Landscape – Page 27 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

August 30, 2015

2015-08-30: What I’ve seen this week

For some time, I have been wanting to have more structure to my blog posts, a schedule to keep me from posting three things in one day, then nothing for a week. This weekend, I think I have come up with a workable plan. So before I get on with the photos for today, I’ll fill you in on what to expect in the coming days and weeks.

Since I have moved, I have been a bit lazy getting out with my camera, concentrating instead on editing the mass of photos I brought back from my last trip. I’ve really been missing being out with my camera, so I am going to start a weekly Sunday post titled What I’ve seen this week. Hopefully with this I can get back to wandering around with the dog and my camera, getting pictures of the local birds (and hopefully some deer or a moose too!).

Some of the fabulous bloggers I follow regularly post Monochrome Monday and Wordless Wednesday posts, and I am going to add those two as regular items, as I always enjoy seeing what others come up with.

Tuesday and Thursday I will dedicate to creating posts for the photo challenge that interest me from that week.

Friday and Saturday I am going to leave free to post whatever I have felt like shooting or editing that week.

Please feel free to leave a comment as this progresses and let me know if the new, more structured format works.

Since I am doing some housekeeping, this is a perfect time to mention that I have signed on with Fine Art America. I still have my Smugmug account, and over the coming months, will determine if I will focus on one, or keep both. Links to the two sites are below. Any of the photos the I post here, that I have added to the sales site, will have a direct link included below the photo. As always, if there is something you are interested that I have not yet added, please let me know and I will make that happen.

Smugmug Sales Site

Fine Art America Sales Site

And with that, no one to the first instalment of What I’ve seen this week.

Wednesday was supposed to be a very strong evening for the aurora, but the near full moon made it very difficult to see much of anything. I did manage to catch a couple photos though.

The aurora and the light from the moon. 10 sec, f3.5, ISO 320 — The aurora and the light from the moon.
10 sec, f3.5, ISO 320

This morning I took my camera out while walking with Spencer, and as we were heading home, heard some vigorous chirping and turned back to see if I could see who was making all the noise. It turned out to be two juvenile and one adult hairy woodpecker. The sky was very dull and the light was really not in my favour, but it’s another new bird species for me.

That’s all for this evening. I hope everyone has had a great weekend.

August 25, 2015

The Sani Pass

Seeing photos of the Sani Pass between South Africa and Lesotho absolutely do not do it justice. The area is absolutely beautiful, and the pass itself a narrow, unpaved road with sharp switchbacks and steep ascents and descents. From the South African side, you can only proceed forward in a 4×4, but I don’t think the same rules apply from the Lesotho side!

Here are a few photos from my day trip this past April, and a few link if anyone is interested in seeing a dash cam video.

Table Mountain isn't the only flat topped mountain in South Africa. — Table Mountain isn’t the only flat topped mountain in South Africa.

One of several waterfall seen on the journey. One of them ran right over the road, and we went through about 12" of water! — One of several waterfall seen on the journey. One of them ran right over the road, and we went through about 12″ of water!

I wish I recalled what type of antelope these are. I hope a local stumbles across this post and will let me know.

A pair of dassies sun themselves on a granite boulder.

Beautiful hills - the scenery was just stunning. — Beautiful hills – the scenery was just stunning.

A traditional Lesotho herder's home. — A traditional Lesotho herder’s home.

Enjoyed a local beer at the highest pub in Africa :) — Enjoyed a local beer at the highest pub in Africa 🙂

Shooting starts into the sun wasn't ideal, but it was the only way to capture the switchbacks. — Shooting starts into the sun wasn’t ideal, but it was the only way to capture the switchbacks.

A beautiful cape rock thrush was perched at the roadside; luckily towards the bottom where it was safe to stop for a couple photos.

A gurney's sugarbird — A gurney’s sugarbird

Youtube: Driving the Sani Pass

August 24, 2015

Half Moon

I had hoped perhaps to see some northern lights last night as the predictions were for a good show, but that didn’t pan out. The moon however was amazing when I went outside at 10, so I went back and grabbed my 150mm-600mm to try to get a few photos. I’m sure if I had put it on the tripod, it would be a bit sharper, but all in all, happy with the result.

