This will be a brief one, as I haven’t taken many photos this week. I’ve seen a few interesting things that didn’t translate into photographs though; like the tracks of a moose passing through my yard (and from what I can see of the hoof print and the stride, a large one as well).
My Tamron lens is back from sick bay, and I am hoping I will get a chance or two this week to take it out on my walks and see if it is working properly again. The extra reach will be nice as the grosbeaks seem to be just a little too far away a lot of the time to get any photos.
Have a wonderful evening – hopefully I will have more to share next week!
Spencer has been having a lot of fun zipping around the yard after our walks, playing in the small amount of snow we currently have.Sunset is happening really early these days – this was just after 4pm! Some beautiful colours peeking through from behind the evergreens.A female pine grosbeak hopping between branches, working on the pinecones. I’m hoping one day I’ll see one of the brightly coloured males in light like this; it was such a beautifully sunny day! 1/500sec, f6.3, ISO220
Yesterday afternoon there were 3 leaves clinging to the top of this tree. After the snowfall this morning, only a lone leaf remains. Autumn is quickly giving way to winter. 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO500
I used to spend a lot of time looking up and watching planes, but now that I have moved north, I see them with much less frequency. The trails of a passing jet are turned a peach colour by the rising sun. 1/400sec, f8.0, ISO 1000 October, 2015
I liked the X marks the spot clouds and all the lovely colours in this early morning photo.I stopped when I heard a “peep peep peep” from the trees, and then spent the next 10 minutes watching this hairy woodpecker move from tree to tree, all the while staying in lovely light for me to snap photos.The hairy woodpecker posing perfectly for a photo.A group of black billed magpies. This photos isn’t sharp the way I would like, and the depth of field is all wrong…but I like it anyways. I love all the different wing shapes, and the birds seemed so joyful flying around the neighbourhood.What appeared to be a dull grey sky day had a few spectacular moments. It’s all about timing.
This week has brought some really variable weather, and with that, some dramatic skies. Birds have provided some frustration this week. My elusive local northern flicker made an appearance today, but at such a distance the photo isn’t even worth posting. I saw a new bird this week as well, of course the time I left my camera at home 🙁 I managed a snap with my cell (absolutely not worth posting!) but through the blur, I think I can identify it as a northern shrike, which are winter residents of my area. I also could be 100% wrong on that; I’ve not been lucky enough to see it again and get some decent photos to do a proper ID. I don’t have any great photos to share, but it has been lovely now that most of the leaf cover is gone to watch the chickadees flittering about. They are such sweet birds and really make me smile (I also enjoy calling to them “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” while out walking and having a bit of a conversation… I guess that’s a slight admission of being crazy!
I had one other interesting sighting yesterday; you’ll have to scroll to the end to see. The pictures aren’t the best, but I was walking two little dogs at the time (I’m currently looking after my brother’s mini schnauzer Dylan) and didn’t want to risk wandering any closer; we were already under some rather intense scrutiny.
I hope you enjoy, have a lovely day, and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians.
Evergreens silhouetted against a colourful morning sky.Such beautiful, saturated colours this week.An awkward shot, as I was aiming above a roof, but the light on the trees was too amazing not to try to capture something.Stunning skies this week almost every morning.Dramatic skies on our morning walk.Dylan posing in the sunshine.We spotted a coyote at the end of the road yesterday morning.Watching me watching him.The big, bushiest tail I’ve seen.
I’m going to start with the most recent pictures and work my way backwards. Yesterday, I started the day reading a post on Facebook by Cheryl Richardson that said “Stop trying to make sanity out of an insane situation. If your schedule is crazy busy, you don’t need time management, you need space.” Lately I have definitely been feeling that is something needed in my life; but looking back at the compositions I made yesterday morning, I guess it was also something I also desired in my photos.
After quite a windy day earlier this week, colourful leaves in my neighbourhood are getting few and far between. 1/320sec, f11, ISO320A few leaves clinging on. 1.320sec, f11, ISO320Naked branches reaching into the blue. 1/320sec, F11, ISO320Half moon and about a half dozen leaves. 1/320sec, f11, ISO320Probably my favourite picture of the bunch; I can’t put my finger on why 🙂 1/320sec, f11, ISO320Hot and cold. I think this would have been a lot better with my macro lens, but that isn’t the best walking around lens, in case an interesting bird decides to fly by. 1/200sec, f5.0, ISO640
This week has been an interesting adjustment photographically, as I have put away my D610 and my Tamron 150mm-600mm, as both need to go in for some work. My first thought when primarily shooting with my D5100 again was how wonderfully light it is! It also doesn’t have the same warm colour cast when using auto white balance that I have found my D610 has. The downfall for taking it out walking early in the morning is it does not have an auto ISO option in manual mode, so there’s one more thing to remember to do. Hopefully this week I can get all the equipment shipped off (and hopefully get everything back working good as new). Here are the photos I selected from the earlier part of the week.
A young male deer at the top of my road. The light wasn’t very favourable, but that just made the photos less than stellar, not the moment. 1/1000sec, f7.1, ISO800This really isn’t a great photo, but it’s a bit of a family portrait of the three deer that were grazing. 1/1000sec, f7.1, ISO 800I’ve seen lots of bunnies around my area, but never when I have my camera. This little one was about 10 feet from my driveway, spotted on the way home from our morning walk. He was quite calm and I felt bad startling him when I got too close, but I had to get in and get on with work. 1/640sec, f7.1, ISO2000I’m glad I managed a picture of this guy (or girl) as the flock was too far away to ID without taking pictures. One of the photos taken before the Tamron got packed away. A juvenile red crossbill. 1/100sec, f7.1, ISO800
