Tag: Landscapes

Whatever Weds. Birding with Friends

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, California Wildlife Reserves, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , 76 Comments

Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!

After having to postpone a trip to California to do some birding with friends 2 times due to weather I was finally able to cross the mountains and make that meetup last weekend.

We had a lovely day weather wise. It was sunny, not windy, and thankfully not muddy from all the rain and flooding the area had had.

On my way to meet the group I stopped at a refuge along the way just after daybreak to see if there were birds on the pond. There were hardly any but, oh, it was pretty.

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge Platform pond.

I wanted to drive the auto route to see what birds were in the other ponds but, every thing beyond the platform pond was closed due to flooding. I hung around for a bit hoping some more birds would fly in, but the birds that were flying overhead kept on flying…I wondered where they were headed since it wasn’t this lovely pond they were headed for? What was wrong with this pond?!!

I left to meet up with my friends at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge just up the road about 20 miles.

I took just over 700 hundred images but, after my first culling I have a smidge over 200 keepers, and quite a few of those are duplicates that will require a second culling to really hone it down and free up much needed disk space. That second culling is so hard. Do you find it as hard as I do to let go of those? I feel like I need those as back up images! It’s nuts I know especially as I have a two fold backup system in place for my images and yet…it’s so hard to let some of those duplicates go!

I’ve only processed two of my images so far. The top image in this post and this Red-Shouldered Hawk. I had to work so hard for its image. I was driving around the auto-route and this bird was on the passenger side of the road way up high at the top of this dead snag. I couldn’t see it from my seat. I had to reposition my car kinda kaddy wompass, and hope no one else came up behind me while Gordon a fellow blogger from https://undiscoverdimagesamongstus.wordpress.com/who was in the back seat and I photographed this bird.

I have a console between bucket seats in the front so I wasn’t able to slide over to get my camera out the window. Lemme tell ya this wasn’t an easy shot. I wanted to be where Gordon was… in the back seat just then. 😀 It was worth the effort though. Isn’t it handsome! fyi- We’re not allowed outside of our cars while on the auto-route. There are a few spots where we are but this spot wasn’t one of those.


Red-Shouldered Hawk

I don’t see this bird very often so I was very happy to get a decent image of it.

It was good birding but, there were fewer birds than have been at this refuge in past years at this time of year. I’m guessing they know something we don’t and maybe winter will be ending sooner than we think and the birds have been heading home to the north already. I hope that’s it anyway.

It was even better hanging out with dear friends while birding. I hope it’s not too long before we can get together again. We’re hoping for a February trip. Fingers crossed that happens!

I’ll be working on more images from this trip to share too but, if you know me it may be awhile before more images from this trip make it to the blog.

Oh, we have a big event in our family this week. Littlest will be 4 years old this week! Time flies! He’s still really into Dinosaurs, but he’s moving into the Superhero phase, and #1 Grandson has him into Pirates and Colonial American characters as well, but his birthday party theme is Legos! #1 Grandson got him into those as well. Aren’t big brothers the best!! 💗

Baby Girl sent this image of him with a couple of his birthday party decorations. He LOVES that Lego head…so does #1 Grandson! 😜

What’s happening in your life this week, any plans, events, or something new going on?

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 24.1.0

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Sunset Colors & Swirly Clouds

Posted in Landscapes, Mono Lake, Nature, Nikon, SunsetsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 52 Comments

Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I’m home from a long week-end of camping and photography with friends old and new. I’m still culling images, but here’s one from Mono Lake taken shortly after sunset. I was set up to shoot west but looking around I saw this cloud developing to the northeast so I turned my camera around and waited for this to unfold. This cloud formation and color were wonderful and a beautiful end to a fun day.

Mono Lake, Clouds, and Tufas. Friday April, 8, 2022

Nikon D810| 24-120mm@24mm| f/10| ISO 100| PS CC 23.2.2

more to come…

Whatever Weds. “You’re off to great places…

Posted in birding, Landscape Photography, Photography, Travel, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , 49 Comments

Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” ~Dr. Seuss

Mt Shasta seen from Lower Klamath NWR, Oregon

Happy Hump Day! I hope your week is going well.

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 23.2.2

Whatever Weds. More Fall Color

Posted in Fall Color, Fall Leaves, Landscape PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , 53 Comments

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’ve been out a few times since my last post photographing fall color. The trees are peaking in some areas and slowly turning in others, but this year is gorgeous compared to last year.

Here’s a look at Slide Mountain from a hill above the Carson River. The Cottonwoods lining the river are lovely in their autumn colors.

A little further up the road I stopped and got out of my car to look behind me. I had to walk back a ways to get this shot, but I think it was worth it.

The river is very low right now.

