“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I’m a bit late posting my Project 52 image for this week, but I spent the week-end in Lakeport, CA with good friends. This is an image I made while birding at Clear Lake State Park. I can’t resist Teasel, thistles, and Flowers! 🙂
I can’t wait to show you the Clark’s Grebes doing the Courtship Dance that I observed there!
Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm + Tamron 1.4x TC| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6
More to come…
Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
It’s officially Spring! The Wildflowers are popping up all over, and the bees are busy at work.
I made this image yesterday while on a Wildflower Hike on Table Mountain in Butte County, CA.
Here’s one of my favorite poems about Bees by Mary Oliver. My favorite Nature Poet.
Hum
What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that’s all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They’re small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them — haven’t you? —
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered — so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn’t anything in this world I don’t
admire. If there is, I don’t know what it is. I
haven’t met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It’s not hard, it’s in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it’s love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.~Mary Oliver, Sacred Poems
Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm f2.8 Micro lens| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film
More to come…
Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Early one recent morning I took a walk around the neighborhood looking for flowers to photograph. I found a few patches of Gaillardia. I love the cone in the center with all that texture, and the bright colored pedals. 
I spent a lot of time with these flowers. I shot it from several different angles, getting closer,
and closer,
This is my new favorite flower! I like it so much I’m going to purchase some and plant them in my yard, and hope they survive. I don’t have a green thumb.
Have a great week-end everyone!
Nikon Df| AF Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 micro| Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film
Developed with CS6, Nik Viveza 2, and Nik Color Efex Pro 4
Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Butterfly Iris (Moraea iridioides) Thank you Barbara for the ID!xx
All flowers were taken with a rented Nikon Df in the last golden light of day, before the sun slipped behind the Santa Cruz Mountain Range.
Initial thoughts it is so quiet, and very light weight compared to my D700, and D300s. Image quality seems fine, the colors are really nice and seem right on. I didn’t need to correct anything in ACR for this image. Finding the shutter button is a bit challenging now. It’s not where my finger naturally is going due to the smaller size of the body I’m sure.
Spanish Lavender
Gaillardia Arizona Sun…I think.
I’m looking forward to spending time with this camera and trying my favorite lenses on it.
Nikon Df| AF Nikkor 105 mm micro lens | Manual Priority|Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
I’ve just returned from Oregon. I was on a birding expedition with some friends who are also photographers. We spent a couple of days in the Klamath Basin looking for Clark and/or Western Grebes doing their Spring mating ceremony and dance or what the Scientist call “rushing”. We were successful finding them as well as several other birds; some familiar and others new, and it was neat to see many birds I know and see only when they Winter near me in and the Pacific Flyway in their Spring Breeding plumage.
Yesterday morning I was following this male Robin around trying to take his photo when he caught up with the female and I happened to press the shutter catching them “in medias res”.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mm f2.8 + 20eIII TC =600mm| f8| 1/1600s| ISO1600|Manual Priority|
Tripod| American Robin
The call of the Mourning Dove is soft, and low. I hear it on and off all day long. Years ago this pair flew into my backyard and tried setting up house in a hanging flower basket I have on the patio. I shooed them away the first couple of years and they set up a nest in the eaves. They are stubborn tenacious little things, and after years of trying to shoo them out of my basket I caved in a let them stay a few years ago. I never look for their return but return they do and always to this basket.
They arrived this year just before the arrival of my new camera accessory the Wimberley Sidekick(2/14/2011). When it came in I decided to get some practice with it taking the pictures of the two Squatters Doves living on my patio.
Yesterday(3/11/2011) I noticed there was only one Dove in the nest and she wasn’t making sorties. I said to myself, ” When she leaves I’ll have to look to see if there are any eggs in there.”
Late this afternoon I noticed she was gone so I grabbed a ladder and my camera to have a look. I was thrilled to find not eggs but 2 chicks in the nest!
I have no idea how long ago they hatched. I’ve not heard a peep! They look fairly new and I’m sure they can’t fly. The female has been gone for a few hours now. It’s getting dark and chilly. I hope she returns soon!
I’m in Mother mode now checking out the window to see if she’s returned and I’ll be watching their growth and progress now until they fly out of the nest.
“Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment. Ellis Peters”
All Photos Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph by:Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
…flowers, longer days, new beginnings, and baby birds.
A friend called me yesterday to tell me his mother had found a Hummingbird nest in her rose bush while pruning it. He invited me over to photograph the nest which has an egg, and perhaps get the mama bird in flight.
Of course I couldn’t resist. It was thrilling to see how tiny the nest and egg are. To get her landing in the nest was the cherry on top of an already pretty good day.
Here she is coming back to the nest! This was thrilling. I wasn’t even sure I got the shot until today when I uploaded them.
First I saw this…
Photograph by:Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Then she sat on her egg never taking her eye off me.
Photograph by:Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
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