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.

Hooded Merganser

Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Photography, Travel, WildlifeTagged , , Leave a comment

Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Hooded Merganser Male-Crest Down 1

This is my first sighting of the Hooded Merganser! I was so excited to see both a male and female swimming around in the pond in the Children’s Zoo section of San Francisco Zoo. According to one of the staff they are free range and can come and go as they please like the gulls and Peacocks.

The female:

Hooded Merganser Female

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70300@ 300mm| f5.6| 1/400s| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Hand-held

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Santa Cruz Sunset and Golden Hour

Posted in California, Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , 4 Comments

Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Last night’s sunset in Santa Cruz, California. There wasn’t much color in the sky, but the Golden Hour light on this rock formation was really pretty I thought. It also made the ocean a lovely Jade green color.
It was also great seeing and hanging out with friends Dali and Alex, and a big shout out and Thank You to Dali for driving!

Santa Cruz Sunset and the Golden Hour

Camera Settings:

Nikon D700| Nikkor 2470@24mm| f9| 2 seconds| ISO 160| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod| B+W Neutral Density filter

Developed in Lightroom 4 then finished up in Photoshop CS6 for exporting.

U.S. National Park Week April 20 to 28, 2013

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H/T Natural History Wanderings.

Sandy Steinman's avatarNatural History Wanderings

Free Admission To U.S. National Parks April 22 to 26 during National Park Week

During National Park Week, April 20-28.  Many parks are also having special events in honor of National Park Week. ALL 397 U.S.  national parks offer free admission, April 22 to 26 this year.

On April 20, National Junior Ranger Day, parks will invite young visitors to “explore,learn, protect” and be sworn in as Junior Rangers.
April 27 is Volunteer Day, so if you want to roll up your sleeves and pitch in with a project, look for a park where you can help out.

For more information go to:  U.S. National Park Service National Park Week.

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Double Rainbow on Upper Yosemite Fall

Posted in hikes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

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Copyright ©2011- 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

Another waterfall from my Archives. On my birthday in 2011 I hiked up Upper Yosemite trail and was rewarded with a Double Rainbow at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall. It’s a steep and arduous hike, but well worth the effort.
I lost my favorite Hobbie sunglasses over the railing here. They fell a LONG way. 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 1735@ 20mm| f5| 1/2000second| ISO 160| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Hand-held- there wasn’t much room for my tripod on this ledge.

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Clover, Hill, Oak

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Clover, Hill, Oak, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

Here’s another photograph I took while out in the countryside with Rainey and Rene. The clover tinting the hills with pink is lovely this year.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 1735@35mm | f10| 1/320s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod

Mossbrea Falls

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Mossbrea Falls, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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Copyright © 2011 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

One from my archive. This fall is in Northern CA. It’s quite an adventure to get to it. There is no trail to the fall. One must walk along railroad tracks for about a mile. Trains still use the track so you might have to jump out-of-the-way and wait for the train to pass on your way to or from the fall.

Once there if it’s been a wet season you’re rewarded with a wall of water cascading down the mountain. I believe the length of the wall or mountain side that the fall cascades down is as long as a football field. I had to shoot it in bits and pieces To take it all in at once was a bit overwhelming at first. The only way I could “see” to photograph it was to break it down into manageable frames.
I’ve looked at my photos off and on since I took them never being motivated to process them beyond a few basic adjustments then I saved them as PSD’s, closed the file and moved on.
I took another look at the “works in progress” over the week-end because I’m planning to pass this way again next month and I’d like to revisit the fall on my way north.
While looking at them again I finished a few photos here’s the first.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm| B+W Neutral Density filter 0.9

 

There's so much I'd like to say to you…

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Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

His gaze was so intense it was a bit unnerving.

Baby Girl and I took the boys to the zoo for the afternoon. It was fun. I hope to do it again soon.
The boys:
4 year old Step-Grandson aka Spiderman had a blast and loved the Children’s zoo with the giant web made of rope, and #1 Grandson 16 weeks- slept the whole time. 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300mm VR