Capturing "Our" Blue Heron

This huge bird has been hanging out in our north field for months now, and for months I have been trying to get an in-focus photograph of it. I saw him out there as I drove in from work this afternoon, so I raced into the house to grab my camera. I carefully checked *all 3* of my settings, hooked up the gorillapod and used it to attach the camera with zoom lens to a fencepost to stabilize it and started shooting. Woo hoo! Success!

I got a couple shots of him posing for me and then he started stalking. Have you ever seen a heron hunt? It is a wonderful study in patience and guile. There he goes...



He pounces! Unfortunately for him, he comes up empty.



Almost right away he began stalking again, so I hung around.



He pounced again. Honestly, they move almost too quickly to watch.



This time he came up with something. Yesterday I watched him catch a rat, but today's catch wasn't quite so dramatic. Probably a shrew or a mouse, judging by the size of it.



He worked it for a few seconds,



... and then it was gone.



It was all over so quickly! This whole episode took about 1 minute.

A Day of Mistakes

I had such high hopes for today's photos! I have been wanting to photograph this tiny church in Silverton since we began, but the weather has not been cooperative. Today was a clear and lovely sunny day and I knew I would be out walking this morning, so I took my camera to work again just for the sake of getting these pictures.

So, we've been doing this for twenty days now and I've gotten a little cocky... Yeah, I know how to set my camera, LOL. Sigh... it turns out that the tricky part is *remembering* to set your camera when working in the manual modes. Arghhhh!

I DID remember to set the white balance for this photo, but I forgot to reset the ISO from the indoor shot I took yesterday. So, all of today's pictures, taken outside on a bright sunny day, are loaded with digital noise.

Another problem with this first shot is the fact that it was taken at exactly the wrong time of day. The late winter rising sun was right in my face and throws off the whole view. I need to go back there and try again at sunset.



Just for fun I took a shot looking up at the steeple. Now this one I am satisfied with!



I will go back again another day and try again. I have always loved this little building.

A Work-in-Progress Doll

Today's photo is of a doll I am trying to finish up. I like to take digital photos of my works in progress to give me a more objective view of what I'm doing. The 2-D image helps me see details that need attention that I don't notice on the real thing.



This girl's hair is just pinned on -- it will look MUCH better when it is attached for real, but I didn't want to photograph her in her bald state. I wanted to get a better view of how her dress is fitting though, and whether or not her expression suits me.

I'm pretty happy with her so far.

Celebration

I attended a formal banquet last night (in a fabulous new dress, which made what would otherwise have been a tedious evening MUCH more fun.) Unfortunately, most of my photos contain underage subjects and I do not have permission to post their photos.

So instead, I give you a different glimpse of the festivities. Imagine, if you will, Kool & the Gang playing "Celebration" in the background.



My new Gorillapod got quite a workout in the dim light. The right tools make photography SO much easier!

An Icicle, Oregon-Style

Our fog has finally lifted today. I went out to look for something to photograph in the morning light and found this little bead of moisture left from fog freezing to the fence wire, partially melting, and re-freezing. Not very impressive as far as icicles go, is it?

Fog over Silver Creek

Today was our 8th day in a row of pea soup fog... apparently we are having a weather pattern where the cold and damp is being held in place by a layer of warmer air above it. HOW I wish that were the other way around, LOL.

This is Silver Creek as seen from the walking park behind the library where I work. That bridge is only about 50 yards from where I was standing to take this photo and yet it is barely visible. It's kind of cool to see how objects in the distance appear almost as layers in a collage.

And by now you know that I can't resist attempting an intersting macro. The point of focus for this photo didn't land *quite* where I wanted it, but I still like the image. Those "stalks" of moss are about half an inch long. Not bad for an older point-and-shoot!

Something a little different

Before she died, my Mom was sending me heirloom family photographs to digitize. It has been a while... perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask my Dad to continue sending me batches to play with...

This is a high quality scan of a photo of my paternal Grandfather as a young man posing on his farm in Eastern Wisconsin back in the early 30's. One of my favorite things to do with old photos is to closely examine the details -- check out that car! And the chickens.



This is my digital repair. I cloned out the age spots and fold marks and reintroduced a higher level of contrast. Seriously... Photoshop is the most addictive fun. I must have made half a dozen versions of this photo so far, each a little different.





