02/05/13 Filed in: Spring
Playful Waxwing: ISO 400, 140mm, f/8, 1/4000
Air Brakes: ISO 400, 400mm, f/8, 1/1600
Crows: ISO 400, 110mm, f/6.3, 1/500
I believe that spring might finally have arrived in Red Deer, Alberta! The snow is almost gone and the temperatures are finally starting to rise. It was a nice sunny day yesterday but there was still a nip of cold that you needed a jacket.
My camera has been collecting dust the last few months. I felt I needed to take it out for a walk and shake the cobwebs from the camera and the creative side of my brain.
I thought the best place for it was the Kerry Wood Nature Centre which is just a few paces from our backyard. I knew some of the migrating waterfowl should be there for a rest or, in the case of the grebes, their final destination.
As the afternoon went on, I started practicing my panning skills. Panning is trying to freeze a subject by following it with your camera. As I was using a long telephoto zoom this turned out to be quite difficult. If you zoomed in too close it was card to keep the fast moving birds in sight. Also a long zoom lens tends to be quite big and heavy. Yesterday afternoon turned out to be a workout both mentally and physically.
28/03/13 Filed in: Spring
Red Deer Easter Bunny: ISO 200, 24mm, f/5.6 1/400
The weather in Red Deer is finally warming up and starting to feel like spring. I took a walk yesterday to enjoy the sunshine.
With Easter around the corner I decided to walk by the Red Deer Public Transit terminal to take a shot of the Brick Bunny. As you can see he is trying to warm up from the long, cold winter. The snow should melt off his body in the next few days which would be in time for him to hide the Easter Eggs.
Bottle of Coca Cola: ISO 800, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/50
Looking Down on a Bottle of Coke: ISO 800, 35mm, f/7.1, 1/30
To my regular visitors, I am sorry about the lack of updates recently. Work has taken over my life this past month.
I missed my camera and thought I would play around with my it to get my creative juices flowing again. The above two images are not the normal subject matter posted on my blog but I found this bottle interesting for a number of reasons. First, the signature Coca Cola shape. Second, the colours of the bottle itself and the iconic red.
Hopefully this is the start of my inspiration and getting me motivated to post more regularly.
27/10/12 Filed in: Fall
Chickadee Feeding: ISO 640, 140mm, f/5.6, 1/750
This is another shot from my previous post. Waiting for the Blue Jays to come to the feeder and tis small guy kept fluttering from the trees to the feeder.
That is a sunflower seed in his bill.
13/10/12 Filed in: Fall
Yellow Rumped Warbler: ISO 640, 360mm, f/5.6, 1/1000
It has been awhile since I last updated my journal. When I started this project I wanted to post at least once a week. It seems now I am lucky to post at least once a month. Life is racing by and I have little time for my passion of photography. I have to make a conscious effort to not let this happen. I have to remember why I love spending time with my cameras.
The above image is such an example of why I must make this time.
Last month (September) Blue Jays were coming to my backyard feeders carrying away food for fall. Blue Jays love to hide food almost anywhere including compost heaps, eavestroughs, planters etc. I grabbed my cameras and sat on the deck by the feeder waiting for these big birds to return for more food.
As I waited patiently I started snapping shots of the other birds playing in the backyard. First, it was the common house sparrows. Then a chickadee fluttered back and forth from the trees to the feeder. Then I noticed a moving patch of yellow in the apple tree. I quickly focused and got a shot of this bird.
When new birds come to the backyard I usually want to get reference pictures so that I can identify them later with my Peterson Field Guide. I don’t want to scare the bird so as you can see my zoom is out quite away (360mm). I am hand holding the camera as birds tend to move about rapidly. To get the fast shutter speed I have to turn the ISO up. The picture isn’t the sharpest under these conditions but I usually have enough good snap shots to be able to identify the new visitor.
From my research in the Peterson Field Guide and Google I came to the conclusion this was a Yellow Rumped Warbler. I posted this image on Flickr and had one of my contacts confirm that I identified this bird correctly.
I am excited by these new finds. I live within a 10 minute walk to downtown of a city with close to 92,000 people. The backyard is like an oasis in this busy city. I must take the time to stop and marvel at the sights and not let life get too busy for my passions.