“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is a very popular photo spot in Yosemite National Park,and while here to shoot the Horsetail Fall annual event we stopped here. A companion whom I drove up with had never been to Yosemite before so this was a “must see” stop for him. Even though I missed the snow in valley, I have to admit the colors, and textures here were marvelous.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 18mm Ai-S| f16| 1/30 sec| ISO 200| Manual mode| Tripod|
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
The Copper’s Hawk that I saw in my neighbor’s tree back in late Jan. was on the power lines in my back yard this evening!
I grabbed my camera and hoped he was still there. While I was viewing the playback he flew away and I missed the “in flight” shot. ARG!
I was so excited to see him, but he must be here because there is a pair of nesting Mourning Doves nearby. I suspect he’s after the chicks. I hope he comes back so I get a flight shot, but I don’t want him to get the chicks!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 180mm f2.8 @ f4.5| 1/640 sec| ISO 200| Manual mode| Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of hanging out in Muir Woods National Monument with several photography friends. Several of them had hoped to see owls, but we hadn’t seen or heard any in the 4 hours we had been in the forest. When we met a fellow photographer Dennis A. and he heard there was an interest in seeing owls he kindly shared with us the location where several pairs of Burrowing Owls live.
My friend Dali who is an avid Raptor/bird photographer was eager to go to see if we could find them, and find them we did. (see his photo of the Burrowing Owl here)
I first spotted the pair and thought they might be Ground Squirrels, but as we pulled around I saw they were a pair of Burrowing Owls perched just outside their nest, and partially hidden by a little patch of tall grass. They’re adorable!
After parking the car and grabbing our gear we quickly but cautiously made our way to the nest. Once spotted the female dove into the burrow, while the male stood guarding the entrance. Not expecting to do any bird photography I wasn’t carrying my longest lens yesterday, so I was not able to get as close a shot as I would have liked, but getting as close as I dared I fired a few shots before the male dove into the burrow. Here he is just before he dove into the burrow.
Once in the burrow the male kept his head out keeping watch. He’s all eyes and beak!
It was quite exciting to see them. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Burrowing Owls.
We crept just a bit too close for his comfort and he disappeared down the burrow not to be seen again.
Dennis said there are several pairs living in this field, and we did spot another pair but they must have received word that we were about because before we even neared half the distance between us and them they dove into their burrow.
While wandering around looking for the owls we did see turtles sunbathing along an irrigation canal. That was an unexpected surprise.
Dennis A. here’s a huge “SHOUT OUT!” for sharing with me and a couple of friends the location to these Burrowing Owls that have made a field in Vacaville, CA. home. Thank you!!!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 180mm f2.8| Induro CT213 Tripod
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is my first Pheasant capture! A couple of friends and I were shooting with a Meet-up group in Solano County and were on the way back from lunch when one of my companions noticed him. I was shooting from a car window, and didn’t think anything would be very good, but was thrilled to see this shot would be a keeper. I love his coloring, wing patterns, and long tail. Even though he’s sort of camouflaged in the grass I’m thrilled that I was able to capture a photo of him in his natural habitat. He darted behind a knoll just after this shot. I didn’t see him again.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300 @ 300| f5.6| 1/1600 sec| Iso 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Thanks Dali and Andy for reminding me about this astronomical event. Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon lined up in a triangle to form a special conjunction on Feb. 25, 2012. We spent a lot of time online emailing each other about places we liked to shoot this. I kept looking at this area of the city and I asked the guys to look at it too. After the guys looked at it on TPE (The Photographer’s Ephemeris) they too liked it and we decided to shoot it here. Andy didn’t join us he decided to make some progress on his computer project so it was Dali, Phil, and I who shot here. It was fun, but cold!
The forecast called for a clear sky, but what we had were intermittent clouds, and a low fog bank. As soon as Venus dropped into the fog we called it a night. The Crescent Moon is in those clouds, but Jupiter and Venus are clearly visible.
To see what Dali shot go here
To see Phil’s photo go here
Nikon D700| Nikkor 18mm| f5.6| 15 seconds| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
I was fortunate enough to have the time free to be able to return to Yosemite for another chance of seeing Horsetail Fall light up on Thurs. Feb. 23, 2012.
This event though possible each year isn’t guaranteed. All the elements and conditions must come together to see it.
On Thurs. the sky was blue and clear. I hoped it stayed that way right up until sunset.
This trip was an encore to the trip here February 18, 2010 to see Horsetail Fall light up. I’m in several Photography related Meet-up groups and I went up with several photographers from one of these groups.
14 photographers from a Bay Area Meet-up made it this year. I rose at 12:01AM on Thurs the 23rd then dressed, ate a light snack, got my gear in the car and left at 2:30AM to meet 2 companions 30 minutes away. From there we were to car-pool to Livermore an hour away to meet several more photographers. Then we car-a-vanned to Yosemite. We arrived at our first shooting location in the park before 8 A.M.
