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.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Posted in California, Holidays, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Leave a comment

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

After 17 years I bought a new tree this year. A pre-lit tree. It was so nice not having to string the lights, but it wasn’t totally stress free. This is actually the 2nd tree I bought this year. The first one I bought we put up and plugged it in and half a strand of lights didn’t light up. After contacting the manufacture for troubleshooting it was determined that a string had a short so we returned it and tried again. This one, knock on wood is working well.

I wouldn’t take a photograph of it for days though because I couldn’t find the topper. I finally found it in a box of things I haven’t used in a number of years. I guess I brought that box in when I put things away last year.
I haven’t always put my tree up this early. For years I would shop for a live tree and put it up on New Years Eve, but when my daughter was diagnosed with Asthma 17 years ago the Doctor said, “No more live trees!”. So I bought a faux tree and started setting up in early December. I  soon discovered I like having Christmas in the house all month-long.

I usually decorate mine while listening to Christmas carols…yes,I confess. I sing too.
When do you set up your Christmas tree? What are your Christmas tree traditions?

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 17mm| f3.5| 1/25 second| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held

Related articles

All Decked Out for Christmas

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

Here’s another house I saw while taking Diva Dog for her evening walk .  Have you been out to see the Christmas displays?

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 20mm| f16| 20 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod

Tule Elk

Posted in California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , 4 Comments

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.
Yesterday myself,  and  friend Rainey Shuler, who I’ve blogged about before here went out to San Luis Wildlife Refuge to do a little birding photography. We had hoped there would be some interesting and uncommon birds there.
On the way we ran into a “Road Closed” baracade so we stopped in another Refuge to get some back road directions, and while talking to the hunters and Ranger there we learned there was a Tule Elk herd at the Refuge we wanted to go to. So getting the directions we needed we headed out.  We were in luck! These Elk in the photo above weren’t too far from the road.

Rainey and I set up our tripods and took some photos of the Elk. When we started shooting the sun was blocked by morning fog and mist, but soon the sun began to burn through the haze to light up the meadow and Elk  just right . About the same time these two started sparring. It was great fun to discover this herd here, and more exciting to see this since I didn’t see any of this behavior while viewing the Tule Elk in Northern CA these past 2 years.

In addition to these magnificent Elk we saw a Coyote, Hawks, Kites- the bird, Heron, Egrets, and a little bird I’ve not identified yet.  We left this refuge and headed over to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, and met up with another friend for lunch. I’ll be posting a few of the exciting birds I saw there in the coming days. It was a good day for birding and photography, but made even better by the company of wonderful friends.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 300mm + 1.4x Tamron extender effective range 420mm| f5.6| 1/1600second| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Tripod

Diva Dog

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

She spent all day at Darlene’s Spa getting a shampoo, hair cut, then had her nails clipped and filed. She feels so soft, and smells wonderful. She came home exhausted. Can you believe that!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF-D| f3.2| 1/20 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held

“Christmastime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call, their favorite time of the year.” ~Charlie Brown’s Christmas

Posted in California, Holidays, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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

I’ve taken my camera and tripod with me while taking Diva Dog  for her evening walk to take photos of the most elaborate houses I come across. These two houses have been the most well thought out and presented so far.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 20mm| f16| 10 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self-Timer

New fountain in Moss Landings Marina

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300 @ 300mm| f5.6| 1/250 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod

Kringle’s Korner

Posted in Holidays, Nikon, Photography, Still LifeTagged 2 Comments

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

“Johnny wants a pair of skates. Suzy wants a dolly. Nellie wants a story book: she thinks dolls are folly.”

I can remember longing for months and months for one thing or another when I was a girl. Two that are the most memorable are the year I wanted a two-wheeler bike, and the year I wanted a guitar.

What about you? Can you remember longing to ask Santa for a toy or something and thinking it was utterly impossible that you would get it?

Nikon D700| Nikkor 50mm| f2.8| 1/20 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held