This week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post is about ‘it is easy being green’. The colour green is everywhere and the most common colour in the natural world. Therefore, it is associated with safety, vitality, wealth, revitalisation, rebirth, relaxation, spring or the environment in general and stands symbolically for eternal life. However, sometimes, the colour green also stands for negative things such as feeling sick or poison. It is also known for having physical effects such as calming, relaxing and stress-relieving.
With green being the emblematic colour of Ireland, representing the vast green hillside or Ireland’s patron St. Patrick, I of course chose some pictures from my trips to Ireland for this challenge 🙂 I always love the different vibrant shades of green that the beautiful and magical landscape of Ireland offers. It is always a pleasure and a special time travelling to such a beautiful country. I would say it’s actually one of my favourite countries to go to as there are always new beautiful and magical places to discover!
Beautiful shades of green in the Irish Wicklow Mountains National Park
Irish nature and view from the Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains National Park
Magical view at Glenda Lough in Dublin, Ireland
Slea Head with view at the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland
Loads of mystic green nature around Lough Leane in Ireland
Magical garden of the Muckross House with view at the beautiful Muckross Lake in Killarney, Ireland
Japanese Garden of Ireland’s National Stud in Kildare
The topic of this week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post is ‘atop’. There are many different ways of interpreting this topic. It could show something sitting, standing or laying on top of something else. It also could mean that the photograph was standing on top of something while taking the picture. Or something was positioned on something else.
However, this is how I interpreted the topic… I had a special time taking those pictures 😉
Taking pictures standing on top of the Cliffs of Moher in IrelandLittle castle on top of the Cliffs of Moher in IrelandInsect sitting on top of a flowerBoat on the water surface of the Lake Constance in GermanyButterfly resting on top of the flowerRaindrop on top of a leafTaking a picture on the way to the top of the mountain Croagh Patrick in IrelandFoggy sight on top of the mountain Croagh Patrick in IrelandSeagulls standing and sitting on top of wooden stakes
The topic of this week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post id ‘wish‘.
A ‘wish’ is a person’s desire or hope of something to happen. It is the longing for a thing or accomplishment, the ambition or hope for change of the actual reality as well as the perception. It also could be the desire of reaching the person’s own or someone else’s goals. Wishes could be not only positive, being congratulations or good wishes, but also negative, such as spells. Furthermore, whishes can be knowingly or unknowingly.
There are many superstitious ways to ‘help’ wishes come true or to get a chance of making a wish. Many people make a wish after they blew out their birthday candles or after they have found one of their eyelashes. Blowing a blowball flower, getting at one end of the rainbow or finding a penny piece also might help to let wishes come true – but… only if you keep them secret 😉
So I won’t share all my wishes here as I want them to come true… But these are some special moments and pictures that might stand symbolically for ‘wishes’.
However, what I do wish for everyone is that they can fulfil all of their dreams and goals, that they are happy and healthy and have a special time!
Small installation in the Irish National Stud – symbolising the stars and therefore wishes after seeing shooting stars.
A little while ago I was very lucky to see one of my favourite bands – Halestorm 🙂
In 1998, Lizzy Hale (vocals, guitar, piano) and her brother Arejay Hale (drums) founded the band in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. The Hardrock band was mainly influenced by other rock legends from the 70’s and 80’s such as Alice Cooper or Van Halen. In the beginning, they toured together with their dad Roger Hale (bass) and released their album ‘Forecast for the Future’ before Joe Hottinger (guitar since 2003) and Josh Smith (bass since 2004) joined and completed the band. Atlantic Records signed the band in 2005 before they started touring again and released the ‘One and Done’ live EP in 2006. The debut album ‘Halestorm’ was released in 2009 charting on place 40 of the US-Charts. After playing a live show in at The TLA in Philadelphia in early 2010, the band released the record of this concert called ‘Live in Philly 2010’ later that year followed by a cover EP ‘ReAnimate’ in 2011. With their in 2012 released second full-length studio album ‘The Strange Case Of…’ they were nominated for a Grammy and won the category as best Hardrock/Metal performance in 2013 being the first female fronted band. In 2015 ‘Into the Wild Live’ was released as their third full-length album after a tribute EP ‘This Is Your Life’ for Ronnie James Dio in 2013. The latest release of the band was another cover EP called ‘ReAniMate 3.0’ in 2017.
The musical style of the band is a mix of Heavy Metal and Hardrock. Lizzy’s voice and enormous vocal range gives the band their individual touch. Mixing high rough and clear belting notes with soft low and edgy tones, the band has many heavy songs but also some heart-breaking ballads. Furthermore, the lyrics and music are written by the band members themselves based on experiences or other stories such as for example a fan letter about the person’s experience of the first rock concert (Rock Show – Strange Case Of…).
With loads of shows not only in the USA but also in Europe and some Asian countries, Halestorm is very well known for their non-stop touring. Hence, I was absolutely happy after I heard that they would have some headlining shows in Germany after I missed the chance of seeing them play live before.
