Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Shoot at Owen Park

t was a dark and a stormy morning. Oh no, someone else has tried a line like that. 

On impulse I decided to I decided to get up before the sun had opened it’s yellow eye. After grabbing my camera kit, I jumped into the van.

The world was filled with a patchwork mosaic fog. Blue filled my sky. Then all of a sudden white fog restricted my view. A little later, the sky was blue again...

I made my way to the Audubon walk at Owen park. After all, I have a pretty nice camera and no projects going on at the moment. My doctors say I need to exercise more and I like walking around lakes. 

The group gathered at the parking lights and finally broke into 2 smaller ones. It seems every time someone saw some little movement we had to stop and hope we saw any bird of any kind. I saw a lot of dark shadows and flitting shapes. A couple of times, I even saw an identifiable bird, all LBJs(Little Brown Jobs). But they all were too far for my 300 mm lens to capture.

Perhaps I am not deep enough in the world of ornithology to appreciate what was brought before my lens. Size does matter when taking a picture, though. Size and distance from subject… I found it curious though when we happened upon some water fowl no one even batted an eye. 

I don't think I am jumping the gun when I say that I want to take pictures of birds that are large enough to fill my frame, and the truth is, if the group is large and loud the sound and presence will scare even LBJs off. I want to capture larger subjects, say a heron or seagull, even a raptor. 

I ended up letting my eye get distracted by other things, spiders and spider webs, a bed tree silhouetted between a pale blue sky and darker water.
Just a floating spider.

O, web a web she weaved!

These are the only photos of the day which I feel are even 
close enough to post here on my lowly blog.

While we were walking the sky and fog began to lift and we could see further. Yet still nothing really grabbed my lens. 

I began to notice the people who were around me. Some were fishing, others exercising and I remembered my doctors advise about my needs. So I saw started looking at the faces of those around me. Most were so engrossed in their running or power walking that they were taking for granted the beauty of nature around them.

This thought brought me back to the nature lovers whom I started was with. They were so engrossed in looking at their chosen subject…had they forgotten about the other beauties of nature in which they were surrounded?

This brought me up short, who am I to judge, especially in my frustration, other people's level of participation? 

In the end though, I think I may have gotten an image which is good enough for this lowly blog.

What do you think?



olc

Friday, September 8, 2017

SMOKIN'!!!

     
It was Labor Day and I decided to smoke some beef bones. When I opened the grill to see what was going on I saw this. So I closed the top to let the smoke regenerate and got this!

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Labor Dat part II

I had a little more success at this car show. For those who may not have read my prior post, I went for a walk with the Audubon Society. Wanted to see if I could take a couple pics of some of the fauna flying through the area and compare a couple of lenses, one I own, the other I am considering. Have a look at that post.

I found out about a car show at a local church, so the camera dragged me over to it. I really like the Avery Creek UMC car show. They have been sponsoring a show for the last few years and it has been getting better and better every year.

The truth is, I have gone to many car shows over the past while, but this one is really good and growing. They pull in a bunch of cars—like around 20—(They are beginning to get more cars than they can reasonable accommodate). Yet the quality and diversity of automobile is better than most. I have to say that not only do they have a fantastic show of cars, but at the same time, on the same day, they offer  a community kitchen which helps so many people in the area. the logistics much be daunting.

Thank you, Avery Creek United Methodist Church.

So now we go to the cars which were there.


Like I said a minute ago, I saw some really fine cars and I wish I had been able to spend as much time on each one as I wanted too. But here are a few that really stood out.

Now here is a seies of a black Ford.


 The whole enginge in really Great...


 Yet this detail of the block really shows the Care which was given when rebuilding it!!


I should have taken more time with this one. After thinking about it, I bet he could have given a lot more character to  the story behind it's history.


Mr Pruit has spent a lot of stuff trying to make this Ford perfect. I think he has.




I spent a "minute" trying to figure out if I should post thse one..
Our Flag on this land mark Vehicle finally made me realize that of course I should--even though the images could be better.



The story behind this series almost brought a tear to my eye...
 Check out the date on the sticker and sale receipt 

 A wife who lost her husband...left to time...in the garage....
so true.
So timeless


An old Ford...
Does anyone out there know what it is?
Please share

Finally, I took a couple pics of this guys car, but the truth is I did not really capture it's very essence. But this guy came by and asked me to take one of his 'Vette and him. Good lookin' guy.. awsome car!






Monday, September 4, 2017

Labor Day week end Part 1

Aw, Labor Day weekend is upon us, and by the time I get this proofed and posted, past us. So much going on this weekend, most of it family related business and more relaxing things too. Actually this afternoon, I plan on smoking some beef bones and later cooking them on the grill for supper. Yummy! I am not sure what else we will be having, but who cares really, right???

I had heard about the Audubon Society having walks at various parks and found one which was going to happen at Beaver Lake and decided to check it out. So, my weekend stated out on Friday by going to Ball Photo and renting a lens which I am interested in. 

It is the Canon 70-300mm. I want to compare it to my current long lens the 75-300mm I thought the Audubon walk would be a good time to do it. The truth is, the walk seemed to me to be a bit of a bust. About all we saw were a bunch little guys and only fleeting glimpses at that.

Well, not exactly. We did see two Great Blue Herons, a Kingfisher on the hunt and 2 Green Herons. But, they were too far for me to get a good picture. I did, however see a huge spider and her web and managed to get a picture of it. I think it came out pretty good. What do you think?



About that lens comparison, you ask? The Green Heron we saw did land kinda close to us, so I took a couple of it with both lenses. Also, I took some test shots, with the rental lens only, of a Great Blue Heron at Lake Julian which I’ll post here.  


So have a look and let me know what you think.

this one is with the rental lens


And this one is with my 75-300 lens


Can you see a difference? If you do, please explain.

Thanks, olc