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.

Valley View

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Valley View, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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

I spent yesterday in Yosemite with a couple of friends, and we had just come down from Tunnel View where it was snowing pretty heavily so we decided to head out of the park to look for a place to shoot the sunset since it was going to be bust in the park. It wasn’t snowing down in the valley, so we stopped here to see if we got a little break in the clouds and some sunlight. Half Dome is obscured by the clouds in this view, but they lifted just a wee bit to show more of El Capitan. That is Bridalveil Fall you see on the right with Cathedral Rocks directly to the left of it. The Merced River is at capacity here and it’s only April!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 1735mm@ 17mm| f8| 1/100 sec| ISO 160| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer

Series- 4 ImageTheme- Mesquite Sand Dunes

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, TravelTagged Leave a comment

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

Field trip with West Valley College’s Photography Dept. to Death Valley National Park.

4 images taken in the Mesquite Sand Dunes. An assignment for those of us taking all sections of the field studies class was to produce a 4 image theme. I didn’t go into this assignment with any pre-conceived ideas or thoughts. I thought the best approach for me was to go out and shoot whatever I felt compelled to shoot then once home look at all my photographs and see if a “theme” emerged.

What I found when I uploaded all my photographs from the trip was that while out on the Dunes I used the Creosote bushes quite a bit for leading lines, frames, and points of interest; sometimes without being consciously aware that I was doing that. Do I see more in a “compositional” frame of mind than I think I do? One the components of art/photography I feel I struggle with the most is composition, and “seeing” the shot. I think it’s something I’ll always have to work at.

The Creosote bushes were in bloom when I was here. Each time I passed by a bush I could smell its sweet perfume, and I was treated to a symphony of Spring time by the many bees that were busy buzzing from blossom to blossom.

1. “Last light” Sunset Mesquite Dunes
2. Footprints on the Sands of Time
3. Dust up!
4.We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite , time to be.~Gladys Taber

Nikon D700 & Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm and Nikkor 70-300mm VR| Induro CF Tripod| Hoya UV filters

Zabriskie Point Sunrise

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Zabriskie Point Sunrise, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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

Field trip with West Valley College’s Photography Dept. to Death Valley National Park.

You wouldn’t know it to look at this photo,but it was so windy and cold here on this morning. I wanted to shoot out at the end of that little hill in front of Zabriskie Point, but it was so exposed there I would have been blown over. I moved to the wall of the viewing platform which was above me. It didn’t offer that much more protection really.
I kept my lens cap on only removing it when the light changed, or the clouds changed patterns.
I used my body as a shield to protect my tripod from the winds, and fine sand that blew around me.

I have to say it worth getting up at 4am, and standing out in the cold and wind. The view here is breathtaking, and sunrise was beautiful.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35mm @17mm| f8| 0.3 sec| ISO 125| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer

Hip-Hip Hurry!

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Hip-Hip Hurry!, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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

Indigenous
Field trip with West Valley College’s Photography Dept. to Death Valley National Park.

They are a lot smaller and better looking than Warner Bros. led me to believe.
They are however very quick!
This little guy led us all through the Ranch to get his photo. I know how Wile E. Coyote felt!
He’s on the move here. I got some nice motion blur on the legs.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300mmm @ 300mm| f8| 1/160 sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Hand-held

D-SLR Next Generation Camera Remote

Posted in Gear, Nikon, Photography1 Comment

OnOne software has an app for iphone and ipod touch users that lets you control your camera remotely. This is a neat app for Nikon and Canon users!

http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/dslr-camera-remote/

Watch Dave Cross of D-Town TV show you how it works in a studio setting. It’s the 3rd segment, but it comes up pretty fast.

http://kelbytv.com/dtowntv/2011/03/28/episode-69/

H/T D-Town TV

“The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays…”~ Phyllis Wheatley, A Hymn to the Morning

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Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Field trip with West Valley College’s Photography Dept. to Death Valley National Park.
Our first sunrise shoot with the class was supposed to be the on Sat. the 26th at Zabriskie Point. So rising at 4AM to meet the group and have plenty of time to set up for sunrise we left our lodging in Beatty, NV at 5AM.
We plugged in the coordinates to the GPS system to Zabriskie Pt. and it promptly rejected them. Downhill Dali had written down 2 sets of coordinates so we plugged in the second set which took and off we went. One hour and 15 minutes later we were climbing up to Dante’s View! Which was the second shooting location on this morning. With no time to make it over to Zabriskie Pt before sunrise we opted to stay at Dante’s View and make up the sunrise at Zabriskie Pt on Weds. the day we would be on our own.
This is Zabriskie Pt. looking toward Twenty Mule Team Canyon. It was really cold and windy here on this morning. This is after sunrise I had finished taking all the shots I wanted and was walking down the tarmac hill to the parking lot when the light on these ridges caught my eye. I love the colors, and the way the ridges fan out through this canyon.

NIkon D700| Nikkor 17-35mm @35mm| f8| 1/125sec| ISO 125| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer