Photography – Page 10 – Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds.-Classic Cars

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024Posted in Photography, Vintage CarsTagged Beige, Buff, Classic Cars, Cream, Fuji X-T3, Fujinon 16-80mm, pine tree, Red, Snow capped mountains, Vintage Cars, Whatever Wednesday, Yellow59 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last week I was making my way around a big loop birding and at one stop I happened upon a Classic Car group just as they were starting to pull out. I hurriedly grabbed my other camera with a wide angle lens and ran to a place near the exit to get a few images. I wasn’t fast enough to get an image of all the cars, but I did get a several. Here are some of my favorites.

This one is just so cool. Is it a muscle car? I’m sorry I didn’t get there earlier to note the makes and models of all the cars. Look at that engine though.

*Classic Car Yellow with cool Engine Exposure*

The drivers were pretty cool when they saw me with my camera they slowed down and let me get some nice images. 😊

*Classic Car Pontiac I think. I love the sun guard over the windshield.*

Look at those white walls with red accent stripe. Nice.

And last, but not least my favorite Red car of the lot.

*Classic Car in Red*

That was a fun surprise.

What wasn’t fun was waking up yesterday morning to the “DREADED BLACK SCREEN”! My computer was good and truly looking dead. Thankfully, He-Man found a way to get it back up, but it required a whole new start from my backup system. So all my documents, and files are here, but all my apps have to be reinstalled and all my preferences reset. My Photoshop Actions are all gone so I’m starting from scratch remaking those and slowly adding my presets and apps back in.
It’s been a chore, but I’m so grateful for having a backup system in place. I highly recommend one or two if you haven’t got yourself one already. In the meantime I think it’s time to start shopping for a new computer desktop tower because this one might be on the way out.

I hope your week is going well and there are no unpleasant surprises in it!

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 16-80mm| PS CC 25.7.0

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Owls

April 24, 2024April 23, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Nature Photography, Owls and Owlets, PhotographyTagged Birds in the Wild, Breeding Season, D850, Great Horned Owls, Nest, Nevada, Nikkor 500mm Pf-E, Nikon61 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

The first week of March I started hiking out to see if a Great Horned Owl had returned to a nest she has used many times in the past. She wasn’t there. March 9th I returned and she was there!

It was time to start looking for the Owlets. I returned on the 19th, 25th, and 26th of March and saw no owlets but, hoped Mama was sitting on eggs.

I returned on April 4th, 14th, and on April 20th a birding girlfriend sent me an email telling me she went by and there were two Owlets! I went the following day, the 21st. When I arrived I only saw Mama no Owlets. So I birded the area and waited and waited. After an hour or so I saw a little white fuzzy head stirring behind Mama then not too long after that the cutest 2 Owlets you’ve ever seen popped up to see what was happening in their new world. They must have just hatched days before by the looks of them.

*Great Horned Owl Female with her Owlets in the nest.*

They barely could keep their eyes open. They were so tired. Mama had one eye on me the whole time though.

I’ll be making regular trips over to watch them grow, and hopefully this year will be the year I see them branching. I’ve never seen the previous year’s owlets do that here, and I’ve also never seen the Male GH Owl who I know has to be nearby.

Spring is here so I put out the outdoor cushions Monday morning and wouldn’t you know it Tuesday morning it rained. 🤣

I hope your week is going well.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC

more to come…

Thursday Doors- For Rent

April 18, 2024April 18, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Photography, Thursday DoorsTagged Birdhouses, D850, Douglas Co, Fun and Whimsical, Nevada, Nikkor 500mm Pf-E, Nikon, Portals33 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Available at Sparrow Pole Bungalows! Cute one room birdhouse with plenty of floor space and a tall ceiling for that perfect cozy nest. You’re sure to be the Early Bird in the neighborhood as the front door faces east so your day will start with the sun shining into your cozy nest.

You’ll love your neighbors, and there are bird feeders nearby.

This post is part of the Thursday Doors- a weekly challenge group hosted by Dan Antion over at No Facilities. Click on the link to see other doors from around the world-https://nofacilities.com/2024/04/18/still-in-oakland/

more to come…

Whatever Weds- The Stars have It

April 3, 2024April 2, 2024Posted in Comets, Photography, Stars, Stars and Planets, Travel and Tourism, Travel PhotographyTagged City lights, Clouds, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, Comets, Defraction, Nikon, Skyline, Snow, Sparks NV, Star bursts, Stars, Travel, Wide Field Astro Photography47 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last week He-Man and I had a little get-away for our 43rd anniversary. We didn’t go too far just up to Sparks, NV.

We booked a balcony suite at Hampton Inn & Suites at the marina for the view of Helms Lake, and view of Reno’s skyline. This lake has an interesting beginning.

“The site was once a gravel pit owned by the Helms Construction Corp. (1968-1995) The pit is 100 feet deep. They found petroleum and solvent contamination seeping into the pit in 1987 so it was declared a Super Toxic Sight and clean up began. In 1996 it was declared free of petrochemicals and the site was turned over to the city of Sparks.

