Category: Photography

Mono Lake: Morning Civil Twilight

Posted in Civil Twilight, Eastern Sierras, Mono Lake, Photography, SunrisesTagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I spent the week-end in the Eastern Sierras photographing Sunrises, Sunset, and Fall Color.  I left my home in Silicon Valley at 4PM on Friday to meet a new friend/member in the Photography Group I was going with.  Anyone living in Silicon Valley knows leaving after 3PM is a nightmare! Traffic is awful.  It’s congested with get-away travelers and commuters. Unfortunately, even in mid-October that’s true! It took me over an hour to travel 11 miles to meet her!  Cindy parked on a residential street hoping her car would be fine for the week-end b/c my house was out of the way, and me going to meet her would have beem backtracking and mean we’d lose 1-2 hours in traffic.

I picked her up, and we got back on the freeway where we crawled at about 30 mph for 2 hours. Finally the road opened up and we were off and onto the Eastern Sierras. We arrived at our Motel just about Midnight. After checking in we both unpacked the bare necessities then fell into our beds knowing the alarm would be ringing in just 4 hours!

We were meeting the rest of our group at 6AM. We had a 30 minute drive from our Motel to the meeting spot. That meant a 4:40AM wake up call for me! I had a quick shower, and we managed to get out the door at 5:20am and arrived at the meeting spot 5 minutes early.

We were a group of 20 in all. We drove to Mono Lake ( Moe-Noh) and found the parking lot was already full of cars! Fall in the Eastern Sierras is getting more and more crowded. There was a faint light in the East signaling the Sun was in a hurry to greet the Northern Hemisphere so, we gathered our gear, and walked-ran to find our spots as quickly as we could.

We went left away from the horde of other photographers; I found a place I thought made a good composition, but I sank ankle deep in the muck to get there.

Experienced Photographers have a good feel for the outcome of the sunrise or sunset, but I’ve never bet on it.  Mother Nature has fooled me a few times! Okay, I won’t lie more than a few times! This morning however, had great potential, and fortunately, The Belt of Venus showed up and lent the morning a beautiful pink hue.

These formations you are seeing are salt and mineral deposits that formed over thousands of years. They’re called Tufas (too-fahs).

Years ago the lake water was re-routed to the south to give water to Southern California’s agriculture belt and residents.

As the lake got lower, and lower these remarkable formations were exposed.

A couple of decades ago a conservation group was successful in their appeals to let Mono Lake (Moe-Noh) return to its natural state. They are no longer diverting water from this basin which means one day all this will be under water again.

Each time I visit this lake I am acutely aware that I am seeing something wonderful, beautiful, and unique. I hope this image is able to convey just a hint of that wonder and beauty.

Morning Twilight Civil Mono Lake

In desperate need of a caffeinated drink, and food we headed for breakfast right after the light went flat.

For more information about Mono (Mo-noh) Lake click here.

I’m really behind on all your posts. I will get caught up this week!

Nikon Df| AF Nikkor 24-70mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Tripod| Developed in Photoshop CS6

More to come…

Amethyst Evening Rat Rock Island

Posted in Long Exposures, Photography, Rat Rock Island, San Pedro California, SunsetsTagged , , , , , 7 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went out last evening with a small group of Photographer’s to Rat Rock Island for Sunset. The Belt of Venus was lovely and lent a beautiful hue to the sea and sky.

This was my last image of the evening.  I was using my 6 stop Neutral Density filter to slow down the water and create a dreamier scape. This is a 2 minute exposure.

Amethyst Evening at Rat Rock Island

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Tripod| B+W 6stop ND Filter| CS6| On1

More to come…

P52 39/52 Banded Garden Spider

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Northern California USA, Photography, Project 52, SpidersTagged , , , , , 9 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Banded Garden Spider I can’t say positively this is a Banded Garden Spider since I didn’t see its top side. It’s web was huge! I found this spider on the side of the house when I went over there to turn the wagon around for #1 Grandson. The Spider was in the middle of its orb shaped web which spanned from one side of the fence to the house wall on the the other side; over 4 ft!  The spider itself was about 2 inches long. Its head pointed down.

P52 39 of 52 Spider

#1 Grandson was fascinated with this spider so he kept going back to see it all afternoon.  Later we tried to identify it, and learn about them.  By the size and position of this spider I’d say it’s a female. I didn’t notice a male anywhere.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 macro lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…

Ginko Leaf Watercolor

Posted in Begin Painting, Fall Leaves, Ginko Tree, Painting, Photography, WatercolorTagged , , , , , 18 Comments

Copyright ©2015  Deborah M Zajac All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Laura at createarteveryday I have tried painting a couple of leaves. This Ginko leaf from my front yard I like well enough to share.

