:

  • destinations and travel experiences,
  • seeing iconic monuments and landmarks,
  • experiencing events, new food and drink
  • personal and professional challenges.

“When life gives you the opportunity to check off a thing on the bucket list, you have to check them.” – Ryan Tedder

You can share your current or new images that qualify for making your bucket list, whether you visited a new place, took an extraordinary photo that you are proud of, or saw a celestial sight, etc.

Aurora purple glow
Starry night, faint aurora

OR…

You can also share any from your archives or use images you have shared before. It’s been almost six years since I’ve used this theme, so I’m sure I have many more to contribute as examples.

Cosmic Coincidences

“In the silence of the night sky, I find the answers to my questions.” – Unknown

The northern lights in 2024 (so far) were intense and exciting and visible from our property! After viewing them on May 10th for hours …

Greenish Northern Lights
First of the Aurora
Bands of Green and pink Northern lights
Aurora's Rays in pink

… I longed for another chance to shoot them with a person in the image. I got that chance on September 16th.

man in Northern lights

Our amazing sun threw out another HUGE Coronal mass ejection (CME) on October 10, exactly five months later. Seeing the aurora in the darkness of the North Cascades of northwest Washington was a bucket list item I didn’t know I needed to check off. And the light bands played on in silence.

red and green bands of northern lights
October 10th Aurora in Skies Over Winthrop, WA

In Awe of Wildlife

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” – John Muir

The image below demonstrates the lucky capture of the Great Blue Heron, a bird on my bucket list. Despite the peacefulness of the scene, the heron’s raucous squawk broke the silence, which caught my attention just in time to catch it winging away.

blue heron
Last heron on the card

Since we’ve lived in Eastern Washington, my photographic bucket list has included moose, bald eagles, and elk.

Bull Elk
Elk on Streets of Payson, AZ
Moose on the trail
Moose on the Trail, near home
Juvenile American Bald Eagle
Juvenile bald eagle, Idaho

Earth’s Rock Music

“Oh, the places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

It was beyond wonderful to check these three amazing places off my bucket list. Our road trips from Eastern Washington to Arizona took us through Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. We’ll be driving this way again later this year. Walking through Lower Antelope Canyon was a bucket-list item several years in the making.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos
Bryce Canyon Hoodoos
Bryce Canyon view
Me at Bryce Canyon NP, Utah
Iconic Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona
Iconic Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona
Antelope Cyn's twisted walls
woman gazing in antelope cyn

Close-up and Personal

“Fill your life with tiny and large adventurous moments.” – Sark

As a photographer, I love shooting close-ups and macros. From March through September, birds and bugs abound. I caught the bumble bee with my cell phone, and my Lumix FZ300 camera caught the tiny blue-dotted butterfly and dragonfly.

Bee on yellow sunflower
Dotted Blue Butterfly
orange dragonfly

It was indeed another bucket list item checked off to see not one but two active bird nests in our backyard last spring/summer. But witnessing Mama Phoebe feeding her nestlings from our bathroom window was extraordinary. These Phoebe images were taken with my Lumix.

female Say's Phoebe
Female Say’s Phoebe
four light brown Phoebe fledglings
Fledgling Phoebes
mama phoebe feeds her nestlings
Feed Us Mama!

We were happy to see the violet-green swallows finally rent out the birdhouse, and I was ecstatic to see the baby swallow about to fledge! (This was Captured with my Samsung Galax S23 Ultra.)

Baby swallow about to leave the nest
Fledgling Violet-Green Swallow

And then there is the photo op that you don’t expect!

Double Rain Splash
Make Mine a Double

I am still trying to photograph an owl and lightning to add to my list. You do know that bucket lists keep growing, and the bucket never really empties, right?

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com! You registered on WordPress.com 13 years ago.

graphic

To all of my blogging buddies: Thank you for inspiring me with your photos, stories, poems, and creativity. On October 31, 2011, I took the plunge and began my blogging journey. Little did I know that photography would become my lifeblood or that I would have countless virtual friends in the blogosphere. I’ve lost count of how many of you I have met in person.

Sharing for several challenges this week: Brian’s Last on the Card, Hammad’s Weekend Sky, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Silence

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore COZY.

“Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it.” – Annette White

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112 comments

  2. First, many congratulations on your 13 years. Quite a ride, isn’t it?

    Those auroras are just out-of-my-world since I can’t experience them over my sky, so thank so so much for sharing those with me, Terri.

    And yes, seeing them for real is my #1 bucket-list item 🙂

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    • Thank you, Susanne! We had a bonanza year for northern lights! My WA bucket list included moose, eagles and northern lights. Check, check, check! But I’m easy and love to be surprise by scenes I have never seen myself. I’m sure NYC was amazing!

