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Managed to get out this morning and pay the beach a visit - this time it was Newcastle Beach, NSW; Australia.
Here I've used the rusty posts that surround what's known locally as The Canoe (or World) Pool a children's saltwater pool that is located beside the Newcastle Ocean Baths.
The sun was pretty high in the sky so it was necessary for me to use my Lee Big Stopper and Lee .9 Hard Grad filters to create this long exposure image.
Thanks again for any comments, views or favorites - hope you liked it!
Hope too that you have a wonderful week!!!
Finally managed to get out and see a few sunrises. I spent quite a bit of time just watching the colour change, the previous morning I was watching a Pod of Dolphins swimming around this lighthouse
I managed to get into the best hotel in all of Vietnam - Vinpearl Resort. This is truly huge and wonderful hotel I've ever seen. It's is located on a separate island. Also, from the mainland to the island stretched the longest cable car over the sea. This is a wonderful thing! After I arrived at the hotel and got the keys to the room, I took this photo from my balcony. I really like this incomparable landscape!
After a long delay caused by 4014 striking a tree causing a punctured cylinder, the excursion seemed to be making up time until it reached Coldstream Canyon just outside Truckee. As it was about to reach the canyon, the brakes on one of the cars close to the rear had locked up causing for an immediate halt. After a quick inspection the train was back on the move again and managed to make it to Sparks.
Haven't managed many photos during the recent bad weather so here's one from my Spain backlog. For most of my bird-watching years I have known this species as Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopicus cyanus). It was famous for having one of the most unusual distributions of any bird on the planet. They are found in far-eastern Asia (including China, Japan, Siberia) with a small population in Portugal and Spain, but occurring nowhere in the 9000 km gap between them. But in 2002 some genetic research was published that suggested they were different but near-identical species, and the European "species" became known as Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The main difference is that the eastern species has about an inch of white at the tips of the blue central tail feathers. They are social birds, usually occurring in family groups that inhabit open woodland areas. I photographed this one mid-bounce in Spain's Coto Donana.
The eastern Azure-winged Magpie (C.cyanus) was first described by Peter Pallas in 1776, but the Iberian Magpie was first described as subspecies cooki by Charles Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) in 1850, and this name has subsequently been adopted for the new species. Iberian Magpie differs from Azure-winged mainly because it lacks the latter's white tips to the central tail feathers. But Iberian is also a bit smaller and browner-backed that eastern Azure-winged. The Cook after whom cooki was named was Captain Samuel Edward Cook (1787-1856) British geologist, naturalist and collector. Cook collected an Azure-winged Magpie in Spain in 1831, which was until then, only known from the Far East.
I managed to get out to the Pond [Lake] last week. It was a very dull day, but made a welcome change to the rain and high winds we've been getting lately.
There were plenty of ducks, gulls and geese around plus a pair of swans and this pair of white doves.
I've never seen any white doves over there before, so this was a nice surprise and they stayed put for me too.
When I got back home I decided to look doves up on line as I know nothing about them. Most results seemed a bit disparaging about them and called them pigeons. Well, I suppose they are of the pigeon family but to me they are so much more distinctive.
Anyway - I know pigeons can be seen as a nuisance, but I read somewhere that people's perception of them changes for the better when they find out how useful and stoic homing pigeons were during the war and they were even awarded medals - so there!
23rd April 2021 :
Managed to get out for a short walk just before lunchtime today. I didn't go far, but it was good to get out for a bit.
Saw this in the car park and decided on something different for today. You can see the whole thing here :
www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/51132696592/in/datepos...
Today is : English Language Day - nationaldaycalendar.com/english-language-day-april-23/
And for some Silly News it's : International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day - nationaldaycalendar.com/international-pixel-stained-techn...
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites.
I managed to get out today as the sun finally decided to shine.
I decided to do a 'stuck in the mud' exercise where I just stand in one spot for about 10 minutes to take the time to really look at what's there. This ivy winding its way up and around old fencing really caught my eye.
Thank you to everyone who pauses long enough to look at my photo. Any comments or Faves are very much appreciated.
My first star trail ... very much a test shot to learn some lessons for when I do it for real later in the year. The focus isn't quite right here but I put this down to it being 2am in the morning and the few nips of Laphroaig that I had consumed beforehand :D Also, still very much learning how to use my camera's intervalometer.