I signed myself up for still life Season’s course that started on Monday. I’ve been playing with tablescapes since. If I get a composition I love I’ll share. 😀

I hope you’re all having a good week and staying healthy, and busy.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 21.2.1

more to come…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Posted in PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 45 Comments

Copyright © 2018 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”- Walt Disney

Full Rainbow over Spooner Lake

I feel sort of discombobulated this year, and don’t really know what I’ll be blogging about regularly this year.  I’ve done a 52 weeks project for a number of years in a row. I’ve done one on macro, landscapes, this and that, birds, doors, and Wordless Wednesday… I might do one using just my LensBaby lenses this year. I haven’t done that before, and I do love my LensBaby even when it’s being stubborn and challenging.

I’m also not feeling very chatty of late. I hope that changes this year. Not that I’m going to be writing pages or anything! I know how precious your time is, and I don’t want to keep you too long or BORE you to death!  Hopefully my images are strong enough to carry the story without too much verbiage!  Oh Lord, I just thought about reading D. H. Lawrence and how verbose he was. UGH! Great writing, but oh so many words! 🙂

So, let me tell you about this image.  It’s a 10 frame panorama. I made these frames hand-held. I know BIG Faux pas. I even had my tripod! When don’t I?:)  But it was a drizzly stormy day. He-Man and I were in NV tidying up the new house and getting it ready to turn over to a Property Manager to put up for rent. Gordon of undiscoveredimages amoungus and his wife were in Lake Tahoe so, we met up at Spooner Lake hoping to do some night sky photography. Unfortunately, due to the rain and clouds we didn’t see the stars, but we did see this beautiful rainbow.

After photographing the lake for a bit I went up the rise where I made a dozen frames with the idea of stitching together a panorama.  Realizing there wasn’t going to be a night shoot I said my farewells to Gordon, his wife, and family, and went up the hill to meet He-man who had the car nice and warm.  We headed back to NV for dinner, and a cozy night in our house.

This was the first time I’ve been able to capture the whole rainbow in an image! There are several flaws with the image. Please don’t look too close.   One day I will apply myself to making the perfect panorama, but it wasn’t on this afternoon. 🙂

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Holiday, and have a wonderful, healthy, prosperous New Year! I really appreciate all the support and friendships I have made here and look forward to continuing our friendship, and reading your blogs, and maybe meeting up with some of you this year. You’re the BEST! xx

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm @ 105mm| f/10|ISO 500| SanDisk Digital Film| Hand-Held pano| 10 frames stitched with PS CC 2018

more to come…

 

Dawn over the 13th Fairway

Posted in Golf, Landscapes, Nevada, Photography, Pinenut Mountains, Sierra Nevada RangeTagged , , , , , , , 48 Comments

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I have news.  After a little over a year of looking for a house in Nevada with a view toward moving there when He-man retires we finally found one we liked enough to make an offer on.  There was a little counter offer negotiation which we all agreed to, so the offer was accepted. We started Escrow, inspections were done,  some minor repairs were needed,  negotiation over repairs were made and agreed to, and we closed on September 27th late in the day!

Our house’s backyard overlooks the 13th fairway of a golf course. I’ve read it’s Par 5 and Par 4. I think that depends on which tee you tee off of. This tee is a set up shot for the 14th tee which is supposed to be where the fun really begins on this course.  Neither He-Man or I golf, but we’ve enjoyed watching those that come by to play.

The main attraction for us besides the house with its nice layout, features, and location is the view. I really wanted a house with a great view for our retirement home so, as we get old-old;  as in the powers at be will have taken away our driver’s licenses and we are less active we will have lovely views of sunrise, sunsets, the night sky, and have a flat street to take a daily walk on.  I hope  I can still lift my camera to my eye and see through the viewfinder then!  This house checked all our boxes.  The house is only 3 yrs old, so it didn’t need a lot in repairs, and those it did need aren’t what would be considered major.  It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house and 2,031 sq. ft.  It’s a little bit bigger than our house here, but it doesn’t have a separate living room, or 4th bedroom like our current house, so it feels like we’re downsizing.

We gain a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, but I do wish it had a reach-in too just for He-Man. I could easily fill the walk-in with all my clothes! He-Man has his own closet now. I’d like to keep it that way. There’s an in the house laundry room; my laundry stuff is in the garage now,  double sinks in the Master bath, loads of cabinet space in the kitchen, and bathrooms,  a deep bathtub with whirlpool jets in the Master bath, and a view that I don’t think I’ll tire of. EVER!

I’ve been relying on the Realtor’s images of the house so, haven’t taken any of my own! Now, I’m kickin myself for that.  I didn’t even take a picture of the front door. (hangs head in shame) 😦

Naturally, the days we were there to close the loan, and finish up minor repairs the sky was clear, but Friday morning we got some clouds and a pretty Dawn. This is the view from the backyard patio. Actually that’s all it is to the backyard. Just a slab of cement making a patio.  It really is all about the view on this side of the street.

The valley is flanked by the Pinenut Mountains on the East, and The Sierra Nevada Range on the West. The Carson River meanders through this valley though you can’t see it from here.  I have a few more images from this patio I’ll be sharing.

