Showcasing the beauty of Mother Nature
I always take a camera with me when I go out for walks with my dog (or on the rare occasion when I go for a walk on my own). I haven’t taken too many images in recent months, and as such hadn’t downloaded the card in quite some time. While out on Thursday, I saw a beautiful barred owl near my house, and while reviewing those pictures, I found a few others I had forgotten that I had taken.
This is a bit of a random assortment of images taken since July, while out and about on walks.
Sunday posts this month were supposed to be all about elephants, but this lovely visitor changed my plans for the week. I can’t even explain how nice it felt to have the opportunity to get out and take a few photos, and having both weather and wildlife corporate in the process was a bonus 🙂
I’ve seen a couple of different bucks in the neighbourhood on occasion, but have lately been seeing lots of evidence of them around the yard; they’ve been rubbing their antlers on many of the willow trees around, scoring the bark off and knocking down smaller branches and limbs.
This guy was really unconcerned about me being outside with him, but I kept my distance to not put any pressure on him and cause him to leave the cozy spot he found in the sun to relax.
He’s still in the yard as I type this, and has actually been joined by another, much smaller deer. The little ones are sometimes much easier spooked, so I am going to leave this with just the images I have so far, and let all the deer graze without interruption.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.
Heavy sigh, photographically at least. My topic for the month of March was signs of spring, and I really didn’t get out and capture anything. I think it would have been wiser to wait for April or even May to really have nice signs of spring to photograph up here, but I was just so anxious to see signs of spring… it was like I was willing it here with the power of my intention. Even though it didn’t work out with photos, having the topic made me much more aware of the small changes taking place. The distant early morning call of a robin for the first time this year, seeing my roof shingles, seeing the lawn slowly start to reappear from under the snow, and the absolute joy of going for a walk in runners rather than heavy hiking boots.
Certainly not many images! A second Fuji body did make its way into my home though, and I am really excited to be traveling with an X-T2 and an X-T3 for my upcoming travels in May.
April is going to be topic free! I am trying to work through the last of my editing backlog before traveling at the end of April, so I am going to share what I am working on from past trips. I know I will be very happy to return home and be able to concentrate on working through new images, rather than still having ones I want to work on hanging around from past adventures.
Spring is definitely taking its time to arrive here in Prince George. It’s creeping up, little by little, but the changes aren’t really picturesque. It is nice though to go outside at midday and feel a tiny bit of warmth to the sunshine now, and see that the snowbanks are receding little by little.
The photos I have today aren’t really a sign of spring, but I am hopeful that I won’t have another opportunity to take them again this year, so I guess it somewhat ties into the theme.
I was walking with Spencer early yesterday morning, it was quite cold and the bare tree branches were covered in frost and ice. When the sun came up and hit the branches, it was just so pretty. The trees were sparkling in the warm orange light. I tried my best to capture it, but taking photos while wearing mittens (and while my glasses were fogging up) is not an easy task! I wasn’t about to go bare handed when it was -18, so I snapped a couple of photos and hoped for the best.
Like light playing upon moving water, snow and ice sparkling in the sunlight is something that is challenging to really capture in a still image. I think the magic of seeing it in person is a bit lost, but still, I try.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.
This week I have really been trying to look for signs of spring. Honest, I have. But waking up today, the temperature was -29C with a high of -12C for the day, and it really does feel like spring is far away. I have noticed a few things though. I can see about a 6″ band of shingles on the roof of my house, from the days when it has been warm enough for a bit of melt to happen. I noticed one lone willow tree, buried in about 4 feet of snow drift at the side of the road, starting to bud (despite the cold in was enveloped in). But mostly, I have noticed the trees.
It has been stark white for a very long time in my back yard, and over the past two weeks, between the strong winds and the the (slightly) warming days, the evergreens have shed the huge cloaks of snow from their branches. There are still bits of snow tucked into the crook of branches here and there, but finally when I look out my windows, I see a bit of green, rather than just white.
Pictures of bare branches in my backyard seemed a bit boring, but frankly, getting all bundled up to do a photo walk this weekend also didn’t hold much appeal. So I went out for a short time to photograph some of the birds feasting on the sunflower seeds. Today, only the chickadees were around, though usually there is a pair of red-breasted nuthatches plus the woodpeckers that pass through. The chickadees made a steady stream from branch to feeder and back again; I couldn’t count them all as they were constantly coming in from every direction.
As a bird lover, one of the sad parts about the temperature warming is soon the birds will have to fend for themselves, once it warms enough for there to be a threat of bears visiting the feeders. I think we have a ways to go before that is an issue though.
Here are a few chickadees for today; fingers crossed next weekend there are more signs of spring around.
This is a topic I haven’t done in a while! I’ve been trying to keep my camera close, as there is such an abundance of birdlife in my yard at the moment. It can be a bit challenging though, with the days being so short, and we’ve had a lot of overcast days recently. But even when the light isn’t great, it’s still awesome to have camera in hand.
I must apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. I hadn’t intended on taking any time off the blog in the run-up to Christmas, but time just got away from me.
Christmas Day saw a very unusual visitor to the bird feeder – a Blue Jay. To those on the east coast I’m sure that doesn’t sound very exciting; but they are considered rare in my area, and I’ve not seen one since I was a kid growing up in Ontario, so I was thrilled. The jay was very skittish though and while I have seen it a few times over the past couple of days, they are usually blink and you’ll miss it moments. All I have to show for it are some fuzzy shots through my office window, but at least I have proof that it was here.
We’ve had a fair bit of snow the last few days, and it’s been very busy at the feeders; chickadees and nuthatches, flickers, downy and hairy woodpeckers, gray jays and even a visit from the magpies that I generally only see a couple streets over from where I live. The ruffed grouse has also been around quite frequently. I’ve been battling a bug with a nasty cough so I haven’t been outside much with my camera, but I did manage to capture the magpie and the grouse. Now that I am starting to feel better I am hoping to get out and capture more of birds in the yard, and perhaps with any luck the blue jay will make another appearance.
While I had the opportunity to edit and share images from my night sky workshop in October and some older images as well, I didn’t actually have the chance to get out and shoot the night sky in November, so I guess the topic of the month was a bit of a fail. There is always another night to get out, and now that we are into the very short days of winter, I don’t have to stay up too late to do so. Fingers crossed I can get out and get some local images…. maybe even some aurora shots if the stars line up 🙂
I’ve come to the realization this month that in 2018 I’ve done some really deep dives into editing in lots of different ways, but I’ve really not spent much time out shooting, which feels like a real missed opportunity, and something that I need to amend moving into 2019. When I do get out with my camera I quickly get into the zone and find it such an enjoyable activity, that I really need to prioritize it more.
I’ve decided not to have a specific topic of the month in December. The month always slips by in such a whirlwind of activity and family time that I would rather just share when I can, and explore what interests me at a given moment, than trying to fit into a specific topic. I’m also going to spend some time thinking about topics and projects for 2019, which is coming up so soon.
I was busy working last week and something caught my attention outside, out the corner of my eye. I spotted this gorgeous barred owl in a tree in my backyard, and rushed to grab my camera to take a quick photo through the window.
I decided to take a chance and dash outside and hope to get a better shot. The owl gave me a quick glance, let me snap 3 photos, and then was off, deep into the forest.
I love when beautiful creatures like this decide to make a stop in my yard 🙂
Mother Nature has certainly not been cooperating with my plans to get out and shoot at night. While I still have images from Joshua Tree that I would like to work through, I thought I would switch it up this week and edit some old images instead.
