The trip to John’s Pass was a spur of the moment decision, with little expectation except a chance to catch up with a friend, but with sunset and sunrise as possible photo ops at the same time. We sat on the balcony overlooking the boardwalk, on a beautiful breezy afternoon, drinking beer and enjoying apps at Bubba Gumps. Staying in the hotel right there on the boardwalk was an essential part of the plan, so that the drinking could be enjoyed with no long drive home, and the sunrise would be right outside the door in the morning also. The dolphin’s were a bonus. I hadn’t seen them at John’s Pass before, and I couldn’t resist focusing my camera on the water and waiting, all the while expecting a fin to pop up, but I got more than I expected.
This was more of a photobomb than anything else. I was only looking for a fin, and then this dolphin leaped into the air almost in the focal point of the viewfinder, but close enough for a decent picture.I decided that even if the sunset wasn’t great I was going to be happy with the trip because this sort of a picture doesn’t happen nearly often enough.Splashdown!
We were so busy watching for dolphins that we thought we’d dithered too long to catch the sunset, but I wouldn’t have minded that after seeing this dolphin.
We went to see the owls yesterday afternoon, and it turned out to be a great day for it if the number of photographers on site were any indication. I especially appreciated all the help in spotting them at all, and of course once you see them you couldn’t miss them and you wonder how you had so much trouble spotting them in the first place.
Mama owl, above the nest with the baby flitting around below her. There was some greenery right in front of her face in every photo since she didn’t move and neither did the frond. But taking the picture into Photoshop and using generative fill got rid of it. Easy as pie.I don’t know that I realized her eyes were open in any of my photos, so that was a nice surprise as I clicked through the shots.I was so pleased to see him standing up. I had expected to see him peeking over the vines.The downy look is giving way to his adult feathers coming in.I guess the joke’s on us.Something caught his eye.So many poses.Maybe he was checking on Mama up there.He looks so aware of things, getting ready to be on his own.Aware of all of us with our cameras also.After taking a few hundred pictures I was saying my goodbyes when another photographer asked if I’d gotten photos of dear old dad, who was watching the proceedings from a nearby tree. Or maybe he slept through the whole thing.
There was a collective gasp among the photographers as the owlet disappeared from view at one point. He, or she, or en, if you have just now become aware of neopronouns as I have, had hopped down in the nest, and we all marched around to the other side of the tree where we still had a good view. We were back and forth a couple of times while we were there. This trip was better than I’d even hoped for. But the long drive home in rush hour made me think that maybe we ought to head back early in the day next time, while the baby is still a baby.
Didn’t I just say that I thought we were due to see the hawk soon? I said it out loud, but did I say it here? And yes, I do realize that there is no law of probability that governs what our feathered friends are doing at any given moment in time. But I said he was due, and that thought had me distressed that I had left my camera in place beside the computer with the 18-150mm lens on it. Nice and light and a pleasure to carry, but not enough reach to zoom and not need to crop the heck out of your pictures to get the composition you might want. But I did procrastinate, and so when I happened to see the hawk fly in and land on the back fence I had to go change lenses. Twice as it happened. My mirrorless camera and my old favorite lens haven’t been playing well together lately so a second lens switch was done, and he still was out there. I was taking a few pictures through the sliding glass doors and the screening on the lanai, but intending to open the slider as quietly as possible and try for a better shot, but I didn’t get the chance. All along he appeared to be scouting the neighboring yard for a tasty morsel, but maybe he gave up on that idea because he suddenly swooped off and flew up and away behind the big trees back there. But he was due, and he showed up, and all is right with my world.
Next time I hope he chooses a better spot to land for the sake of my photos.