Some day I hope to make a scrapbook of these photos. When I get a little spare time, LOL!

A Favorite Thing

I don't do houseplants.

(There. I said it. To the dismay of my female friends and relatives, all of whom have luscious displays of indoor foliage, I refuse to keep houseplants because my indoor thumb is, alas, black. If you knew how many plants have suffered gruesome and prolonged deaths at my hands, you would understand why I feel like... well, not a murderess, because I don't do it *on purpose*, but... I don't deserve to be in charge of a life form of this type.)

Except this faithful Christmas Cactus. Heaven knows it has tried to die, but I usually remember to water it in time. Do you think the fairy wind chimes are looking after it?



And even after suffering a level of neglect that would break MY heart, it is putting out blooms for me this year.



It desperately needs repotting, but then... what else would I put in this pot?? I LOVE this pot -- I can't take it out of my window.

The Grass is Greener

It's not just Solomon -- they all do this. You would swear they never got fed!

The grass will be back in the spring, in the meantime...




I'm just glad they aren't the type to challenge fences. If they were cows they would be OUTA THERE, LOL.

Unexpected in the Morning

I glanced out my kitchen window this morning and just happened to see our resident blue heron hanging out in the North field. I grabbed my camera (thinking all the time how lucky I was that I still had the zoom lens attached) and as I went out the door I was just in time to see him fly off behind the big barn. I headed to the barn and walked up the hay alley to see if I could find him on the other side, but darn it! he was gone.

I turned around to head back to the house.

To my surprise, as I stood there looking back up the alley I found a few things to see, and decided to put some of my new knowledge of the manual controls on my camera to the test. This is a very challenging setting -- the only light in the barn is natural daylight, and the openings to the outside make for horrible backlighting if you can't block them out of your photo.

Jake and his Dad were working on a cow with a sore foot. She was quite grateful for the relief when they were finished, but at the time she was not a happy camper...

My presence was NOT helping, so I left them alone. As I continued to walk, the steam from these cows' breath caught my eye. (I should have used a slower shutter speed for this image, but I didn't have my tripod with me. Thank goodness for Photoshop -- I used Elements v6.0 to lighten the shadows just a little, tone down the glaring highlights, and bump down the midtone contrast. I think I might go back in and try to increase the color saturation as well...)


This last one is my favorite for today. The tractor and feedwagon were blocking just enough of the light coming in through the door to keep the backlighting down and make an interesting image. I used a commercial action called "sharp shot color pop" from EZActions to finish. The difference between this image and the unedited photo is subtle, but very effective.


I'd love it if anyone following this challenge would share some of their favorite Photoshop toys and techniques. There is so much to play with out there!

The Moon Almost Full

I took these Friday evening, the night before the full moon. Last night's full moon was invisible behind heavy clouds. Not so much as a glow to show where it was shining.

They are mostly an exercise in photography for me, as these images can be found in almost any astronomy book, and are a little ho-hum. I found some tips here that show how to capture an image of the moon that shows up as more than merely a glowing disk of light in a photo. Who knew that you needed to use ISO 100 at night?? I used a 300mm zoom lens, f/11, 1/400 shutter speed to shoot this photo. It is unedited except for cropping. (If you click to get the full size image, along the lower edge you can see the shadows cast by the craters... I can't imagine how huge they must be to show so much texture.)



I took this next one before I remembered to use the zoom. I am always amazed at how small the moon really is in the sky -- it just *seems* so much bigger than this!


Some of the sites I googled recommend shooting at phases other than full for more interesting photographs. I may try that if we ever get another clear moonlit night. That's asking kind of a lot in this place at this time of year!

Rosy Sunset Light

Some days when the sun sets, the sky turns a beautiful rose pink, fading to gold with a faint hint of green at the horizon. It is very beautiful.

This 150 year old church is a landmark that can be seen for miles in any direction. It is about 3 miles East of where I was standing to shoot this photo. The 300mm zoom lens I used on my camera makes it look much closer, doesn't it?



Looking West a few minutes later, Mt. Hood glows in the reflected light of the same pink and gold sunset. Look at all that snow! (Compare this photo to the same view shot last November.)



