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
I’m posting this quite a bit later than I originally anticipated, so I’ll keep the chatter to a minimum and get right to the pictures. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week, and best wishes for a great week ahead 🙂
Spencer all suited up for his morning walk. I always swore I wouldn’t make him wear boots, but with the miles we put on every day, they really help.Frosty branches, snowy ground, leaden sky… feeling chilly yet?Early morning + fog = not great (wildlife & bird) photos. But very cool to see this coyote a few mornings ago.A large and very fluffy coyote watching me, watching him.Not the most inspired landscape composition, but the sky this afternoon reminded me of a watercolour painting.The young one isn’t so young – almost the size of mama.Mama deer hanging out in the yard today.Mama having a nibble of the feed we have out in the yard (a winter treat only, just like the bird feeders).Good thing there isn’t a flag pole nearby!!!The young deer got spooked by the dog as we were heading out on our afternoon walk. It was fun watching her hop away through the snow (it reminded me of the springbok in Botswana). I managed these three shots and put them together as a pano. I thought it was a great way to show the height and distance travelled in a single bounce.
This week, let’s great straight to the pictures! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend 🙂
A pine grosbeak working on a pinecone. I’m getting closer to getting a decent photo of the brightly coloured male. 1/640sec, f8.0, ISO 400Getting even closer, but still not the type of shot I’m hoping for. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 2200I love the shape of this crow flying overhead. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 400Such an epic sunrise. At the time I was thinking it’s a shame to have the road and the wires visible, but I probably wouldn’t have had this view anywhere else. 1/640sec, f8.0, ISO 400It was so beautiful I had to include two photos it. A brilliantly foggy sunrise.A young deer grazing on my lawn. The early morning and dull day certainly didn’t do me any favours for photography; I was just happy to watch this little one and her Mom relax and graze around the yard. 1/250sec, f5.6, ISO 6400Trying to capture a decent shot before sunrise on a dull day… not happening. But I was walking along thinking about white bunnies and hoping I’d see one soon that I could capture a photo of, and then I spotted this one 🙂 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO6400My lunchtime walk brought another sighting of the bunny, in better light. I snapped a quick photo, and started to slowly move closer, hoping to get something better than this. 1/400sec, f5.6, ISO2800I tried to move closer to take a better photo of the bunny, but it got spooked by a passing car, and all that was left was this tiny clump of fur caught on a branch. There was a tiny sunbeam coming through there; perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of the day.Silhouetted trees and heart shaped clouds at sunrise. 1/400sec, f8.0, ISO 400
