Our resident Lizard

Copyright © 2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This Lizard and one more live in our backyard.  I think they’re Western Fence Lizards and this one is a female because I’m not seeing bright blue at her throat or belly, but I’m not positive.  The coloring and scales match the description, but… I’m guessing; nothing else in my book even comes close to matching our backyard lizards.

They like to bask in the sun on the warm cement bricks of our garden borders and retaining wall.

This one came right up to the end of the border next to the sliding glass door the other day. Luckily I had my camera nearby.  We’ve named her Lizzy the Lizard.

Western Fence Lizard

 

Daughter came home with a bug on Wednesday, and #1 Grandson came down with it yesterday.  I’ve had a dull headache and no appetite all Thursday.  I fear I’m next! That could seriously wreck my photography plans this week-end. 😦  I’m hoping it’s just the change in the barometer (it dropped) affecting me and not the bug.  It’s been really gray, overcast, and a bit chilly.  There was rain in the forecast yesterday, but it never did rain.

I hope you all have a wonderful week-end, and stay healthy!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4 @8| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2017

more to come…

 

 

 

Flowers and Knee Update

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

While taking it easy and resting my knee from last Fridays fall while hiking I’ve been going through flower images from this Spring, and having a lot of fun photographing the bouquets my daughter and I received for our birthdays, and Mother’s Day.

I took one big blossom…I’m not sure what it is; a Dahlia? Anyway, I took it out in backyard and stuck it in my little Asters one afternoon and photographed it with my LensBaby Composer Pro and Soft Focus Optic.

Flower with LensBaby

I love this swirly blur!

My knee is still tender, and a little swollen, but the limp is nearly gone.  It’s time to go to the fabric store to find a knee patch for my hiking pants.  I haven’t had a knee patch since I was a girl, but I hate to give up a favorite pair of hiking pants for a little rip in the knee.

I also signed up for two online watercolor classes. I’m previewing the classes now so I can purchase any materials I don’t have but will need, and have a look at what I’ve taken on. I’m planning to do these during summer so will start them in June.  One class is on birds, and the other landscapes.

Big Baby Boy and his Dark Haired Beauty are coming home for the long week-end.  We’re going to have Baby Girl’s Birthday Dinner since we missed that this year because she and #1 Grandson were on vacation.  I’m pretty sure she’s chosen Mexican food, and we’re planning to BBQ on Monday. He-Man bought Tri-tip and burgers.

I’m off to get my photography, and art stuff put away and tidy up the retreat for Big Baby Boy, and Dark Haired Beauty then do the rest of the grocery shopping for the week-end.  I’ll be mostly offline over the week-end, but will catch up with you all next week!

I wish you all a wonderful, and safe week-end!

Nikon D810| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic @f/5.6| Hoodman Digital Film|PS CC 2017

More to come…

Arizona Sunflower and more

Copyright © 2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I took my D810 mounted with my LensBaby Composer Pro out for a walk looking for flowers in the neighborhood the other day.   I put the Soft Focus Optic in the Composer along with the 16mm macro adapter; here’s a few images from that walk.

Arizona Sunflower at f/2- I love that blur!

Arizona Sun Flower

Artichoke f/2

Artichoke

a Rose f/4- I wanted to get a bit more in focus so stopped it down a stop.

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

It looks like my LensBaby will get along fine with the D810.

I’m off for a “ladies  long week-end” with a good friend. We plan to hike in the mountains by a lake, and do a lot of photography. I hope the sky is clear so we can photograph the stars at least one night.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end. I’ll catch up when I return.

More to come…

Wordless Wednesday 20/52 In the garden with Pharaoh and Amun

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Amen in the form of a Ram protecting Pharaoh

Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Gear Talk

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Nikon is having a sale or instant rebates going on right now. Several of the high end Prosumer Cameras are in this sale. Some are bundled with lenses, and all come with some freebies to sweeten the deal.  Nikon comes out with new cameras every 2-4 yrs.  It normally is 2+ years, but there are sometimes set backs which push out the dates.

I jumped on the sale and picked up a Nikon D810. The tech inside the camera is 3 yrs old so, I’m sure there’s some kinda wonderful new camera coming down the pipe later this year, but for me this camera is a huge jump up in tech. It will replace my 6+ year old D700.  There’s still a lot of life left in the D700, but she has been my wildlife camera since my D300s’ auto focus motor went out.

