James Guilford

@photonstopper.bsky.social

192 Followers 72 Following

Photographer, Weather Fan, Astronomer, Tech Guy in Northeastern Ohio. For more than 10 years, I was "Photonstopper" on Twitter until it became something else, causing me go someplace else. Kindness matters.

A yellow butterfly with black markings, its wings spread, is resting upon a cluster of tiny purple flowers — a flower head of the butterfly bush.

A dusk floats on lightly wavy water. The head and breast of the bird are dark in color, as is the tail end; a band of white forms the middle. The duck's back has a rippling gray pattern and its rather prominent bill is a dusty blue color. Back in 2024, others of his kind joined him here. We'll see whether others of his kind show up in 2026.

Against a clear, blue sky, a yellow construction crane suspends, via cable, a U.S. flag.

A placid scene in a dark, wooded area. A stream meanders from the front, right of the picture to the middle back. A among the dark trees, a single, medium-sized tree glows, fully covered in soft white blossoms.

A 1984 General Electric clock radio sitting on a dark brown tabletop.

Tiny dark dots rise from leafless trees -- hundreds of starlings rise into the sky, silhouetted against a cloudy sky.

As described in post.

A colorful tree leaf appears suspended mid-air with a few raindrops nearby.

A Great Blue Heron standing upon a weathered tree stump surrounded by green grass and colorful fallen leaves. In the background is an area of rippling blue water framed by tree leaves and branches. The heron is a tall, slender wading bird with long neck and legs, mostly gray in color when in bright sunlight. Its dagger-like bill is mostly orange.

A group of three adult deer strolling across a green, grass lawn beside a home. Each deer has a well-developed set of antlers. The background is green leafy trees set against the warm colors of the sky at dawn.

A dark turtle with a dark brown, shiny shell, is seen surrounded by grass. At her rear, right-center of the photo, her rear leg rests upon a small area of mud, her short tail hangs over a small hole she has dug in the ground where she is depositing her eggs. No eggs are visible in this picture.

The old apple tree in our back yard was in full bloom today, showing off its light pink petals against an intensely blue sky.

A business class jet plane streaming twin contrails is silhouetted against the mottled surface of the sun. Also visible on the sun's surface are sunspots, bright active regions, and plasma filaments. The image is in black and white. Photo by James Guilford.

The total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, photographed during totality. A dark circle on a dark background, rimmed in softly-diffused light. Around the edges of the eclipsed Sun are several red-colored prominences including the largest visible that day -- a loop at about the 6 o'clock position. Eclipse watchers were able to quite easily see the prominence with their unaided eyes.

A bright and happy mural is painted on paneled-over storefronts. The second floor of the old, brick building is darkened with age, scarred with broken and boarded up windows. Photo by James Guilford.

Two people paddling a red kayak on still, blue waters, under a cloudless blue sky. The boat and people are very small in this picture, setting them in a great, expanse of open water and sky. Photo by James Guilford.

Generally as described in text though the fungus is not slimy or smooth in appearance, rather, is rough and covered in small spikes.

An illustration showing the progression of the total lunar eclipse from beginning, through maximum, and to its end, as Moon passes through the penumbra and umbra of Earth's shadow in space.

A big, bright pink peony flower bloom is centered against a green, leafy background.

Birds perched on the edges of a box-shaped feeding station that is hanging from a snow-covered plastic dome. The birds are looking down into the feeding station. The Eastern Bluebirds have intensely blue backs and wings. Their breasts are rust-red. Their bellies to tail are white. The background of the photo is out-of-focus shades of gray.

A quiet stream moves through a shadowed gully, past a moss-covered rock wall, on its way to a river, just visible in the background, moving at a much faster pace.

A face-on view of a flower in full bloom. The petals are white, the circular center of the flower has a ring of white, inside that is a smaller ring of yellow, and at the center is a circular area of green.

A starling -- a medium-sized black bird with white check markings and iridescent feathers -- is perched upon the branch of a small crabapple tree, the tree's branches coated in ice from recent freezing rain.

A sky full of very dark clouds surrounds a shrinking spot of light that casts weak illumination upon a green field in the foreground. Photo by James Guilford.

