Category: Nikon

Hiking- Training for Cloud’s Rest

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nikon, WildlifeTagged , 1 Comment

It was a tough hike up the Peak Trail this morning. I fought leg fatigue the whole way, and was nauseous 3/4 of the way up. I set goals to reach along the way so I would make it a little farther after each rest. I told myself make it to the pond, then the open field, then just to the spot with the view of the red barn, and when I made it to the “Sub Peak” at the top where the bathrooms, and picnic tables are I stopped climbing. The last 300 feet of a killer steep grade to reach the Pole I left for another day.

The leg fatigue has me rethinking my training strategy. I’m going to climb shorter steep mountains/hills working up to doing reps of those. I believe by doing reps I’ll build my endurance and stamina. Hopefully I won’t suffer from the leg fatigue I’m feeling today. My legs still feel weak, and tired hours after finishing the hike.

When I stopped to rest my legs and settle my  queasy stomach I did take some photos. This view is near the top. The View is Northwest. We had overcast skies with afternoon showers in the forecast. I did get sprinkled on while waiting for my hiking companions.
I saw a variety of wildflowers today. Lupine, California Poppies, buttercups, Phlox, a few Blue Dicks, Chamomile; Fiddlenecks; Miner’s lettuce, Spring Vetch, Clover, and some Foxtail Barley grass. A great hike for wildflower viewing and photographing!

Just about 100 ft to the “Sub Peak”, and picnic tables there were a lot of cows here grazing today. That’s the Peak on the right.

While waiting for my friends to come down from the peak I did have plenty to keep me amused. The ground squirrels were very industrious digging new holes. They’re so cute!

…and a cow walked up the hillside to taste the grass near these rocks covered in beautiful orange Lichen.

I’m already planning my first training hike. If it doesn’t rain on Saturday I’ll be hiking and beginning the new plan. Cloud’s Rest or Bust!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18-200mmVR| Induro CF Tripod| B+W Circular Polarizer w/81A warming

All photographs are Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Scenic Peak Trail-Training for Cloud’s Rest

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged 2 Comments

Myself and two friends hiked up to Mission Peak yesterday afternoon. I’m in training for a hike up to Cloud’s Rest in Yosemite this summer, and my friend Rachael is hiking to both Cloud’s Rest and Half Dome in early summer.  This was the first time hiking up to Mission Peak for my friend Dali.

The Peak trail is considered a good training hike because the ascent is steep and fast. You start at 500 feet and climb to 2,517ft in just about 3 miles. The route is quite pretty filled with wildlife and great views. Here is some of what I saw yesterday.

I spotted several wildflowers along the trail yesterday; Spring Vetch; California Poppies; and Buttercups, but the flower I liked the best was this Coulter’s Matilija Poppy growing along the road near Ohlone College. I love the big billowy pedals, and wonderful yellow center. It’s a show stopper!

Not too far up the trail I saw this little Chipping Sparrow. I was so surprised he didn’t fly away when I stopped to take his photo.

At the pond where the cows hang out I lose time taking photo after photo.

I saw a Killdeer up here for the first time.

In the woodland a Bitter Cherry (I think) was blooming.

About halfway to the top we come to my favorite view. You have to turn around to see this lovely Red barn nestled in the trees.

Yesterday we spotted a Red Tailed Hawk flying from one side of the trail to the other. He would circle awhile then land on a rock and watch his territory.  I travel light when hiking up here so I didn’t have my longer lens with me, but wished I did.

Looking back – Fremont and the Bay

Only 300 feet from the top now! This part of the trail is brutal. It’s the steepest, and very rocky the higher you get.

Rachael is a great hiker she moves a lot faster than I do. She made it to the top about 20 minutes before me. Dali not far behind Rachael peaked about 10 minutes before me. I knew he wouldn’t have any trouble making it to the top.

Dali

…and here’s me. I made it!

This was the 7th time  I’ve hiked this trail and 4th time peaking.  I have a goal of climbing up here 4 times this year I’m halfway there! I’ll probably have to step it up and come up here more if I hope to make it to Cloud’s Rest this August.

One thing is for sure. The hike up is always beautiful, and I see something different each time I come.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18-200mmVR| Handheld and Tripod

All Photos are Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D800 Design Concept…

Posted in Nikon4 Comments

Tecnofotografia has a new design concept for the D800 published.

http://nikonrumors.com/2011/04/10/nikon-d800-design-concept-camera.aspx

My initial thoughts:

While I don’t particularly care for video on a camera, and have never used the feature on either one of my cameras it seems to be a trend that is staying around.

