Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The last bridge to the stars perhaps?
Nikon D810| Nikkor 18mm f/3.5 Ais| PS CC 21.2.1| Single Frame
more to come…
Wordless Weds. Perseids and the Milky Way
Wordless Weds. Things that caught my eye on an early morning walk up to the gate
Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A Wild Cotton-tailed Bunny
Sunlight through the Sprinkler mist
Black-eyed Susans in a neighbor’s yard
A Hot Air Balloon rising above the valley
and, a curious Blue-eyed Darner …
Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Photoshop CC 21.2.1
more to come…
Whatever Weds. Stargazing
Copyright © 2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I went out Saturday night to shoot the Milky Way and Comet C/2020 F3 “Neowise”. It was a gorgeous night with perfect weather for it. I’ve only got one image ready to share.
Here’s the Milky Way with Jupiter the brightest planet to the left of the Milky Way and little bitty Saturn to left of it.
I used my old Legacy Nikon 18mm f/3.5 Ais manual focus lens for this shoot. I light-painted the log and grass in the foreground, but this lens is so bright it picked up the light spill from the setting Moon in the background too. I forgot it was this bright, and I love the colors it renders. It’s going to live in my bag for the rest of the summer.
In other news, I’m just about out of memory on this desktop computer so we’ve bought a new faster one with more memory. I think we’re installing and transferring all my programs to it tomorrow. If all goes well I’ll be online checking out your blogs as usual and replying to any comments after that, but if not…I’ll be back when I can! Wish us luck!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 18mm f/3.5Ais| 25seconds| ISO 3200| Manual Mode| Single Frame processed in PS CC 21.2.1
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends- Woodpeckers
Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This week for Lisa’s Bird Weekly Challenge is Woodpeckers, Sapsuckers, and/or Flickers
I’ve been saving that White-headed Woodpecker I told you about back in May. This Woodpecker is a “lifer” for me or was back in April when I quickly saw it but didn’t get a good image of one until May. This is the Male. You can tell by the red patch on the back of its head. I’m right on the edge of their “year-round” range so with any luck I’ll see one again.
He-Man and I went down to Baby Girls on Wednesday and spent the night and yesterday when we came home we brought #1 Grandson home with us. It’s so nice having him here for a visit. The boys across the street were so excited to see him and him them. They ask about him all the time and once in a while if the timing is right they talk via FaceTime. They spent the whole evening outside playing and riding their scooters enjoying the perfect summer evening weather.
This week-end we’ve got plans to see his other set of Grandparents, and his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins who live here. They’re excited to see each other and play together too. We’re having a picnic today. Although I’m not sure how long we’ll last outside. It’s supposed to be 93° today.
I’ll be catching with your blogs soon!
I hope you all have a great week-end and if you’ve got time and interest head on over to Lisa’s Bird Weekly page to see what kinds of woodpeckers, sapsuckers, and flickers others have seen and shared.
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm lens| PS CC 21.2
more to come…
Whatever Weds.- O’Dark Thirty
Copyright © 2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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…
Who yip , who yip, who…
Nikon D810| Nikkor 180mm F/2.8| CS PP 21.2
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends- Blue
Copyright © 2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This week for Lisa’s Bird Weekly Challenge she’s asked us to share Feathers of Blue. Here are a few I’ve taken so far this year.
Great Blue Heron in Flight-
Western Bluebird-Male
and a Scrub Jay-
I’m off hiking in the high country looking for wildflowers, and butterflies today. I hope you all have a lovely Friday and week-end! I’ll catch up with you when I get home.
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 21.2
To see what other Feathers of Blue people are sharing click here.
more to come…
Whatever Weds. This and That
Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL Rights Reserved
How are you all doing? I’ve been out making pictures, seeing nature, my Baby Girl, grandboys, and our Big Baby Boy came up to visit. We hadn’t seen him in person since January 4th when we parted ways at the Reno airport for our transfers from our return trip from London. It was grand seeing him. We all missed him very much.
I’ve been making lots and lots of pictures, but I’m in a slump processing them. I’m not very motivated to do it lately which is why I’m posting less, painting more.
Here are two I have processed from recent photography outings, and some of you who follow me on Instagram know I’ve been taking two architecture sketching in ink and watercolor courses online. Well, I’ll show you the final project from one of those courses too. Here we go!
July 4th’s almost Full Moonrise from my patio- rising over the Pinenut Mountains
Monday (this week) a girlfriend and I went out to the wilderness in separate cars to see the Wild Mustangs and there are lots and lots of new foals, fillies, and ponies! Here is one of the cuties I saw.
I never did determine if it was male or female, but here it was resting under the protection of its mother’s chest and head whom you don’t see. It’s so cute!
What’s blooming in my yard? Not a whole lot, but there are Day Lilys! I don’t have any idea about its name. John Hric do you? They were planted and doing well when we bought the house so left them. I love them.
…and my Final Project of one of the watercolor courses. This took me all day and 3 times totally erasing it all and starting over. Drawing is so hard for me! I did learn more about how to “see” and draw perspective though. I hope one day it really clicks and I can actually draw without having to start over so many times. Like sewing, I think it requires an engineering brain. That’s not me. At. All!
We had a choice to paint the same building the instructor painted or choose a building from your own town. I chose a building from one of my images from the capital of my new home state of Nevada. This is the St. Charles Hotel and Fox Brewery Pub in downtown Carson City, not my town, but it’s not too far away. It’s a Historic Landmark which some of you who have been following me a while might remember when I posted about it here in August 2019 for Thursday Doors. My lampposts and buildings are wonky. I can’t draw a straight line to save my life. I really wish all the teachers and instructors wouldn’t take away my ruler! 
…and here’s my image of the St Charles Hotel/Fox Brew Pub from 2019.
You can see I took artistic license and simplified the scene.
Current news: Three fires started simultaneously Monday evening just about 25 miles south of us just outside Gardnerville, NV so, we’re keeping a close eye on those. We’re hoping they all stay out in the uninhabited BLM land. At the time of this writing, it’s now spread to 10,000 acres, destroyed one house, and 10 outbuildings and has 0 containment. Winds are still pretty good from the west which isn’t good. We’ve been under a Red Flag high wind advisory conditions since Monday afternoon. The firefighters have been concentrating on saving the 350+ homes out there. I could see the flames from my patio Monday evening and from along Hwy 395 tonight. It’s awful. My neighbor who is a retired firefighter says 3 fires don’t start at the same time naturally and suspects it’s arson. They’ve named it the #numbersfire. Right now they’re so busy trying to knock them down that they’re saying the cause is unknown. We had a wildfire in this same area the week before last that burned up a whole lot a of acres! Our thoughts are with those who have been evacuated, and those who are out in the thick of it fighting the fires.
We had dinner tonight with #1 Grandson’s other Grandparents at their house who also live in this town. OH MY GOSH! It was so great to see them and catch up in person! It’s been months and months since we’ve seen them. We figured we’re all still healthy, and we’re all keeping our circle of who we actually get close too really tight so let’s do it. It was so good to be normal! We’re going to see them again only we’re hosting next time. 😀
So, that just about catches you up with me. What’s been happening with you?
Fuji X-T3 & Nikon D810| PS CC 21.2| DaVinci Watercolor paint in the Scratchmadejournal curated palette| Canson 140lb cold press watercolor paper|DaVinci Artissmo and Pentel water brushes
more to come…
