Category: black and white

'scene' along the way, black and white, exploring new places, Florida landmarks, fun, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography, road trip

Let’s go for a ride…

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My immediate comment at the suggestion of ‘going for a ride’ will always be, “Where to?” And these days I will always expect to take some pictures when we get there. But there was no destination in mind when we headed out yesterday, and if we would have known we would have had the scooter and trike with us. We saw a sign for Dade Battlefield Historic State Park and turned in. The site preserves the battlefield where the Seminole Indians fought the soldiers under the command of Major Francis L Dade in the Second Seminole War. What little we saw of it made us want to come back when we are able to ride the trails. And learn a bit of history that we may have missed growing up in Massachusetts.

You drive in and park at the visitor’s center. When we arrived we saw a volunteer taking a group out for a narrated tour of the battlefield. This looks like a nice place to ride and explore.
Having just taken a class on black and white photography I had in mind finding scenes that might translate to black and white well. Or at all.
There were many live oaks creating tunnels to lure you into the woods. We didn’t see the 400 year old oak that the volunteer told us was here. I think we knew immediately that this place would be worth another visit.
I think I like this black and white the best.

We also ‘found’ the Florida National Cemetery and drove in to see it. I was there with a friend a few years ago for the Memorial Day festivities and it was a very moving place to be. The feature photo doesn’t do it justice, because there are fields and fields of gravestones, all perfectly tended and around every corner. We now have a plan to go back this Memorial Day. All and all it was a beautiful day for a drive…

I’m looking forward to the class on editing your black and white photos.
adventure, attitude adjustments, birds, black and white, exploring new places, friends, fun, nature, Pedaling Along, perseverance, photography

Wilderness Conservation Park…

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We’ve been bundled up and hiding from the cold weather for a few days now. Not all that cold according to my northern friends and relatives, but too cold for people who have lived here for any length of time. But today we just had to get out for a little while, so we went to a new-to-us park and rode the trails for a little while. I loved the beautiful reflections in the river, the Hillsborough River, even with the cloudy conditions and the temperature that might have reached 50 degrees. It was a nice ride, then it was time to head for home and heat up some of the turkey soup to warm up.

The water was like glass.
Beautiful scenery.
While I concentrated on the egret on the shore a tricolor heron flew through the shot.
The path was only a mile or so until you arrived at the river overlook.
I noticed a lot of white fungus on the trees, but I once read that if you see the pink fungus that means the air is especially clean. There was much more of the pink fungus than I’ve ever noticed before, I breathed deeply.
One of my pictures turned black and white as I worked on it. I kind of like the way it looks.
This is another picture of the little palm warbler who flew onto a nearby branch and posed for me. You see him, or her, in the feature photo also. I hope the birds and animals are keeping warm enough.

There are a few more nights of freezing overnight temperatures on tap, but the new year will bring back our wonderful warm Florida weather.

a second look, adventure, attention to detail, birds, black and white, exploring new places, finding my way, Florida wildlife, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography

John Chestnut park…

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I see photos from lots of photographers on my Facebook feed, and one thing that’s always mystified me was the photos of alligators at John Chestnut park. I’d never seen one there, and found myself surprised when I saw pictures of them taken there. Maybe I just chose the right day to visit, but the water levels were higher than what I thought was normal. I parked in my usual area, and walked over to the water and realized that I had a clear view across the lake, no rushes blocking my view. But it wasn’t until I looked through the camera and zoomed in that I realized that what I thought was a piece of automobile tire floating right at the shoreline was actually an alligator. A little one for sure, but closer to me than I wanted it to be. That’s the feature photo.

I walked to the left from my usual parking spot, the opposite way I usually go, and found some new scenery.
I hadn’t ever seen a Black and White Warbler on my previous visits.
He moved on in just a second.
These cuties are always there no matter which way I go. A Tufted Titmouse, so cute.
And very busy so you have to be quick.
I was walking on a boardwalk that followed the edge of the lake. I was so surprised to see this pier, I had no idea that it was there. But I wonder how I didn’t know it was there since it’s so big.
As I walked along the boardwalk I saw another small alligator in the water. Or maybe it was the same one from before. I saw that he seemed to be heading for shore, and when I walked off the boardwalk there he was, sunning himself. He looked cute there, still looking like a baby. There was a parking area close by and some people my age were getting out of their car. So I pointed to the alligator and the gentleman said, “Oh yeah, he’s always there.” All righty then.
I thought I’d head to the pond that I knew was across the parking lot to see if there might be some birds there. But I must have been destined to see alligators today because I don’t think I could have missed this one on the far shore. Definitely not a baby. A couple of young men with cameras were heading in that direction too, and they happily mentioned another spot not too far from the park that you could see alligators. Seeing them usually isn’t my goal, but of course I do take picture when I see them. I took my picture and so did they, but then they left and continued around the lake.
I waited to see if they were going to approach this alligator for photos, and sure enough, they did! I wasn’t too worried that they’d be attacked, but I did head to my car after I took this picture so that I didn’t show up in their photos. Hopefully all ended well.

