During our trips, we always take many travel pictures. So I was thrilled to join a group by one of my friends where we post daily (in theory 🙂 ) our themed photographs. January theme usually is “Old and new”.
Although I loved coming up with good pictures, on facebook, all those photographs disappeared in a big black hole after a while. Therefore, I am using them for a series of posts with differently themed travel pictures and their stories. Enjoy our travels!
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Table of contents
Travel Photography: Old and New
Explore our travel photography from all over the world! A wide variety of interpretations of the Old and New Theme.
North East USA
Long Island: Mystery Geese or… Are They?
As you might have noticed, I love birding, so I am always excited to see new birds. Heck, I am excited about seeing any birds, even if I have seen them over and over. No wonder that one of my friends calls me a bird nerd.
So when I noticed these “mystery geese” in Long Island I got all excited. Yeah, I know, here they do look like swans because they are 😛
In my defense, during our first sighting, the mother wasn’t with them, so I convinced myself that they were geese. New and mysterious ones! The joys of discovering new bird species… Until I saw them the next day with their parent, a swan, and the mystery was solved. An old bird after all… Some birder I am!
Snow Man or Sand Man?
Sometimes we end up at home and dream about our tropical trips. That is when we dig up our old travel pictures.
- Old picture: December in Key West, Florida;
- New picture: January snow in our backyard.
I guess I found out that I’d rather not be in New Hampshire in January! Last year we were able to avoid it, and hoping to do the same the upcoming year. Keep your fingers crossed
New Light / Old Lights or The Other Way Around?
- “Old light” effects (Sun halo) The sun is around four and a half billion years old;
- “New light” effects (traffic lights). In 186, the first ones showed up in London.
Once upon a time, we were heading to Maine and noticed this amazing rainbow.
After taking this picture, I suspected that this sun was a sun halo. In the past, I had seen a definite sun halo right over our house in New Hampshire.
After sending a picture of that day to The Halo Reports Blog (yes, there was such a thing), I got great feedback from one of their contributors:
Nice display. You have 22 degrees halo, circumscribed halo and parhelic circle in your photos.
Jarmo Moilanen
If you have no idea what he is talking about (neither did I), go read more about this sun halo picture.
And it turns out it was a new halo with old traffic lights, so the old / new thing is all about perspective and point of view.
Frozen Fire Hydrant in New Hampshire
- Old fashioned water in frozen form
- New fangled RED fire hydrant for unfrozen water.
I love this picture because of the contrast between the red hydrant and the white world. On he other hand, I am soooo not a fan of snow.
Cape Cod: Spectacular Sun Rise
Travel picture of a new day with an old sun.
Usually we watch the sun set, not the sun rise. But during our first vacation in Cape Cod, we managed to catch every single sun rise. Watching the gulls on the beach was very peaceful and a superb start to every day.
Pacific North West and California Dreaming
Glass Flowers in Seattle
So… we went bungee jumping off the Space Needle in Seattle!
We discovered Chihuly, a new to us glass blower artist, whose museum is right next to the Space Needle, which is “old” by now. When we visited late October there were still hummingbirds around to enjoy the flowers. Clearly their climate is a tad more moderate than New England’s.
Morning Yoga in San Diego
During a visit to our Californian family, we watched this old bird (western gull) in new location (San Diego harbor Island) practicing yoga during our breakfast
While I wish this would have inspired me to do yoga, instead I just kept eating and enjoying the view over the harbor.
Lunch Time at the Hummingbird Nest
In California we noticed a motherly Anna’s hummingbird with two babies in her nest, feeding one of them. So happy we witnessed these at San Elijo Park in California. First time for me to observe how hummingbirds feed their young.
CAUTION HOT in California
Every time we visit California, I remember how much I love their beaches. The surfer guy in the background reminds me of my desire to learn to surf. Some day it will happen!
Newly identified bird (Western gull, according to Merlin bird id) at an Old Ocean (Pacific Ocean). During that time, I was working on trying to identify gulls. Still lots of room for improvement in that skill!
