“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
…”but you never know, traveling, around what bend;
The dreams will curve to an end,
And what will happen then.”
I hope you have some time today to slip away to dream, to hope, and plan.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm + 1.4x TC| f8| 1/1250 sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held| texture by Delany Dean
California country-side a day after a storm
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
One never knows if you’ll be rewarded with beautiful color or instead see a flat sky when you get up at 4 in the morning to make the hour journey to a location you’ve wanted to shoot at sunrise for sometime.
I’ve left a Silver Lake a number of times disappointed, but thankfully that didn’t happen on this morning at Convict Lake. The colors in the dawn sky were lovely. There was very little Alpine Glow on this morning. One of these days I’ll hit the jack-pot and get both in the same photo.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 17mm| f10| 1 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod w/ release cable| Singh-Ray Grad ND filter
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Sunset the last night of my New Year’s Photography trip in the Eastern Sierras along the Owens River.
Jan. 3, 2012| Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35 @ 20mm| f8| 1/15sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Golden hour on this section of the Marsh was absolutely gorgeous the Sat. I spent here photographing birds. There were some low clouds, and a fine mist of fog was moving in just as the sky was getting a hint of pink. It acted as a diffuser making the golds and yellows POP! I moved to a couple of locations around this area looking for a composition I liked so when I finally saw this one I was in such a rush to compose it before missing this light I made the decision to shoot it with my telephoto lens on. I remember thinking as I looked through the viewfinder to compose it, “Oh! this is nice I can zero in on this part of the marsh rather than getting all in.” By doing so the ducks have a little more body, and the reeds and willows are nearer, so we can see more texture and detail. The whole scene is compressed so we feel a closer connection to the pond.
I haven’t used my telephoto to shoot a landscape in many months, and if the light wasn’t changing fast I probably would have switched to my favorite 17-35mm wide angle lens. In retrospect I’m happy that I didn’t take the few seconds to change lenses as it was a good reminder for me that not all landscapes need to be a sweeping vista, or shot with a wide-angle lens.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 102mm| f10| 1/250 second| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Tripod
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This was a lovely ending to another exciting day of birding in the Pacific Flyway.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 1735 @ 32mm| f16| 0.8 sec| ISO 160| manual mode| tripod
Sometimes you do get an opportunity to redo a shot. On my New Year’s Photography Trip we planned to shoot Mobius Arch in Alabama Hills on our first morning there. The last time I was there to shoot a sunrise I was a bit late and missed the “blue period”. I’ve been wanting a “do over” since. This time we left in plenty of time, and we didn’t stop for coffee. We weren’t the first in the parking lot and we thought as we hiked out to Mobius Arch that there would be someone already there which meant we wouldn’t have the choice spot on the boulder to shoot from.
We were so lucky; no one was there! Behind the Arch is a large boulder most photographers set up on. My 3 friends and I sat huddled together with our tripods and packs waiting for sunrise. I framed up Lone Pine Peak through Mobius Arch with the first lights of day lighting it. I think that the stars in the upper left corner is The Great Square of Pegasus.
About an hour later we were rewarded with Alpine Glow. The craggy mountain tips on the right that you see with Alpine glow is part of Mt. Whitney.
As we were shooting and waiting for the light a couple of guys hiked up. It was their car we’d seen in the parking lot when we arrived. They took a wrong turn and got a bit lost before finding the right trail. We made a bit more space so they could shoot too. They were shooting over our heads for the Alpine Glow show. It’s always fun to meet other photographers when out and about. Turns out these two were also from the Bay Area. Small world!
I gave up my spot on the rock to Sasha. Then I turned around and saw the sun crest the White Mountains.
We said farewell to Sasha, and his friend then we drove around the park scouting out other locations to shoot. We found another arch and some neat formations. Famished we left the park and headed into Lone Pine for a hearty breakfast and much-needed coffee.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35| Tripod
UPDATE: On a whim I did a photo search on flickr for other shots taken this morning at Mobius Arch and found this photo by Photosuze! You can’t see too much of me, but I’m behind the guy in blue who is my friend Dali, I’m wearing a white coat, pink hat, and my face is to my camera. My friend Alex is behind me sitting on the edge, and you can just make out my friend T’s hat. You see I wasn’t kidding there isn’t much room on that rock!
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