Ritva hosts this week’s challenge, turning our attention to dominant colors. She writes, “Share a maximum of 6 photos where your chosen color is the prominent hue, or alternatively, you may share one photo featuring each of the following captivating colors in their various shades: red, blue, green, purple, orange, and yellow.” You can read her entire challenge post here. I went with the rainbow option, which gave me room to build a balanced set across subjects and color families.
You might expect me to lead with a train, plane, or automobile—maybe even a cruise ship. Well, you’d be spot on! My opening photo features fully restored engine #5771 and its steam‑generator car, once part of the famed California Zephyr. Its black-and-yellow livery entered service in 1955 and continued as the Rio Grande Zephyr beginning in 1970, serving until its retirement in 1983.
In 2012, at the Scottsdale Barrett‑Jackson Collector Car Auction, I spotted this restored John Deere 1010—a model from Deere’s early New Generation era. Built from 1960 to 1965, the 1010 marked the company’s transition from its traditional two‑cylinder machines to more modern four‑cylinder designs. Its familiar green‑and‑yellow livery remains one of the most recognizable color schemes in American agriculture.
Moving from the industrial world to the natural world for Ritva’s challenge, we often visited Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park—only about 30 minutes from our former winter home in Buckeye. While searching my archives for something blue, I found this Starry Puffer Fish from the zoo’s aquarium. The species has a natural bluish‑gray base color with a dense constellation of white spots, and the aquarium’s cool lighting only enhances those tones. It’s a striking fish up close, and in this case, a perfect representative for the blue segment of my rainbow set.
Cape Town, South Africa, boasts a world‑class botanical garden, and Kirstenbosch showcases an extraordinary range of plant life native to the region. Among the spring blooms we found in 2024 was this bush lily—Clivia miniata—a shade‑loving plant indigenous to the forested areas of South Africa and prized for its vivid clusters of trumpet‑shaped flowers. Several color variations were on display throughout the garden, but this orange variety is the classic and most widely recognized. It also serves as my entry for the color orange.
Also in Kirstenbosch Gardens, this beautiful carpet of green beneath a spray of purple with yellow accents is my choice for the color purple. The plant is a Trailing Ice Plant—a member of the Aizoaceae family known for its succulent leaves and vivid daisy‑like blooms. Several species in this group are native to South Africa’s coastal and semi‑arid regions, where they thrive in sandy soils and full sun. Their low, spreading habit makes them ideal groundcovers, and in spring they create the kind of dense, colorful mats that stop visitors in their tracks.
At Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona, this LEGO tortoise was part of an exhibit featuring the LEGO art of Sean Kenney. The exhibition—Nature POP!—showcased more than 40 animals reimagined in bold, pop‑art colors and built from over 800,000 LEGO bricks. Each full‑sized sculpture averaged 50,000 to 100,000 bricks or more, depending on its complexity. Designed to highlight the beauty and diversity of the natural world, the sculptures toured zoos and botanical gardens across the United States, offering visitors a playful yet striking look at wildlife through a creative lens.
Ritva’s challenge sent me down a rabbit hole of colors and shades—wondering whether my yellow choice leaned too far into gold, or if my blue example might not be blue enough. In the end, here they are with no apologies for the wide variety of tones in each entry. To me, purple is purple—not magenta, mulberry, or any of the dozen names my wife could probably rattle off without hesitation. On the other hand, I know RED when I see it. >grin<
Last week’s challenge, Texture, brought out so many wonderful examples of the wide variations of textures found in the world. Thanks to Anne for her challenge, which was certainly popular among photographers worldwide. Next week, Egidio hosts the Lens‑Artists Challenge that goes live on Saturday, May 23, at noon Eastern Time. Be sure to follow him here so you don’t miss the challenge.
If you’re sharing a Lens‑Artists Challenge response for the first time, welcome—we’d love to visit your post. To participate, publish your take on this week’s theme, link back to this page, and add the Lens‑Artists tag so others can discover your work. You’ll find more details on how the challenge works here.
John Steiner
Journeys with Johnbo 
The tortoise wins it! Made me smile, John. But you gave us a great kaleidoscope xx
Thanks, Jo!
Wonderful selection, John. The Starry Puffer Fish is especially appealing to me. I love that colour and all it’s shades.
Its colors are subtle, but such a wide variety of blue shades.
A beautiful gallery John and so lovely you featured another piece from that fabulous lego art exhibition here 😊
There is no doubt that tortoise represented RED faithfully!
First of all, My husband and I don’t see colors the same and I have more names for them too. No sympathy for you on that matter 😂. second thanks for giving a name to th flower I saw in Crete, Trailing Ice Plant, The color is lovely. Then, my first thought was when I saw the train, was is John going to do all the colors in different vehicles.
Thanks, Ritva! I could have shown all the colors in modes of transportation, but I’d just finished the post from Kirstenbosch, and those many flowers are so beautiful. The full post will be published this summer.
These are great John but I reckon you should have stuck to trains and tractors 😁
Oh, I could have… See my response to Ritva’s comment. >grin<
Your wonderful choice of colors really stand out. 👏
Thanks, Pepper!!
Wow, John, your feature photo was brilliant in yellow. I liked that you showed many colors, but as I was reading, I wondered if you had left out red–my favorite. You came through at the end. The turtle is perfect!
Thanks, Anne! I did think about it as the opening because it’s so vividly red, but finally, I felt the yellow engine is better as an opener. >grin<
You chose correctly!
Well, John, you were right about the expectations. And what a great starter you had! Fantastic post and photos.
Thanks, Egidio!!
Fun collection of subjects for the challenge John.
Thanks, Brad!
Great starry puffer fish! So beautiful. Great photos for the color challenge.
Thanks, Rebecca!
it’s odd, I retired after 35 years with CN Rail here in Canada…I always said I was there because I liked the job, not because I liked trains, but I would always stop and take a picture of every train I saw, and I would race trains to spots just to do that…and well, kind of still do
Train spotting is a fun activity. I wish our Amtrak trains didn’t stop in Fargo in the middle of the night.
John, of course you would start your post with a yellow train followed by a green John Deere tractor! The fish is great, your flowers gorgeous, and I love the red Lego turtle! Wonderful, colorful post!
Thanks, Beth!! I figured I’d be called on the first two photos. >grin<
These are great John, I really like the fish, made me laugh.
Thanks, Leanne!
This is a great selection of colors, John!. I especially like the lego tortoise and Starry Puffer Fish, wonderful choices!!
Thanks, Sylvia! It was fun finding the photos to share!
Those ice plants are so vibrant and the turtle made from lego is groovy! Great choices John
Thanks!!
Excellent examples across the board John. Especially the little lego turtle!!
Thanks, Tina!
Wonderful selection, John.
Thanks, Rupali!
Wonderful! I had a smile about “John spotting another John” 🤭..
Yep, John Deere Green!
Gorgeous photos, John. I’m in love with the fish 🙂
Thanks, Sofia!