Florida Photography
Everglades: Groovy Gallinule
Because I grew up with moorhens in the Netherlands, I thought this gallinule in the Everglades was a moorhen who had dyed her feathers bright blue!
Turns out that y’all call this bird a gallinule which actually is derived from the latin word for chicken.
- Old bird (waterhoentje) (literally “small water chicken”) in
- New clothes (purple gallinule)
See You Later… (Tripping Hazard in the Everglades)
Old predator in a New-to-me National Park.
This was the alligator we almost tripped over while taking bird pictures in the Everglades…
South of Us and Europe
Whistling Ducks in Puerto Vallarta
New-to-me ducks in Puerto Vallarta, where we stayed for cheap, thanks to attending a time share presentation. These birds are black bellied whistling ducks.
They would swim right in front of our room, which was next to a scenic pond! I love the sounds they make, they really do whistle.
Old and New in Rome
This travel picture shows a modern bird on an ancient statue in Rome. When we are in Rome, we always visit Piazza Navona.
Bonus points if you recognize the statue or the bird! Let us know in the comments.
Where the Sky Was Born
New text on an old picture. Sian Ka’an UNESCO biosphere reserve close to Tulum in Mexico.
When you are at the Riviera Maya, don’t miss the Sian Ka’an UNESCO biosphere.
Costa Rica: Muscovy Family
When we went to Costa Rica, we met so many amazing bird species.
In San Juan, we watched this Old duck: Muscovy mama duck with her New babies. Did you know that Aztec rulers wore cloaks made from the feathers of these ducks? They believed that the muscovy duck was the totem animal of the Wind God, Ehecatl.
Conclusion of Travel Pictures: Old and New
As you can see, it is fun to come up with themed pictures. Or to look in your travel archive for pictures that can fit the theme. Have you ever participated in a themed picture challenge? What was your favorite theme? Let us know in the comments.
Other Themed Pictures
- Fabulous Fall Colors!
- Lots of Snow Geese;
- Birding in Costa Rica;
- And beautiful bird pictures in the Everglades.
Pin Travel Pictures Old and New
Comments
14 responses to “Incredible Travel Pictures Both Old and New!”
Wow these are some really amazing pictures! I especially like the hummingbirds one – they are so majestic and you got a real nice one! The other one that caught my eye was the Cape Cod sunset, that seems like paradise.
Thank you! Every time I see these hummingbirds, I smile. Growing up in Europe, I never saw hummingbirds till I moved to the States. What a treat!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
The photo of the Muscovy mama with her babies looks adorable! We’ve explored Costa Rica twice and we always run into new exotic species of animals there. This was such a fun blog to read, thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Janelle. I remember your Costa Rica article on Jaco, I really enjoyed it. Glad you enjoyed our pictures, it was fun for us to re-live the memories.
I love our cuddly, fluffy chicks when they hatch, but the ducklings are so sweet!
The statue looks like Poseidon battling a kracken, with a seagull perched on his head? 🙂
Yes, ducklings are just as fluffy and cuddly as chicks 🙂 The statue is on Piazza Navona in Rome, part of the fountain of Neptune. It shows Neptune battling an octopus. The gull is ready to help him if needed 😀 😀
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Wow, I almost had that statue right!
A pleasure to share my thoughts!
I am pretty sure Poseidon and Neptune, are the same gods, just one is his Roman name, the other is the Greek name. And since no one has ever seen what a kracken looks like, it might very well be the animal he is battling. So, I vote for you getting it totally right 😀 😀
Hehe, that is true! Neptune is the Roman name. 🙂
Great post!
Same here, love taking LOTS of photos when travelling. Either share it or mostly save it on my hard drive.
I checked out your site, your photos are amazing! Keep sharing them with us. I loved seeing the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore during that festival with all the decorations.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I love the concept of this post, such a great way to revisit your photos. I loved the snowman one x
Sophie
Thank you! The snow / sandman made me smile when we saw it in Key West 😀
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