Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun: round 165

Hey there my Hive friends and followers!

Welcome to the 165th round of my special weekly photo challenge known as Appreciate Beauty of Nature with @phortun :)

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 ;)

Obviously, there is no way for me to verify whether the photo that you submit in the challenge is really fresh or if it was even taken by you so I am relying on your honesty guys. The prizes for the winners (as described below) are more symbolical than overly motivating so I don´t expect too much fraudulent behavior in this challenge anyway.

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 one week.

Add a few words about the photo, at least where and when you took it.

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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 in this post as well. I only check the entries submitted here as comments.

Prior to publishing the next round post, I will pick 3 winners, give my full upvote on their entries and feature them in the next round of the challenge. I also give some smaller upvotes on the other entries too so that all participants get rewarded for their engagement.

I usually host the challenge on Thursday but when needed for some reason, I can host it on some other day so better check my blog regularly not to miss out on it ;)

To keep up with you guys, I submit my own fresh natural photo to every round´s post too :) Here is my contribution to start out this round:

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As I mentioned in my post about the Kuza Cave last Friday, I have been very busy lately and it was also because I was traveling a lot as I visited my family and friends back in my hometown area which is actually on the other side of the country than Prague. I had a great time over there and even managed to check out one of my favorite natural places in my hometown - the Silver Lake. Unfortunately, most of the trees surrounding the lake are yet to get their leaves back but it was still nice to walk around the lake and enjoy the beautiful reflections on the water. The place is colloquially known as "Sadrak" which is a Czech abbreviation for a gypsum quarry as the lake is actually a flooded gypsum quarry. It´s located on the outskirts of the city of Opava in the Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. I clicked the picture on a Sunday afternoon four days ago.

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In the last round, we had 6 participants. After some thorough consideration, I decided to pick these 3 winners:

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@trangbaby with this entry from Australia:

Thanks @phortun, I decided to drive out of Melbourne though the weather forecast said it would rain on Saturday last week. However, it turned out beautifully, and I had a leisure stroll in Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia. Here is my entry and the picture was taken at Honour Avenue - a very special avenue located in the area. It was established to honour and recognize the brave men and women who have fought for their country. It's autumn season here now and every corner here is captivating in its own way :)

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@jlinaresp with this entry from Venezuela:

Hello dear people, here my entry to Round 164! Title: "Sunrise from the road". Captured on April 15-2023 at 6:30AM from a rural road which borders some farmlands to the Northeast of Montalbán Edo, Carabobo, Venezuela. We are in the middle of the dry season and the sunrises are warm, bright and with slight mists in the distance. NIKON D7000 | 40 mm | 1/2000s | F/5.6 | ISO 800.

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@momogrow with this entry from the Netherlands:

The week rolled by so fast - I did not get a chance to participate. Like you the weather here is unusually rainy and cold. That is a lovely photo of the buds on the tree - the start of something special to come. On this side of the world - I was enjoying something before it disappears - blooming magnolias. Today I went for a walk in Amstel Park, Amsterdam, Netherlands. I went to catch the sun which graced us with its presence for longer than normal. I was also curious to see the park as I haven't been there since spring started. Today was warmer than the preceding days and it was pleasant to walk around and there was no rain falling - nice gift. The magnolias could show off their beauty in the sunlight and they definitely caught my eyes. This tree symbolises beauty, perseverance, endurance, femininity etc. etc. I think it symbolises so much it just a feel-good. Why not? It is certainly pleasant to look at.

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Congratulations guys! It was my pleasure to give you 100% upvotes on your entries :)

I am looking forward to what you will come up with in this round.

Have fun and appreciate the beauty of nature!

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I post this series in the Amazing Nature community, a great community for all nature lovers. Feel free to check it out ;)

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This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.

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Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about Nature, Traveling, Photography, Animals, Ecology, Crypto, Sport, Fitness and discovering secrets and beauties of the World, feel free to follow me as these are the topics I mostly write about. Have a wonderful day and keep on hiving, guys! :)