Author: circadianreflections

My name is Deborah Zajac. I'm a photographer living in Nevada at the base of the Eastern Sierras. I am a passionate nature, landscape, night/astro photographer. I shoot predominately in color and use Nikon Digital Cameras, and lenses. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the photos I've taken while on my travels. Please feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear from you.

Milky Way over Mt. Shasta CA

Posted in After Dark, Milky Way, Mountain Peaks, Mt Shasta, Road Trips, Starry Night, Wide Field Astro-photographyTagged , , , , , , 26 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A couple of weeks back some friends and I spent the week-end near Mt. Shasta hoping for a clear night for night imaging the Milky Way. We’d been skunked the week-end before in Lassen National Park, and the smoke from the fires burning in Northern CA was causing a haze in the atmosphere.

The clouds began to shift about Sunset. There were some low clouds around the peak of Mt. Shasta, but the peak itself was clear. We hoped that held up, and it did! I caught a Shooting Star too! I don’t think this is a Perseid Meteor, but I could be wrong. Though the timing for the Perseid’s was right when I made this image.

Milky Way over Mount Shasta CA, USA

The lights are from surrounding towns and way out in the distance might be Redding, CA.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…

P52 34/52 Rufous Hummingbird-Female

Posted in birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Hummingbirds, Project 52, Rufous HummingbirdsTagged , , , 13 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This is my first photograph and sighting of a Rufous Hummingbird! I’m still so excited about seeing this little Hummer. So, I’ve posted this image instead of a macro for this week’s Project 52 image.

P52 34 of 52 Rufous Hummingbird-Female

Instead of carrying my long lens I decided to take my Lumix FZ200 to use if any wildlife or birds came along. I’m sort of getting the hang of this Bridge Camera. I just need to use it more. I’m planning to take it on He-Man’s Birthday Cruise which is just around the corner! It will be easier packing, carrying it around, and I won’t need a tripod.

Panasonic Lumix FZ200 @ 108mm = 648mm in 35mm format | f5| 1/1600s| ISO 160| Manual Priority| Pattern Metering|Lexar Professional Digital Film|CS6

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 24/52 Low Tide in Moss Landing

Posted in California Coastal Cities, Landscape Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Moss LandingTagged , , , 4 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MM2 24 of 52 Moss Landing Low Tide

My contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 this week is an image I made a month ago or so.  There wasn’t much happening bird wise so, I switched lenses, and my mind-set to Landscape imaging.  I always carry a wide angle lens for this reason. I was packing light this week and carried my 24mm f/2.8 af-d Nikkor lens which fits in the palm of my hand. I love how small and light-weight it is, it’s just not as sharp in the corners as I wish it to be. The new lens that replaces this lens is bigger, and heavier so, I’ve not jumped on it. I just don’t want to carry the weight.

I am thinking about the new 20mm f/1.8 lens though! I may splurge on it. Time will tell. 🙂 Do any of you have this lens yet? What do you think?

There are some really talented photographer’s contributing to Leanne’s Monochrome Madness 2 each week. You can check it out here!

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Developed in Photoshop CS6 & Nik Silver Efex Pro

Crispy Fried Zucchini with Tzatziki Sauce

Posted in Photography6 Comments

It looks delicious! If it wasn’t fried I’d be all over this. I gave up most fried foods in my early twenties. I splurge with French Fries once or twice a year. Maybe there’s a baked version? If so you two are the ones to find it and make it delicious! I hope you do cause I love zucchini!

Heidi's avatarFabulous Fare Sisters

Crispy Fried Zucchini with Tzatziki Sauce
One of my favorite summer vegetables is zucchini. Don’t be surprised if you see several zucchini dishes from me over the next few weeks. I have 5 zucchini plants producing right now and boy are they producing. This is one of my favorite dishes with zucchini. I served it as an appetizer on this occasion because it is so good. The tzatziki sauce with the fried zucchini creates an excellent flavor profile and is great for a meatless meal too.

Crispy Fried Zucchini
1 large zucchini
2 egg beaten
1/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Crispy Fried Zucchini with Tzatziki Sauce 2

Slice the zucchini into pieces about a centimeter thick and set aside. Set out three separate shallow dishes or bowls. In the first bowl, beat the egg and half & half together with 1/3 of…

View original post 197 more words

A Window to the Stars

Posted in Milky Way, Night Sky, Northern Hemisphere, Windows, Yosemite National ParkTagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Last Saturday a friend and I went up to Yosemite to photograph the Night Sky because the Moon was rising in the wee hours of the night we’d have several hours of dark sky to photograph the Milky Way.
This is just one view of the sky that I made.

I love how many more stars one is able to see up here in comparison to the city I live in; where far fewer stars are seen due to light pollution.

I adore city life and all it’s conveniences, but I need the country and high mountains for the serenity, beauty, and dark skies. I hope we as a people in this country can appreciate the stars enough to save some land/parks for dark skies because seeing so many stars is amazing, wondrous, and so inspiring that a special kind of person has the drive and adventurous spirit to travel among them no matter what the risk! If I had the math skills required for space travel I’d be there in a nano second!

Nikon Df| Nikkor AF-S 17-35mm| Tripod| Cable Release…before I broke it-SIGH!| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Developed in Photoshop CS6

P52 33/52 Blueberry Cobbler

Posted in Baking, Blueberries, Cobblers, Food Photography, From My Kitchen, Project 52Tagged , , , , , , 13 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I must be nuts. It’s 90º here and I’m in a baking mood! We bought oodles of fresh blueberries and rather than freezing them to keep them for shakes, snacks, and topping for cereal I decided to make a cobbler with them since I already have some in the freezer from last week.

Ready to bake… This recipe went together pretty quick.

Ready to Bake Blueberry Cobbler

35 minutes later…

Just out of the Oven Blueberry Cobbler

Blueberry Cobbler:

4 cups, or 1 1/4 inches of blueberries, fresh or frozen (no need to thaw)
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
9 inch dish- square or oblong are transitional, but I used a round pie plate

TOPPING

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter- 1 stick

Preheat oven to 425º. In medium bowl mix the blueberries, cinnamon, and flour to coat. Pour into pan. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Add wet ingredients to the flour, stir until blended then drop by heaping spoonfuls over the blueberries.
Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

He-Man made me a happy woman. He had seconds! 🙂

The recipe is from Cooks.com.  I can’t wait to get this house done and bring in the box with my cook books!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 17-35mm & 50mm| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…