I was pretty excited to see the Great Conjunction as I’m sure most of you were too, so I hoped for clear skies to be able to photograph it. On the 16th of December the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Saturn were fairly close to each other and it was a clear sky so I photographed it from my patio. It was cloudy all day but cleared pretty well but the wispy contrails and remaining clouds made the sky a bit more interesting. Can you spy the ski runs at Heavenly Ski Resort? X marks the spot.
Crescent Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn over the Carson Spur.
It was clear on Monday the 21st so I went out with my long lens to get a closer look at the conjunction. I had to crop it in for it to be a good look even at 400mm, but I was able to see 3 of Jupiter’s Moons too. The 3 tiny dots are the Moons.
Jupiter, 3 Moons, and Saturn. The Great Conjunction of 2020
Saturn’s rings are not defined which is disappointing, but I saw the Great Conjunction! Did you look for it?
I wish all those celebrating Christmas a very Merry Christmas, and those who aren’t I wish you a very Joyous Week!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 and Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.1
As I mentioned last week we were going to be treated to a Lighted Golf Cart Parade in my community by several neighbors that have their own golf carts.
It was a small but festive parade with just 6 golf carts. Myself and my neighbors waited outside in the cold for the parade to get to our end of the street. It was dark by the time they arrived. Here are a few images of the parade.
Here they come!
Santa!
…and quick as wink they were gone.
It was fun, and I hope they do it again next year!
I hope you’re all enjoying the Holiday lights and spirit of Christmas, and having a good week!
When ever I spy horseshoes the song I found a Horseshoe pops into my head.
I first learned the song when I was in 5th grade.
I don’t know who wrote it but its earliest known date is 1927. Have you heard it before? It goes like this-
“I found a horseshoe, I found a horseshoe, I picked it and nailed it to the door. And it was rusty and full of nail holes. Good luck twill bring to you for evermore.”
Fun fact: I have an old rusty full of nail holes horseshoe hanging over my front door. I’ve had one hanging over my door since the early 80’s. But I’m not superstitious or anything like that. Okay, I am a bit.🤪
Here are a couple of images I created for the Shooting for the Season’s course I’m taking.
Place setting-
Cozy dining table-
This week is lighting. I hope I can come up with a couple more creative and cute compositions for that!
Last week I went to Baby Girl’s for a few days and early one morning I had my morning tea on her deck, and had my camera handy. Out in the poison oak I spied a little bird so left my tea to cool on the deck and headed down to the field and sat on a little lichen covered rock and waited to see if the little bird would return to the poison oak bush. I didn’t have to wait too long.
It was a Ruby Crowned Kinglet Female.
Baby Girl and family are settling in nicely in their new home, and the boys love the space and freedom the land affords them, and number 1 Grandson is thrilled to be back in a live classroom making new friends, he likes his teacher, and he had a huge surprise on his first day in class. A classmate of his from last year has moved to the same town and is in his class! Small world!
It’s supposed to warm up today which will be nice since we’ve been having highs in the 50’s and lows in high teens lately.
I hope you’re all having a great week!
Nikon D810 w/ 50mm f/1.8G Nikkor lens and Fuji X-T3 w/ 100-400mm XF lens| PS CC 22.0.0
Did you hear about the new Comet that was discovered in March of this year? It’s called C/2020 F3 “Neowise”. Some…okay a lot of astronomers thought it would be burned up when it made its close encounter to the Sun, but a few thought it would make it past that, and we who were paying attention held our breath and waited and watched…
It made it past the sun! Two Comets I was watching this year didn’t make it past their close encounter with the Sun so this is huge!
On July 10th I rose at an UnGodly hour 4:00 A.M. brushed my teeth put on some pants and shoes and grabbed my gear then headed out not too far from home on foot to see if I could see this new Comet C/2020 F3 “Neowise”. I did not see it. I knew where to look so made 13 images around the area hoping my camera could see what I could not. IT DID NOT. I was too late. The Sun’s light was already hiding the Comet. I needed to get up earlier.
July 11th. I rose at 3:15am put some pants on, brushed my teeth, put on my shoes, and grabbed my gear bag and headed out the door on foot to my spot. My compass for the morning was Venus with Alderan under it and Capella off to the north of Venus. They would guide me to Comet C/2020 F3 ” Neowise”. I also took my binoculars just in case I couldn’t spot with my eyes. I located Capella with my binocs and began scanning the area below it where I knew the comet would be. THERE IT WAS! I did a little happy dance I won’t lie! There’s just something about the stars, planets, and comets that excites me.
I set up my camera and dialed in my exposer and hoped I was in focus. Focusing in the dark isn’t always easy.
Here’s my best frame from the morning.
As I was shooting there was a pack of Coyotes singing their song just up the trail and behind me just far enough away to keep me looking to my right. Greeting the morning or healding their catch of the night I don’t know, but they stirred up all the coyotes in the valley and kept me watching my right.
When I walked up the path toward the fence I needed to hop to get home I kept looking over my shoulder making sure the Coyotes weren’t following me! They’re sneaky those coyotes. In my head, I had this song. It’s my favorite Coyote song evah. And they go…
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