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.

Alpine Glow on Cathedral Peaks and Echo Peaks

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.


Myself and 7 other members of a Meet-up group I’m in backpacked to Upper Cathedral Lake in Yosemite Wilderness. for an overnight photography adventure.  It’s a 3.5 mile hike starting at 8500 ft, and topping out at 9500ft. I took my Garmin for the stats, but haven’t uploaded it yet.
My legs are dead tired after hauling my body plus 20+ pound pack up there, but it was so worth it!
It’s gorgeous up here. We lucked out it was too cool for mosquitoes. I didn’t get eaten alive at all. There were only a few other campers up here making it really enjoyable considering it was a major holiday week-end in the United States, and the valley was packed with people.

 

After picking a site to set up our base camp we set up our tents then grabbed our camera equipment  and trekked over to the south side of the lake to shoot the sunset. We didn’t get any color in the sky as it stayed flat all afternoon and evening, but the Alpine Glow on the mountain peaks was lovely.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm @f9| 1/20s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod| 5 frame panorama

Birthday feast.

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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac

Heman asked me if I would make his favorite entree: lasagna, and his favorite cake; Marble for his birthday. There was no way I would ever refuse. So I spent the day cooking and baking.

I started the red meat sauce first. Once that was simmering I started on the cake:

No one was here to lick the spoon, beaters, or bowl

After I mixed up the yellow cake I held some back to add the chocolate for the marbling.

Once the cake layers cooled I was ready to assemble the two layers, and frost it.

It turned out light, with a wonderful crumb, and very moist.

We like this cake chilled so straight to the frig it went. The red meat sauce was finished so I could assemble the lasagna next.

I use ground beef, a wee bit of ground pork, and 3 cheeses to make this dish. Here’s the second layer.

The house smelled wonderful today  and I was really hungry by the time it came bubbling out of the oven,

I served the lasagna with a green salad, garlic bread, and a table Cabernet by BV Coastal Estates,

Heman loved it, and no one left hungry. I think I’ll leave the clean up for a bit and go take a walk. I’m stuffed!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 micro

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Crater Lake in early May

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Crater Lake in early May, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

While in OR this past May we were only an 1.5 hours drive from Crater Lake so we spent our last afternoon and evening here. The weather and scenery didn’t disappoint.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm @f16| 1/125second| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod| 4 frame Pano stitched in CS6

For the historians:
The lake was formed after the collapse of an ancient volcano, posthumously named Mount Mazama. This volcano violently erupted approximately 7,700 years ago. That eruption was 42 times as powerful as the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The basin or caldera was formed after the top 5,000 feet of the volcano collapsed. Subsequent lava flows sealed the bottom, allowing the caldera to fill with approximately 4.6 trillion gallons of water from rainfall and snow melt, to create the seventh deepest lake in the world at 1,932 feet.

Rolling mountains, volcanic peaks, and evergreen forests surround this enormous, high Cascade Range lake, recognized worldwide as a scenic wonder. On summer days, neither words or photographs can capture Crater Lake’s remarkable blueness. For much of the year, usually October to July at higher elevations, a thick blanket of snow encircles the lake. Snowfall provides most of the park’s annual 66 inches of precipitation.

Crater Lake rarely freezes over completely; it last did in 1949. Heat from the summer sun stored in the immense body of water retards ice formation throughout the winter. On the earth clock, natural forces only recently constructed this landscape. Lava flows first formed a high plateau base on which explosive eruptions then built the Cascade volcanoes. Humans probably witnessed the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama about 7,700 years ago.
~Crater Lake National Park Service

 

Golden Eagle in Flight

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Golden Eagle in Flight, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

We saw a few Golden and Bald eagles while we were in OR looking for birds to photograph. This one got spooked and took flight when we pulled over to photograph it. We were all so excited to see it. They aren’t ever seen where we live in CA so this was quite thrilling. I was shooting through an open car window and since the Eagle was so high I couldn’t use the window sill as a prop unfortunately. Overall I’m happy with it and thought it was worth keeping.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mm +2xTC=600mm|f8|1/1250 sec| ISO 800| Hand-held

Oregon, USA, Spring

Eared Grebe

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Eared Grebe, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I took this photo back in May 2012. Several friends and I went up to Oregon for the breeding season, and to spot Grebes. We found them. It was a fun and challenging birding trip. One I hope to re-do.
These birds are so cute and look so pretty in morning and late afternoon light.
This is a Breeding adult.
I rented the Nikkor 300mm f2.8 for this trip and fell in love with it. I’m saving for a big lens. I want to try the 500mm f4 before I decide to buy anything. In the meantime I’ll rent the long lenses.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mm f2.8 + 2x TC=600mm| f10| 1/200sec| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Tripod

Me at the 2,517 ft survey marker

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Via Flickr:
I hiked up to Mission Peak this morning with a full backpack for a bit of training before next week-ends over night backpacking trip. I felt great. I didn’t need to adjust my pack the whole hike up. I took the steepest route. 2.9 miles up and a climb of 2,149 ft. I did it in 2:09. My best time ever for that route!