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.

July Hiking Report

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Scenic Point.  (For a description of the photo above scroll down under the Hiking Stats.)

The highlight of my hiking in July was a trip to Glacier National Park. A beautiful and scenic wonder.

July 2011 Hiking Report

7/2 –   4.8 miles, 500ft. 2 hours, Redwood Regional Park- Stream trail,

7/5- 7.98mi,2,347ft,  3h 2m  – PG&E trail O&B

7/10-11 mi, 1800 ft, 4h40m– Woods Trail,Barlow Rd,Mt Umunhum Rd, Bald Mt trail- Out and Back

7/15- 7.90mi, 1,896ft 3h 00m – Vista Point Out & Back

7/15-3.6,mi  ft.not much, time not long– Mirror Lake, Yosemite Nat. Pk

7/17- 3.35mi, 250ft, 1h– PG&E trail to Wildcat Loop-PG&E trail

7/21- 9.77mi, 1200ft, 5h– Iceberg-Ptarmigan Trail, Many Glacier,Glacier Nat Park

7/23-7.8mi, 2,853ft, 4h40m– Scenic Point, Two Medicine,Glacier Nat Park

7/23- GPS coordinates at Trail-head 48.480005-113.361676

Total miles hiked-

56.2 miles

Total ft climbed-

10,821ft- does not include any guesstimate for Mirror lake hike.

 19 days to Cloud’s Rest!

Photo information

This is Scenic Point. I am on a ledge which is about 5ft wide seeking shelter from the wind along with my fellow hikers, and Pat Hagan our guide.

Looking this direction you can see the road into Two Medicine and above that Hwy 49 I believe. Looking further out toward the plains is where you’d find the towns of Kiowa, and Browning… I think.

I sat on this ledge and had a quick lunch. A Hairy Marmot peeked out of the rocks on the ledge and was hoping for his lunch too. I’m sure many people feed them, or just happen to leave big crumbs behind.

I want to come up here again. Hopefully, next summer. The deeper I hike into this park the more I fall in love with it.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35@ 28mm| f5.6| 1/200 sec.| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Hand-held

Here’s the Hoary Marmot

Photograph by Deborah M. Zajac

This is a ledge that I was sitting on just under the point up at Scenic Point in Two Medicine Glacier Nat. Park.  I’ve cropped off the tip of my boot from this photo. The ledge was only about 5 feet wide. The trees you see down there…that’s 7,000+ foot drop!
While having lunch and resting from the climb up this Hoary Marmot popped out.
He didn’t seem too shy. I’m sure he’s quite used to people.
It was the first time I’d ever seen a Hairy Marmot or any other for that matter. He’s cute!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35 @ 35mm| f5.6| 1/320 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Hand-held

“Remember the dreams you had as a child and realize it’s never too late to make them come true.” ~ Constance A. DeFlitch

Posted in Nature, Nikon, Nikon D90, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

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

I got to spend a full day with my friend Big Jay while in Montana. I had read about a Mission in St. Ignatius,MT and wanted to go tour it . Fortunately he was game. While in St. Ignatius we spotted this Barn and pulled over to shoot it.
I was busy photographing it when a young man drove up to the gate and unlocked it to let himself out. Big Jay asked if we could come around the gate to shoot the barn a bit. The young man was very sympathetic. He said he was a painter and was doing an acrylic of the Barn himself. He said he comes out to this very yard with his easel and paints. Wouldn’t I love a photo of that! I also wish I could paint like that. He left the gate open and told us to take our time, and have fun. We stayed about 30 minutes walking through many of the fields getting different angles and views of the barn. I liked this view with all the wildflowers growing over the fences.

Nikon D90| Nikkor 17-35@ 19mm| f8| 1/40| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer

Have an iphone 4 and shoot Nikon? Now you can attach Nikon lenses to it.

Posted in Gear, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 1 Comment

Photojojo sells an adapter that allows you to attach your Nikon lenses to the iphone 4.  Find it in their online store here.

They have one for Canon users too. At the link!   I won’t be getting this one…I’m behind on the cell phone front. After 5 yrs I’ve just upgraded from a Blackjack II to the iphone 3s. 🙂

H/T Nikon Rumors

Bee-Fly?

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Bee-Fly?, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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

Somewhere along MT 83 and on the hills above Swan Lake. A friend of mine moved to Whitefish, MT last year and I had the good fortune of meeting him to shoot together while I was there.. He insisted on me trying out his Nikkor 60mm micro lens. Isn’t the Bokeh wonderful! It was quiet, fast, and a joy to use.
I haven’t yearned for a macro lens…but right then I thought about it! NAS is in check now.

Nikon D90| Nikkor 60mm micro| f8| 1/500 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| hand-held

View Nikon RAW files in Windows 7!

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Microsoft released a new Codec that allows one to view Nikon RAW files in Windows Explorer or your Photo Gallery.  Download the codec here.

H/T Nikon Rumors

 

Update: The release also supports some Canon, Minolta, Leica, Olympus, and Sony cameras just to name a few. More brands at the link.

On a clear day…

Posted in hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

On a clear day…, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
On this Sat. morning I rose a bit later than usual and took a leisurely 1.5 hour drive over to East Glacier to meet Ranger Pat Hagan. Pat was leading me and several other hikers up the Scenic Point Trail.
Pat expanded on the trail giving us more of an idea of what we were about to take on going on this hike.
He said, “We’re going to be hiking up roughly 23 stories today, and, we’re taking the stairs.”

The trail has 16 switchbacks getting longer the higher you climb. Every 4th switchback or so Pat had a story. Most were about bears. Bear management, behavior, and safety which I found interesting, and educational.
I turned around to look back here. I’m about halfway to the top at this point. It’s windy up here, and worth the effort to get here. Look at this view! That’s Two Medicine Lake, and way down there by the waters edge is a campground where many of my hiking companions were camping, and about half inch above the Z in my signature in the right corner is the parking lot my Va-Va is parked in under a shady pine tree.
Hike details
7.80 miles rd trip
2,853ft elevation gain
5h57m total time

The trail is steep, but the switchbacks help make the going easier.

See my complete hiking stats here.

My GPS unit is this one here.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35@ 24mm| f5.6| 1/250 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Hand-held