Category: Photography

Whatever Weds. Night View

Posted in After Dark, Milky Way, Nevada, Nikon, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , 40 Comments

Copyright ©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’m still packing. I probably will be taping up the last box and running it to the moving truck as they’re pulling down the door and revving up the engine to take off for my new home!

We’ve been taking stuff over that we think we’ll need before the movers arrive, and spending the night when we can. I’ve been waiting for Milky Way season to be back in our Hemisphere.  What is she talking about the Milky Way is always there, you’re probably thinking.  It is, but the Galactic Center is only visible in the Northern Hemisphere April through mid-September. I’ve been anxiously waiting to see how it will look from my new backyard/patio since I have a southern unobstructed view.

I set my alarm for the wee hours of the morning to find out. Lookie there! I was doing my happy dance.

Milky Way from the Porch

There’s a lot more light pollution than I thought there would be, and the Moon while really low was 40 minutes from setting adding more light to the sky.  The street lamps added our house and the neighbor’s shadows on the fairway below.

I’m already eyeing trails to explore for dark skies in the upcoming months.

The movers come in 9 days! I’m so ready to be moved and settled in.

Back to packing, and notifying those that need to know I’ve got a new mailing address.

I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.

Hope you all have a great week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G@ f/2.2| ISO 3200| Manual Priority|Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Spring in Stanislaus Co.

Posted in California, Landscape Photography, Landscapes, Nikon, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , 36 Comments

Copyright ©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’m waist deep into packing paper, boxes, and all my stuff.

I spent almost my entire adult life amassing stuff, and now I just want to get rid of most of it! I’m not really into the Komari (sp) thing, but I’m all for me having less stuff to worry about and pack! But, I have this nagging feeling I’m getting rid of things I’ll regret, and keeping things I should let go! It’s agony!

I spent the morning packing up most of the kitchen and getting our homeowners, and car insurance set up for NV. Next up will be getting our mail set up over there, and the list goes on and on, but we’re making progress. Fifteen days and the movers come to get all our stuff and really it’s mostly my stuff and take it to the new house! Well, they’ll be there the next day so, we will be sleeping on the air mattress, and have the stuff we’ve already taken over to get us through a few days should it snow or something and the truck can’t get over.  Winter is hanging on. The major Interstate they’ll probably take over the mountains has closed a few times recently because there have been two. Two avalanches in the last two weeks on that Interstate.

This is how I remember winters being when I was a girl and a young adult. I’ve always felt the weather is cyclical and has a pattern here in CA. Really good skiing winters, followed by long dry, thirsty spells. We’re in the great skiing season now, but my head is saying, Drought is coming prepare! I’m saying that with the Game of Thrones tone of Winter is Coming. 😃 I’m staying in the west so drought is probably going to be in my planning for the rest of my life.

Ah, but I digress. Since I’ve been preoccupied with the packing and moving and feeling the need to share some images and stay connected to you cause I’ve missed you I dug into my earlier images from just about a month ago when Big Baby Boy and I took a ride out to Knight’s Ferry.

The hills are still this green.

Early Spring on the Stanislaus River

and the Lupine was just beginning to bloom.  I had the wrong lens for this shot, but I like the way you can see the environment that these were blooming in. These Lupine were huge bushes. I bet they’re gorgeous now.

Spring Lupine Stanislaus County

We’re reflecting a lot about all the things we’ve experienced while living in this house 37 years. Big Baby Boy came home for 5 days to help us move some stuff over to the new house, and say Good-bye to the house he’s always called home. We treasure the memories here but we’re taking them with us. We are looking forward to new beginnings, new memories to be made, and to blooming in our new home.

Happy Wednesday!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| Hoodman Digital Film| CS PP 2019

more to come…

 

 

Whatever Wednesday- Let the Sunshine in

Posted in Nikon, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 48 Comments

Copyright ©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Sunshine Rural Santa Clara CO

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| Hoodman Digital STEEL Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

 

Whatever Weds. Sunset over the Vineyard

Posted in Agriculture, Landscape Photography, Nikon, Photography, Sunsets, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , 54 Comments

Copyright © 2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I got home Thursday night and saw a friend was having a Meet Up to photograph the Wild Mustard that is in bloom here now, and the sunset. I signed up to go straight-away. I’ve been missing my camera time quite a lot.

It was so good to get out with friends old and new to converse, hear the birds, see the fields of wild mustard, and a lovely sunset.