Millions of dollars of spill mitigation money was made available to the city, which they used to construct the park and make the pit a recreational pond. They had planned to fill the pit to 30 feet, but in January 1997 the Truckee River overflowed its banks and filled the Helms Pit creating what is now Richard Helms Lake or Sparks Marina Pond.” You can read a little more about how it stays filled at the link. https://www.ndow.org/waters/sparks-marina/

Now for our view-

It was pretty windy the day we were up there as you can see by the water.

We both really enjoyed having this evening view when the lights in the city came on.

I had hoped our 4th floor balcony room would afford a great view of the sky so I could also try to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but alas we had a storm rolling in and cloud cover.

Finally, Monday night April 1st…no joke! We had a clear night so I went out to my front yard and spied the Comet.

*Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with faint tail*.

*Green Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks cropped in.*

*Dialing in my focus I got Jupiter and her Moons too.*

We had a lovely anniversary walking around the lake both days, and we found a new Indian place we liked a lot for dinner so, we’ll make the drive up for that again when we’re craving Indian food, and we’ll be staying there again when the weather is warmer and we’ll take our kayak up for a paddle around the lake.

I hope the stars have lined up a fantastic week for you.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 80-200mm| iPhone 14 Pro| PS CC 25.5.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Watercolor Painting

March 13, 2024March 13, 2024Posted in Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor Painting, Whatever WednesdayTagged DaVinci, Hobbies, iPhone14Pro, Learning to paint, MGraham, Photography, Trees and Woodlands Ready to Paint, Watercolor Painting, Whatever Wednesday64 Comments

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’m working my way through a watercolor book called Ready to Paint- Trees and Woodlands. They say you can do these exercises and little paintings in 30 minutes, but it takes me hours.

This is Nº7 called Farmhouse. The lesson was working on a variegated wash of colors, and painting around a negative space. That means painting in the wash of sky, and the background behind the farmhouse and barn first then paint the farmhouse and barn.

*Farmhouse in Watercolor Nº7 Trees and Woodlands-Ready to Paint*

It took me about 1.5 hours to paint this. Pretty quick for me. I painted the sky and background then let it dry overnight before tackling the trees and buildings. I find myself letting things dry, then ruminating about the next step before actually taking the next step. Fear of making a mistake? Oh yes!

Anyway, it didn’t come out too bad just a little wonky. I see things I would change the next time I try something like this. On the whole I think the wash came out okay, and I used the negative space like I was supposed to. The rock wall was supposed to be a hedge but, I added my own spin on it, I wanted a wall instead. On y va!

I’ve been birding a lot so, I’ll have bird images to share soon.

I hope you’re all having a good week.

140lb 100% cotton paper| M.Graham and Da Vinci Watercolors| iPhone 14Pro

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Backlash

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024Posted in Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged Birdsnest, Fishermen's Birds Nest, Fishing Line, Fishing line Bobber, Fishing Line Bouy, Fishing Weights, Nevada, Nikon, Power Cable, The Things You See While Birding; Fishing Line Gone Wrong, Things That Don't Belong, Washoe Co47 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I’m guessing it wasn’t a good day fishing?

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.4.0

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Western Wood Peewee

March 1, 2024February 29, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, PhotographyTagged Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flycatchers, Nature, Nikon, weather, Western Wood Peewee42 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this bird before. This is an image I made last summer.

Fun Facts:

The breeding ranges of the nearly identical Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite the birds’ physical similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area—perhaps because their songs sound so different.
Where exactly the Western Wood-Pewee goes in the winter is still a mystery. Both Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees migrate to northern South America, but because they look so similar and they don’t call much on the wintering ground it’s hard to say for certain where each species spends its winter.
The scientific name of the Western Wood-Pewee is Contopus sordidulus. Contopus comes from the Greek word kontos which means short and pous which means foot—referring to the relatively short legs on Contopus flycatchers. Sordidulus means dirty or unkempt, a reference to the dusky brown wash to the breast and flanks.
The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
The oldest recorded Western Wood-Pewee was a female, and at least 8 years, 1 month old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2002. She had been banded in the same state in 1995.
Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| PS CC

We’ve been under a high wind and storm watch since yesterday morning. As I write this the wind is howling at 24 mph with gusts up to 47 mph. They’re saying we may get 8 inches of snow between now and Saturday. The sun is out, the clouds are big white and fluffy in some spots to the east but, gray and looming over the Sierras to the west. As you can imagine we’re hanging out at home.

I was planning to go birding with a local birding group this morning, but due to the weather that’s been rescheduled.

I’ve been re-watching The Expanse while waiting for the new season of Vera to be released on Wednesday. After I finish The Expanse I’ll be binge watching Vera if all the episodes are available, and I’m still working my way through the Woodlands and Trees Ready to Paint class in a book. I finished exercise 6 but, the little wood bridge over the creek came out really wonky…even more wonky than my normal wonky so, I’m on my second attempt with that one, and I mixed up a dark green shade of paint that I don’t like on this second pass, so they’ll probably be a 3rd attempt at mastering exercise #6. 😀

That’s me all caught up. What’s happening with you?

more to come…

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