It wasn’t worth the price to fix the D300s so, the D700 is what I have been using.  It has 12.3 MP and cropping in on little birds has been limited.  Stepping up the D810 with its 36MP I’ll have room to crop heavily and not lose resolution, and for landscapes, macro, and studio work the images will contain all sorts of lovely details that will be wonderful when making big prints.

As you might imagine I’ve been photographing things with the new camera testing it out since it arrived on Tuesday. I’ve been tweaking it; getting the buttons and dials, and features set up the way I like them.  Here’s a look at some of what I’ve been photographing last week.

Thursday night’s sunset at Lake Vasona. Nikon D810 + 50mm f/1.8G

High Pass resize Vasona Dusk

I spent all day shooting with friends on Saturday at San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and other venues.  The garden was awash in color! Nikon D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

Fill the Frame

3 Garden Arches D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

3 Arched Trellis'

A Bird of Paradise in the Garden at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

Bird of Paradise

…and Mother’s Day Sunset at Lake Vasona using the 35mm f/1.8G lens my children gave me for my Birthday/Mother’s Day.  I’ve have wanted this lens since it came out several years ago. I sold my old 35mm f/2D lens about the time this lens came out with the intention of buying the new lens, but I never did

get one. There was always something else that I needed to have so couldn’t afford it.  I am thrilled and so blessed to have been gifted this lens. D810 + Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G micro

Vasona Lake Sunset Mother's Day

I really love how quiet the shutter is on the camera, and it’s a bit lighter than my D700. The grip is deeper which is nice when holding it, and the buttons are laid out perfectly for my hands.  A couple of buttons have been moved to new places on this camera and I’m getting used to that, but overall I’m really happy with this purchase. I think it’s going to be a pretty great all-around camera which will give my trusty Df a break, and retire my D700.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G & 50mm f/1.8G | Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

2017 National Train Day

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Since Dan over at No Facilities   blog reminded his followers about National Train Day last year I have been looking for trains to photograph and saving them up for future National Train Day Posts.  This year I’d like to share a little Red Engine that I’ve been saving since last September.

Some friends and I spent 3 days on Route 66.  Our base was in Barstow, California.  Not far from Barstow, CA is the Ghost town of Calico, CA.  We spent an afternoon and evening there.  For the History Buffs I’ve gleaned some information from Wikipedia about the Ghost Town, and the railroad that once operated there.

It was once a bustling mining town. “It was founded in 1881 which is when the largest silver strike was found in California. Over a 12 year span, Calico has 500 mines which produced over $20 million in silver ore. Unfortunately Calico lost it population in the mid-1890s because silver lost its value. “~Wikipedia

In the 1950’s Walter Knott bought Calico and restored it as a Living Museum. He restored the architecture to look like it did in the 1880’s.  Several of the original buildings and railroad equipment were moved to Knotts Berry Farm’s “ghost town” exhibit, but most of it remains in the town.  The Calico Ghost Town is now part of San Bernadino’s County Regional Park System.

We missed the train actually running but I did grab a shot of the little red engine.

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

“The Calico & Odessa Railroad is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge[1] heritage railroad in the ghost town of Calico, California, headquartered in Yermo, California. It was named for the town and mountain range of Calico and the nearby Odessa Canyon.[2]

It is a remake of the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Waterloo Mining Railroad, the original narrow gauge railroad line that hauled silver ore (and later borax) from Calico to the mills of Daggett in the 1880s, although the present-day tracks do not follow the trackbed of the original one.”~ Wikipedia

I hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

 

 

 

Thursday Doors Vintage Wood Stove

Copyright © 2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I haven’t been posting door(s) weekly on Thursday Doors, but I’ve been photographing interesting doors at every opportunity. 🙂

I spied this vintage wood stove at Daffodil Hill Farm in mid March when I went up to photograph the Daffodils in bloom.  I love the rust, and decorations on it.  I have no idea how old or what brand it is.  It does say 1870 above the top set of doors, but that could only mean it’s when the company was founded.

The Daffodil in bloom just offset of the stove was placed perfectly for this composition I thought.

Vintage Wood Stove Doors

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 to view all the posts, and add your own if you’re a door enthusiast too.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…