Tag: Nikon

Gray Flycatcher

Posted in birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flycatcher, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went birding on both Saturday and Sunday this past week-end hoping to find two birds I’d never seen or photographed before. I got lucky with really good looks on the first bird on my list: The Gray Flycatcher.  A “lifer” for me!

Gray Flycatcher

There were other birders there looking for the same bird which made the experience more fun and exciting. It also helped to have several pairs of eyes, and ears on the lookout.

Gray flycatcher

It’s migrating south, and this one is further west than it’s regular migration route.

Gray Flycatcher

He was pretty far away from me, and in the shadows of the trees so I boosted my ISO to keep up my shutter speed to prevent blurring, and these images are cropped.

Sunday I went back to look for the second bird on my list, but I was not successful.  I’ll have another go this week-end if I hear it’s still in the area.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Tripod|

Note to self- take the bug spray! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes!

More to come…

 

Draw-a-Bird Day Anna’s Hummingbird

Posted in Anna's Hummingbird, Art, Bird Art, Create Art Everyday, Fine Art, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , 34 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

How neat that Draw-a-Bird Day falls on Mother’s Day in the US this month. I hope all Mothers everywhere have a wonderful day!

For this month’s Draw-a-Bird Day I painted an Anna’s Hummingbird.

Watercolor- Anna's Hummingbird

Not without much trial and error though. This is my 4th attempt. The first 3 have been shredded.  I couldn’t get the proportion right; it was too short, too fat, too long, or too thin.

After talking to Myriam  about my trials with it she asked me if I had used a ruler or my grid? I hadn’t.  On this last try I used the ole pencil ruler trick and got a lot closer to what I wanted in terms of size and proportion.  Thank you Myriam!

I’ve been following watercolor artist Alan Owen on Youtube for quite awhile, and he always adds a matte board frame to his piece on completion, and the work that looked great before the matte frame looks more like art with it. I tucked that thought away to get some matte boards.  Lately fellow blogger Jodi over at lifeinbetween.me  has been adding a matte board frame to the work she shares and it just looks terrific. I went over  to the art store early this week and finally bought a few to see how my bird watercolor pieces look.  I like the way it looks. It dresses it up. 🙂  He-Man said I need to get frames now and hang them. We’ll see.

My muse for this Anna’s Hummingbird is an image I made in March this year.

Anna's Hummingbird Female perched on a branch

Myriam thought it would make a wonderful subject for a drawing or painting. I think so too.

This is part of Draw-a-Bird Day over at Laura’s Createartevery.com . To see all the bird art posted today click here.  Scroll down to the comments to see the links to all the posts shared this month. 

To read the original story of how Draw-a-Bird Day got started click here

Images- Nikon Df| Delkin Digital Film| Nikkor 105mm & 200-500mm lenses| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Thursday Doors 18/52 Historic Alviso Revisited

Posted in Alviso CA, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Doors, Nature, Photography, Santa Clara County, Shorebirds, Thursday Doors, Urban DecayTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went out to Alviso, CA this past week to look for a Little Stint which is a shorebird, and very rare to this area.  I didn’t see the Little Stint unfortunately, but  I did see a neat rusty, and sagging door at the old Bayside Canning Company. This Canning Company has been closed since 1936.  I blogged a little about the Canning Co. & town here.

Rusty Door- Photography

The city is letting the buildings decay, and they are currently being used by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. 

The Little Stint has been hanging around the Western Sandpipers, and I did see some that were close to me. Sadly the Little Stint wasn’t hanging out with this group.

Western Sandpipers- Photography

There are deck walkways that take you right across the top of the marsh and you leave

the deck via a  facade like doorway to the levy’s that surround the ponds. You can walk around these or just gaze at the view.   Back in September 2009 I happened to be there early in the evening for Golden Hour; it was gorgeous.

