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.

December Lights

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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

My night Meet-up group had a long awaited for Meet-up up at Coit Tower, so T, DD, G, and I headed up to the city for brunch, then spent some time in Union Square window shopping, and shopping, and photographing the decorations around the city before meeting the Group at Coit Tower. As soon as we got out of the parking garage T read a text from a group member that the Coit Tower elevator was closed for renovations until mid-January! The fog was low and we thought the visibility would be poor from the parking lot at Coit Tower so we made a mad dash for Treasure Island. While on the Bay Bridge and half way there the fog was covering all but the tops of the city buildings. We hoped it held long enough for us to get the sunset and blue period. Unfortunately, by the time we got Treasure Is. the fog covered all of the skyline. So we adapted and sought higher ground.
After shooting the sunset we headed back to town to get something to eat. After a lite diner we tried Treasure Island one more time. This is what I saw.
You never know how long the fog will stay in place in the city. I heard the group that stayed up at Coit Tower got some wonderful shots.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 24mm| f/16| 13seconds| ISO 640| Manual Mode| On a Tripod| Triggered with a remote release cable| No filters

A Rainy Day Adventure with friends

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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

T, DD, A, and myself thought we’d make a run for Bowling Ball Beach a 3+ hour drive during a rare Negative Tide to photograph the boulders and rocky shelf that is exposed during this time. A Negative Tide is a lower than normal low tide.
It rained the whole way up then stopped just as we arrived to the beach. It was quite an adventure getting down here. The trail was muddy, and the end of the trail the cliff fell off so the state built a log and cable ladder that went straight down the cliff face. It wouldn’t have been that bad, but the rain run off was pouring down the mountain side and draining 100ft in front of the bridge and flooded the entire  area which was littered with huge logs the sea tossed up with the tide, kelp, rocks, boulders, and other sea debris.

Because it was flooded at the bottom we climbed down  the ladder halfway then hung onto the muddy wall as best we could and tried not to slide off this muddy boulder that we had to cross. After crossing that boulder we balanced on a log that was floating in the flood waters ,and then we traversed debris and finally made it to the beach. From there we crossed two more rivers of fresh water flowing to the sea. Phew! We were photographing for about 20 minutes when it started to rain again.

Theresa, Dali, and 1/2 brothers we met here. Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

Donning our hats, and cameras in rain gear we photographed the boulders and beach for about an hour.
We wanted to climb out of there before dark, and get out before the tide returned. The climb back up was a lot easier than coming down. We were pretty soaked when we got back to the car.
We headed to Bodega Bay for a hot dinner.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f11| 1/4sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod| No Filters

San Jose Holiday/Christmas Parade 2010

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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Minnie Mouse waves to the crowd as she cruises by in that wonderful vintage T-Bird!
A friend of mine and I went to the parade Saturday morning. We missed the grand finale- Santa Claus.
We had to leave to meet friends for another adventure, but what we saw was fun. Lots of local college and High School bands. We have a lot of talent here. They all sounded great.

Nikon D90| Nikkor 80-200mm @ 100mm| 1/500sec| f4| ISO 640| Manual| On A Tripod

” It is found again. What? Eternity. It is the sea, gone with the sun.” Arthur Rimbaud “Elle est retrouvee. Quoi? L’Eternite. C’est la mer allee, avec le soleil.”

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” It is found again. What? Eternity. It is the sea, gone with the sun.” Arthur Rimbaud “Elle est retrouvee. Quoi? L’Eternite. C’est la mer allee, avec le soleil.”

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I spent the afternoon with T and D in Santa Cruz. We had great weather. There was a chance of rain in the forecast. Fortunately, chance passed us by. I saw a dolphin fishing out here this evening. It made me very happy. I giggled.

This is about 15 minutes after the sun had gone down. I wonder if this will be the last sunset I see here this year…

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18mm Ai-S| f8| 1/8sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod| Remote Release Cable| No Filters

Sunrise in The Devils Garden

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Sunrise in The Devils Garden, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Theresa and I decided to catch the sunrise at Landscape Arch so getting up early we packed up and checked out of the hotel then headed back to Arches National Park to hike the Devils Garden Trail to Landscape Arch.
The trail is moderately easy with some elevation gain and a gravel surface.Round trip the hike was 2 miles
This shot was taken in front of Landscape Arch looking East to catch the sunrise. It was cold, and as you see very cloudy on this morning. Now all I had to do was turn around, set up the shot and wait for the sun to climb a little higher and light up Landscape Arch.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm@ 17mm, f22, 1/4sec, ISO 200, Manual Mode, on a Tripod, Trigger with a Remote Release Cable, Singh-Ray 2 stop Graduated Neutral Density filter

Parade of Elephants

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Parade od Elephants, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Returning to my trip to Arches National Park. Here’s a view of the Parade of Elephants.
This is looking north from the Primitive Loop Trail in the Windows Section of Arches National Park.
If you look at the formations on the left you’ll see the shapes of Elephants.
On the right there is an Arch…Not sure what it’s called though.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor17-35mm @ 17mm, f7.1, 1/30sec, ISO 200, Manual Mode, On a Tripod, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo