Copyright ©2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Category: Travel
“I feel the sense of possibilities, I feel the wrench of hard realities, The focus is sharp in the city.”~ Rush
"I feel the sense of possibilities, I feel the wrench of hard realities, The focus is sharp in the city."~ Rush, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.
Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac All Rights Reserved
About 2.5 years ago I saw my Flickr contact MattyD90’s photo from this spot and have had it on my "Bucket List" since.
See his photo here:
www.flickr.com/photos/53734358@N08/5280329228/lightbox/
About two weeks ago I asked my friend Dali if he’d want to shoot it and/or scout out the area if we didn’t beat the fog. As it turned out we did not beat the fog, but we found our shooting location. Dali emailed me yesterday that the conditions for shooting this shot were favorable and asked if I was free. Luckily I was free.There was a little atmosphere (read fog) in the air, but it didn’t block the view.
I only took two lenses with me the 24-70, and the 18mm f3.5 AI-S. I realized while shooting it that having a tighter view would be something I want to shoot as well, and
I want to shoot it on a perfectly clear night so it remains on the "Bucket List".
Nikon D700| Nikkor 24-70@ 70mm| f14| 30seconds| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Center weighted| Tripod
Tufted Puffin-Adult Summer
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Puffin in the wild! I went on a Birding trip out to the Farallon Islands 27 miles outside of San Francisco in the Pacific Ocean. We weren’t allowed on the island-only Biologists are allowed on the island, but we cruised all around them and then we went out to deeper water from there. Along the way we saw 3 Tufted Puffin.
There are only 50 pairs of Tufted Puffin nesting on the Islands at this time, but there thousands of gulls, Common Murre’s, lots of Cormorants, seals, sea lions, and one lone Gannet. In deeper water we saw Hump Back whales, and a Blue Whale too.
I saw so many new birds on the trip, and the one bird I hoped to see was the Tufted Puffin. I went home a happy sailor just seeing one. I hoped I got one good shot.
The weather was overcast, and to get the shutter speed I needed I really pushed the ISO. Shooting from the boat was challenging. I would focus on a bird then the boat would go up or down and my focus point was off. I didn’t start to get the rhythm of the sea til near the end of the day, and then there wasn’t much to see as we were pushing hard to get back.
We were out at sea for nearly 9 hours. I went with Alvaro’s Adventures out of Half Moon Bay. I would definitely go again.
Alvaro is a Biologist, and he had two expert birders along for the tour. One was on the starboard side calling out birds and mammals, and the other on the Port side doing the same. I don’t think we missed anything flying or swimming on our route.
I’ve not been able to spend much time online lately. #1 Grandson is very busy and takes all my attention these days. I’m looking at your photos when I can and I’ll catch up soon!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 280mm| f9| 1/1000s| ISO 1250| Manual priority| Matrix Metering| Hand-held
Related articles
- Bird of the Week: Tufted Puffin (valleybirder.wordpress.com)
Sunrise Lake Tahoe Nevada
Sunrise Lake Tahoe Nevada, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.
Via Flickr:
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved
I mentioned that I only had one full day to spend with Jackie so I left home the evening of the 5th and arrived at Jackie’s vacation Condo about 11PM.
Jackie showed me the bedroom I’d have, then a quick tour around the condo. It was a lovely condo. My bedroom was spacious, and I had a bathroom to myself. We chatted for sometime on the deck while taking photos of the stars then we called it a day because I wanted to rise early to get the sunrise on the lake.
Sunrise is really early here at this time of year so, I set my alarm for 4AM.
I slept in a bit, but we made it out the door and to our destination in plenty of time for sunrise.
The sky was pretty flat, but we did get some nice pinks, and light on the distant Sierra Mountain Range.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35mm| Singh Ray Graduated Neutral Density Filter| Induro Tripod| Markins Q20 ball-head
Clark’s Nutcracker
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
My friend Jackie had thought to take or purchased bird food to lure birds to her deck while on vacation in Lake Tahoe.
She had been feeding them all week; throwing bird food loaded with peanuts,seeds, and berries on the decking, setting it on the railing, and tossing some to the roof top below the deck.
By the time I arrived the birds to my delight were coming really close to us to get the food. I think we spent 2 hours on the deck photographing the Stellar Jays, and Pygmy Nuthatches.
