New Moon, Venus, and a Very Faint Jupiter + 1 More

Copyright ©2105 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I didn’t venture too far for this image; just down the street. In hindsight I should have sought higher ground. Venus was setting fast and if I had been higher I might have been able to photograph longer ,so that Jupiter would have been brighter. Live and learn!

New Moon Venus and a Faint Jupiter

I do like the way the Moon looks, and am pleased I didn’t blow it out. 🙂

Jupiter is that teeny tiny white dot above and to the right of Venus which is the bright star next to the New Moon.

Nikon Df| AF-D 105mm f2.8@ f/10| 0.3sec| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Manual Focus| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

+ 1 More…

He-Man and I have been hiking every week-end together since his Dr. and Therapist gave him the okay after he ruptured his Patella Tendon and had surgery last November.  He’s really come a long way.

Today he was up for hiking the steepest, and longest hike since he was given the okay.

We gained about 1000 ft in elevation and hiked just about 5 miles. Here are several images I made along the hike.

All were taken with my iPhone 5 and developed in Photoshop CS6

Hiker’s Foe…Poison Oak

Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Mexican Elderberry

Mexican Elderberry

Rain Clouds in the Southeast….Rain Clouds

<Moffett Field Historic Hangers

Moffett Field Hangers from the trail

An unidentified wildflower…or not

Unidentified Flower

Garrod Pond…when we take #1 Grandson on Pony Rides it’s at this stable, and pond that the guides walk him. I love seeing how excited he is walking the Ponies around this pond looking at birds/  in the trees for birds, and looking for ducks in the pond. His Mother says I am influencing his interests.  I can’t say I’m totally innocent or sans motive! If I am able to influence him to love nature, an his environment then I think I can take a back seat and let the young lead.

Garrod Pond and Vineyard from the Trail

I OT: I  offer no excuses I love being a Grandma, and I’m really glad that I’m able to keep hiking,  moving my legs, and hope that I am able to for many years  to come!  I hear the secret to living a long happy, active life is keeping the legs moving.

I am going to try my best to keep moving…uphill!  The reward is going home down hill all the way baby! 🙂

More to come…

P52 20/52: Checkermallow

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Checkermallow

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm w/ Canon Close-Up Lens 500D| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film|

More to come…

Spring Clover

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Clover

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer w/Soft Focus Optic @f/4 and 16mm  Macro Converter| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 and Perfect Effects Suite 9.5

More to come…

Wild Yarrow Café

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Throw out the blanket, or find a nice rock in the shade, then relax and let the perfumed breeze fill your senses with the sweet scent of Spring.

Yarrow in the Meadow

I took the above image a couple of weeks ago while hiking in Calero County Park in South San Jose, CA.  I and several other photographers hiked 5.5 miles and spent 6 hours photographing wildflowers.

Here’s another one from that day…

Triteleia Laxa- or it’s common name Ithuriel’s spear. This is the first time I’ve seen this wildflower, and I found it again in Sunol, CA last Saturday!

Wildflower

A friend and I went for an easy hike in  Sunol Regional Wilderness Saturday morning and we found these tiny mushrooms.

Fungi

…and nearby along the creek where it pooled up a bit we found this lovely little bouquet of Spreading Fleabane…

Spreading Fleabane

I used my Lensbaby Composer Pro with Soft Focus Optic at f/4 for all the images, and for the mushrooms, and Triteleia Laxa I also used the 16mm Macro Converter.  For the two landscape images I used the Wide Angle Attachment all mounted to my Nikon Df.

On this last image of the Spreading Fleabane I really like the swirling background and how much it reminds me of the Petzval Lenses.

I hope you find time to enjoy Spring this week!

More to come…

P52-18/52: Yellow Lupine

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

P52 18 of 52- Yellow Lupine

The more I use my LensBaby Composer Pro the more I love it.  Don’t you love that soft creamy Bokeh?

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic @f/4, and Telephoto Lens Attachment| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Developed in Photoshop CS6

More to come…

MM2:7- Wild Rose and the Bee

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I dug into my earlier 2015 Hiking files for the weekly contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2. Nothing I made images of this week worked out well in Monochrome/Black & White.  I’m so glad we have the option of color today because for me somethings just don’t work as well in Black and White. 🙂

MM2-7  Wild Rose and Bee

Check out the other wonderful contributions to this week’s Monochrome Madness2 here.

Panasonic DMC-FZ200| @ 108mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Hand-held| Santa Clara County

Harbinger of Spring

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Lupines!

Harbinger of Spring

They are one of the first wildflowers to show up in Spring.  There were still good fields of them on Table Mountain the day I was there. The Goldfields were largely spent already.

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro II w/Soft Focus Optic| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film|developed in Adobe Photoshop CS6

More to come…