There we started photographing in the cold 32 degree morning at Swinging Bridge. We weren’t alone. Down on the river we ran into Michael Frye and 3 of his students who also decided to get an early jump on the day.
From here we went to several well-known and wonderful spots in the park where we spied a Coyote catching a vole, and the view from Tunnel View never disappoints. Some of my companions saw and photographed a Bobcat! I’m sorry I missed that. I was in a car ahead of them and missed it completely.
Mid afternoon we made our way over to our ” secret spot” to photograph we hoped the sun hitting Horsetail Fall.
We didn’t expect anyone to be in this spot. It’s not well-known. We arrived to find it as expected empty. We fanned out and set up our cameras, tripods, trail stools, and some stretched out on the soft pine needles and took a nap.
About an hour later a lone man slowly walked by nodded and kept walking. 20 minutes later he came back with his camera and tripod.
20 minutes later out of the trees came Michael Frye and his 3 students. His face was full of surprise to find such a large group there already.
A little later another lone man emerged from the trees with his camera and tripod. There were about 20 people there by then.
Right on time the light on the cliff face began to change and the show was on. All joking and talking stopped as we jumped into action and soon all you heard was the soft beeps of camera AF motors, and shutters clicking. Once in a while I heard Michael giving his students a direction or making a comment. Then right before the color reached its peak a couple came walking up and sat down to watch the last few minutes of the phenomenon.
At the peak there was a spray of mist or perhaps evaporation that could be seen fanning out from the cliff face that added a wonderful glow to the show.
As you see there’s very little snow up there. We were really lucky this year to see this.
Because the sky was clear the whole mountain had a glow so I framed more of El Capitan to capture it. In less than 10 minutes it faded completely so it was time to pack up.
Isn’t it wonderful how something can look so different from day-to-day. My photograph taken on Tues. Feb. 21, 2012 is here.
It was a day filled with laughter, adventure, good people to hang out with, and at the end of the day Mother Nature’s light show was the Pièce de résistance.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200@ 105mm| f16| 0.4 sec| ISO 160| Manual Mode| Tripod w/timer| Circular Polarizer
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Each February there is a possibility for a fantastic natural light show in Yosemite National Park at a waterfall called Horsetail Fall. The conditions have to be just right to see this phenomenon. There must be a clear sky with sun shining, and there must be water flowing in the fall. If these conditions exist during a two week window in February the setting sun shines its rays directly on Horsetail Fall lighting up the water so it looks like lava flowing down the cliff face. With so little rain and only a few snow storms this year there hasn’t been much to melt or water flowing in Horsetail fall. As we got closer to the date this phenomenon is possible it seemed doubtful that there would be much of a show this year. Fortunately late in Jan. and early February we had a couple of snow storms in the Sierras making it likely there would be something worth driving up to see if we had a sunny day with little to no clouds during the window of opportunity.
Yesterday the clouds showed clearing, it was fairly warm, and it was predicted to be the Peak day for the sun to light up the fall in the 2 week window, so myself and two friends went to Yosemite to see if it would happen. Last year I went but the clouds moved in right before the sun set and blocked the sun so it was a non event. I went two times last year and it didn’t happen either time I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case this year. The last time I witnessed the phenomenon was in February 2010.
Driving into the valley we saw signs of melting snow all along the roads, and the sky had some clouds, but the sun was lighting up the mountains and cliff faces so we had high hopes we’d see it this year. Arriving at our chosen spot we set up our tripods and cameras then waited for sunset and hoped the sky stayed clear. We were thrilled to find very few people already there. We were expecting a large crowd of photographers. The large crowd never materialized. There were about 50 photographers and spectators in all. A really small crowd compared to previous years I’ve been there for this event. There was one family whose teenage girls found a fallen tree to sit on, and throw rocks into the Merced River and be…girls giggling and talking “girl stuff” just above and behind me. After 30 minutes or so I overheard one young girl say, ” You mean we drove all this way just to sit and watch a rock!” I can’t tell you how hard it was for me not to die laughing! I bet she thought we were nuts!
There was just a thin stream of water flowing, but when the last rays of daylight hit the fall it began…slowly the water began to glow gold then gradually it got redder and redder peaking in just 5 minutes then it began to fade. It was over in less than 10 minutes. Like Christmas and Fourth of July fireworks you don’t want it to end, but end it does and all too quickly!
The weather is getting warmer so there may be more water running by the week-end. I am planning to go again. Can it be prettier and more magical than this? …we’ll see.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm@ 145mm| f8| 1.0 sec| ISO 200| Tripod|
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