Did you know that tonight is the largest full moon of the year? If the clouds clear up I am going to try to get a photo of the moonrise.

Take-Your-Camera-to-Work Day

It isn't raining or stormy today for a change, and I knew I would have to run some errands at work today, so I took along my camera just to see what I would see on my walk.

This massive old oak tree fell victim to last week's big wind storm. You don't really get a sense of the scale of the thing in this photo -- that trunk is a good 6 or 7 feet across! Can you believe something this huge could fall down and cause no damage except for a lot of debris that had to be picked up?



I never noticed this manhole cover before. I have walked that sidewalk a hundred times...



You know you live in a damp climate when even the moss grows ferns!



More moss and some lichen on a garden rock. (This is not either a macro. It's just a close up... )



Oh, how I love this gate. An artist in our area specializes in wrought iron architectural details. Isn't he amazing? I wish I could afford a piece of his work. This gate leads to...



... this balcony. Silver Creek is running *very* high these days, due to the unusually heavy rainfall we are having, as well as some heavy snow melt up in the mountains.



And back to the Library. I included this shot just because I was so happy to catch a glimpse of truly blue sky. It is almost as good as medicine to see such a sky at this time of year.

January 8 Photo A Day

The weather has warmed up significantly here after the arctic blast we had just before Christmas. Perhaps my "Tropicana" rose thinks it's spring? Alas, it is still too frosty in the mornings for this bud to have a chance to mature.



OK, tomorrow... no macros!

It is much too stormy to take my camera outside today...

... so I decided to look around my house for a macro shot like those Sue has been taking.

Our local high school dance team is entering into the State portion of their competition cycle. My daughter is the senior captain of the team, and so they asked me to shoot the team photo for the State program. These talented dancers are used to following directions as a group, so it didn't take me long to get them lined up...



... but they were so stiff. C'mon girls... lighten up!

(There is nothing to compare to 15 teenage girls given permission to be silly to create a relaxed atmosphere.)



Ahhhh... that's better.



The lighting in the room was absolutely horrible -- dark, with a mix of regular and fluorescent bulbs. Notice the different colors of the wall? That is not the way it looks in real life, but I don't have enough skill to correct it. I am just relieved and glad that the photos turned out so well. It really helps to have such pretty girls as subjects to start with, LOL!

Please don't feel obligated to comment on every one of these photos. I know I won't have time to do it every day, though I have committed to looking as well as posting throughout the month.

I couldn't decide...

... which photo to post today, so I picked my favorites of today's bunch. Each one has something going for it, and each one has a problem. Sigh... Low light situations are my biggest challenge -- I HATE using flash, but it's so hard to get everything into clear focus without it.

This little heifer was born so fast that even Jake missed the birth. (Darn it -- too late again!) The mom knew what to do though, and all is well. I wouldn't climb down into the maternity pen to take a picture of just any calf, but this mom is a calm cow, and once she gave me a good look-over, she ignored me and let me get on with my pictures.



Awwwwwww, mom!



Hello world!



And, by popular request, a full body picture of our wild white heifer.

Injured Bird

I don't know what happened to this little starling. I didn't attempt to touch him, but I easily could have -- I've never seen one this close before! This photo was taken within a foot of where he was sitting in the grass under a tree. He wasn't happy with my presence, but he made no move to fly away. (Double-click on the photo to bring up the full sized image. Look at all the colors in his feathers!)

As a rule I detest starlings, but it's hard not to feel sorry for an individual injured creature.

If you are following along with our challenge you will notice that I have added 2 new participants to our list on the right sidebar. We have seen so many different images already. I am especially enjoying getting to know people through their photography style.

Wild White

About 10 years ago, my husband bought a heifer about to calf from a neighbor who didn't want to deal with having to milk her. I was very surprised to see her when she arrived, due to her extremely distinct and unusual color pattern that I later learned was called "wild white". Every calf she dropped, and every calf from every generation since has had the same color pattern, which is recognizable by the white body, the solid black nose, and the spotted "eyebrow" and black "eyeliner". She looks better in her makeup than I do!