Halestorm in Frankfurt
Lizzy Hale
Arejay Hale behind the drums
Nothing More joining Halestorm on stage
Lizzy Hale rocking the stage
Lizzy Hale having a great time
As supporting acts, they brought two bands from the USA which were first Wilson who was followed by Nothing More.
Wilson is a rock band from Detroit, Michigan who was founded in 2010 and currently consists of the members Jason Spencer (founder, lead guitar), Chad Nicefield (vocals), Kyle Landry (rhythm guitar), James Lascu (bass) as well as Matt Puhy (drums). Following their first EP ‘Standing on the Reel’, the band released their first full-length album ‘Full Blast Fuckery’ in 2013 via Easy Killer Records and Damage Records which was then followed by some tour dates in the USA. In 2015, the band released their second album ‘Right To Rise’ and started touring some parts of Europe alongside Halestorm and Nothing More.
Being the first band of the evening, Wilson started quite heavy and highly energetic seeming to have a lot of fun on the stage. It was the right start as they animated the crowd.
Wilson – first supporting act
The next band on the stage was the Alternative Metal band Nothing More who was formed in 2003 in San Antonio, Texas and currently consists of Jonny Hawkins (vocals, additional drums), Mark Vollelunga (guitar), Daniel Oliver (bass) and Ben Anderson (drums). So far the band released six albums. The first three albums, ‘Shelter’ (2004), ‘Madhatter’s Bliss’ (2005) and ‘Vandura’ (2006), were released by themselves. ‘Save You/Save Me’ (2007) and ‘The Few Not Fleeting’ (2009) both were released via Vestia Entertainment before the band was signed to Eleven Seven Music in 2014. Their self-titled album ‘Nothing More’ was first released in 2013 but then re-released in 2014 via Eleven Seven Music and charted on place 33 of the US-Charts.
The band is known for their unique and special live performances where they use different self-made instrument constellations such as the ‘Bassinator’ that is played by four of the members at one time. Their music is mainly influenced by personal experiences and also by philosophy and movies. Furthermore, the singing technique and voice of the singer was quite unique as he used his fingers to create a vibrato sound.
Nothing More – second supporting act
Nothing More with their ‘Bassinator’
The whole sound and show of the band was very interesting and got the crowd right from the beginning. With their special performances and interesting percussion techniques, it was a great to see the crowd getting hyped. The band showed their passion and seemed to be absolutely happy on stage – having loads of fun.
Leaving a very happy crowd Halestorm came finally on stage and rocked the crowd. It was absolutely amazing! Lizzy’s voice is great and sounded as good as on their records, showing that she really can sing in her full range. They all seemed to have a lot of fun. The crowd also was happy, sang along and engaged. However, in my eyes, it was a little bit older audience coming from the biker scene. But that didn’t mean they would have had less fun 😀
The acoustic of the venue (Batschkapp, Frankfurt am Main) was good as well. The instruments were clearly recognisable and it wasn’t too noisy or loud which is very important for heavy music as it otherwise would turn into one loud mess of everything. The show in general didn’t need a lot of different lights. A simple light show was enough to support the emotions of the show and create a deep and cosy atmosphere. As the venue itself was quite small with a capacity of up to 1500 people, the bands seemed to connect with the crowd quite easily and the crowd was a part of the show itself as well.
I always really like the smaller shows as the atmosphere is absolutely amazing! It was definitely a special time seeing Halestorm live and the concert was a great show. Another special of the evening was the crowd singing ‘Happy Birthday’ for Arejay who celebrated his special day kind of with the crowd that day 😀 Such small and atmospheric concerts always come along some magical vibes and ambience!
This week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post is about something that was surprising ‘the road taken’. The first thing that came into my mind reading this topic was one of my trips to Ireland a little while ago. One day walking around Ireland’s capital, Dublin, I suddenly came across a huge group of people surrounding a smaller group of people making incredible music. As I really enjoyed what I heard I stopped by and had a proper look. The band that was giving a free acoustic session was Keywest, a British-Irish rock band from Dublin.
In 2009 Andrew Kavanagh (vocals) and Andrew Glover (rhythm guitar, keys) founded the band and started playing smaller concerts in Pubs. Later on James Lock (lead guitar), Sam Marder (bass) and Harry Sullivan (drums) joined the due to make the band complete. In order to get a fan-base, the band started to give free concerts on the Shop Street in Galway as well as the Grafton Street in Dublin. In 2012 they released their debut album ‘The Message’ and signed a contract with Peer Music. The songs on the album are based on actual experiences of the band members and reached triple-platinum in Ireland. Furthermore, the band is one of the most played bands on the Irish radio. In 2014, the band released the ‘Electric Love EP’ via their own label ‘Sonic Releam’ records, with the single ‘Electric Love’, which went straight to number one in the Irish charts. Another EP, ‘All My Mistakes’, was released in early 2015, followed by their second studio album ‘Joyland’ in late 2015 which went straight at number two in the Official Irish Charts and rose to number one later on. Additionally, the band was awarded as best Irish street artist 2015.