Just as I was getting ready to quit shooting and get ready for our excursion around the lake this bird flew to the top of a farther Douglas Fir I think. It’s not a bird I’d ever seen before. I thought it was a Thrasher at first by its bill, but KUDO’s to Jackie who identified the bird when she got home to New Jersey as a Clark’s Nutcracker.
It’s taking flight off the tree in the photo above. I’m glad I got this shot because it shows more wing and tail detail than my earlier shots of it just sitting and surveying the landscape in the photos below.
Here’s another photo of a Pygmy Nuthatch with a bug or something in its bill.
Here’s a snapshot of Jackie and I in late afternoon light hanging around the shore waiting for Golden Hour and Sunset.
Nikon D300s, and D700 w/Nikkor 300mm f4, and 17-35mm.
Related articles
- Pygmy Nuthatch (circadianreflections.wordpress.com)
Polaris over the Charcoal Kilns Death Valley National Monument
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
A year or two ago I saw my friend Rick Whitacre’s photograph of the Charcoal Kilns with Star-trails and loved it so much I hoped to photograph it myself on my next trip to Death Valley. The first two nights of my recent visit to Death Valley National Monument I had clouds or partial cloudy skies, but the last night the sky was clear so He-Man and I headed to the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns so I could make a photograph of the kilns with star-trails.
He-Man and I drove out the Charcoal Kilns arriving just before sunset. I got my gear out and started planning and plotting my composition. Once I found my composition I started thinking about lighting the kiln doors. I went inside several of the kilns to check out the size of the opening, and where the best place to stand might be. I’m glad we arrived here while it was light enough to see inside each kiln. If I had arrived in the dark I would have been a little apprehensive about critters sleeping inside the kilns, but they were empty. On a side note: They’re huge inside!
He-Man was going to light the doors for me so we did a timed test-run to see if he would be able to get all the doors lit in one 2 minute exposure. I had purchased a Brinkman light (thanks Marsha for the model info!) I also brought my Rogue Gels along to use to change the light from white to an orange-yellow to look like there was fire in the kilns, but when it got dark enough to start shooting we did another trail run using the light, and it wasn’t quite as bright as I had hoped for. Thinking that might happen I also packed my Nikon SB600 Speedlight. I taught He-Man how to set the flash off then we did another trial run. Loving what I saw using the Speedlight I made my final test shots for my star trails then set up my Intervelometer to begin my series.
It was quite a bit cooler up here than it was down in the valley so I needed my jacket before I wrapped up for the night. There was a Hoot Owl in the trees behind me softly hooting, and there were crickets chirping, but no other sounds. He-Man had gone to the car to read and wait for me. It was peaceful. I found my “happy place” here.
Thank you He-Man for lighting each door so well and for going with me! I’m really happy with this photo.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@17mm| f4| 30 frames stacked in CS6| 121 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod
A couple of my friends have also traveled to Death Valley and made their own photo here please take a look!
Phil McGrew- Startrails over Wildrose Kilns
For the History Buffs-
Wildrose Charcoal Kilns
“In 1877 construction on the kilns was completed. The produced charcoal that was used as fuel for two silver-lead smelters that George Hearst had in the Argus Range 25 miles away. The kilns operated until 1878 when the Argus mines shut down.
There are 10 kilns which stand 25ft tall, and have an approximate circumference of 30ft. Each kiln held 42 cords of pinyon pine logs, and would burn for a week producing 2,000 bushels of charcoal.” ~Digital Desert.com http://digital-desert.com/death-valley-history/wildrose-kilns.html
Ebb and Flow
Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
It’s time to head to the coast! My friend Dali and I headed up Hwy 1 to look for a nice spot to photograph the Golden Hour and Sunset. You can’t go wrong driving Hwy 1. There are hundreds of beautiful beaches to see.
Here’s last night’s Golden Hour. The tide was rising. I loved watching the ebbing tide drape/cascade over these rocks. The Golden Hour really brought out the red in the rocks as well.
It was pretty, and very relaxing listening to the pounding surf.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 18mm f3.5 AI-S| f16| 3.0sec| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod| B+W 6 Stop ND|
Circadianreflections Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.