We missed the point initially. The Veteran’s Day event we were heading to Zephyrhills to see was actually a WW2 reenactment. It was sponsored by the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History. I don’t know why this military display made such an impact on me, but for a few minutes as I looked around I was struck with the notion that my father must have experienced scenes just like this. Only there was a real war going on, and he was dependent on this sort of equipment, and soldiers that looked like these, to help deliver him and all of Patton’s Army home from the war. He was wounded somewhere in France, and as a little girl I was fascinated by the scar on his left shoulder that was shaped like a cross. Fascinated, but having no idea what it really represented. And later on I was too caught up in my own girlish dramas to ever even wonder about it. But there I was all these years later finding myself thinking that I was there with him, seeing this through his eyes, for just a moment…
The realization that this scene represented something my father might have witnessed made me especially impatient with the onlookers in their brightly colored clothing who kept trying to spoil my photo op. But the new ‘generative fill’ tool in Photoshop let me get the image I wanted to get.I got a gigantic kick out of the guy reclining with a cigar on the left hand front wheel, so I took a lot of pictures, and AI allowed me to remove an entire family from the picture. But the announcer explained that this gun could fire a 100 pound projectile up to 14 miles. He told the kids to pay attention in math class because back then when our troops called for artillery back up, their positions, and the positions of the enemy, had to be calculated on the spot in order to effectively protect the troops. They had to take into account the distance, the weather, and heaven knows what else to position that gun to do the job that was called for. And the positioning was done by hand, imagine that responsibility for a young soldier in a war so very far from home.They may have been re-enactors, but I felt like I was seeing the real thing.The field was set up to replicate a mine field, and the tanks paraded around the perimeter before they demonstrated the fire power.This gave us a good opportunity to see each tank for photo ops.All along I kept seeing the small planes in the sky and thought they were part of the event, but they were from a nearby airfield and the plane in front was pulling that glider to get it airborne.I guess this one was ready for any terrain it encountered.A piece of British equipment was also represented.This is as close as I got to getting the fire from the gun in any of my pictures. All hundred or so of them. And they had passed out earplugs to the crowd ahead of the shooting.I wonder what thoughts these future soldiers had as they experienced a little of what the soldiers who came before them encountered.
We first came on Saturday, and it was very hot, and the actual reenactment was postponed an extra hour because of an equipment problem. It was no wonder since the ‘youngest’ piece of equipment there was 79 years old. And the heat was taking a toll on everyone, audience and enactors alike, so we decided to go home and come back the next day. But when we returned on Sunday, better prepared with the scooter and trike, plus water, and just in time for the event itself, we discovered that the German enactors had had an especially difficult time the day before and were not there on Sunday. No doubt their uniforms made a difficult day even harder to take, and we weren’t disappointed. So we thoroughly enjoyed our day, and I especially appreciated the momentary connection I felt with my father, which came out of the blue and did my heart good.
When I saw this picture from Riverhills Park I thought it would make a very nice black and white image. But darn, I thought, it’s an iPhone photo and therefore a jpeg, and not able to be edited as I would prefer to do. But today I remembered that I have my iPhone set to take RAW images only, so I got busy looking at the pictures I took to see what else might look good in black and white. And I found a Lightroom lesson on editing black and white photos, so I was excited to try it. It’s a matter of bringing out all the shades of gray, with contrast and detail, but what you need to start with is a photo with lots of contrast to work with.
Lots of contrast in the scene.This is the other picture that I thought would lend itself to black and white.Then I looked at this one and said, why not?Ibis and cypress knees seemed to be good candidates also.As it got closer to sunset the birds started flying to the far side of the river to spend the night.I didn’t edit this photo in color because I didn’t think the shadows of the birds would show up, but I liked the picture so I turned this one to black and white also.
Not every photo will look good in black and white, and taking black and white photos isn’t usually on my mind when I’m out there with the camera. But these photos seemed worth while to play with, because this is all play to me. I’m so glad I set the iPhone to take the images in RAW. It preserves all the detail and color so it’s waiting for you to make your adjustments. I’ve been so lucky to find the camera club I belong to, the FCCP, out of Clearwater. I’ve found fun, and friends, and someone to enjoy these golden years with. Every day is a blessing.
He’s going to buy me a Mockingbird… or maybe he doesn’t have to since this one showed up, posed nicely, stuck around for 25 or so photos, and left. He never did grab a snack. Is Carole King stuck in your head yet, because she is sure stuck in mine…
What I wanted to do was to send this shot over to Photoshop so I could use their generative fill tool to take the tail of the bird on the perch out of there. I’ve done it many times before, it’s easy and works great. But today it brought up a legal page about all the rules for using AI, but didn’t give you a box to check to agree to follow the rules. So I eventually had to give up.Then I thought I could try it in the Beta version of Photoshop, but that didn’t work either.But when in doubt, crop it out!This bird had the posing thing down pat.It was overcast, so the light was very nice.He flew off shortly after I took this photo.Maybe he figured out that the blackbirds were coming.
And the blackbirds, four and twenty of them at least, showed up. They were on the feeders, on the perches, and on the ground. I picked up my camera and took the shot of the females in the caged feeder right through the screening of the lanai, much to Bernie’s surprise, and then I was going to try to sneak over to the open door that I had left open just in hopes of getting a picture of all of them. But then he cracked open his can of beer and the whole flock of them took off in a flash. Sigh…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 