My friend Nancy from the excellent blog Two Trails One Road tagged me a few weeks back in the Four Elements Photo Challenge. If you click the link above to see her fantastic photographs that represent Air, Fire, Water and Earth, you’ll see what I mean by my descriptions excellent and fantastic.
Sorry for the delay, Nancy of Arizona, but Photo 101 kept me hopping through March … Anyway, I carefully went through my ever-growing portfolio of iPhone and iPad photographs to come up with this entry.
Air
SRC Arena, campus of Onondaga Community College.
Storms were in the forecast this summer day of 2014, so promoters moved the daylong concert from outside into the SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. The foreboding skies did yield rain.
Here’s the link to my story about that show.
Fire
At NBT Bank Stadium after a Syracuse Chiefs game.
The Syracuse Chiefs Triple A baseball team and Syracuse city officials promised fireworks after their game at NBT Bank Stadium on the North Side of Syracuse, and a fireworks display they indeed delivered, much to the delight of the capacity crowd.
Here’s the link to my original story and other photos.
Water
Niagara Falls, shot from Ontario side.
There is a reason why Niagara Falls is a Wonder of the World. My dear wife Karen and I stayed on the Canadian side the night we wed. This shot was taken on a walk along the Ontario trail, toward the American falls, during a return for our fifth anniversary.
Here’s a link to a post with more Niagara Falls photos.
Earth
I’ll hang out under that one.
During a bus tour of Bermuda, our guide stopped for a half-hour to let us wander a stretch of beach land with pretty little houses on one side of the road and this scene on the other. I decided the people who lived in the pretty little houses were very fortunate, indeed.
Here’s the link to my story about the trip to Bermuda and back on a big ship.
I now pass the Four Elements Challenge to several bloggers whose work I discovered during Photo 101.
https://erinsbigworld.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/photo-101-wrap-up/#like-1177
https://chillybella.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/photo-101-day-twenty-triumph-and-contrast/
https://jsegarra.wordpress.com
Have fun with the challenge, Erin, ChillyBella and Elle.
Which element representation of mine do you like best, and why? Which Wonder of the World would you most like to visit, and why? Where’s your favorite tree, and why did it become that?
Mark Bialczak 
This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing it. I’ll be participating this evening after class. I’m excited to see Nancy’s blog.
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You are going to be great with this, Elle, I know it!
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Those are ALL fantastic! It was really creative to use fireworks for fire. I think I have to vote for Niagara Falls simply because I love visiting Niagara Falls. 🙂
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It is a great wonder, the Falls. Thanks, Rachel. I was also thrilled how my Fireworks shot came out with an iPhone!
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Pingback: Four Elements Photo Challenge | Erin's Big World
all lovely, but i’m drawn to the water the most, just as in real life. i have a favorite tree that i used to climb up in as a child and read.
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I can imagine the peace you found in your reading tree, Beth. I hope you can replicate that in the Cozy Cottage. 🙂
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I like all of them, but the earth shot the best. I like the wind and the water and the sky and the earth….seems kind of full and colorful. Lively. Beautiful.
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Thanks, MBC. Bermuda was startling that day, my friend. Vivid for sure. I can recall every minute of that bus tour with MDW Karen and our friends Michelle and Michelle.
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🙂 I can see why you recall it so well. It’s a great shot. It’s just …. full. I mean, it feels good to see it. Standing there had to be wonderful!
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Great response to the challenge Mark! I love all your photos. My favourite is the Niagara Falls one. I’m drawn to water and this photo is particularly gorgeous. Well done. ❤
Diana xo
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When you lived in eastern Canada, did you visit the Falls, Diana?
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Oh yes! More times than I even wanted to! Every time we had visitors from Germany, we went to the falls or Upper Canada Village or Mount Royal; all the usual haunts and then the field trips while I was in school!
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OK, then. Much more than me, then. My pulse still quickens when I hear the roar as we get nearer.
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What is really fascinating Mark, is that the Falls are controlled by damns and re-routed to create electricity. When the first Europeans saw them, the falls were so powerful and frightening, that people dared not get too close! So if your pulse quickens now, your heart may have jumped out of your chest then.
