I managed to get out shooting yesterday with a few people from the photography group I belong to. I went without expectations, only with the hope of putting the Tamron through it’s paces, as it is finally back from its second trip to service (and I must say, it seems to be focusing better than when I bought it, so fingers crossed the issues are resolved). I also took out my new camera, a Panasonic FZ1000, to start learning how to use it, and again, so far so good (and SO lightweight!!!).
I’ve not had much time for editing, so I will post a few now, and a few more photos through the week.
Have a great week everyone 🙂
Old man’s beard and other assorted lichens decorate the branches.The flowers of last summer long ago spent.From the ground up…The blue sky didn’t last long…A birth tree with a bare midriff. Whether people picked away at the bark, or animals or birds did, I don’t know.Moss, lichen, fungus and peeling bark; a whole lot of texture on one small tree trunk. And all that green! I’m really enjoying it after all the snow I’ve been looking at for months. There’s still a fair bit on the ground, but it recess a bit each day.I liked this photo for a couple reasons. First, the spring buds! I was surprised to see those. Second, the repeating triangle shapes created by both the live and broken branches. I’ve been seen this plant everywhere lately, I have no idea what it is, but I like the texture and detail.
The skies above the Okavango Delta are absolutely spectacular. I see this and immediately want to start planning a trip back! Sunbeams and clouds in the Delta, April 2015. 1/500sec, f90, ISO 140
Two weeks in a row now, I haven’t spent much time out with my camera. 🙁 The weather has been a big factor again; the warmer temperatures have continued, cycling just above and below 0C, plus heavy rain one day and snow the day before that and after (the roads around my place are a bit challenging for walks at the moment, navigating sheets of ice and piles of frozen slush). The birds have not been around as much as usual, and I’ve barely seen the deer at all this week (though my neighbour told me yesterday there was a coyote pack hanging around, and that could definitely have something to do with the scarcity of the deer).
Fingers crossed for a more successful week of photos coming up!
I spent some time out yesterday evening with a few members of the photo club; we had hoped mother nature would provide clear skies and the original plan was to go to a local lake for star photography. Alas, mother nature does what she wants, when she wants. With the lake fogged in, we stayed around town and photographed the winery across the river from town.There were too many trees along the edge of the river to get much in the way of light trails with tail lights, but I thought that this logging truck provided some interesting detail during a long exposure.It wasn’t all doom and gloom; a beautiful morning while out walking early in the week.
Earlier this week, I was getting concerned that I would end up with another weekly post dedicated to deer and bird, birds and deer; so I headed out in the yard with my macro lens to play around a bit and see if I could come across anything interesting. Also, it was simply a gorgeous, brilliant blue sky day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend fifteen minutes while taking a lunch break from my work. I also got out that evening for a few night sky shots.
Don’t worry though, most of the photos are still deer and birds!
I hope you enjoy my selections for the week. Have a great day!
An older male with lots of scars. I wonder what his story is? Clashes with other males perhaps?This girl has a very unique left ear… and a hearty appetite for birdseed! She makes quite a mess, but the redpolls and grosbeaks seem to enjoy pecking around in the snow for all the seeds she’s dumped out.A younger male who happened to be heading into the yard while I was outside with my camera (and refilling the bird feeders). He kept to the bushes, luckily in some beautiful light.Beautiful light on a beautiful bird – a northern flicker.It was snowing quite heavily at the start of the week, and this young deer was cloaked in snow from tip to tail. I loved this view though, something a little different.The young male pausing for a portrait.My little walking buddy, wanting to get in on the photo action when I took my camera out on a morning walk for a pretty sky at sunrise.For the past few weeks, I’ve had a few common redpolls every day at the feeders. Early this week though, I ended up with an entire flock in my backyard. Here is a smaller part of the group, all trying to get to the suet cake.Not a great shot, but I included it anyways just to show a part of the redpoll flock. I counted 28 on the ground, and there were loads up on the feeders as well.Something startled one of them, and they all scattered. That repeated a few times throughout the morning.An evergreen with a light dusting of snow.This could have been so much better, if I hadn’t been too lazy to go to the detached garage and turn off the exterior lights. I’m including this as a reminder to self to take the time to do the proper prep work!
As soon as I saw this week’s topic, I knew exactly what I would share – the fairy circles of the Sossusvlei desert in Namibia. I was lucky enough to see them from the air, and also from the top of a small dune while out quadding my first evening in the desert. No one had an explanation of how they were formed; nothing grows in them, the are simply barren sand surrounded by scrubby plants.
There’s a Wiki pages with more info about them, in case you are interested: Fairy Circles – Wikipedia
A view of the fairy circles from the top of a dune (taken with my mobile phone). April, 2015A view of the fairy circles from the air. We saw several areas with these on the flight from Windhoek to Sossusvlei. April, 2015
I had a few photos of trees and branches against a brilliant blue sky, so I thought I would see what they looked like with some different monochrome edits.
My personal favourite is the one in the middle.
A neutral to high key approach…maybe a 6.5/10 on the brightness scale.A low key take on tree branchesSelenium tinted during B&W processing
