This week, our newest team member, Donna of Wind Kisses shares her first challenge with us. Her challenge is titled “Messages.” She writes, “The options are endless. Does the message from your last fortune cookie resonate with you? Clouds? Is there street art, neon signs, or storefronts that grab your attention?” You can read her entire challenge post here. Welcome to the team, Donna!

For my personal take on this challenge, I’ve decided to focus on the literal. Signage that I’ve seen over the years, some humorous, some entertaining, and some like the opening photo, quite informational. The message is clear, Be Careful!

This sign, hanging above the main entrance to the hotel’s elevation at 5,280 feet advertises the motel. Still, to some, it could be a subtle message about the potential for joining the mile-high club without the benefit of an airplane.

On a building in Tombstone, Arizona, this sign reminds politicians to clean up their act. Although depicting life and times in the old west, we need this message more than ever these days.

While transiting the Panama Canal about a decade ago, I saw a boat pushing a barge with bright white signage on a bright red building. I didn’t need to know much Spanish to understand the message and to keep my distance.

In a small diner and souvenir shop, I noticed a small sign that relayed its message quite humorously to parents that they must keep their children under control.

This sign provides the same message for parental control but does so clearly. Its message is clear about the potential consequences of ignoring the sign.

Since the development of the automobile and highway systems, billboards have conveyed messages promoting products and services both for travelers and those who just happen to be traveling. This mural painted on the side of a building in Siler City North Carolina depicts an early billboard promoting Coca-Cola.

Patti is hosting next week for #235, Shadows & Reflections in Monochrome. I might just have to create a few new monochrome images for my response. Thanks again to Donna for volunteering to join our team.

If you’d like to pixel peep or see the photographic details such as shutter speed or f/stop of my images, check out the gallery of images here on my Flickr site. If you’d like to join in on the challenges each week, check out my link here.

I am writing this while docked at Charlotte Amalie in the US Virgin Islands, so I have a strong Internet connection through my cell carrier. When we leave port this evening, we’ll be back on the ship’s Internet, so limited speed and access will necessitate a delay in my responses to comments. I will read them and respond as usual, but I may be less than punctual. In the meantime, my wife and I are again enjoying the cruising lifestyle.

John Steiner