Photography Blogs (166)

One of the many things I enjoy doing is exploring and photographing nature.

So far, I've taken over 3,500 nature photos here in Florida, since I arrived here in mid-December.

Two weeks ago I posted several sunset photos and asked which theme you wanted to see next time. The one theme that got the most votes was Otters.
.
So, I selected 13 recent otter photos to post on here now for your viewing enjoyment.

Let me know which one(s) you like the best.

Also, lets take a vote on which theme the next set of photos you would prefer to see
in 2 weeks.
Whichever of the following gets the most votes, will be the next one I post.
Would you prefer to see photos of;

Alligators ?
Purple Gallinule ?
Manatee ?
Osprey ?
Great Egret ?
Little Blue Heron ?
Great Blue Heron ?
Green Heron ?
Tricolored Heron ?
Roseate Spoonbill ?
Flowers ?
Red Shoulder Hawk ?
Limpkin ?
Lizards ?
Turtles ?
Pelicans ?
Quaker Parrots ?
Belted Kingfisher ?
Caracara ?

With no further ado, here's the 13 otter photos;



























If you would like to see more of my otter photos, simply go to this link;

For a while now, I wanted to try the Photo Lab services at the Walgreens pharmacy.
They offer poster sized 16" x 20" enlargements for $30.

I need to find the right picture frame first so I can crop the images according to the border. They have the ability to do borderless prints, but I would crop the image to allow for a frame if that is what I decide on.

Typically, they advertise prints in an hour. They have one lab about 2 miles from my office and I talked to one of the technicians who told me when they aren't busy, they can do prints in 10-15 minutes.

If you have photos on your cellphone, you can plug it into their system for preview and download. I declined wanting to connect my phone to a device that can capture the 4,000+ images contained there, instead I'll save the images to a blank memory stick so ONLY those photos will be read by their computer.

I've been down in Florida since mid December and having lots of fun.
as I always do.

One of the many things I enjoy doing is exploring and photographing nature.

So far, I've taken over 2,800 nature photos, which I just finished cropping into a
8" x 10" orientation.

I realize that quite a few of the members here enjoy pictures of sunsets.
So, I selected 16 recent sunset photos to post on here now for your viewing enjoyment.

Let me know which one(s) you like the best.

Also, lets take a vote on which theme the next set of photos you would prefer to see.
Whichever of the following gets the most votes, will be the next one I post.
Would you prefer to see photos of;

Alligators ?
Purple Gallinule ?
Otter ?
Manatee ?
Osprey ?
Great Egret ?
Little Blue Heron ?
Great Blue Heron ?
Green Heron ?
Tricolored Heron ?
Flowers ?
Red Shoulder Hawk ?
Limpkin ?
Lizards ?
Turtles ?
Pelicans ?
Quaker Parrots ?
Belted Kingfisher ?

With no further ado, here's the 16 sunset photos;

































If you would like to see more of my photos, including other sunset photos, you can go to my webpage;

Yep, it's about time for some fun on here.
If you want to join in, add your own caption(s)
for the following photo.

My first one is; "Honest, it's not what you think !"

Here's the photo;

The predicted polar vortex hit us last night, with high winds and freezing temperatures that continue into today. Braving the winds this morning in my slippers and sweats, I refilled my heated hummingbird feeder to ensure my delightful feathered friends have enough to eat in this cold weather.

As I slid open the patio door, I could hear the familiar 'click, click, click' of the hummers in the hedge, probably thinking, get that thing filled, woman! After the last time of making their nectar and burning the daylights out of my pot, I've since found that I can just boil water and pour it over the sugar instead of boiling the mixture. Good. I might save a few pots from being burned again.

Life has been exceptionally busy with photography, as I've been asked to join a number of sites and find that has taken up most of my time. This coming Monday is our exhibition night with the assigned subject of 'circles'. Originally, I was thinking of doing a physiogram, but I didn't get my act together to set it up in time. Having come down with 'something' last week, although I went out to take photos, I didn't have the energy to set everything up inside.

On my journeys to wherever, I noticed an old Austin truck on the top of a container and stopped to take a photo. The yard that it's over top of is filled with 'junk'. I'm pretty sure the guy is a hoarder, but he does have some very cool stuff there. I asked him if I could poke around the yard (it's a commercial building with a gravel lot in front), and not only did he say yes, he showed me all kinds of neat stuff and even pulled it out from behind things for me to photograph.

