Category: California

The Table is Laid- waiting for the feast!

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I’ve  got my table laid for the Thanksgiving feast. The only thing missing is the food. Dinner will be about 4PM today. I am not usually too late.

Here is the table:

I have loved Spode’s blue and white dishes for as long as I can remember. When I found Thanksgiving plates back in the early 90’s I purchased 12 of them.

Here is a close up of a dinner setting:

I never did find matching pieces like bread plates or bowls, but that’s alright I like to mix, match, and blend in the old, new, and different patterns too.

Back in the mid 90’s I went through a Ceramics phase and when I saw a mold for a Turkey Platter I purchased it. I painted it blue and white to match my Thanksgiving dinner plates. I recall how the ladies in the shop thought I’d made huge mistake painting my platter blue and white. They were painting theirs in the rich colors of Fall. When my platter came out of Kiln there was a gasp or two. I was thrilled with it. To this day it’s one of my favorite pieces.

There is still much to prepare for our Thanksgiving feast. It’s with a heart full of Thanksgiving and happiness that I  baste, whip, stir, and dance around my kitchen trying to choreograph the perfectly timed meal.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May your day be filled with love, family, friends, and a good meal.

An Evening at Pigeon Point Light Station

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

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening in Pescadero, California with several friends from my Night Meet-up group for the lighting of the Fresnel at Pigeon Point Light Station. It’s normally an annual event, but due to California’s budge woes they didn’t light it last year. We got here several hours early anticipating a huge crowd. We set up along the edge of the first field south of the lighthouse. There were already a lot of people set up down here. Fortunately Sunset was before the lighting of the Fresnel so it didn’t compete with the lighting.  This sunset was gorgeous! I haven’t seen clouds like this here ever before. I loved the texture, and colors. It was breath-taking!

I brought only one wide-angle lens with me for this shoot. My new/ Used Manual Focus Nikkor 18mm f/3.5 AIS prime lens. I do love how wide this shot is! I settled on this lens instead of the newer AF-D 20mm f/2.8 because it’s wider. I was afraid 20mm wouldn’t be wide enough all too often.
I’ve only had the lens since Monday this week, but so far I’m pleased.
The colors are good, it’s seems sharp, and I’m getting used to selecting my Aperture on the lens rather than with a wheel on my camera. Setting up the Non-CPU data in my camera was simple- thankfully.
The weight of it at just over 12 ounces is just what I was looking for.
This evening was a good outing to give this lens a good trial run.

La Pièce de resistance

This was my second location of the evening. I started out in the south field, but struggled there with the light, and I wasn’t getting the points of light I wanted from the beams. After the crowd thinned out some we moved up here and I bumped up my ISO and finally got the shot I wanted.

Using this lens I will have to learn new things like Hyperfocal distances. I have found calibrated Infinity on this lens. What do you think- is this sharp? I think so. I hope in the end I become a better photographer, and have a better understanding of photography through this lens. It is a lot different from sliding the switch over to Manual on my AF lenses.

I had a wonderful evening with good friends. I hope the Park Service is able to get the funding to this again next year. Perhaps I’ll have better luck down in the south field then.

 

Autumn in the Eastern Sierras

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

This is near the “Tree Tunnel” off the road to North Lake and Bishop Creek I believe. While my companions were photographing the “tree tunnel”, and the creek a little further down I wandered up the trail and found a boulder out in the creek- really this was flowing like a river, and jumped over onto the boulder and set up my tripod to take this photograph.
It was easier jumping on the boulder getting out here than it was getting back…the gap seemed a lot smaller when I jumped out here- why does that always happen? I didn’t fall in! Phew!

Exposure and PP- I used my Hoya warming 81A filter for this scene. I wanted to bring out those lovely reds, oranges, and yellows. I also used my B&W 0.9 Neutral Density Filter to cut the glare of the water and slow it down just a wee bit.
Vibrance, clarity, levels, played with the color adjustment- but liked it the way it was shot originally, and a little sharpening, and resized.

When out taking photos I like to zero in on the little details too. Here’s a little bunch of Aspen leaves. I liked the reds, and greens, and the vein patterns.

“Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them —
The summer flowers depart —
Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.”

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.” William Wordsworth

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

This is just one of many stops we made along the way to the Eastern Sierras with 2 friends to spend the week-end shooting Fall Color with Bill Wight and Mountain High Workshops. We were able to cross the mountains via Tioga Pass. We had feared the Pass would be closed due to a 2 day rain/snow storm that has passed through the area only days before. Fortunately the sun came out and the roads weren’t snowed under preventing a crossing.
This is a view of Lembert Dome, and the snow capped mountain peaks behind it. This dome is located in Tuolumne Meadows.
I was last here in June of this year and this whole meadow was covered in snow then.

I have lost some of the detail in the snow capped mountains. I shot two frames this was the -0- or middle frame. I suppose I should have taken another shot 1 stop under also then blended the two frames in post processing. However, I’m weak in Photoshop skills. I think in the future I will spot meter the snow capped mountains and work around that chimping and adjusting my EV compensation until I get better detail all over. It’s more satisfying for me to do that in the field than to try and do it in Photoshop later merging, blending, layering, masks and painting…bleh!!

This is the photo I’m happiest with for this stop. No more tweaking or worrying about those blown out mountains caps. I do love the detail in the tree trunks, and light filtering through this grove, the shadows on the trunks and in the mulch below came out well, and the golden meadow looks great with the sky. Overall I think I did a good job of capturing the dynamic range in this one frame.