Kaywest playing an acoustic set in Dublin, Ireland
Kaywest playing another small gig in Dublin’s streets
It is everytime very exciting to see if the band is playing one of their acoustic sets when I’m in Dublin and it was a special time seeing and hearing them live! The sound of the band in total and especially the unique voice of the singer make them absolutely interesting and recognisable, adding a magical or mystical touch. Their songs are very emotional and I like how they turn them into acoustic pieces! Additionally, I think it is great if bands have the courage and take their time to play live on the street and engage with their fans. Many bands seem to forget where or how they started after they got famous…
This week’s theme of the Daily Post’s photo challenge is ‘a good match’. For me, there are many perfect matches in loads of different topic areas. However, as spring is right around the corner and nature starts to awake of the winter break, flowers seem to be a perfect match for this season of the year. There are so many pretty and different types of flowers in all of the seasons. They could match with the season itself but also with other floral types, with raindrops, sunshine or the fauna.
I absolutely love taking close-up pictures of flowers and always have a special time 😀
This week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post is about photos that say ‘against the odds’. It could be a photo that contains a motive that is unlikely to occur – something that I never thought I would be able to get in front of my camera. Hence I chose something I always wanted to take a picture of but never actually thought I would be able to do so… It is a lightning 😀
Lightning can occur during a thunderstorm and is a sudden electrical discharge. The different types of discharge occur between a cloud and lightning, a cloud and the ground as well as between two clouds. Temporarily discharging themselves, the charged regions in the atmosphere turn into a flash if it was a cloud or a strike if it was the ground. A lightning generally causes sounds in form of a thunder and light or a flash in form of a plasma but could sometimes also just be seen and not heard if the distance is too far for the sound to be carried in time. As it is not really predictable where and when exactly a lightning might show a flash I never thought I would be fast enough to catch one with my camera. However, I was lucky enough to get one in front of my lens and it was a very magical special moment and a special time 🙂
This week’s theme of the photo challenge of the Daily Post is ‘shadows’. There are many different ways to show shadows in a picture. They can create a specific magical atmosphere, could help to focus on a specific part of the picture, they can hide something that should not be seen or add additional information to the picture…
With all the different facets shadows create an amazing atmosphere or ambience in pictures and it was always a special time taking the following pictures…
One-half of the moon is hidden behind the shadow
Shadows create majestic vibes around the York Castle in England
Mystical atmosphere and great vibes created through shadows at the Hill of Slane in Meath, Ireland
Different layers created through shadows, Hill of Slane – Meath Ireland
I’m absolutely honoured and amazed to be nominated for the ‘Bloggers Recognition Award’. Thank you very much, Jackie for nominating me and taking your time stopping by at my blog, it is much appreciated!!!
Jackie of the ‘The Nutty Book Blogger’ writes many different posts about book reviews, her goals and experiences in life, shares the development of her lovely doodle pages and participates in photo challenges. It is a lovely blog and definitely worth to visit!! Here is the link to the blog 🙂
You will have a special time stopping by and looking around 😉
The rules for accepting this award are as follows.
Give thanks to the person who had nominated you and a link to their blog.
Write a post to show your award.
Briefly tell how you started blogging.
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award.
Comment on the nominated blogs and let them know you have nominated them and give a link to the post you have created.
How I started blogging…
I always loved taking pictures – weather on a trip, while traveling or at a concert – I always have my phone or camera with me to capture moments, landscapes and the beauty of nature. However, as I had loads of pictures stored on my laptop, I thought I should use a platform to show those pictures which where a pleasure to take and always draw a smile on my face – maybe others would enjoy them as well… Furthermore, I thought it would be interesting to know the story behind the pictures, so I always wrote a short text to explain the background.
The posts I published always show places where I had a special time and my first intention is always to post something that I enjoy myself! I never thought that I would get that much recognition and lovely comments for my posts! So THANK YOU all for your support 🙂
My two pieces of advice for new bloggers…
First of all, and the most important in my eyes is that you write about something you are really interested in and that you write for yourself – not to please others!
Second, be patient, keep on posting and engage with other bloggers! At the beginning it will take time until you’ll get the first follower, likes or comments. But do not let that bring you down. Just keep on creating contend you like and that brings you pleasure. If you like it, others will as well 😉
This week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post gave the task to think about ‘solitude’. Very often, people have something negative in mind if they think about solitude or being lonely. However, loneliness and silence doesn’t always have to be negative. Sometimes, it is quite releasing to escape the stressful, noisy and crowded places to find peace and relaxation. For me, music is always such kind of an escape. However, a physical escape for me is to go into nature, where not many people or crowds are. It is not only good to calm down in such environments, the beauty of nature is also very impressive if you take some time and apprehend your environment. Some places have a great vibe and atmosphere with them, almost being magical.
I personally love those empty and magical places where I always have a special time 🙂
Dinas Cross in Newport, Wales
Beautiful beach at Dinas Head in Newport, Wales
Benone Beach, Northern Ireland
National Trust Downhill, Northern Ireland
Kinbane Castle, Northern Ireland
Slieve League, Ireland
Upcoming storm at the coast of Slieve League in Ireland
Very calm nature of Slieve League’s coast in Ireland
A Special Time Creative 