Tag: Monochrome Madness2

Monochrome Madness 2 29/52 Peek-a-Boo!

Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Nikon Gear, Yellow-rumped WarblerTagged , , , , , , , 18 Comments

Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MM2 29 of 52 Peek a Boo!

A shy Yellow-rumped Warbler that was so adorable! Taken while out birding last Saturday morning.

I think my old 300mm f4 is having auto-focus issues again. It has quit auto-focusing a few times lately, so I switched to my D700 camera to test the lens verses camera since my D300s is also long in the tooth I need to go through the process of elimination to be sure it’s the lens and not the camera. While shooting last Saturday my lens stopped auto-focusing, and suddenly my camera settings switched from f5.6 to f22! I turned the camera off and on again and all was well the rest of the morning. That’s a pretty good indication that it’s my lens. It’s pretty old now and was sent in to Nikon in January for auto-focus issues. I’m afraid it may be ready to go back for repairs again. Sadly, it’s not under warranty anymore. Sigh.  Reality check! It may be time for a new lens.

My D300s’ flash doesn’t pop up anymore either, and it’s getting near 60,000 shutter clicks. I think it’s rated for 100K.  My poor gear. I treat it really well, but use it a lot. I may have to retire my D300s too.  That makes me a little sad. They’ve been such good company, and a huge part of my life for many years. Time to start saving big time for their replacements! 🙂

To see the other images posted for this week’s Monochrome Madness2 visit Leanne Cole’s site here.

Nikon 700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| SanDisk Pro Extreme Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro| Tripod

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 28/52 Mono Lake Tufas

Posted in Black and White Photography, Eastern Sierras, Mono Lake, Monochrome Madness2, TufasTagged , , , , 7 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Monochrome Madness 2 28 of 52 Tufas South Mono Lake Area

This week’s MM2 arrived really fast!  I’ve selected another image from my week-end in the Eastern Sierras and Mono Lake.

I made this image while waiting for sunset.

To see all the images submitted to this week’s Monochrome Madness 2 click here.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2: 27/52 Country

Posted in Black and White Photography, Fort Point National Park, Forts, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Monochrome Madness2, US National ParksTagged , , , , , , 10 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

We return to Monochrome Madness 2 this week with Theme Week.  The Theme is Country.  I was torn between; Country a nation, or Country rural. In the end I went Literal (no surprise there right) 🙂

My image is from Fort Point National Park in San Francisco, CA. which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

MM2 27 of 52 Country

The view is looking North across the “Gate”. You see both the South and North Towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, and in the foreground some of the 3 tier casements of Fort Point, and on the top tier some of the old Cannon Foundations, and watch tower.

For the History Buffs

In 1851 the War Department got busy planning to build a Fort(s) on the Pacific Coast. Priority was to build a Fort at San Francisco’s Gateway because the Military considered it a High Priority and Key to the Pacific Coast.

Construction began on Fort Point in 1853, but completion of the Fort was delayed due to the cost, and complexity of the building’s multi-storied tiers of arched casements. The fort needed to be strong enough to withstand the strong storms of the Pacific.  The building is made of walls 7 feet thick, and has the multi-tiered casement construction typical of Third System forts.  There were 30+ forts of this type on the East Coast, but this was the only one built of this type on the West Coast.

Third System forts were planned after the war of 1812; they combined high walls, heavy masonry, and classified as Third System, as a grade of structural integrity.

When Fort Point was completed to its top tier (barbette) it could accommodate 90 cannons which weren’t yet installed.

In 1861 war was looming on the East Coast so the Army mounted  55 guns at the fort, and the first garrison and defenses were ordered.

Fort Point never had to fire its guns during the Civil War, and the Confederate Army never launched an attack on the Bay.

For further reading about the Fort’s Post-Civil War History to Present day click here.

I believe the flag is flying at Half Staff to honor the victims in Roseburg, OR.

To see all the images that were shared for the Theme Country  click Leanne Cole Monochrome Madness 2.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 26/52 Urban

Posted in Black and White Photography, Domes, Monochrome Madness2, San Jose California, UrbanTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

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

Last week was our Themed Week over at Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2, but I didn’t post my image because I was out of the country without internet. So, here’s my contribution a little late.

The Theme was  Urban so I pulled an image I taken earlier in the year of my cities somewhat new City Hall Dome with some of our other city buildings in the background.

For the History buffs-

“City Hall of San Jose at 200 East Santa Clara Street is the center of the government of the city of San Jose, California. The building was designed by Richard Meier, and opened to the public on 15 October 2005, replacing the former City Hall complex civic center located on North First Street, which was used from 1958 until 2005. From 1889 to 1958 the city hall was located in what is now Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San José.

