Category: Nikon

Life in the Slow Lane

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nikon, Nikon D90Tagged , 1 Comment

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)

My Best 10 Photographs in 2010

Posted in Nikon, Nikon D90Tagged 3 Comments

I’ve been going through all the photos I took in 2010. I’m getting ready to put all the sub-folders in one giant folder. and clean up my computer.

I’ve been pulling aside my favorites from the year for several months. Out of the 12,000 plus photographs I took last year I  worked it down to 58 photos that I think are my best for 2010. From there I pruned it down to just 10 photographs. I chose these based on their technical merit. With each photograph I overcame some challenge, or mastered a technique, or timed the action or light just right to get the photo I had perceived in my mind or wanted once I saw the location.

Here are my picks:

1. Yosemite National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Full Moon Over James Lick Observatory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. 4,840 Seconds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Great Egret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Yosemite National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. McGuire Peak, Sunol, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Mt. Shasta Sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Swan, Santa Rosa, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Sunset Pigeon Point Light Station, Pescadero,CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was more challenging than I thought picking  just 10. I visited so many beautiful places throughout the year.

Would you like the see the original 58 and pick your favorite 10? I’d love to have your feed-back, and be interested in knowing which you

think are my best.

Here is the link to the gallery with the original 58 photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmzajac2004/sets/72157625121829827/with/5037522907/

I’ll post the results of all the responses in a couple of weeks.

Merced River (Orton Effect)

Posted in California, Landscapes, NikonTagged , , 2 Comments

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

Posted in California, Landscapes, Nikon, UncategorizedTagged 2 Comments

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

“Noncooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.”~ Julia Child

Posted in California, Holidays, NikonTagged 2 Comments

The beginning – prep

…more veggies!

…ready for the oven,

2 hours later,

May your hearts be filled with every joy this lovely season brings!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor lenses|

Thank you Wayne for showing me the way!

 

A Rainy Day Adventure with friends

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

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

T, DD, A, and myself thought we’d make a run for Bowling Ball Beach a 3+ hour drive during a rare Negative Tide to photograph the boulders and rocky shelf that is exposed during this time. A Negative Tide is a lower than normal low tide.
It rained the whole way up then stopped just as we arrived to the beach. It was quite an adventure getting down here. The trail was muddy, and the end of the trail the cliff fell off so the state built a log and cable ladder that went straight down the cliff face. It wouldn’t have been that bad, but the rain run off was pouring down the mountain side and draining 100ft in front of the bridge and flooded the entire  area which was littered with huge logs the sea tossed up with the tide, kelp, rocks, boulders, and other sea debris.

Because it was flooded at the bottom we climbed down  the ladder halfway then hung onto the muddy wall as best we could and tried not to slide off this muddy boulder that we had to cross. After crossing that boulder we balanced on a log that was floating in the flood waters ,and then we traversed debris and finally made it to the beach. From there we crossed two more rivers of fresh water flowing to the sea. Phew! We were photographing for about 20 minutes when it started to rain again.

Theresa, Dali, and 1/2 brothers we met here. Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

Donning our hats, and cameras in rain gear we photographed the boulders and beach for about an hour.
We wanted to climb out of there before dark, and get out before the tide returned. The climb back up was a lot easier than coming down. We were pretty soaked when we got back to the car.
We headed to Bodega Bay for a hot dinner.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm| f11| 1/4sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| On a Tripod| No Filters