PP- Recovery, vibrance, clarity, resized, levels and tried curves but that didn’t do anything good to the mountains snow caps.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm @ 19mm, f9, 1/100s, ISO 200

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman

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A few more photographs from my day at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, CA.  The day was overcast, but once in a while the sun would peek out from behind a cloud, and when it did there were humans and animals alike out to soak up its warmth.  Like this Harbor Seal.

This Harbor Seal below has very pretty blue eyes, but I must admit I didn’t see that at first. What caught my attention first were those huge fingers!

Don’t you like way he’s surrounded by the other seals?  I feel like he’s loved and protected here.

This white seal pup was so cute! He watched the boat for sometime. A very curious seal with a wise looking face.

I rented the Nikkor 300mm f4 for this trip. It doesn’t have VR Nikon’s verbage for Vibration Reduction so I kept the shutter speed up all day.

I am very impressed with the performance of this lens. For being on a moving boat, trying to catch the scenes and wildlife as we sailed by it did very well. I like the isolation and colors it gave me, and I didn’t find that it hunted or had trouble locking onto the subject. I didn’t find it too heavy. Well,it is weighty, but not that much heavier than my 80-200mm f2.8, and the tripod collar worked very well on my tripod/ball-head combo. I purchased a universal plate that worked perfectly on the foot.

Renting this lens was a wonderful way for me to try the lens, and get some pretty neat photographs of this trip that I might not have been able to get otherwise. I will rent this lens again, and have started saving for it. I like it that much, and I have birding season coming up! I think this would a fabulous lens to have while at the Snow Goose festival this winter, and in my gear bag.

A Graceful Landing

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Last month I’d gone out with a friend of mine who is a Docent at a local Wildlife Refuge on a van tour he was giving at the Refuge.  The morning was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and the group small. We weren’t setting our tripods up on top of each other, and Alex gave us plenty of time in each location that he had chosen for us.

There were lots of Great Egrets on the pond this particular morning. One of the first stops I shot this Egret coming in for a landing. The reflections were great on this pond this morning.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

A little later I managed to capture this one I call “The Dance”.

I had taken my Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 AF-D prime lens and Tamron 1.4x Extender for this outing. I wasn’t very happy with the IQ (Image Quality) when I used the Extender with my 80-200mm f/2.8 Telephoto Zoom. I have read and heard that Primes perform much better with Extenders.

I have to say that is the case here. I am much happier with these results. For birding this is a great place to go. There were Avocets in their Winter plumage, stilts, Blue Herons, and sea gulls.  There is an island out here on the pond where White Pelicans come to rest too. I’ll share photos of those soon.

Thank you Alex for inviting me to come along!

A Milestone and a Whisk Passed

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The day before yesterday Baby Girl said she wanted to prepare dinner from start to finish. I was stunned, and thrilled that it actually happened! She wanted to cook.
Many years ago when she started Middle School I decided to spend the next 3 summers teaching her to cook. I was enthusiastic, and so excited to pass the whisk, and wooden spoon onto my daughter. I had visions of her going off to college with the confidence that in the kitchen at least there would be no test or final exam to prep for. It was a flop!
She was not interested in the least. She complained and stalled and made it so awful that I gave up the idea the first summer and vowed not to bring it up again. I would wait for the day she asked for help.

Many summers have passed, and she elected to stay home for college rather than go away. Finally the day arrived!
I answered with caution when she asked, “ What should I cook?” “What ever you’d like.” I replied trying not to sound too excited. When she said she had no clue. I offered her my very first cookbook. Betty Crocker- the one with the Orange cover. Now stained, notes written on nearly every page, and a quarter of the pages falling out. “This was my first cookbook. I got it when I was just 19 year old.  Look through the main dishes you may find something there.”
She took the book and with a shy smile began turning the pages. “Mom you really should get sheet protectors for these pages.” Baby Girl said as the page for Italian Spaghetti and Lasagna slid out of the book.  She read the page and said she’d like to try Spaghetti with the meat sauce with a question on her face. I said, “Great. Let’s see what we need!” Together we went through the list of ingredients, then the pantry and made a shopping list.
This morning we went to the market together and shopped. It was fun showing her how to pick a good bell pepper from an old one, and good onion, and she chose her own brand of pasta. We engaged the butcher to teach her the different grades of ground beef, and lingered over the cheese counter and talked about Romano and Parmesan.
We unpacked our purchases and planned what to prepare first. Opting for the brownies.  We went simple here and utilized Betty again. Baby Girl picked Fudge Brownie mix. She put it together with ease.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Next I showed her how to chop the bell pepper, and onion, and to sharpen the knife, to stir, and blend, and smell the herbs as we went. She’s afraid of my gas stove and the noise it makes when it lights. So I turned on the burner for the sauce. One hurdle she’s not ready to jump.
She watched  the sauce simmer, carefully watching the time, and stirring it carefully. She got the water for pasta started so it would be finished when the sauce was then worried about getting the Garlic Bread started and in the oven so it too would be done on time.
Once the sauce was on she didn’t need me much. She was in the “zone”. It was fun to watch.
The sauce was wonderful, the pasta cooked just right, and the bread that came out a bit late was fattening, warm, and delicious-well worth the wait.

A milestone was crossed today, and a hurdle jumped. She turned on the burner for the pasta water without me. Middle school and so many summers later… I passed the whisk.

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

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S, Sundisk Ultra SDHC Digital Film