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      • It really was a bonanza year for northern lights! I tried to go see them once here, but too much light and too much hassle!! 🙂 NYC was a special trip for us! I’d love to go back and see more!

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  9. You can check a whole bunch of photos off your bucket list it seems, Terri. Mine, this year, was definitely those northern lights. What an amazing display! And Antelope Canyon was another (a few years ago). I love your photo of the heron too. A beautiful post!

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  11. I love your bucket list items, Terri. Well done on being able to cross some of them off. I’ve never had a bucket list. I’ve always preferred to be taken by surprise when something amazing happens (like the first time I experienced a white Christmas). I remember being completely taken aback when it happened. It was like walking into a dream that was real.

    When I was in high school, I wanted to visit Mars. I suppose you could say it was on my bucket list, but I’m not too disappointed I won’t do it. However, I do hope that I will witness man (or woman) walking on the surface of Mars before my ‘best by’ date comes up.

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    • Thank you, Hugh! I’m not sure if ever had a bucket list per se, but like you, I Iove the surprise of seeing or experiencing something for the first time! I love anything about space travel, too. Mankind’s reach into space is an exciting concept!

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  12. Oh my gosh, Terri, your pictures are astounding. I love the plops in the water like two crowns. And the fledglings are adorable. I love the ones with their backs to us. Bugs are another specialty of yours. You have had some amazing bucket list experiences. 🙂

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  18. Terri, you have beautifully photographed so many of my bucket list items – the aurora, a bald eagle, the canyons. I’d like to photograph Iceland, Alaska, a polar bear, the Sydney bridge, hot air baloons in Turkey – the list keeps growing. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  21. I love all your pictures! The northern lights, the heron in the fog, and the Antelope Canyon are all stunning. Your bucket list is overflowing!
    Congratulations on your blogging anniversary!
    Fabulous pictures my friend!

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  28. Hi, Terri – I commented earlier but I believe that that comment was lost in cyberspace. If this is a duplicate, feel free to delete it.

    Seeing the Northern Lights “in the wild” has always been very high on my Bucket List. I finally saw them fo the first time this past spring — and they were even more incredible than I had imagined. Your photos of them are absolutely stunning! ❤

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    • Thank you, Leslie! I got attached to bird photography from the hummingbirds we would see in our Sacramento backyard. Once we loved here we started seeing species we’d never seen. I’m a nature geek- I can’t help myself. I hope you get to see some amazing sights on your cruise. We want to do an Alaskan cruise soon too. After all we can drive from here to Seattle.

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    • Thank you, Debbie! You would get a kick at my over-the-top reactions if you ever saw me in person seeing any of these sights for the first time. I revert to a 5-yr old kid in a candy store, jumping up and down. If it hadn’t been 95F+ in June, I would not have seen the fledgling swallow. It was hot and it peeked out to cool off, I think. I walked right up to the birdhouse attached to my She-Shed and the baby just sat there while I snapped away. Hence its expression 🙂

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    • I started the blog on Halloween of all days, but didn’t do much (I was so clueless and didn’t have much to write about back then except work stuff–boring! It wasn’t until Sept 2014, a few months before I retired that I got it going “full-time.” Yes you were a busy bee this summer–you are blessed to be!

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  33. I always enjoy seeing your Aurora photos Terri … I am still waiting to see them here. They didn’t happen last week as expected any of the three times. I follow a photographer on Facebook who lives in Saginaw, Michigan. Jill is a portrait photographer and years ago I used to use some of her Pixabay photos for my blog at the holidays and sent her each post. She has really had fun taking Aurora photos this Summer and using her GoPro to do this as well. So between the two of you, I’ve been enjoying the colors. I like the John Muir quote – I always agree with what he writes. This was the Great Blue Heron you mentioned a few weeks ago. If not for their squawking when spooked, sometimes they are so quiet; nothing a muscle moves while they study the water, then one swift movement and they come up with a fish or a frog. I have never seen a moose or an elk and I got my first Bald Eagle photo that did not look like a brown blob in the air or in a tree and that was last Monday as you’ll read in my post. It was always my intention to see more of the world when I retired; I don’t know about international travel so much these days, but seeing your photos from your trips, does make me want to rethink traveling domestically one day. Last week I started taking French lessons online. I hate to admit I took French in grade school in Canada and all through college, but it has been 46 years since I spoke French and while this learning is fun, it is indeed a bit of a challenge. Who knows what I will do with all that newfound knowledge? I have not done many closeup photos and don’t have a macro lens, though I know you can get great close-ups if you are in the right place and the right time, with your phone or camera, like my butterflies. An owl is on my perpetual Birdie Bucket List … any owl, I’m not particular. 🙂 Here’s to many more meanders with our camera!