My entire summer has passed by without seeing a single "clearwing" moth such as a Hummingbird Clearwing or Snowberry Clearwing. But recently I did manage to spot this White-lined Sphinx Moth coming to a native Field Thistle flower. These larger day-flying moths are often referred to as "hummingbird moths" because they fly in the same way, moving their wings in a figure-8 pattern allowing them to hover in one place. Minneopa State Park [Blue Earth County], MN 08/28/21
I managed to get a shot of one of the juvenile kestrels at RHS Hyde Hall the other evening, but today I managed to get four of them in one shot! We think this is all of the juveniles as we stood and watched for a while. The one on the edge of the nest box kept hopping down out of sight, but there was never any sign of a fifth juvenile!
I don't often photograph mornings but I'm glad that I was up early enough to take this winter morning shot of Loch Eck.
Links:
Album: megalomatic.bandcamp.com/album/hunt-for-the-midnight-sasq...
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThemeGalomatic/?fref=ts
Management: www.facebook.com/RipItUpMusic/?fref=ts
Managed by the National Trust, consider joining, for a photographer or historian its a ticket to some wonderful locations.
After hearing hundreds, catching a glimpse of dozens I finally managed to get my first chiffchaff shot of the year. Taken in the margins of Brackenwood Golf Course.
Managed to sort of save this one after ruining the whole roll by not loading the tank correctly !!!! Won't be making that mistake again.
'Life in an Alpine Meadow'
An eclectic collection of macro and close-up images from our recent trip to the Western Tyrol region of Austria, where I was able to spend time photographing subjects that I would normally ignore and experimenting with different techniques that I haven't tried at home. Rather than letting these photos 'gather dust' on a hard-drive, I thought I'd make a Flickr album as a useful reminder for when we return next year.
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This first photo of an ant foraging deep inside the throat of a Trumpet Gentian [Gentiana acaulis] is a classic example of a situation where you need plenty of time. Getting in close with a macro lens was pretty straightforward, but locating a suitable plant, finding the right angle with the sun and blurring out the stamen with a wide aperture was time consuming. After achieving some pleasing results it was then a case of finding a flower that was occupied. Most were, but by tiny springtails that you could hardly see, so it was a case of looking for something a bit bigger like an ant. The problem though was that the ant spent most of the time with its head buried inside gathering nectar. As a point of interest, the trumpets on these plants are probably around 60mm or 70mm deep so to achieve full magnification my lens had to be very close to the front of the flower, which is why the angle was so critical to avoid shadow. Next time I may try experimenting with a flash or possibly even trying to backlight, but in the meantime this image provides a reminder of what I managed to achieve on this trip.
I managed around 85 frames of this pair running across the water. I started shooting after they were up and going. They must have run for 9-10 seconds. Toward the end of the display a rival male tried to horn in on the action. His awkward, flapping scoot across the water was comical after the grace and power of the bonding pair.
Managed to catch the SpaceX Starlink 10-40 mission from Forest, VA, this past Wednesday morning. Despite the pre-dawn scramble, the Nikon Z6 III and Tamron 24-70mm combo handled the dynamic range beautifully. You can clearly see the Falcon 9 second stage leading the way, its exhaust expanding into that iconic "space jellyfish" as it hits the sunlight in the upper atmosphere.
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Managed to shoot a few lovely shots of one of these speedsters swooping low over the field picking of midget flies. This is a 50% crop.
This is the only shot I've so far managed to process from my trip to New York back in November. I was there for 6 days and had a long list of locations to visit. Of course this was near the top of my list of places to visit - a pilgrimage almost. I remember being there 15 years ago and loving it - I took a few snaps thats all - I remember it being incredibly busy. Nothings changed - its still a fabulous sinuous piece of architecture, and its still packed - not helped by a monsoonal downpour outside.
After a load of dark pictures I thought now was the right time to get back to my fist love, hence a high key shot once again. When I finally get around to processing and when I'm able to their should be some more too.
This is a 5 landscape shot stitched vertically of course no tripods allowed so all handheld, luckily it was quite light anyway, even with the inclement weather outside
Technical Details
Fuji XT-2
Fuji 18-135mm @ 18mm
F5.6
1/250 second
ISO 400
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Managed to find my special Mimosa tree yesterday, but sadly it had a good prune at the end of last year and all the lovely low branches have gone. So used a bit of zoom instead.
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites.