Sunset over the Wild Mustard and Vines

This was our last stop for the evening;  in a vineyard looking west over the wild mustard and vines as the sunset cast its last light on the Santa Cruz mountains and valley below.

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G @f/16 | 1/25s| ISO 100| Manual Priority| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Whatever Weds.

Posted in Photography44 Comments

Copyright c2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I have been mostly MIA here on the blog and keeping up with you because I have been needed at Baby Girl’s house.

The Hansome Surveyor has been really sick and was hospitalized where he stayed for 10 days.

He’s home now, but they have a long road ahead of them, but setbacks are the stepping stones to comebacks I believe.

Monday, I had a couple of hours free so Big Baby Boy who flew home to be here for the family team and I took a drive out to Knights Ferry to check out the historic wood covered bridge.

This bridge built in 1863 replaced the original which was built in 1860. The Knights Ferry bridge was built to last and was holding up well by the torrential water and rapids rushing down river in the flood of 1862. A bridge further up the river wasn’t and its ruins wiped out the original Knights Ferry bridge. The water was 35 feet higher than the low mark we see here in my image.

The bridge is 330 ft long and is the longest wood covered bridge west of the Mississippi: it crosses the Stanislaus River and is only open to foot traffic now.

There are relics and ruins from an old mill and a neat church and other old buildings I will talk about and share some images of in a future post.

I made those images on my DSLR and haven’t been home to upload them yet.

The Handsome Surveyor is tired and resting a lot. He’ll need it as he returns to work next week.

I am planning to go home Saturday. He-Man has been holding down the fort while I’ve been here. I miss him and am looking forward to seeing him.

I hope your week has been going well and you have a great weekend!

iPhone 7Plus

more to come…

Whatever Weds. February’s Rural Full Moon

Posted in Moon, Moonrise, PhotographyTagged , , , , 55 Comments

Copyright ©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’ve been going over to Baby Girl’s almost weekly since our Littlest was born, but whilst she was in the hospital on bedrest I spotted this little cabin and outbuilding one afternoon on my way home from the hospital and it has been on my radar since.

Knowing the full moon was upon us I did a quick search of my sun and moon tools to see if the moon would line up with the cabin because I was going to be at Baby Girls on Monday.  Luck was with me it did line up! So, I got there early and set up to wait.

February's Rural Full Moon

I didn’t wait for the Moon to get directly over the cabin because the shadows were getting longer and broader with each passing minute. By the time the Moon would have been right over or right of the cabin the shadows would have killed the golden light on the cabin.  I learned that whilst waiting for the Moon to rise. I will keep that in mind when planning another shoot here.

See the nut trees in bloom behind the cabin? All the orchards are in bloom right now over here. It seems too early to me though. I hope a frost doesn’t come along and kill the buds.

OT- Some weeks back whilst I was staying at Baby Girl’s full time I passed my 9th year blogging/sharing my photos here on WordPress. 9 years! It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all.  Thank you all so much for your likes, comments, and conversations throughout the years. I think of you as friends and appreciate your visits very much.

I hope you’re having a lovely week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Whatever Wednesday: American Kestrel

Posted in Photography40 Comments

©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This image was made earlier this year when I went birding with friends to a favorite Wildlife Refuge.  The American Kestrel that is usually there is such a tease!

It lands on a post and poses oh so perfect for you to see it and get your camera/lens ready then you creep up in your car ever. so. slowly- cause it’s an auto route only mind you. Trying not to crunch the gravel too loudly because you know this guy or gal is a tease and will fly to the next the post or the one beyond it at the slightest sound of a car approaching.

…And the car was too loud and his eyesight too keen so he flew from the perfect old stump which was much closer to the obscurity of the branches of a tree quite a way away! The brat! This image is cropped in because he was too far away for my 200-500mm lens. Sigh. Still, I love the highlight in its eye and that look of smug haha you can’t see me now pose.

American Kestrel

This bird and the Kite are my favorites of all the Falcons/hawks. The Kestrel is the smallest of the raptors and the most colorful in North America. I’m sure I’ve shared that before and hope you don’t mind being told again. They’re quite common here so their facts can slip by unnoticed quite like the Mallard I think.

I’m getting away from it all and going birding with friends this week to two favorite wildlife refuges. I’m so looking forward to that!  I hope you too have something to look forward to that brings you joy this week.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PSCC 2019

 

more to come…