Dark clouds gather above gray-green waters of a vast lake. In the left-hand are of foreground, small waves lap over dark sand. A storm is coming. Photo by James Guilford.

Several tree leaves in the foreground are blocking the sun. Pinholes in the leaves let dots of light pass through the otherwise dark leaves that are rimmed in that very same light. Three of the dots have starry spikes of light radiating from them. The background is mostly dark with a scattering of soft-focused spots of light. Photo by James Guilford.

A bright red male Northern Cardinal is perched on the twiggy-branch of a shrubbery, head turned slightly to the side, watching the photographer. The bird's large, orange beak prominently juts from its black face mask. Background is soft-focused leaves.

Low-angled light from the upper right-hand portion of the image brings out the colors and textures of stone blocks. The blocks are a part of the front of a church and curving up from the supporting blocks is a carved arch -- it curves into the upper-right corner. A carved column supports a second arch inside the first. In the shadows, a portion of the church's red door.

A star-shaped purple flower at full bloom -- yellow anther ends stand out atop thin filaments. Green leaves cross the image against a background of black.

The green leaves of a fern glow with light from behind -- deep green of out-of-focus woodlands as a backdrop.

The Cooper's Hawk is a large bird of prey, back and head in dark brown plumage; breast is white, streaked with brown. The bird is viewed from its side, staring ahead. Dots of swirling, falling snow dot the background as the hawk perches among bare tree branches.

The aurora — northern lights — presenting as a curtain shape, red at the top and green at its bottom edge. The light is reflected in the still waters of a lake in the foreground. The right end of the image shows purple coloration which is also part of the aurora. Close examination of the night sky on the right end of the aurora shows a bonus — the Pleiades star cluster.

A brilliant display of the aurora borealis, shaped like draperies, floats above a silhouetted line of trees, the lights reflected in foreground still waters. The top portion of the aurora is in shades of red, the bottom third is in green tones. There is an area of violet color at the right end of the bright display -- also a component of the aurora. 2024 Photo by James Guilford.

The arch of a large bridge appears to cross over the steel frame of a smaller bridge that is mostly submerged amongst green-leafed trees. Photo by James Guilford.

A snowy winter scene with muted colors gives the impression of a vintage Americana holiday illustration. The sky is in tones of faded blue and warm ivory. In the background is a brick house with two steeply-angled rooflines. In the middle space is an open area -- a pond hidden under snow. In the foreground are snow-lined, bare trees. Photo by James Guilford

The deer is resting, his legs folded under his body, back towards the viewer, head turned at an angle away. The buck deer, its hair in shades of brown, has two sets of simple ivory-colored antlers.

As described in the text of the post.

A diagonal side view of a sunflower with the "petals" of the flower head brilliantly lit by sunshine, strongly contrasted against a solid black background.

A mushroom with a broad, flat cap juts up from the shadows in the subdued light of the forest floor, suspended on a long, thin stalk. The background is shades of black, gray, and deep brown. The Mushroom is in light shades ranging from white to medium brown; soft light illuminates the gills in the mushroom cap.

A teardrop-shaped bird is shown, turned toward the viewer, its white breast and belly on full display. A blue-gray crest is atop the bird's head which is cocked to the side, as if wondering about something. The bird's small beak is solid black and a black patch is on the bird's head directly behind the beak. Deep gray-blue spindly legs support the bird as it grips a dark metal arc at the bottom of the picture. Background is completely smooth, in shades of gray.

Three images of a large bird facing the viewer: The bird's upper breast is dotted with elongated markings giving it a streaked appearance -- a red dot appears in the center of its breast, apparently blood. The bird is perched in a tree with sparse red leaves. Out-of-focus snow is on the ground.

On a winter night, an old fashioned gazebo is brightly decorated in white holiday lights. A decorated Christmas tree is in the center of the gazebo. A man and a woman stand at the elevated entrance to the gazebo facing outward as another woman, standing on the steps and facing the couple, holds a camera as she takes a photograph of the couple. James Guilford, Photographer, Medina, Ohio, December 2023.