Category: Nikon

San Jose Holiday/Christmas Parade 2010

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

Minnie Mouse waves to the crowd as she cruises by in that wonderful vintage T-Bird!
A friend of mine and I went to the parade Saturday morning. We missed the grand finale- Santa Claus.
We had to leave to meet friends for another adventure, but what we saw was fun. Lots of local college and High School bands. We have a lot of talent here. They all sounded great.

Nikon D90| Nikkor 80-200mm @ 100mm| 1/500sec| f4| ISO 640| Manual| On A Tripod

Parade of Elephants

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Parade od Elephants, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

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

Returning to my trip to Arches National Park. Here’s a view of the Parade of Elephants.
This is looking north from the Primitive Loop Trail in the Windows Section of Arches National Park.
If you look at the formations on the left you’ll see the shapes of Elephants.
On the right there is an Arch…Not sure what it’s called though.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor17-35mm @ 17mm, f7.1, 1/30sec, ISO 200, Manual Mode, On a Tripod, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo

At the Portal

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Yesterday 4 friends and I went  to Pfieffer State Beach in Big Sur, California. It’s about 100 miles south of my house. Theresa, Dali, and I went in one car and we met our friends Alex, and Rainey in Carmel. From there we caravaned to Pfieffer State Beach. The goal; A couple of times a year the sun sets behind “The Portal” a huge rock island with an Arch through it which allows a sun beam to come through. It’s been on our “to shoot” list for awhile.

We went early to get the lay of the land, and have lunch. We planned a picnic pot luck. We had sandwich fixin’s, chips, dips, fruit, pasta salad, olives and feta cheese, pickles, and Dali brought cake; Chocolate Mocha Cake. Three layers with a chocolate mousse filling inside.

I had great will power and only had one little piece. It was delicious! I might add that in addition to this Dali also brought along for the drive some Mochi, and other Japanese cookies! I wish I had his metabolism!!!

Nature or a previous rock sitter had decorated our spot,

We had a picnic crasher too,

Dali or Theresa threw it a piece of bread and I missed the focus so he’s not as sharp as I’d like. He was quick! Quicker than me that’s for sure.

He struck a handsome pose hoping for more handouts,

After lunch Dali and I hiked up the mountain to check out the view from the cliffs. The hike up was pretty steep. The terrain was mixed. Sand dunes, loose sandy soil, rocky out crops, and bushy bits. In places the trail was washed out and I went up the wash to meet up with the trail nearly at the top. Dali being braver than I went up the wash the whole way. I think the climb was only 150 ft or so, but steep. Our friend Steven had warned me to be careful going up…if I went up. Thank you Steven!

The view of “The Portal” from the cliff,

Shooting into the sun…challenging to say the least! I used my 2 stop Graduated Neutral Density filter to try to balance the light. It didn’t quite work out. I needed my 3 stop. I thought I had packed it but mistakenly grabbed my Reverse Grad instead so I used a layer mask in Photoshop to lighten “The Portal”.  I like the sunburst and the flare.  After a few more shots up here we hiked down to the beach to pick my spot to shoot the sunset.

The sun began to set and the light changed…this is what we came for!

…and,

A large wave came through the Portal splashing what looks like liquid fire! It was so neat. As the sun was going down more and more

photographers arrived to take photos of this event. I think there were close to 30 of us out there. It was great fun. We all agreed this is a place we’d like to come back to again.

After the sun went down we packed up and went into Carmel for a hot dinner, then we said farewell to Alex, and Rainey, and headed home.

 

 

 

 

Bread Stuffing Beginnings

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

My favorite recipe for Bread Stuffing is from my first cookbook Betty Crocker. The orange book with the pie sections on the cover, and in each section there is a food item. I can’t find the edition or year mine was printed.
It’s really old and falling apart, anyway the Bread Stuffing is simple. Bread, Butter, celery, onion,salt, pepper, sage, and thyme. I add chicken stock to keep it moist since I don’t stuff the bird. I bake mine in a casserole dish.

When making a small batch I use:
1 loaf of white bread, torn into bite sized pieces
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1 Tbs Ground Sage- add more or to taste
1 Tbs Thyme- add more or to taste
1 14oz can of Chicken stock- less salt
In a large pot melt the butter. When melted stir in 1/3 of the bread pieces and mix, add the other ingredients and the rest of the bread. Mix well. Add chicken stock to moisten.
Put into large casserole, cover and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

I use my hand to measure my herbs, and I taste. When it tastes the way I like it I mix it then put in the dish to bake. I don’t usually pull out the recipe anymore.

The house smells great! Dinner should be done in 40 minutes or so.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 35mm f2, 1/200s, ISO 640, Aperture Priority

The South Window

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The North Window, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is the beginning of the Primitive Trail Loop. A 1.5 mile loop with views of North and South Windows and Turret Arch.
Theresa and I spent hours here. We hiked the loop, and stayed to for the Golden Hour and Sunset.
This is a popular destination for visitors of the park. While here we met a Photography Club from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a local Photographer out here for a workshop. It’s always fun to meet fellow photographers.

Do you get a sense of how huge these arches are? They’re HUGE!

100 million yrs of erosion created this land…

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Continuing down the main road in Arches National Park my friend Theresa and I were in awe of this landscape with its huge rock formations, vast views, and the wonderful colors of the Southwest.

Here some of the Petrified Dunes covered in Sage brush that gently roll through this part of the park:

“Nature and Science
The forces of nature have acted in concert to create the landscape of Arches, which contains the greatest density of natural arches in the world. Throughout the park, rock layers reveal millions of years of deposition, erosion and other geologic events. These layers continue to shape life in Arches today, as their erosion influences elemental features like soil chemistry and where water flows when it rains.

Arches is located in a “high desert,” with elevations ranging from 4,085 to 5,653 feet above sea level. The climate is one of very hot summers, cold winters and very little rainfall. Even on a daily basis, temperatures may fluctuate as much as 50 degrees.

The plants and animals in Arches National Park have many adaptations that enable them to survive these conditions. Some species are found only in this area. The diversity of organisms reflects the variety of available habitat, which includes lush riparian areas, ephemeral pools, dry arroyos, mixed grasslands and large expanses of bare rock.”
~Moab Adventure Center

 

 

Marking the many trails both well trod, and those that are not are Cairns like this one . Theresa and I found these invaluable as we missed one on the Trail to Delicate Arch and NOT seeing one after a little while I knew we took a wrong turn.

Here’s a closer look at The Three Gossips, and Sheep Rock. I zoomed in on this shot to try get more of the details. This view is from the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint.

In the next blog post we’ll continue down the road to The North and South Windows area where we hiked a little of the Primitive Trail and shot the sunset.

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.