Cotman travel palette on Strathmore watercolor paper

IPhone5

More to come…

Unhappy folks on shore now! -The Sailor’s Consolation

Posted in PhotographyTagged , , , , 13 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

He-Man had a big Decade BIRTHDAY (60) this year; very early in the year he asked me to plan a trip for only him and I for this birthday. He didn’t want to drive…much, if at all, or have to think about what or where to eat, or go to be entertained, and he wanted to be in the place on his actual birthday.  I knew straight away he was talking about a Cruise. He adores cruising precisely because he doesn’t have to do any of the above mentioned things while on-board. I’m not that crazy about the “at sea days”. There are 4 on a 7 day cruise, and two, TWO formal nights! I tried, OH. SO. HARD. To get him to change his mind and do something else, but  none of my suggestions swayed him.

So, being the good wife, and friend  I hope I am I try to be;  I booked a 7 day cruise on the Navigator of the Seas in the Western Caribbean for his Big Birthday. We sailed on his Birthday. We sailed from a port new to us; Galveston, TX, and of the 3 ports of call it was going to one port/island was new to us.  Here’s He-Man enjoying our view from our balcony on Deck 7 on his birthday.

He-Man

This was our 4th cruise and 2nd time sailing on the Navigator of the Seas.  Our very first cruise back in 2008  was on the Navigator. She’s a grand ole’ ship.  (He-Man and my Brother-in-Law on the dock in Cozumel, MX 2008). In port that day was also the Carnival Legend. She sailed fairly close to us that trip.

Navigator of the Seas Forward in the Port of Cozumel

The Navigator of the Seas was built in 2002 in Finland. At that time she was the Fifth largest passenger ship at sea. She is part of Royal Caribbean’s “Voyager Class” of ships; at the time of her debut she was one of the first ships to have an ice skating rink, and the Royal Promanade which features, indoor pubs, lots of stores, cafes, and the Ships “Guest Services” desk where one can book excursions, and get answers to anything pertaining to the ship. There’s Mini Golf up on the 14th floor, a rock climbing wall, and back in 08 there was an incline skating track, but that has been replaced with the “FlowRider” which is a surf simulator.  Here’s an employee of Royal Caribbean riding it in between passengers. He was amazing at it, and made it look so easy! It’s NOT! No, I didn’t try it. 🙂

Flowrider

On Day 2 a “sea day” we had a storm which kept us indoors, but when the rain stopped we went up to Deck 11 and discovered a rainbow just off the Starboard side of the ship. (Hot Tubs)

I couldn’t resist going up to Deck 12 at night to photograph the Pool Deck-

Main Pool and Hot Tubs Deck 11 Navigator of the Seas

Deck 12

Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

to get another sense of her size here’s the Aft end docked in Roatan, Honduras with the Tourist vans out on the street waiting for tourists off the boat.

Navigator of the Seas Forward in the Port of Roatan

and one last image…a quick look at the Bridge before we sailed. Not quite as many gauges as an airplane in this view, but there are a lot of them not in the frame!

The Bridge Navigator of the Seas

Nikon Df, and Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film, and Lexar Professional Digital Film| CS6| Hand-held

More to come…

P52 36/52 Cannonball Flower

Posted in Flowers, Honduras, Lonely Trees, Photography, Plants, Project 52, Roatan, TravelTagged , , , , , , 11 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’m back from a great vacation. He-Man and I went on a Western Caribbean Cruise for his 60th Birthday.

One of the Ports of Call was Roatan, Honduras. We visited Gimbalimba Park while there and that’s where I was introduced to this amazing flower and tree.

P52 36 of 52: Canonball Tree FlowerThe tree grows to be 50-70ft tall, and produces fruit that are about the size and shape of cannonballs-hence it’s common name. Its proper name is Couroupita guianensis. 

The fruit is edible but, is smelly which puts people off of eating it, and after the fruit comes the flower.  The fruit grows directly from the trunk which is unusual. Unlike the fruit, the flowers smell wonderful, and are used to make perfume, and cosmetics. The Hard shell of the fruit is sometimes used for containers.

Canonball Tree -Couroupita guianensis

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 28-105mm micro lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…