Half full or half empty??? A bright moon above Prince George. 1/1000sec, f6.3, ISO 1000 Tamron 150mm - 600mm on the Nikon D5100 (effective 900mm) — Half full or half empty???
A bright moon above Prince George.
1/1000sec, f6.3, ISO 1000, 600mm handheld
Tamron 150mm – 600mm on the Nikon D5100 (effective 900mm)

August 18, 2015

Travel Theme: Mellow

I did a quick scan through my last batch of travel photos to find a few mellow shots to share.

I hope you enjoy!

20150818_Travel Theme- Mellow-3 — A leopard rests peacefully in a tree top near Baines Camp in the Okavango Delta. 1/800sec, f9.0 ISO 640

20150818_Travel Theme- Mellow-4 — A lion cub chills out as dusk descends on Phinda Private Game Reserve. 1/500sec, f5.6, ISO 1600

20150818_Travel Theme- Mellow-5 — A group of cheetah cubs take a rest on the road after a hard days play. 1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 1100

Travel Theme: Mellow

August 17, 2015

Northern Lights and Proton Arc

The aurora forecast looked promising last night, so I decided to try and stay up and see if I could see anything. I am surprised with how great the photos turned out, as frankly it wasn’t as vibrant to my eye as it was to the camera. But, it wasn’t really dark yet either, at least at the start.

I didn’t know what it was until I saw it mentioned on some other people’s photos, but I captured a proton arc last night as well!

Most of the streaks through the photos are satellites, but there was one brilliant meteor that passed through as well. Unfortunately, it rained yesterday afternoon and the evening was quite damp, and I ended up with some condensation on my lens on the later photos, which put halos around the brightest of the stars.

All in all though, I am really, really pleased I stayed up! I hope you enjoy, have a great evening!

A beautiful display by mother nature! All photos 30sec, f3.5, ISO 2500. Taken with a Nikon D610 with the DX 10-24mm wide angle lens, using the cameras built in interval timer.

20150816_Northern Lights-15 — The proton arc stretched out above. I had no idea what I was looking at!

20150816_Northern Lights-9 — When the interval I has set was over, I swung the camera about 90 degrees to capture the proton arc crossing in front of the milky way.

20150816_Northern Lights — There are lots of satellite trails, but this one was definitely a meteor.

20150816_Northern Lights-2 — The green along the tree line really shimmered and danced. It’s a shame the condensation caused those halos around the stars.

Here’s a quick time lapse I did of the sequence of photos I took. I think it does a nice job to show the beautiful movement in the sky.

August 13, 2015

More night skies

I managed to get another evening in of night photography on the 11th (and then couldn’t manage to stay awake past 8:30 last night…) I let me camera do its thing and was curled up under a blanket with a glass of wine, and consequently lost track of how many meteors I actually saw… it was a lovely evening though and here are a few photos I thought I would share.

Have a great evening!

3 meteors featured in this photo (all concentrated to the top right)

2 meteors in this shot, again towards the top right.

3 in this one, 2 top right, one amongst the clouds

The start of a meteor and also getting a glimpse of the milky way. I should have adjusted my ISO by this point, but I was more interested in watching the sky and drinking my wine :) — The start of a meteor and also getting a glimpse of the milky way. I should have adjusted my ISO by this point, but I was more interested in watching the sky and drinking my wine 🙂

August 10, 2015

Night Skies

Yesterday, for the first time since I moved, I managed to stay awake to see the stars. I’m sure that sounds a bit funny, but summer nights are long in southern Canada, and even longer now that I have moved quite a bit further north. And this early bird does have trouble staying up past 10…

But, I managed last night and got my camera set up hoping to catch a bit of the meteor shower (I saw one, and captured a few faint trails before I called it a night). What I was most impressed with though was the clouds. The first shot in the photos I am posting was taken at 10:30, and the last at 10:59 (okay, I didn’t manage that far past 10). The moon wasn’t up yet, and I live far from from city lights. I didn’t do anything other than export the photos from lightroom, they were taken with auto white balance, and all at 30 seconds exposure, f3.5, ISO 1000 (with my focus set to infinity).

If you look really, really closely in the last two photos, you might see the faint evidence of a meteor.

I’m excited for playing around more with night photography. I must say, it was fun to get set up on on my back deck with a couple beers and watch the sky for awhile and take a few photos.

Have a great evening everyone. It’s pretty overcast here tonight so I’m going to give the late night shooting a miss – maybe tomorrow though 🙂