They tend to be smaller, stockier, more intelligent, and more outgoing than the average holstein, and they are my daughter's favorites. I like them because they are among the few that I can recognize. (My husband knows every cow on sight, which makes me feel kind of like a goofball because they all look pretty much alike to me.)

The photo isn't as well-focused as I had hoped... I am happy to have gotten any shot at all though, because she just wouldn't stand still for me!

On a calm day between storms...

... I found Penny grazing. She's too small for us to ride any more and getting old, but she's a good friend and a great lawn ornament.

Happy New Year and a New Challenge

Happy New Year, and I hope and pray that 2009 is a year of peace, prosperity, and blessings for all of you.

Linda, Blog Friend of mine, has issued a challenge to post a Photo-A-Day for the month of January in order to stimulate the habit of making time for art every day. I have taken up this challenge!

I may not post commentary every day -- the only rule is to post a new photo every day -- but, my personal goal is to push myself to come up with some really interesting and creative images to share.

(I *had* hoped to be able to post a photo of our New Year's calf, but I was too late. Oh well, there will be more...)

In the meantime, I offer my favorite image from the ice storm that covered my little world last week. I have 3 rosebushes that can reliably be counted upon to produce buds well into mid-winter; I always hope for a Christmas Rose. This year's bud, from a Peace rose, almost made it, but not quite...



For those who are interested in following along with this challenge, I have posted a Blog Roll of participants along the right hand column of this page. Let the Game begin!

Dingle Darling, a sleeping baby

I began this little guy over two months ago in Marilyn Radzat's "Leaf Pod Baby" class at That Creative Place, but, due to the distractions of the holidays and ill health, I just finished him yesterday.



Meet my Dingle Darling. He is exceedingly easy to make, so I'm afraid that I went a little berserk with the embellishments. Geez, I love embellishments, LOL!



"Dingle" is a new favorite word of mine.

Din"gle\, n. [Of uncertain origin: cf. AS. ding prison; or perh. akin to dimble.] A narrow dale; a small dell; a small, secluded, and embowered valley.


The Dingle Cradle owes more to Jean Bernard than Marilyn Radzat I'm afraid. Maybe I'll be bored with them some day, but right now I can't get enough of vine-y things and Paverpoled fibers.

Hmmmmm... I think, looking at this photo, that I want to add one more little pillow puff to the upper right. It looks a bit hollow there. I have a tiny bit of that hand-dyed silk velvet left. It is the most luscious stuff!



Copyright restrictions forbid me to offer him for sale on my Etsy site. That's OK though... he's so cute, I think I want to keep him anyway!

Down for the Count

I have been so sick these past few weeks. I thought it was a cold, but it just kept getting worse and worse until I finally went in to the doctor, who gave me some medicine, and now I am slowly coming back to life. Gads I hate codeine-laced cough syrup!

Normally I am a rock. I'm the one who takes care of the ones who get sick. This one knocked me down for the count. I am SO glad to finally be able to draw a breath without gasping for air. Needless to say, it has been a long 2 weeks.

Today I feel almost human again. I actually had enough energy (and lung capacity!) to get up and play with the last details on my Dingle Baby sculpt. I don't have photos yet as the glue is still drying, but you can be sure I will post them tomorrow. It was so much fun to play again!!

In the meantime...




...we have a snow day here in Oregon. I know it isn't very much (especially compared to what I have seen has fallen in the midwest - oh my!) but we don't get very much here on the floor of the Willamette Valley, so when we do, things pretty much grind to a halt. The kids are happy though -- their Christmas vacation has begun early!

Checking in

I will be posting photos soon of my latest WIP, which is coming along slowly. I wish I had more time for creating lately, but the reality of the situation is that our country's crashing economy is taking its toll on our business as well, and I am needed to do other things. We have been forced to lay off one of our workers, and Jake is picking up that slack.

I don't really believe that things will ever go back to what we believed was "normal", but I also know that God has us in His plan. There is a place for us; if not here, then somewhere else. Some days my faith wavers and fear takes over. I keep fighting though -- I do believe that "this, too, shall pass."

Eventually.

I have been spending my "creating" time to get serious about building up my Etsy Shop. I have been having good results this past month, which encourages me to keep at it. I plan on adding a section of books and patterns this week as well -- oh, how I need to reduce my library, LOL!