circadianreflections

Happy Summer Solstice

June 21, 2015June 21, 2015Posted in Golden Gate Bridge, Photography, San Francisco, Summer Solstice, SunrisesTagged Fog, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Summer Solstice5 Comments

This was taken on the Summer Solstice last year (2014).

I really wanted to meet my friend Anne and go back to this area and make another Summer Solstice image from

here, but I’ve been swamped moving out of two of our 3 bdrms. We’re down to 1 bdrm now. I fell into bed last night exhausted, and slept until 7:30 this morning! So, I didn’t go out with my camera for sunrise this morning and am reposting the image I made last Summer Solstice.

UPDATE on our Remodel: The construction crew are planning to break into the interior walls of the Master bdrm, front bdrm, and entry hall tomorrow (Monday June 22,2015), and demolition of our Master bathroom begins tomorrow as well. He-Man and I are almost completely moved out of our room and will be using the Living room as our room. Only our bed, and a few things in the closet need to be moved out today.

Baby Girl, and #1 Grandson have moved to the back bdrm that I’ve been using as my retreat for years.

The roof of the house was extended and roofers finished laying on the new roof yesterday, two of the new windows are in, but the door they’re waiting until this week to install. It’s really pretty, has glass, and they didn’t want to risk any damage to it while framing and putting on the roof. YEAH!

Here’s how the house looked on the 18th of June.

…and this is where it came from. Day of Phase II back on April 30, 2015

Staking out the new foundation day 1 phase II of remodel and addition

My Summer will be largely spent in disarray, and chaos with this remodel and addition, but it will be worth all the inconvenience when it’s finished I have no doubt. Today I’m excited because we’re entering the final phases of the construction, and getting closer to having the house done.

Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!

Nikon Df| Lumix DMC-Fz200| Hand-held

More to come…

P52 25/52 Fly

June 18, 2015June 18, 2015Posted in Family Fun, Mud, Photography, Summer Fun, ToddlersTagged family, Mud, Muddy Boots, Snapshots of Life, Summer Fun, Toddlers6 Comments

I’ve been spending some more time with my Bridge Camera the Panasonic DMZ-Fz200 trying to get better IQ shooting birds in the backyard, but that hasn’t worked out so well since when I’m out back #1 Grandson, and Diva Dog want to be out there too. Unfortunately, the birds don’t want to be out there sipping nectar or eating delicious seeds when nearly the whole family is out back.
But, as luck would have it #1 Grandson isn’t too keen on bugs right now so, he calls them out where ever and when ever he sees them…even flies! He quit playing in the mud puddle brought about by a broken sprinkler, and ran to me clinging to my leg for dear life proclaiming that there was a BUG!, and he very helpfully pointed it out to me. With camera in hand I assured him I’d take care of it. With #1 Grandson still clinging to my leg I cautiously approached the trespassing fly. When I got within the closest focal range to make an image I began pressing the shutter. I managed to get several images thanks to being in Burst Mode. A few were decent. The Fz200 can shoot 12 fps in Burst Mode! It’s one reason I bought the camera.

#1 Grandson now emboldened by my bravery thought he get a little closer himself , let go of my leg, and took a big step forward, then Poof! The fly got scared and flew away. 🙂 #1 Grandson looked up at me with eyes full of surprise and question…and said, ” Fly flew away!” I replied, “Yes, love it did. We have be very quiet, and can’t get too close or we’ll scare them. Stay by Gran and it might stay.”

The lessons of photographing, and loving wildlife are in full swing at my house!

Another reason I bought this camera was for the Leica f/2.8 fixed Aperture lens, and it’s 108mm lens which has a field of view equivalent of 600mm in 35mm format. I’ve seen some fantastic images taken of birds and wildlife with this little Bridge camera and I am hoping I can get similar results. Especially when traveling. I’m thinking about taking this camera with me on a cruise I have coming up in late Aug/Sept. There will be some opportunities to see some birds and wildlife I don’t have near me and I don’t really want to pack and carry my heavy 300mm lens. I’ll be testing this lens/camera out quite a bit in the next couple months.

Are you curious about how muddy #1 Grandson got this morning? I titled this image: A Broken Sprinkler, a Mud Puddle, and a Toddler= A Bunch of Fun this Summer Morning.

I stripped him and ran like mad to the bathtub when he was ready to go in the house. I wonder if I’ll get the mud and sand out of his clothes?