I wouldn’t want that removable grip to come off so easily that it fell off on its own for no reason. The longer it “wears” the happier the consumer will be.

The removable wireless screen is interesting. It would be cool if you could tap into your apps with it to use neat apps like OnOne’s software that I blogged about here:

https://circadianreflections.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/d-slr-next-generation-camera-remote/

I do hope they don’t put on-board flash on it. I’d like to see them get rid of that keeping only the Hot Shoe mount like the higher end Pro line D3 (s) (x).

I am wondering how it would feel in my hands to use without the left hand control buttons. I love Nikon’s ergonomics. I’d hate to lose that.

My first reaction was that it has a lot of gimmicks and has a “consumer” rather than “Professional” feel/look. I hope Nikon keeps all the Pro features and ditches the gimmicky “consumer” features on the D700 replacement. I’m looking for the D3 in a Prosumer body.

 

What do you find interesting or exciting about this concept design?

H/T Geo Wu & Nikon Rumors

Series- 4 ImageTheme- Mesquite Sand Dunes

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, TravelTagged Leave a comment

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Field trip with West Valley College’s Photography Dept. to Death Valley National Park.

4 images taken in the Mesquite Sand Dunes. An assignment for those of us taking all sections of the field studies class was to produce a 4 image theme. I didn’t go into this assignment with any pre-conceived ideas or thoughts. I thought the best approach for me was to go out and shoot whatever I felt compelled to shoot then once home look at all my photographs and see if a “theme” emerged.

What I found when I uploaded all my photographs from the trip was that while out on the Dunes I used the Creosote bushes quite a bit for leading lines, frames, and points of interest; sometimes without being consciously aware that I was doing that. Do I see more in a “compositional” frame of mind than I think I do? One the components of art/photography I feel I struggle with the most is composition, and “seeing” the shot. I think it’s something I’ll always have to work at.

The Creosote bushes were in bloom when I was here. Each time I passed by a bush I could smell its sweet perfume, and I was treated to a symphony of Spring time by the many bees that were busy buzzing from blossom to blossom.

1. “Last light” Sunset Mesquite Dunes
2. Footprints on the Sands of Time
3. Dust up!
4.We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite , time to be.~Gladys Taber

Nikon D700 & Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm and Nikkor 70-300mm VR| Induro CF Tripod| Hoya UV filters

D-SLR Next Generation Camera Remote

Posted in Gear, Nikon, Photography1 Comment

OnOne software has an app for iphone and ipod touch users that lets you control your camera remotely. This is a neat app for Nikon and Canon users!

http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/dslr-camera-remote/

Watch Dave Cross of D-Town TV show you how it works in a studio setting. It’s the 3rd segment, but it comes up pretty fast.

http://kelbytv.com/dtowntv/2011/03/28/episode-69/

H/T D-Town TV

On Radio Road

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

These birds make me smile! They have such a friendly face, but their walk is awkward…. and….stilted. Probably because they’re trying not to disturb the water as they hunt for food.

“The Black-necked Stilt forages by probing and gleaning primarily in mudflats and lakeshores, but also in very shallow waters near shores; it seeks out a range of aquatic invertebrates – mainly crustaceans and other arthropods, and mollusks – and small fish, tadpoles and very rarely plant seeds. Its mainstay food varies according to availability; inland birds usually feed mainly on aquatic insects and their larvae, while coastal populations mostly eat other aquatic invertebrates. For feeding areas they prefer coastal estuaries, salt ponds, lakeshores, alkali flats and even flooded fields. For roosting and resting needs, this bird selects alkali flats (even flooded ones), lake shores, and islands surrounded by shallow water.” ~ Wikipedia

For this shoot I met photographer, and friend Marianne Bush out at Radio Road which is part of Redwood Shores Reserves. After we shot around the lagoon for a while we walked over to a channel that feeds the lagoon where Marianne had spied a Bufflehead while we were driving in. An aquatic bird in the Sea Duck family that has been on my list for sometime. The Bufflehead was no longer there, but we did see this little duck below. Both Marianne and I were very excited because neither one of us had seen this bird before. Marianne being the much more experienced birder had an idea of what breed it might be. When we left we were both anxious to get into our bird books to see if we could identify it.

Marianne was able to ID it faster than I did. She wrote to tell me we had seen a Blue Winged Teal! Very uncommon on the West Coast. You can image how thrilled we both were. A month later looking at this photo I can still feel that thrill of excitement one gets when seeing a new species for the first time.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 300mm f4 @ f5.6| 1/800 sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod