circadianreflections

The Poser

January 4, 2015Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Goldfinch Male, Santa Clara CountyTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Goldfinch, Santa Clara County5 Comments

Last Friday, while sweeping the patio, and doing some general tidying up in the backyard I switched the seeds in the bird feeder because the mix I had in it wasn’t attracting any birds. I refilled the feeder with black sunflower seeds, and yesterday quite a few House Finches returned, and there was one Goldfinch Male that landed on the perch, but was quickly chased away by the male House Finches. I grabbed my camera hoping he’d make another appearance, but sadly he did not. That visit prompted me to revisit some images I took in early May 2014 of several Goldfinches.

This one pictured above looked at me then puffed himself all up, and gave me the best pose of the morning. I think he’s as handsome as he does. 🙂

I sure hope that Goldfinch comes back and brings some friends with him.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| AF-S Nikkor 14eII TC| Tripod

More to come…

P52 1/52 The Curled Leaf

January 3, 2015January 3, 2015Posted in Bees, Leaves, Macro Photography, Project 52 Macro (2015)Tagged Bees, Leaves, Macro photography, Project 52 Macro (2015)4 Comments

This year I’m going to be focusing on Macro imaging for my Project 52. Sometime soon I’ll be adding a Macro Focusing Rail so I can get closer without wobbling all over the place.

Here are some additional images I shot while looking for my first macro images of the year…

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm macro lens| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film

More to come…

My Top 20 Images of 2014

January 1, 2015January 1, 2015Posted in Photography4 Comments

I’ve been going through my 2014 images picking my favorites. As usual I shot several different genres like, Birds, Landscapes, Night skyscapes, Macro, Food, Products, Flowers, and a few portraits. There are more product and still-life images in my 2014 body of work as I had set a goal for myself to improve my skills with my Speedlights, and Light Modifiers. Using my Speedlights has become a lot easier, and I think I’m getting better at knowing how to place them to get the shot I want. I plan to continue working with them, as I’ve found I really enjoy Food and Product Photography.

I’ve narrowed my favorites down to 50 images then whittled those down to these Top 20. It wasn’t easy as I’ve left out some I do really like.

I hope you enjoy the images a second time if you’ve seen them already, and if you’re just finding me I hope you like what you see here. Without further ado here are my Top 20 in no particular order:

Thank you all for your comments, and support this past year, and especially to my dear friends whom I’ve been fortunate enough to travel, and shoot with this past year.

Here’s hoping we all make the images we envision in 2015!

More to come…

2014 Draws to a Close

December 31, 2014Posted in Low Light Photography, New Year's Eve, Photography, SunsetsTagged Contrails, Low Light Photography, New Year's Eve, Photography, Sunsets3 Comments

As 2014 draws to a close I’d like to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year!

Nikon D700| AF-D 80-200mm| Tripod| Sunset| image from my 2013 archive

More to come…

Smores

December 29, 2014Posted in Desserts, Food Photography, Gifts, Off Camera Flash, StrobistTagged Food Photography, Gifts, Off camera flash, Strobist, Sweet treats6 Comments

A sweet gift from my Son and his Girlfriend.

They bought them at Tout Sweet Patisserie San Francisco, CA. The one I had was super rich, and delicious!

More to come…

First New Year’s Resolutions

December 28, 2014Posted in Birds, Dieting, New Year's Resolutions, Organization, Photography, SparrowsTagged Diets, New Year's Resolutions, Organization, Photography, Song Sparrows1 Comment

First New Year’s Resolution: I will get my garage cleaned out, and organized!

Second New Year’s Resolution: I will lose 8 pounds!
I’ll probably add more as the year goes on, but to start with these two are my BIGGIES!

What about you, are you making any New Year’s Resolutions in the New Year?

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film

More to come…

A non Traditional Christmas Dinner

December 25, 2014December 25, 2014Posted in Christmas Dinner, Food Photography, Italian Food, Spode Blue Italian, Spode Blue Room, Spode DinnerwareTagged Chicken Parmigiana, Christmas Dinner;, Crab Crostini, Food Photography, Minestrone Soup, Spode Blue Italian, Spode Blue Room, Spode Dinnerware4 Comments

I gave my family several choices to chose from for the Main Course for Christmas dinner. They chose Chicken Parmigiana.

So, I built my entire menu around that.

The first course was my homemade Minestrone Soup that is so packed with goodies it’s more like a stew.

The second course was a simple green salad (not shown), and Crab Crostini. I didn’t make the Crab Salad. To

save time I bought it from a deli. It’s delicious! The French Bread is baked daily at my market so I picked up a couple of baguettes for the Crostini.

Then we arrive at the main course: Chicken Parmigiana. I used Lidia’s Italy in America recipe. It’s wonderful! The chicken breasts are stuffed with ricotta and Parmesan cheese seasoned to taste. I seasoned mine with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil.

I served it over a bed of Spaghetti with a basic marinara sauce.

The fourth course I had two types of Panettone cakes: a butter cake, and a fruiti cake, and birthday cake from #1 Grandson’s 2nd Birthday which was on Friday, but we were so stuffed no one wanted any dessert.

The conversation at the table is always laced with stories new and old and there’s always a lot of laughter.

It’s been a wonderful day of joy, great food, and togetherness. It’s the Christmas I wished for.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8g| SB910| Hand-held

More to come…

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