    Here is my post:

    All abuzz about birds.

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    • Thank you, Linda! About travel, we have our dog so we try to include him with our travel, which means road trips for now. Are you taking French using the Duolingo app? If not, you should try it. There is a decent free version. Hans and I are on the family plan for $3/ month-ish and we’re both studying German. I just began my 5th straight year with no days missed! Yes I’m dedicated–it helps to be able to talk to Hans whose German is pretty good. I just finished the German course and decided to start over again.
      And yes, I want an owl for my photos!!

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      • It’s great your road trips include Brodie and he is not excluded or weeks away from you in a kennel. Terri, I am using the Duolingo app and I had to go to the paid version because I have Malwarebytes Premium and it has an ad blocker and the free version thrives on ads. This is only my 9th day and I have already learned 90 vocabulary words! That is an incredibly long streak you have – good for you! I have trouble repeating the phrases that Lily says sometimes. Do you have Lily in the German course? You are lucky you have someone to speak to – that helps a lot. I should have kept up with my French but I had no one to speak French to. My mother always told my father he should have taught me to speak German.

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      • Oh good, I’ve researched and Duolingo really is the best overall. You will love the practice hub and word list in the premium version, something I didn’t have at the beginning. It took 2 years to buy the premium account. And I only did German for 15-20 minutes a day. Now I go twice a day and be sure to get the Night Owl chest and Early bird chest for extra experience. Yep, competitive much? Oh well, its fun, and my German is much better than I imagined. Ich verstehe viele (I understand a lot), but shy to speak. Both Hans’ brothers speak fluent German and they also speak Spanish. Lily is OK, I’ve gotten used to her apathetic voice, LOL. But I have to sometimes use the turtle to slow down Bea! You’ll have to share your name so we can be Duolingo friends 🙂

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      • I like it so far and yes I do pay attention to the leaderboards too – competition is good as you’ll try hard that way. I vary between #2 and #3 on the leaderboards, but this week I have been putting one hour a day and a few days I did 90 minutes for the extra practice as well, especially the speaking portion. Lily and her apathetic voice trips me up and yes, I have to slow it down too sometimes. In fact, I have instances where if the words were not below and I couldn’t slow it down, I’d likely make a mistake. I have been starting off reviewing the exercises from the day and going through the vocabulary before before starting a new lesson. I find it interesting that when I learned French in college, we never referred to anyone when saying the word “you” by the French words “tu” or “toi” as that was considered way too familiar and a phrase reserved for family and close friends. We have used “tu” exclusively from the beginning. Differences in familiarity over the years. One thing about Europeans, they commonly know more than one language – that is a good thing. Great for Hans with Spanish … trilingual! I am Linda Schaub on Duolingo but I just looked and underneath it says “LindaSchau7” and I never noticed about the followers/following. I’ll follow you back.

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  34. It’s good to see you’ve checked off many things on your bucket list, Terri! How wonderful you could see the northern lights on your property! Seeing the northern lights is on my bucket list. I didn’t want to drive somewhere waiting to see the lights even when they were close by.
    Congratulations on your blogging anniversary.

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    • Thank you, Miriam! I didn’t add our trip last April to the tulip farm in this post although it checked off my list. I had to save something for my end of year in review for December, LOL!

      I have the Aurora app on my phone and follow a Facebook group that predicts the auroras here. Our local news does too. That way when you hear, you don’t have to wait. I imagine you can see the northern lights from Portland when they are strong, as long as its not cloudy.

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  36. Terri, I don’t know where to start. What an amazing post! The heron photo, the aurora, the macros — you make it impossible to pick a favorite. Although I use a Sony for a lot of my photos, for the past year, I’ve been using a Lumix FZ2500. I love the versatility of that camera and its weight. Great post and photos! Thanks for joining the challenge with these breathtaking photos.

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    • Thank you so much, Egidio, your theme was the perfect match for my theme. I imagine you must have some bucket-list worthy photos you’ve collected. Between Antelope Canyon and this year’s aurora pics, they must total over a 1000 images lurking in my files! Some I need to delete. I still don’t know all the features of my Lumix, although I did take a class years ago. I’ll have to check out yours 🙂

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  37. what a great idea for a post Terri, and happy anniversary. If you’ve seen my post this week you know I’m working to fix some nasty computer issues so I cannot reach the archives for older images. However this week I was able to capture a gorgeous blue heron flying over a field of purple/pink sweetgrass which I’d say merits inclusion for future use! So I’ve linked to it here https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2024/11/03/lens-artists-challenge-323-silence/

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  41. There are so many great photos! We were in Europe in October when all our friends were posting aurora photos. I do see them often enough, though. I am so glad you have experienced them. I am not surprised to see Antelope Canyon back again in your photos! Bernie

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