Our plan is to rent it out for a year or two then make the move over. Getting the house is Step One. We’re undecided if we’ll sell our house here or rent it out for a bit. I guess we’ll decide after we find out if we can handle being Landlords. It’s our first time being one.  We hope it’s a positive experience.

When we left the house Friday knowing the Property Mgr is in control now to find a tenant we were very sad. Neither of us wanted to leave and come back to California.  That’s what’s new with me.  What’s new with you? What have I missed in the week I’ve been out of touch?

I’m a few days behind with reading your blogs, but I’ll catch up!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| San Disk Digital Film| PS CC 2017

more to come…

 

 

This and That

Posted in Hiking, iPhone 7 Plus, iphonegraphy, Photography, Santa Clara County, This and ThatTagged , , , , , , , 50 Comments

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I didn’t get out too much this past week-end unfortunately,  my original plan to shoot the night sky Saturday fell apart. So I had a Plan B, but that fell apart too. (sigh) Plan A got cancelled due to all the smoke in the air from the Detwiler Fire burning near and around Mariposa, and Yosemite NP.  As I write this 76,000 acres have burned.  Evacuation orders have been lifted in some areas, but Firefighters are saying it may take up to two more weeks for the fire to be fully extinguished.  It’s so sad!

Plan B was scuttled when a friend had to change plans, and I didn’t want to be alone so I stayed home and painted a bit.

Before all that happened my Archive Drive crashed Thursday and Saturday afternoon we were still recovering images and documents from our back-up drive, and cloud service. I can’t tell you how scary that is to think thousands of images made over the course of many years may be lost!  I’ve got them all back, but my external drive is full no doubt due to the huge 36mp files of the D810 so, we bought a new external drive which should be here this week. Then I’ll have my stuff backed up two places, have room to grow, and feel much, much better!

Saturday evening I pulled out an old book I have by Ferdinand Petrie, called Drawing Landscapes in Pencil and stayed up late to practice some drawing then I added some watercolor to it.  Wanna see? If you follow me on Instagram you’ve already seen this. 🙂

I had some new watercolor paper to try too. It’s by Legion papers called Stonehenge Aqua. I like it. There’s not much blooming or bleeding, and the colors look wonderful on it to me.  It’s got some tooth, but not as much as Arches cold press paper. I prefer the smoother hot press papers, so this paper just might be the perfect balance for me.

Ranch Watercolor

Sunday He-Man and I rose early to get on the trail early; we were extending our route and wanted to beat the heat. It was going to be in 90’s again Sunday. We were on the trail just before 7am.  There were quite a few cars already parked near the trail-head when we arrived.  A lot of others had the same idea to beat the heat and get an early start.  We parked at the bottom of the mountain, and planned to  hike up into Fremont Older an Open Space Preserve.

There are a few options to get up there; the most popular routes are:  take the road all the way up to stage 3 of the Parker Ranch Trail system and hike the rest the way up via the trail, or do what we did and walk along the road to Stage 1 of the trail, then you come out on the road again for a bit then catch Stage 2 which is the toughest bit with some switchbacks at an 8% grade.  I was huffin’ and puffin’ going up those. At the top of those you meet Stage 3 of the trail.  There are two sets of switchbacks on this part of the trail, but they aren’t nearly as steep as Stage 2’s.

When we crossed into Fremont Older Open Space Preserve we hiked up to the top of the Toyon Trail then turned around to head back. We altered our route on the way back by bypassing the Stage 2 part and chose a different section of the trail that meanders through an Oak grove, and you climb another steep hill to meet the road. We walked down the road to Stage 1 of the trail and  caught the road back to the car. Phew! Hope that makes sense! Here’s a screen shot of my route from my Garmin Edge 500.

Morning Hike Route Saratoga

He-Man’s not as fast as he was going downhill since his Patella Tendon ruptured nearly 3 yrs ago so, if my time looks slow…it is. When I’m heading down at my normal pace I get way ahead of him so, I turn around a go back until I see him. I get some extra steps that way too. 🙂

There was a lot of fog and, we’re getting some smoke from the fire up here. Here’s one image from the trail. I took this with my iPhone. I went gear light today.

View North from the trail

The faint peak in the fog and smoke on the right might be Mt. Diablo at  (3,889 feet (1,185 m)) high.  The highest hilltop on the left is Hunter’s Point in Fremont Older Open Space Preserve.

We hiked 4.34 miles,  gained 827 ft in elevation, and were back in the car headed home by 8:55am! Not too bad.

We spent the afternoon looking at Loveseats, and bought two. Our current two are really beat up and have needed replacing for over a year, but with a 4 yr old at home we put it off for as long as we could stand it.  Now we’re excited for the new ones to arrive!

That was my week-end. I hope you all had a lovely week-end and got to have a bit of fun, and relax so you’re ready for the week ahead.  I hope it’s a great week for us all!

iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 2017

more to come…