Broken Sprinkler brings about a huge opportunity to play in the mud! — He was just this close to drinking some of this muddy water when I caught him! If I drop my gaze for just one second I know he’ll drink some! It’s inevitable I know, but I have to try to stop it! 🙂

I’ve got a couple of more photos of him over on Instagram too. If you’d like to see those click here!

Panasonic DMC-Fz200|Lexar Professional Digital Film| Hand-held| CS6

More to come…

Monochrome Madness2 15/52: On the Verge of Blooming.

June 16, 2015Posted in Agapanthus, Black and White Photography, Flowers, Flowers of Summer, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, Monochrome Madness2Tagged Agapanthus, Black and White Photography, Flowers, Flowers of Summer, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro photography, Monochrome Madness24 Comments

The Agapatha’s are blooming in my yard, and as you can imagine I’ve been out imaging them with my LensBaby Composer Pro and my Macro lens while the blooms last.

For this week’s Monochrome Madness 2 I present a single blossom on the flower on the verge of blooming. It reminds me of praying hands.

If you have a moment please click here to go to Leanne Cole’s Blog to see all the other wonderful entries to this week’s MM2 Challenge

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/ Soft Focus Optic and 16mm Macro attachment| f4| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

Pondering the Stars

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015Posted in Astro Imaging, Astrophotograhpy, Milky Way, Night Photography, Shooting Stars, Silhouettes, StarsTagged After Dark Photography, Astro Photography, Astro-imaging, Cosmos, Milky Way, Night Photography, Shooting Stars, Stars8 Comments

It was so good to get out under the stars last (Saturday) night. Especially after being sick and cooped up for weeks.

My health, weather, and schedule all were in perfect alignment to meet a friend up in the mountains to view, and spend a few hours making images of the night sky. Even though I went up into the nearby mountains I was unable to escape all Light Pollution. The orange, and bright white on the right of the image edge are city lights to the south. I’d have to go much further inland to escape it entirely.

To my delight when I uploaded and looked through the images I discovered I captured a shooting star in this frame! Do you see it? It’s small up above the Milky Way in the centerish toward the left.

This outing was just what I needed!

More to come…

Update: My friend (Andy) finished an image of the Whirlpool Galaxy which he imaged last night while I was shooting stars, and the Milky Way. He posted it on his photo-sharing site. I hope you’re able to see it here. He’s set up with a nice telescope, and GOTO system which gets him closer looks deeper into the Universe.

P52 24/52: Nailing it

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015Posted in Focus Stacking, Macro Photography, Project 52, Still LifeTagged Focus Stacking, Macro photography, Nails, Project 528 Comments

For weeks my days have been full of the sounds of banging hammers, and the Pouft! of a nail gun so, thought I’d make an image of nails for this weeks image.

This is 4 images stacked in Photoshop CS6.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm Micro| @f4.5| 1/200s| ISO 100| SB910 @ 1/8pwr camera left high in front of subject bounced off ceiling

More to come…

Monchrome Madness 2 14/52 Monterey Bay

June 10, 2015Posted in Photography8 Comments

For this week’s Monochrome Madness2 I reached for a recent image to use. I’ve been struggling to get over this sinus infection so didn’t get out last week. This image is from Point Lobos Carmel-by-the-Sea. The twisted stumps and trunks of the Cypress Trees made an interesting foreground.

If you have time take a look at the other entries for this week’s Monochrome Madness 2 here.

I had to call my Doctor and she prescribed a course of anti-biotics which I started taking Monday evening. Today is the first day in over a week I’ve been able to sit up without a face ache. YEAH! I’m looking forward to getting out to do some photography.

Nikon Df| AF-S 24-70 @ 24mm, f/16, 1/250s, ISO 320, Manual Priority, Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film

More to come…

Watercolor Aspen at Rock Crk Eastern Sierras

June 8, 2015June 9, 2015Posted in Aspen, Beginner Painting, Create Art Everyday, Eastern Sierras, Fine Art, Iphone 5, Painting, Rock Creek, Trees, WatercolorTagged Arts, Aspen, Beginner, Create Art Everyday, Eastern Sierras, Rock Creek, Trees, Watercolor10 Comments

c 2015 Deborah M Zajac alk Rights Reserved

My Grandmother who died when I was just 13 weeks old could paint, and my Mother can sew. I have aspired and wanted to do both my whole life, and have failed miserably. Perhaps I should just stick to photography.

Iphone 5/ handheld/ winsor & newton watercolor paint/ strathmore watercolor cards

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