Showcase Sunday: Sand lilies

A couple of days ago expired the deadline I had to deliver my best 10 nature pictures. Which sounds great if someone else chooses which ones are the best but for me it was a nightmare!

_MG_8362.jpg1

_MG_8387.jpg2

_MG_8524.jpg3

_MG_8541.jpg4

_MG_8559.jpg5

The easy part was to choose the folder I was going to work with. I went straight for the one I keep the pictures from my favorite beach on the east side Crete. It is a part of the island almost unspoiled with great beauty and amazing scenery!

_MG_8561.jpg6

_MG_8575.jpg7

_MG_8588.jpg8

_MG_8591.jpg9

_MG_8609.jpg10

On this peaceful scenery, Xerokampos is the most remote coastal village. "The Far East of Crete" as I like to call it and "krinakia" (meaning lilies in Greek) is my favorite beach. Apart from the fact that it is a gorgeous sandy beach it is also blessed with an amazing plant! Sea daffodil flourishes every fall and when it is truly mesmerizing to be there!

_MG_8611.jpg11

_MG_8619.jpg12

_MG_8627.jpg13

_MG_8736.jpg14

_MG_8739.jpg15

Pancratium maritimum (that's its scientific name) is practically a flower bulb that grows on beaches and sand dunes around the Mediterranean sea and a few more parts of the world. Extremely tolerant to hot and arid climates, sand lily (one more name for the same plant) has survived for thousands of years until the modern concept of tourism started to invade to its habitat with heavy machinery and all sort of constructions on the sand. Nowadays it is in danger of extinction and can only be found in remote and unspoiled coastlines.

_MG_8758.jpg16

_MG_8759.jpg17

_MG_8768.jpg18

_MG_8771.jpg19

_MG_8779.jpg20

"Krinakia" beach is one of the few frontiers where you can enjoy the sea, the sun and the natural scenery without any distractions. So if you ever come to this beach, or any other place that sand lilies grow, please be very careful and respectful towards this nature's miracle. Please don't cut it, don't step on it and most definitely don't uproot it! Just enjoy it and be grateful that they are still there!

_MG_8807.jpg21

_MG_8812.jpg22

_MG_8813.jpg23

_MG_8830.jpg24

_MG_8835.jpg25

I feel extremely blessed to live only a few kilometers away from such a wonderful place and it has become something like a personal ritual to go there every fall and camp near the beach at least for one night, so that I have the chance to make some new pictures both with morning and evening light. Of course I don't neglect to enjoy the scent and the beauty of those amazing plants along with the sea and the gentle sun of the Greek autumn!

IMG_1001.jpg26

IMG_1003.jpg27

IMG_1004.jpg28

IMG_1015.jpg29

IMG_1048.jpg30

The problem was that over the years I have gathered hundreds of pictures that I consider to be very good and choosing just 10 of them was a rather overwhelming task! So I have spent the last 3 days choosing, editing, reconsidering my choices, revising my edits and going back over the pictures again and again until I wasn't sure about anything!

IMG_1057.jpg31

IMG_1100.jpg32

IMG_1104.jpg33

IMG_1111.jpg34

IMG_1117.jpg35

IMG_1118.jpg36

But everything has to come to an end. So with great uncertainty but quite happy with the result I made my choice and the 10 chosen ones are on their way! I thought though to make a post with all the pictures that made it to the finals. Maybe it is too much for one post but I wanted to document all the work I have done those past few days and to give a complete view on the subject to the patient readers that will scroll all the way down :)

IMG_1126.jpg37

IMG_1129.jpg38

IMG_1270.jpg39

IMG_1278.jpg40

IMG_1287.jpg41

IMG_1293.jpg42

All the pictures have been edited from the scratch, hopefully better than the past, but most of them as well as some of the words have been posted before so I am using the #showcasesunday tag, an initiative of @nonameslefttouse meant to revive old posts!

IMG_1302.jpg43

IMG_1310.jpg44

IMG_1324.jpg45

IMG_1334.jpg46

IMG_1338.jpg47

IMG_1341.jpg48

I uploaded the pictures in chronological order with no interference from my personal taste. Can you guess which ones I have chosen?

IMG_1348.jpg49

IMG_1358.jpg50

IMG_1366.jpg51

IMG_1367.jpg52

IMG_1375.jpg53

Below you can find the links to the counterpart posts of the previous years.

2018: Greek beauty! Escaping to the Far East of Crete!

2019: Autumn on the beach

2020: Third year in a row!


All the pictures and the words are mine.

Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.

Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
19 Comments
Ecency