When I decided to go to this park I had in mind to figure out where those alligators might be. And yes, I was walking on a new to me path for most of my time there. But I always go to that pond and I had never seen an alligator there. Let’s hope I wasn’t shooting the scenery across the water with one of them right there on the bank right in front of me.

black and white, changing times, facing facts, faith, finding my way, history, perseverance, photography, Uncategorized

Getting it right…

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It was quite a drive from where we stayed in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to Acadia National Park. We chose to do it on the second full day we were there, and it was a bit disappointing to find so much fog in the scenery once we got there. I waited until we were home to process this particular picture in the computer since Lightroom mobile doesn’t allow for processing HDR. Or I haven’t found it yet. I don’t like the resulting picture as much as I thought I would, so I tried it in black and white and liked it better. But that could just be my mood lately.

I also liked it better when I saw the world in black and white. Right or wrong. The news, the political ads, the ugliness out there feels like an invading army to me. I seem to have misplaced my rosy glasses…

'scene' along the way, a second look, birds, black and white, exploring new places, friends, fun, Just do it, making memories, moments, nature, perseverance, photography, road trip

Puffins redux…

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The gal from Audubon who rode along with us on our Puffin adventure acted like a bit of a cheerleader. She gave us a talk about their history in Maine as we were cruising to Egg Rock Island, and warned us that it was possible that we might not see them at all. No guarantees. She told us about their habits, how hard it is for them to become airborne, and that we might see them ‘running on the surface of the water’ until those flapping wings took over. So I blame her for the fact that 463 photos of the 1344 that I took on vacation were taken on that cruise. We first came across just a few, but they were close to the boat and in the sun. They might have been the only ones we saw, so I started shooting and pretty much didn’t stop.

Remember the Puffins were bouncing with the surf, and so was the boat, which was another reason to just keep shooting. I wasn’t expecting so many shots to be reasonably sharp.
The groups we saw later were more Puffins but further from the boat.
I carefully checked all my pictures looking for interactions between them, which was a bit tedious, but as far as activity goes this was about it.
But we did see them fly, and probably wouldn’t have appreciated that as much without the Audubon gal telling us that they flap their wings 400 beats/minute to become airborne. I said it before but I just have to repeat it. She said to think of them as “pudgy, slow-moving, hummingbirds.”
Look at the little guy in front, what a graceful little thing he is, LOL.

If I ever see a cute little stuffed animal Puffin I know I’ll have to adopt it…

'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, birds, black and white, foggy sky, friends, fun, moments, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography, safety Harbor, sky, weather

Making the rounds…

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Armed with ‘better’ lenses we headed back to the owls the other day, and found pretty much the exact same scene as we did a few days before. One owlet peeking out of the nest with Mom behind him. As we arrived, however, Mom flew out of the nest and onto a nearby branch, and there she posed for a few minutes before flying back to the nest. I was able to get the feature photo before she flew back to her babies. So all in all not such a bad little while in Philippe Park.

Here he is in black and white, which this photo nearly was anyhow.
There are three owlets in the nest, we will have to keep returning in hopes of a little more ‘action’.
I did manage to see Dad in the tip top of the nest tree. I’d been told he was there but usually can’t ‘find’ him.

Then we were off to nearby Moccasin Lake to the raptor rehab there. Again our timing was good since the volunteers were getting the owls out of their enclosures for a few minutes.

Here we have a Barred Owl. I’ve seen these at Circle B Bar Reserve, but not lately.
What a beautiful face on this Barn Owl. I have only seen these at various rehab facilities.
His handler said that if you saw only a skeleton of this owl you would never imagine such a beautiful bird. It is really a small bird with very long legs. He says it makes him wonder about dinosaurs which have been recreated based on their skeletons.
A peregrin falcon.
He definitely had something to say.
It’s amazing that the camera will focus on the birds and ignore the fence for the most part. Red-tailed hawks.

We made a last stop at the Safety Harbor marina. People were gathered on the pier looking down into the water, so we hurried to see what they were seeing. Not wildlife, but a person who said he was licensed to explore the water’s edge to see what was there. It was the only thing to see on a cloudy day, but we went home happy.

A mud crab, said the expert.
A gloomy mid-day scene…