First, there were the Austins. What treasures! In all kinds of aging and disrepair, they offer all kinds of photo opps. I've been back three or four times to photograph just those guys. There are four Austins and a Rover that he's going to be painting this year (I wonder how many years he's said that?).

Then there's the old wringer washer that apparently still works. That brought back memories of standing on my grandmother's back porch with her while she did laundry in the wringer washer and being told to keep little hands and fingers away from the wringer.

He has bikes galore, and one really old rusted one has probably the first baby carrier ever attached to it. One of the really cool things he has that I photographed for circles is a series of round steel pans that look like different sizes of cheesecake tins nested inside of one another. In the centre is a solid piece of steel that's free floating. Setting it on a tire so I could get over top of it, it was very cool and would have been perfect for 'circles' except for the fact the light was too harsh.

Asking him what it was, he told me it was a rock grinder for mining companies to test minerals in the rocks. Interesting! There's so much there, one could spend days just poking through all the stuff.

Today, I'm back to photographing old barns. Our assignment next month is serendipity and the one after that is abandoned buildings. I have some awesome photos for the abandoned buildings and continue to find more. There's one that I haven't quite got the photo I want. It's a burned out old house that the earth is waiting to reclaim, with weeds, trees, and shrubs taking over. The peak of the house and front face of it are leaning backwards as the roof has fallen in. Again, I haven't been happy with the lighting, so need to go back when the light is more favourable.

Looks like it's blowing snow outside now, so today may not be the day to head out. If I get time, I might add some photos later. Or not.

I gave myself a birthday present last week and paid for a workshop on Street Photography in June. I'm contemplating a watercolour workshop in March, as well. I'm certainly loving this retirement thing! Who has time to work?!

If you like, have fun adding your own caption(s) for the following photo,
or just enjoy the other entries. Your choice.

My first entry is;

"Holy mother of God, thy bounty is blessed."

Here's the photo;

Christmas decorations always came down on Jan 6th - twelfth night and my ex's birthday. Last Sunday I had mentally prepared for the packing away of all the Christmas stuff. Of course, the best laid plans are always interrupted.

Instead, I had a last minute plea to take my Mom to the airport as my sister was 'unavailable'. Somehow, I knew that would happen. Fortunately, although overcast, it wasn't raining and the trip to the airport was smooth.

On my return home, I detoured along back roads and found a plethora of old barns that are absolutely amazing! I think our photo assignment for next month is abandoned buildings and although I have many already taken, I still love coming across them. They hold such mystery and untold stories.

Today, the Christmas decorations will finally get put away - which requires me to back my car out of the garage so I can get the step ladder out and get the totes labelled 'Christmas' off the top shelf. My little fibre optic tree has it's own box to be placed into, on the top shelf along with the other stuff, and that'll take care of that! Done for another year.

This past Monday was incredibly busy with a lot of errands before going to photo club. Holy cow, I didn't even have time for dinner and with Mom being away, didn't have the luxury of her making it for me and visiting ahead of time.

Getting to the club, I was anxious to see how my photo for the 'wet' assignment would do. I was quite apprehensive when we started off, as the adjudicator started giving really low marks to some of our more experienced members.

I have to admit to being quite disappointed at the lack of creativity in the 'wet' theme. There were the usual photos of running in the rain, umbrellas, waterfalls, etcetera, etcetera. I suppose, that's why the rather mundane marks. I thought I'd see a wet hen (madder than a wet hen) or the back of someone's head as they bent over a sink with water pouring behind their ears (wet behind the ears) or any other imaginative interpretations. Obviously imagination was lacking for this assignment.

Then, my photo of 'Wet Your Whistle' pops up. A glass with a whistle dropped into it and the resulting splash with a black b/g. It's totally out of the realm of what I usually photograph. I knew (which was confirmed later) that many people would think it was one of two other photo members that usually contribute studio photos.

The scores up to this point had ranged from 6.5 to 8.5, with most of them being 7.5. I hoped I'd at least get an 8. 'Nine' he called out! Woohoo!! The first 9 of the night. Yes!! My mentor, who was sitting next to me, gave me a nudge and thumb's up. His photo, after mine, also received a 9, and one more nature photo received a 9.5.