Just digging a little in the archives...I stretched the exposure on this one as long as I could. With a polarizer, f/22, and ISO 50 I managed to get it up to around 25 seconds so that I could show the great circular swirls for the leaves/bubbles in this drop pool. A ND filter is on the must buy list!
Fall 2007 - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
We managed to get down to Yosemite for a beautiful winter day. It snowed the day before and the paths were pretty much frozen everywhere making it a pretty slick experience - quite literally.
Looks like this hit explore on 12/31. Thanks to everyone for the faves and comments.
An insanely cool catch that we managed to get completely by accident.
Luke, Jasper and I were on our way from Chicago to Kansas City, when I spotted a headlight down the tracks on UP's Springfield Subdivision just south of its namesake town. Upon further inspection, we realized we had stumbled upon an incredible train: UP's MBNAS with a gorgeous standard cab SD60 on point. We had known prior that this train would occasionally get the specially painted Alton and Southern SD60s, but had confirmed earlier that they were still in St. Louis. Due to this, we never even thought about the fact that it could potentially have a regular UP paint 60. After sitting in the siding for a northbound intermodal, the extremely friendly engineer put the pedal to the metal and went faster than any manifest any of us had ever seen before. They topped out at 65 miles per hour and we couldn't even manage to get another shot of them due to not being able to catch up (despite Luke driving over 100 miles per hour in some stretches of highway). Despite that slight misfortune, the fact that we even were able to shoot it to begin with is nothing short of a miracle.
I managed to stay at the exclusive Kovalam Guest House perched majestically on the top of a cliff and located at one end of the Kovalam beach. This forms the northern headland for the long stretch of Kovalam beach.
As elsewhere in the world, the beach is always a crowded area. The rock cliff of the property was a wonderful place to spend a lazy evening . It is a beautiful experience,
the crash and the roar of the Arabian Sea as it hammers the rock faces in its ceaseless rhythmic cycle of waves.
It was in school one learnt lessons in geography of how rains were made. This was one rare occasion where I got to see the black clouds gather in minutes and take an ominous shape of a violent storm seething with ominous intent. However, in minutes, the storm vanished.
The sun was out again. A commercial jet wound its way up in the skies.
The waves started thundering again.
Back to normal !!!
I managed to acclimate this Swallowtail Butterfly to me when it was a caterpillar, and it remembered me after its metamorphosis. It's willingness to let me get close, coupled with some cool temperatures, allowed me to take a lot of photos.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Clarity in that order.
Managed to capture this lovely little creature on Saturday morning at Reddish Vale Country Park..
Erithacus Rubecula
The UK's favourite bird - with its bright red breast it is familiar throughout the year and especially at Christmas!
Males and females look identical, and young birds have no red breast and are spotted with golden brown.
Robins sing nearly all year round and despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders. They will sing at night next to street lights.
I haven’t been out for several weeks and managed to sneak an hour to nip to South Stack Lighthouse this afternoon. I just missed the light as the sun disappeared behind a wall of cloud and this was the best I could manage.
Managed to get up to London on Friday night to see A Christmas Carol with Jim Broadbent, we stayed over and had a quick walk around Shoreditch in the sunshine on Saturday before being pestered to return home to watch the Strictly Final by KP. Her favourites Kelly and Kevin didn't win but were amazing ...
Hard to believe that it was so warm in December ...
A selection of four photographs that I managed to get today
Was finally allowed to go to my local lakes...what a Joy it was to be back there, before all this Lock down I was there at least twice a week..today five hours
I managed to persuade my grandson to come for a short walk after dinner but, he was quite alarmed when I asked two young ladies if they mind me taking a photo of their drinks.
It is always a spiritual experience for me to be surrounded by nature. I think it's because I appreciate the fact that it never stays the same and yet it continues to move ahead. It doesn't have a bad day and decide to hide itself away from the world for a while, no, instead it stays steady and moves forward, one day at a time.
Sometimes I like to think of myself as being a lot like nature, steady as a rock. Even with the storms that come and go, I manage to move ahead little by little; sometimes by leaps and bounds and other times just one tiny move towards my next destination, the next adventure.
I think it says a lot about someone or something's character to be resilient, to push through. I've learned a lot about myself over the years, especially within the last four, and I look forward to the storms that will come to pass in the future, for surely those are bound to build even more character -- whether I need it or not.