“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
On the Edge of Romance, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
To see this photo Larger click anywhere in the photo.
“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
~ William Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Sutro Bath Ruins, San Francisco, California, Sunset, Heart Rock, Pacific Ocean.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm
Reflection Pool, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
To see this large click anywhere in the photo.
Anyone who has taken a class in painting, drawing, or photography has heard the rule about not putting your subject in the center of the frame. It’s an immature artist that puts the subject dead center, but there are times when you might want to break that rule/guideline. With this photograph I chose to put the pool in the center of the frame so I wouldn’t lose the shape of the pool or all the cloud reflections that were being mirrored in it. I think the center pool is unique and beautiful enough to be front and center.
For the history buffs:
The Ruins
Beyond the striking location and colorful history, it’s especially remarkable for such a place to exist in a country where few structures past their best days survive.
It’s allowed to be harrowing and wild in a time and place where shampoos carry warnings and most interesting things are cordoned off for your protection. Here’s the playground for those who love crumbling stone clubhouses, jutting pipe monkeybars, stairways that lead you off cliffs and shifting sandboxes that get swallowed by surf.
The GGNRA includes the Marin Headlands, Point Reyes National Seashore, Angel Island, Alcatraz, and other sensory feasts.
The Baths
Sutro Baths opened March 14, 1896 with a $1 million pricetag — an extravagant public bathhouse envisioned and developed by the eccentric one-time mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. After working its way through its many lives (Playland, 1960s ice rink, etc..)— burned down while being demolished on June 26, 1966. In 1980 the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) bought the land for $5,500,000.
~SutroBaths.com
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm@ 17mm| f9| 1/4 second| ISO 160| Manual Mode| On a Tripod| Triggered with Remote Release Cable-Intervelometer
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Several friends and I got together to go out Lake San Antonio to see if we could spot and photograph Grebes doing their mating dance. On the way we stopped at a little country store for lunch. We ate out on the deck. It was such a fine day. They have a good Meatball sandwich I’m told by my friends. They make homemade pies, unfortunately they didn’t sell it by the slice so I didn’t try any. On the wall of the store is a vintage sign I got a kick out of. It says, ” Coffee. You can sleep when you’re dead.”
Out in the parking tucked away on the side there are a couple of posing stations with silly backboards. I couldn’t pass up
posing in one.
My friend Tj managed to get photos of us all which you can see if you go to her facebook page here:
After lunch we continued down the road to the South Shore of San Antonio Lake. I have never seen Grebes doing their mating dance before. I was really hoping we’d see it, and photograph it. When we first arrived at the South Shore we saw a lot of Grebes. While looking for a potential spot to set up down on the shore we heard the Grebes talking then they started to sing. Alex who has seen them do this dance before said, “They’re singing, they’ll bob their heads, oh, they’re going to do it!” As he was talking we all grabbed our cameras and turned out heads to this pair.
Yes! Up they came out of the water with their heads straight up doing their dance. They didn’t dance very long. Just a second or two. I was snapping away hoping I got something. They were so far away that this is the best shot I have.
As it happens this is only pair we saw doing the mating dance. They are shy and elusive birds.
Whenever we would set up on shore they would move to the other side of the lake.
I’m not sure if that’s a male or female on the right observing, but I kept it in the frame because I liked the diagonal line, and the way it was watching the dance too.
We drove to North Shore hoping for better results, or if not spot some birds of prey.
I did see a Red Tail Hawk, but unfortunately he was too far away for me to get a clean shot with my 70-300mm lens. Dali got a good shot as he was only one of us with a big lens. He rented the 600mm. It weighs 11 pounds!
We spent a lot of time waiting around for the birds to settle down and hopefully come a little closer to our side of the shore.
Alex was pensive,
…and Tj and Rainey decide to take a walk and have some girl-time,
We spent the rest of the day on the North shore, and decided to wait for sunset. That was was worth waiting for! It was gorgeous.
The sunset looking south,
…and the piece de resistance,
The afterglow of a wonderful sunset. (facing east)
While we only saw one pair of Grebes doing their mating dance the day was not spent in vain. The scenery was beautiful, the day was fine, and the company as my French friends would say, “etait aux petits oignons!”
Nikon D300s| Nikkor70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f5.6| 1/1000 sec| ISO 250| Aperture Priority| Hand-Held
Translation-
Aux petits oignons- first rate (literal translation- from little onions)
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Standing on Swinging Bridge watching the Merced River slowly, and quietly flow west while brothers and sisters built snowmen on the river bank, and Mom’s and Dads had snowball fights, and gaiety and laugher was ringing through the afternoon air, and I was happy.
” When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this,
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this,
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch,
Well, my mama told me there’ll be days like this.”
~Van Morrison
There”ll be Days Like This
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35@ 25mm| f5.6| 1/50 sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod”
“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.” Henry David Thoreau, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This place is a favorite location for so many tourists and photographers, but I have a really hard time seeing or feeling the shot here. I think it’s a beautiful place, but what I see doesn’t translate to the viewfinder.
This is just at the beginning of the bridge looking back toward the Three Brothers which are shrouded in cloud cover in this scene.
This is another photo that came out looking Black and White though it was shot in color. It was a very gray, and rainy day. The bridge was icy, and slippery. I think I need cleats for my snow boots.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 20mm| f16| 1/15second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod
Striking Gold in Yosemite, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-am away-probably freezing to death!.
Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
My first shot of 2011 was this beautiful Coyote just a short distance inside the park. Dali (DD), Tj, Alex, and I spent the first week-end in 2011 in Yosemite National Park. We had hoped for some great winter landscapes, and were thrilled when Tj spotted her laying in snow across the road. We pulled over and she came over to the car and acted like she expected us to throw out something for her to eat. She hung around long enough to realize we weren’t going to feed her and other passing cars spooked her so she gave up and went into the forest.
This made my week-end! Isn’t she a beauty!
Nikon D90| Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8@ 155mm| f2.8| 1/125sec| ISO 200| Hand-held
” There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. “~John W. Raper, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Today I wanted to try a new technique my friend Geo told me about. It’s called the Orton Effect. Created by Michael Orton in the 1980’s he sandwiched two slides together one in focus, and the other out of focus to create an ethereal painterly quality.
Today we can recreate this effect with a single image in Photoshop. Or do it the original way of taking two photos. One in focus and over exposed 2 stops, and one out of focus and over exposed one stop. Load the photos into Photoshop then do a little blending, and layering et Voila!
Be sure to use a tripod when taking your photos if you plan to use this technique.
It doesn’t work for all types of images, but wooded areas, and winter scenes seem conducive to the technique.
There are a couple of flickr groups devoted to the technique. One is here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/orton/
I thought this photo I took at Sorensen’s Resort back in Oct. would be nice to try the technique out on. I like it!
Sorensn’s Resort established in 1926 is popular stop along the Hope Valley Fall color route located at the junction of Hwy 88 and Hwy 89.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f3.5| 1/60 secon| ISO 200 | Manual Mode| On a Tripod
Circadianreflections Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.