Alviso Golden Hour Fall 2009

Top two images- Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

Bottom Image- Nikon D90| Nikkor 70-300mm VR| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 2015

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors.  If you love doors and would like to see the doors others are posting, or post doors you’ve photographed and join other door lovers from around the world click here.

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links, or add your own.

More to come…

 

 

 

Happy May Day!

Posted in California Wildflowers, Diablo Mountain Range, Macro Photography, May Day, Photography, Santa Clara County, SunflowersTagged , , , , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I don’t have a May lily to share today, but I do have a sunny Narrow-leaf Mule’s ear. I made this image up in the mountains above Santa Clara Valley last Sunday evening.

Lensbaby w/soft focus optic- Flower

I hope you’re all having a wonderful May Day, and week-end.

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/soft focus optic + 8mm macro converter| Delkin Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

Killdeer

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Photography, ShorebirdsTagged , , , , , , 15 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Killdeer-

The Killdeer is a year round resident in California, and gets its name from the shrill, wailing kill-deer call it makes.  I love their big eyes.

Killdeer_ Photography

Happy Earth Day!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015|

More to come…

Thursday Doors 16/52 Guest Rooms: Hearst Castle

Posted in California State Parks, Doors, Hearst Castle, Photography, Thursday Doors, Travel and TourismTagged , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

In W.R. Hearst’s heyday  of the 20’s and 30’s he would invite many of Hollywood elite to “come to the Ranch and ride with me.”  Some of the famous who stayed there are:

Winston Churchill, Howard Hughes, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Mary Pickford, David Niven, and Jean Harlow but, many more influential and famous people stayed there as well.

Hearst had rules that must be followed or you’d be asked to leave. Our guide said if you were asked to leave you weren’t invited back!

The Rules: “No drunkenness, no bad language or off-color jokes and, above all, no sexual intercourse between unmarried couples.”

Unmarried couples had to stay in a room with two beds. Each room had a bathroom.

On our tour of the upper floors we saw several of these lavish guest rooms.

Guest Rm II Door

Guest Room Door-Hearst Castle_Photography

Guest Room door detail

Hearst Castle Guest Room Door detail-Photography

Guest Room II- A dinner suit laid out for a guest on the bed as it would have been in the 20’s and 30’s.  Hearst did serve beer, and wine our guide told us, but it wasn’t allowed in the guest rooms, and neither was food.

Hearst Castle Guest Room_Photography

Guest Room Door III

Hearst Castle-Guest Room Door

Guest Room III- these rooms were off a narrow hallway on the north side of the Castle. We climbed a very narrow circular staircase to reach them. The windows of the guest rooms faced East.  The artwork, and lamps, and furnishings were gorgeous.

Hearst Castle Guest Room

The separate sleeping beds for unmarried couples was a bit hypocritical of Hearst considering he lived in the Castle with his long time Mistress Hollywood actress, and ex-showgirl Marion Davies.

This door was in the North Bell Tower .

Door in Heart Castle's Bell Tower

Nikon Df| Nikkor 24-70mm| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2015| Hand-held

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors.  If you love doors and would like to see the doors others are posting, or post doors you’ve photographed and join other door lovers from around the world click here.

At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links, or add your own.

More to come…

 

 

 

 

Yellow

Posted in Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flowers, Macro Photography, Photography, ToysTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 30 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A little bit of this and that to share today. While developing images I discovered all the images I was selecting to work on had a theme; the color Yellow.  Perhaps it’s because it has been quite nice, warm, and sunny here the last few days? I don’t know, but Yellow just feels good doesn’t it.

I took this image earlier in the year.  Male Western Meadowlark

Western MeadowLark: Male Photography

A Margarite Daisy blossom I think.

Flower- Yellow_Photography

Toys in the Sandbox

Toys in the Sandbox-Yellow_Photography

Matilija Poppy

Flower Matilija Poppy_Macro Photography

Protea from the Australian Garden in Santa Cruz, CA

Protea_Macro Photography

I hope there’s some sunshine in your life today!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm, & LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft focus Optic + 8mm macro converter|Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…