Sunset on the Pond

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I spent the day  with friends in Merced County birding in the wildlife refuges near there. It was a great day of birding, and I’ll be sharing the birds I photographed in the near future, but today I wanted to share the lovely sunset we had on the pond.

Sunset on the Pond

Nikon Df| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8g @f/16| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017 & On1 Photo 10.5

More to come…

Thursday Doors 52/52

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Here it is my last week of my Project 52.  I thought I’d end with some doors that I have wanted to post since making the images, but there have been issues that have caused me to put them in a “failed” Door image folder. What issues you may be wondering?  Poles, wires, people, and other stuff that obstruct or mar the door image I hoped to make. The bane of most photographers everywhere.

I thought hoped I might be able to “content aware” this man out of this image I made while at Legoland earlier this year.  Not happening with my meager Photoshop skill set.  I would also need to add some canvas at the top to give the flag pole more space. That I can do!

Legoland Red Door

So, I moved a bit closer and photographed the door. Then I had lens flare.  I could just crop that out later. (rolling eyes) I really wanted to show both the door and the whole building which I thought was pretty neat. I just wanted to show sans people.  BTW: It’s one of the places you can buy something eat in Legoland.

Why not just wait until it’s clear of people you might ask? I waited several minutes, but #1 Grandson. 🙂  The reflection in the door’s window is kinda nice. I should have just gone for that. Door Fail! Red Door Legoland CA

While birding in northeastern California’s Pacific Flyway I spotted a church steeple while driving on the freeway and asked my friend if we could take a side trip to check it out because, Thursday Doors!

The church is Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Maxwell, CA. Here’s the original image.

It’s crooked, and there are both poles and wires in front and across it! I really wanted that cool partial reflection of the bell tower too.  I thought I’d try again to “content aware” out the pole and wires.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Maxwell CA

Always hopeful…but after straightening the horizon, removing the wires, and trying OH. SO. MANY. TIMES. to clone out the pole on the left side of the building I gave up and filed the image in the “failed doors” folder.  I should have just stuck with the reflections. Again.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Maxwell CA

For the History Buffs: Here’s a bit of history I found on the church’s website:

“Father Michael Wallrath established Sacred Heart Church in Maxwell as a mission in 1881. In 1911, Sacred Heart became a parish with missions in Williams (Church of the Annunciation, founded in 1892), in Stonyford (St. Mary of the Mountain, founded in 1896, and Arbuckle (Holy Cross, founded in 1899).
In 1917, a new church was built on its present day location at the corner of Elm and Olive Street in Maxwell.
Sacred Heart Parish has families consisting of two major ethic groups (English and Spanish speaking).”http://sacredheart-maxwell.org/our-beginings

Here are the Doors closer up.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Maxwell CA

This final door…I didn’t even think about cloning out the people. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it after my failures with the top two images.  I wish we had more time to shop in this store not to mention stand around waiting for a clear shot of the door. 🙂 Century 21 Department store… formerly River Savings Bank East.  I haven’t done any research on this door or building’s history, but the door is so unique and TALL!  I do like the sense of scale the people add to the image.

Century 21 Store side door

This wraps up my Project 52 of Thursday Doors, but I’ll still be posting doors in the year to come. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the theme, meeting new bloggers, and consider several friends now. Thank you Norm for hosting this fun, addicting, and often times interesting subject.

Until the next “doorscursion” have a wonderful, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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 17-35mm| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Sunset Blues

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

After a day of birding my friends and I closed the day watching the sun dip behind the mountains from the far side of a pond. It was lovely.

Sunset Blues

Nikon Df| Nikkor 17-35mm @35mm| Delkin Digital Film| Tripod| PS CC 2017 & LR CC

More to come…

 

After Dark…

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went out with one of my photography groups to do a little night photography Saturday evening.

After the sun went down Middle Harbor Shoreline’s park security drove by announcing the park was closed it was time to leave so, several of us headed to another park that stayed opened a few hours longer.  This is one image I made while waiting for the Crescent Moon to sink lower into the city skyline.

Bay Bridge East Span Pedestrian Bicycle Path

What you’re looking at is the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge East Span Pedestrian-Bicycle path in front, mid ground are the tops of the Bay Bridge, and behind that are the two new high rises in the process of being built. The tallest is the new Salesforce Tower. It will be the tallest building in San Francisco, and will be the second tallest building west of the Mississippi when complete.  At its completion it will stand 1,070 ft (326 m) tall and be the center piece of the Transbay Transit Center in downtown San Francisco.

The Wilshire Grand Center building located in Los Angeles is the tallest skyscraper in California.

The other skyscraper you see with cranes is going to be the new Transbay Tower…I think.

Someone let me know if I’m wrong please.

Over on the right by itself is the Trans America Building; a shining beacon in the night.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 80-200mm| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC2017

More to come…

Rice Silos of Central Valley

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS  RESERVED

While in Central Valley CA. a couple of weeks ago birding I also made a point of stopping to photograph these silos in the late afternoon light.

Rice Silos Central California

I’m  enamored with silos and the reflection was particularly nice at this time of day.

It was the tail end of the Rice harvest while I was there, and there were harvesters in the fields, and many semi-trucks driving to the Silos to deliver their loads.

In the shadow  under the Silos there’s a semi, and its driver who spied me and my girl-friend making images of the silos…he scooted behind his rig. There really was no need though. I could barely see him with my eyes! 🙂

I hope you all have a lovely week-end!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 17-35mm| Delkin Digital Film

More to come…

 

 

Twilight Clear Lake

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

An evening on the lake from my Grebe trip earlier this month.

Clear Lake

Nikon Df| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8g| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Thursday Doors 21/52 5th & 35th Manhattan, NY

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

For this week’s Thursday Door post I’d like to share one of the first doors I photographed while in Manhattan last week.

We (my sisters & I), were having a tea break after a long day of sightseeing when I spotted this set of doors.

I loved the green portico with dark wood, and gold accessories. What I love most after uploading it was finding the reflections of my sisters in the glass!

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, or add your own.

More to come…