The architect was Richard Meier, designer of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain and numerous other buildings around the world. The architectural style is most influenced by that of Le Corbusier. The US382 million facility has been somewhat controversial,[citation needed] however the building was designed to be environmentally friendly, making use of natural light, and providing shading with brise soleils on the tower.

The complex is large, with the 18 story tower totaling 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2) . The mayor’s office is located in the top floor of the tower, with the rotunda serving as an entrance and council chambers located in the third building.

The city hall tower is home to a peregrine falcon named Clara, and her current tiercel, named “Esteban Colbert” afterStephen Colbert, of whom San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is said to be a fan.[4] The original falcons, named Jose and Clara after the city and Santa Clara County produced three offspring, named Spirit, Hiko, and Esperanza. In 2008, Clara and her then-mate Carlos had three chicks, Cielo and Meyye, both girls,and Mercury, a boy.[4]” ~WIKI-PEDIA 

The Dome reminds me of Lick Observatory which stands atop Mount Hamilton in East San Jose, CA.

MM2 26 of 52 Urban

Our hostess is on holiday so we’re taking a break from MM2, but we’ll resume on Oct. 7th.  In the meantime if you have time click on over to Leanne’s MM2/26 page HERE to see what else was contributed last week.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 16mm FishEye lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro

More to come…

MM2 25/52: Chasing Ligthning

Posted in Black and White Photography, Lassen National Park, Lightning, Monochrome Madness2, US National ParksTagged , , , , , , 15 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Several weeks back several photographer friends and I spent the week-end in Lassen National Park hoping to making images of the Night Sky. Unfortunately, as the shadows of the day grew longer the clouds got thicker. They made the sunset lovely, but foiled are hopes of night imaging.

We photographed the Sunset at Lake Helen image here  then we walked back to the car and on the way we saw Lightning! That’s a BIG DEAL for me and my friends because, we rarely see lightning where we live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It wasn’t bolt to the ground, or is it ground to sky lightning bolts? It was the type Eric our mid-westerner in the group called “cloud to cloud” lightning.

It was behind the mountains and lighting up the clouds so, instead of packing up we set up to photograph the lightning.

After 10 minutes or so shooting it we decided to get higher to see if we could see Bolts and try to capture that.

It was quite dark by now, and we still hadn’t seen any Bolts, just the sky lighting up. This image is one image I made of the sky being lit up by a strike of Lightning.

Chasing Lightning in Lassen National Park

While we were shooting the rain started, so we packed up and moved to the other side of the lake hoping to get in a few more images since it was only sprinkling.

Lightning Summit Lake Lassen National Park

I had just got set up to start shooting when the sky opened up and the rain started pouring down. I managed to get this one image of the sky lighting up from lightning then we packed up and raced to the car all of us and our gear wet, but thrilled to have seen lightning.

Heads-up!

Next week my MM2 image will be posted on Leanne’s page, but not on my own until the following week. I’ll be offline next week.

I’ll be back online Sept. 6th, and catching up with all I missed while offline.

If you have time please click over to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness2 post here to see all the images that were shared this week.

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 24/52 Low Tide in Moss Landing

Posted in California Coastal Cities, Landscape Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Moss LandingTagged , , , 4 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MM2 24 of 52 Moss Landing Low Tide

My contribution to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 this week is an image I made a month ago or so.  There wasn’t much happening bird wise so, I switched lenses, and my mind-set to Landscape imaging.  I always carry a wide angle lens for this reason. I was packing light this week and carried my 24mm f/2.8 af-d Nikkor lens which fits in the palm of my hand. I love how small and light-weight it is, it’s just not as sharp in the corners as I wish it to be. The new lens that replaces this lens is bigger, and heavier so, I’ve not jumped on it. I just don’t want to carry the weight.

I am thinking about the new 20mm f/1.8 lens though! I may splurge on it. Time will tell. 🙂 Do any of you have this lens yet? What do you think?

There are some really talented photographer’s contributing to Leanne’s Monochrome Madness 2 each week. You can check it out here!

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Developed in Photoshop CS6 & Nik Silver Efex Pro

Monochrome Madness 2 23/52 1901 Trestle Bridge

Posted in California, Monochrome Madness2, Railroad, Railroad Bridges, Siskiyou County, Trestle BridgesTagged , , , , 2 Comments

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I made this image last week-end while on the way home from Lassen National Park.

Monochrome Madness 2 23 of 52 1901 Trestle Bridge

To get to this old railroad bridge one must hike along the tracks, or the side of them for a mile+.
There is heavy vegetation on both sides of the bridge so getting an image of the under side wasn’t possible.

Sacramento River Bridge (Siskiyou County, California)
Built 1901
Pin-connected Pratt through truss bridge over Sacramento River on Union Pacific Railroad~Bridgehunter.com

Since the trestle is so old I thought I’d develop this image with an old/vintage film look. I think it works.

If you have time check out Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2! There are so many talented photographers posting weekly.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film

More to come…