*Cynthia is a gracious subject for my feeble attempts at portraiture
Bolivar Ferry
As mentioned previously, Cynthia and I went to Bolivar on whim a few Saturdays ago when the sun was bright and the sky was blue.
I managed to talk her into riding the ferry which was an accomplishment in and of itself since she HATES boats.
She actually ended up enjoying the experience and it was a great opportunity to take pictures.
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I am the mighty Sea Grackle!
See me dance my Sea Grackle dance!
Aren’t you Seagulls impressed?
Well? Aren’t you?
Flower Power – Extreme Macro
I’m having to adjust the way I compose my photographs.
Part of me really likes taking a picture and conveying the whole subject to the viewer. But with macro photography some of the most interesting things are just slices of the overall object.
All of these beg to be viewed at the full size.
Flower Power
Cynthia and I took advantage of what must be some of the last “reasonable” weather of the season and got some yard work taken care of. This included cleaning out the main elevated garden in the back yard and putting in new topsoil to prepare it for planting. After that it was off to Cornelius Nursery so Cynthia could select some plants.
I used it as an opportunity to shoot some shots of flowers I don’t get to see very often.
Flowering Pear Tree
The Flowering Pear Tree in our front yard has sprouted it’s first blossoms of spring.
The flowers herald the return of the leafy foliage and don’t last very long.
I’m learnding
One of the the things I am really enjoying about photography is the learning. It’s a sense of wonder and awe at the myriad ways you can capture an image in any given circumstance.
I tend to get very single-minded sometimes. I find a facet and I explore it and develop it with an almost tunnel vision like approach. That’s pretty well evidenced in my concert photography which is really just an extension of my love of nighttime and low-light photography.
What’s cool to me is that I can be browsing the web and reading a friend’s blog or maybe just stumble across some photography site and see something that catches my interest.
Case in point
I saw a post from from fellow shutterbug Satyr on his blog that was showing off some pictures he had just taken with his new 70mm 2.8 macro lens. The shot that caught my eye was a macro of a fly.
Now I had a rudimentary knowledge of what macro photography was, but I had not really explored it. Also known as life-size magnification, macro photography requires a lens that will allow you to get very close to your subject and still be able to attain focus. The more zoom the lens has, the more the subject is magnified.
What struck me is that he was shooting with a 2.8 70mm lens and I happen to have a 28-75mm 2.8 lens. It’s a Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di and right there on the lens it says “Macro” so I figured I should have the ability to shoot macro without much problem and with similar results.
I had originally bought the lens for low-light photography but I was now having a moment of enlightenment. Exactly the kind of thing that makes this hobby so much fun for me.
I dug out the lens and attached it to my camera and went into the backyard looking for a bug. I didn’t find any interesting enough so I settled on the trumpet flowers that are now blooming quite enthusiastically in the garden.
Click for full size (it’s well worth it)
So thanks to Satyr for the inspiration and the information. He’s also the one who offered the most useful tips regarding concert photography so that’s two I owe him.
Meet me on the dark side of the moon
I found myself uncharacteristically informed in advance of a significant celestial event for a change, rather than hearing of it after it was over. That event was the total lunar eclipse on Saturday, March 3rd.
Even though the full eclipse would not be visible from the central U.S., the moon would be over 75% obscured at moonrise and would pass from eclipse over the course of about an hour.
I thought this would be a truly unique photographic experience and set out to make the most of it.
First I would need a good place to view the event. I considered Galveston and even Matagorda. Not really wanting to drive any great distance, I decided to ask my friend and co-host, Barrett, if he thought the roof of his downtown loft might be a suitable viewing location.
He informed me that there was a mostly unobstructed view of the eastern horizon from the roof and that he had seen the moonrise on several occasions.
This suited me just fine and we made the arrangements.
Cynthia and I arrived at Barrett’s loft around 6:00 pm and before long we were on the roof. Barrett had told a few friends who also joined us. It’s a precarious climb involving a straight ladder to the roof from the 10th floor.
Cynthia and I schlepped our cameras and I carried a tripod. The temperature was dropping into the 50’s with a nice stiff wind but we were determined.
According to what I had read, the moon should be rising in the east at the exact time the sun is setting in the west during this eclipse. Well, the sun went down but no moon came up. It must have been obscured by one of the buildings. I asked Barrett if he had seen the rising of the moon during winter and he said he didn’t know.
Apparently Barrett failed druid school and did not realize that the location of the moonrise changes over the year.
Ah well, it was a good time anyway. I got some great shots of downtown.
These three pics are of the east (where the moon should have been rising) and demonstrate the 75-300mm lens going from shortest to longest focal length.
I just love the Maxwell House building.
This is Main St. You can see Dean’s Credit Clothing on the left in the distance.
As the sun set I pointed the camera west to grab this shot:
After conceding defeat regarding the eclipse we made our way back down and Cynthia and I said our goodbyes and started to drive back home. Just as we were entering the freeway we looked up in the eastern sky and there it was:
I found the exit and pulled over to shoot it handheld. Not too bad, but not what I was aiming for, especially after all that planning.
Ah well, maybe next time
Weekend birdtivity
I can totally see that I will be that old man, you know the one sitting on the park bench using his meager funds to purchase a loaf of bread to feed the birds?
Wait a minute. I AM that old man.
Friday morning I had to wait on the exterminator so I found myself sitting on the front porch marvelling at the early morning bird activity. There’s a Red-tail hawk who has taken up residence somewhere nearby. I saw him flying low and into a neighbor’s tree and I almost got a fix on him but it was no go. He took off again and flew directly toward the rising sun so I couldn’t get a shot.
I did however, finally get a shot of the elusive Goldfinch who’s been flitting about the front yard.
They’re erratic in flight and in constant motion so it’s been a struggle. Too bad that by the time this guy dons his mating plumage he’ll have moved on.
There was also major Mockingbird action as 2 males duked it (beaked it?) out on the neighbor’s driveway.
You talkin’ to me? You best not be talkin’ to me!
It was hilarious! They would go from side to side in this comical shuffling manner and then they would just stand there and stare at each other while lifting one foot in the air.
In the backyard I was pleased to find that a sparrow had taken up residence in one of the cheap little birdhouses I installed last year.
Cynthia has named her “Daisey”
We’re worried that the Bougainvillea may not have survived the winter.
It’s still attracting the birds but if it’s dead we’ll need to remove and finds something to replace it with.