I was thrilled! My other two submissions received an 8.5 and 9 with critiques that were extremely helpful. Two women that I sit near always give me a hard time, as last year, and the year before, I couldn't seem to break 7 for the life of me. It's not that the photos didn't deserve 7's - I just couldn't seem to progress. The two women told me that was enough of the 9's for me and to just stop that. lol.

So I had a very rewarding and wonderful evening on Monday. The woman in charge of one of entering photos in the monochrome competition asked me to submit my 'Wet Your Whistle' as she thought it was an excellent photo and worthy of submission. Wow! I'm so flattered and honoured, as many of these people have years of experience and fabulous photos.

Today, along with getting the Christmas stuff put away, I have to buckle down and get my photos for the store display chosen and in to be printed, and find the other photos that have been requested for purchase and get those printed as well.

Better get to it. I now have two requests for 24"x36" canvases along with the other requests for prints. I never, in a million years, thought I'd be selling my photos and making money at something I thoroughly enjoy!

... I have decided to treat myself to a new camera, a new DSLR camera to be more specific. My last DSLR camera bought around 18 years ago, a Fuji Finefix has outlived its usefulness and its time for an upgrade.

My sad little Fuji finepix is going to be retired:



After a great deal of research I have decided on a Nikon D500 (see image below)



I've read several reviews and it seems to be a perfect unit with many of the features of the Nikon D5 included without all the extra weight and expense.

Of course I will also equip myself with a set of AF-S DX Nikkor lenses up to 300mm zoom and a SB-5000 Speedlight flash as the D500 does not have a built-in flash unit.

Do we have any shutterbugs on the blogs that would like to comment or advise about my choice, for or against?


.....

....................... What a briljant birdhouse

As usual, the fall has been crazy busy with work and no time for much of anything but either preparing for it, or working. It's a fun but exhausting time of year for me, with the break from now until May greatly appreciated and anticipated.

Along with the usual busyness of the season, I was asked to make a calendar of my photos for my community. Although I have all the tools and skills to design and layout my own calendar, I just didn't have time. My printer to the rescue. They had a template I could use with all the holidays marked and all I had to do was supply the photos. Yes!

I set up the parameters of the calendar page with a bleed and added my very large photo files and resized them within the bleed so the quality would be retained. When they sent me a proof, I uploaded it to the community page (it was protected so no one could download it), and asked for prepayment for the orders. I was blown away with the orders and had them all ready for my shows.

What I didn't expect was to have to print two more runs as many people either did not see the first one and I had numerous requests for more calendars. In fact, I'm still getting requests but have run out and will not be printing another run.

I'm thrilled with the success of the calendar and have been asked to print another one for next year, as well as do one for the resort area with funding from their tourism department. Yes! I can cope with that.

In fact, I have some ideas for some other things for next year, utilizing my photography. Never, in a million years, did I ever expect to be making money off something I enjoy so much. Due to the popularity of my calendar, I've also sold a number of prints of my photos to other provinces and even overseas. Gotta love that!

Now that my crazy schedule has slowed down, it's time to focus on getting my photos onto my own website, putting up a blog site that I've been wanting to do for some time, and figure out which logo to use as a watermark that I designed years ago.

For the first time in years, I also had time to make my own Christmas cards and was so happy to get into my art room to print them and use my calligraphy on the inside. I was in heaven! I haven't really used my art room since I moved and being in there was like being wrapped in a blanket of joy. Even better has been the pleasure the cards have brought to the recipients.

Onward with goals and plans for the new year, constantly improving my photography, enjoying the nature around me and giving other's an opportunity to see what I see. It's extremely satisfying when other's tell you that they've never noticed something you've taken a photo of, but because of you, they're more aware of their surroundings. Yes!

A rainy day today, and a good one to move furniture around between my office and art room to make room for the hide-a-bed. You never know, after a year and a half, I may even hang some of my paintings. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I have to get some photos together for my display in January at another photo finishing place.

I remember feeling like this when I was in university for graphic design - incredibly happy at being immersed in art, in many of it's forms. This is what I am meant to do.