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I bet it did, Diana. Ba-ba-boom!
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These are all really, really terrific Mark. I’m having a hard time choosing a favorite. Very impressive!
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Thank you so much, Marissa. It’s a terrific challenge to take on. I’m honored to be part of the process.
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Breathtaking, Mr. B! I can’t choose a favorite because they are all powerful and vivid. You take your challenges very seriously and it shows. Fantastico!
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Gracias, Mrs. B. I am loving this photo element of BloggyVille more and more. 🙂
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I am DYING for an iPhone 6!
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Trade up as soon as you can! Totally worth it, Mrs. B. 🙂
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Awesome photography Mark. The fireworks burst is an amazing photo – it is hard to take pictures of fireworks and it is rare that i have ever seen such a clear one. the other photos are excellent as well/ Nice work.
Oh, as an aside I just guest posted over at Cordelia’s Mom http://cordeliasmomstill.com/2015/04/02/busted-guest-post-by-paul-curran/ If you have time, I would be honored if you could drop by for a read. Thank You.
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Thanks, Paul. I will get to Cordelia’s Mom site today, my friend.
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Very nice photos!
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Thank you, PJ. I enjoyed going back and selecting them from the many I’ve taken.
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I have always wanted to see Niagara falls, but since water and I don’t get along too well, I have to go with the tree in Bermuda. I can picture myself lying there reading, snacking on cheese and wine and grapes for hours, get lost in a whole day there.
It’s a great photo and I love how the wind has shaped the tree.
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Niagara Falls and Bermuda are breath-taking in very different ways, Rose. But water and wind are in the air at both places. Thanks for making me compare and contrast with your comment. Yes, that tree is the symbol for serenity to me. And a lifetime of buffeting has indeed shaped its striking profile.
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I love how one thoughts builds on another. A lifetime of buffeting also shapes us, doesn’t it? I feel a poem coming on
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Fantastic, Rose Red. The connection works. :-
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Thanks for the challenge Mark… My mind is boggling with ideas. Great images, I really like you Niagara Falls shot. That’s somewhere I’d love to visit. As for favourite tree, I’m more for lots of trees, especially as a backdrop to a portrait shoot, leafy branches make for great canopy 😊
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Some day will you get over here to the Falls, maybe? It’s quite stunning. Leafy branches are a great backdrop, you are right. We have lots of that here, too, in the Adirondack Mountains. 🙂 See you soon, Bella.
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I hope so, we do plan to travel more as the family gets older… And the falls are definitely on the must see list!
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It is easier to travel as we go through life, Bella. I agree. I hope you can get over here.
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FABULOUS! I also enjoyed going back to read about each photo from your archives! Thanks for joining in the fun. Photo Challenges make us dig a bit but in the end… we get to uncover some great memories!
Well done Mr. Mark!
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Thank you, Nancy. And your springtime in Arizona gallery was incredibly pretty. I went back and commented how I will give you a slice of Syracuse whenever some green bounty arrives for me to capture and share here, my friend. Thanks again for invited me to participate in this challenge. You have helped me to grow in my photo selection skills.
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Woo Hoo!! Once a teacher always a teacher, that’s me! HA HA HA Happy April!
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You are a wise teacher forever, my friend. Happy April!
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Thank you for the challenge Mark, my mind is boggling with images now. I love your shot of Niagra Falls, it somewhere I have always wanted to go. As for trees, I don’t have one favourite, but I love to find one during a portrait shoot as the canopy lends itself so well for portraits 😊
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I am so looking forward to seeing what you come up with out of your mind boggle, Bella! Fantastic. 🙂
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I don’t need to tell you these are really good. You wouldn’t have posted them if they weren’t. Nevertheless, these are really good shots. Nice composition.
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Thanks, Mark. It was interesting to go back over all the photos I’ve placed away over the last few years with these specific themes in mind. If you’d like, feel free to join in the challenge, sir. I know you’ve got plenty of great Manhattan shot in that phone of yours. Tag. You’re it, too.
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