The sun did not break through the clouds all day today. I thought I would have to resort to capturing an artificial light source. But then I noticed the glowing reflection beneath me. Somehow the water boosted the light through the heavy clouds. Aperture: ƒ/4 Camera: COOLPIX P900 Taken: 15 February, 2016 Focal length: 24.1mm ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/1600s
This light challenge is more difficult than I expected. (Isn’t this always so!). I often think of the fall of light on an animal or object when I am engaged in capturing it. Yet, because I was always more focused on the thing, I’ve not thought of the light itself as a thing to photograph. Which is why this is an excellent exercise. Difficult, but excellent. This is daybreak on…
Playing with the new camera on a day when it is grey and rainy seems like it should result in some excellent learning experiences. But I don’t think it did. For right now, the Nikon D3300 and I are getting to know each other. Here are several familiar scenes/activities reproduced today with this device. Starting at the boring end and crescendoing near the pinnacle (of an almost flat day!). Aperture:…
Let me tell you, there are some things which cannot be adequately recorded. The excitement of seeing otters for the first time in my backyard is one – or indeed the second time, which topped the first because I waylaid them – and they showed up! But the absolute good fortune of today is hard to describe. We decided to travel a ways from the backyard in the afternoon to…
The light-hearted backyard is back. A bright sunny (though not warm) day. When I looked out the sliding door this morning, I saw a burst of activity in the wild life. The white duck – the mallard hen – skittered down the bank, to the shore, and it looked as though it was being chased by a circling snowy egret. I’m not certain how likely such a thing is, so…
It was a day unlike any of the past three weeks – nothing new or surprising happened in the backyard. Bound to happen, of course. This is not to say there wasn’t a plentiful supply of the usual. But even for me there are only so many pictures I am willing to devote to remembering the ibis, or heron or egret that walked into the backyard. So, I went hunting…
Overnight the world broke into a million tiny shards and fell upon the water. Well, it looked like that this morning, at any rate. As the day dawned the rain fell in large flll droplets and the wind created a grey sheet around the backyard. It is remarkable how the quality of the mornings changes with the gusting winds. As the winds slowed and the curtain of shadows slowly lifted,…
The backyard is great fuel for the imagination, but it is also calming.It is not difficult to find a peacefulness here. I like to see the wind rippling across the water, and the reflection of light laid down like a path. One of the sounds I miss from growing up is the wind through a bamboo grove. It is a different quality from wind through any other trees, I think….
It has been ten days since I started this challenge. I imagined that it would be easier than it has been. I don’t have a clear sense of what I want here except a gathering place for images that I find inspirational. I also mean to document my journey across the country last summer. However, thinking about it everyday is a bit burdensome. My belief, though is that the discipline…