Day 4 – Well, if you live in the U.S. you probably were expecting something other than a squirrel shot for today. What can I tell you? Like life, photography is about the journey and capturing all things unexpected, not necessarily about shooting the predictable.
This squirrel is a regular to our bird feeders. He’s not as feisty as some of the others, but he’s determined to get his daily fill of food.
Field Notes: Focal Length – 105 mm; Exposure 1/100 sec, f6/3, ISO 500; Processing: Cropping, haze removal, Orton effect, conversion to black and white with vignette.
They say when cardinals appear a loved one who has passed has come to visit. Cardinals are frequent visitors to our yard so it’s hard to say whether or not they’re family members coming for a visit, or just simply coincidental visitors.
Last Sunday as I was in the kitchen meal prepping for the week out of the corner of my eye, I could see this little fellow hanging out on a bare tree limb. He was a perfectly bright red color with a beautiful black mask surrounding his beak. I desperately wanted to snap a few pictures of him, but I knew he would fly away before I could get the camera ready. To my surprise he just kept sitting there, looking around from side to side, puffing up his chest with no sign of budging.
Finally, I pulled out my camera, attached the 200m to 400m lens (the big lens as Michael calls it), raised the blinds and……..ugh! The windows have screens on them! Obviously, auto focus wouldn’t work, so I switched to manual focus. That was a little better, but not perfect. Trying to hold the camera (the big lens is heavy) and adjust the manual focus made it difficult to get a sharp image. Oh well, he was such a pretty bird I decided to make the best of it and kept on shooting.
This guy stayed on the limb for at least 10 – 15 minutes. Was it a family member? Who really knows for sure, but for me personally, just having him hang out for a while brought some comfort and a smile to my face.
One evening as we were sitting on our back patio, we heard a rustle through the trees and a thump. “What was that?” Michael asked as I quickly pulled up my camera and began snapping away. A few snaps later and I had the perfect shot of this Coopers Hawk right before he took off.
I must have searched through a hundred songs about eyes, before I landed on the title for this post (Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen). Seems appropriate to me, since he was out grocery shopping (as Michael likes to say) when he made a layover in our maple tree. What do you think? Do any other songs about eyes come to mind?
Sarah from “Travel with Me” guest hosts the challenge this week.
I have to admit when I quickly read the title, I thought I was picking my favorite photos I had ever taken. But, “no” Sarah writes “I want to ask you all to join me in sharing three of what you consider to be among yourvery best shots.”
Timing for this challenge is ironic because just the other day one of my sisters-in-law asked me what my favorite photo was. As I thought about it, I explained, “Trying to pick my favorite photo is like trying to pick my favorite child. I can’t choose one over the other. They’re all so special.”
Goodness! This was a little difficult. But here it goes!
“Photography, is a way of feeling, of touching of loving. What you have captured on film is captured forever. It remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything.”
~Aaron Siskind
7 Mile Bridge – Key West, FL
Why this is my favorite? I love the black and white and how it captures the age of the bridge, it’s textures and the depth of field.
Why is this one of my best? It was shot in 35mm (color) film; limiting me to the number of shots I could take with the roll of film. If I’m really honest with myself on this one, I think I may have set the camera on “Depth of Field” setting. It was really early in my photography journey, and I had no clue about manual settings. Ironically, this is one of my best-selling digital pieces.
“The whole point about taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.”
~Elliott Erwitt
Red Tail Hawk
Why is this my favorite? If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I love the wildlife in my backyard. I love the challenge of trying to photograph each and every detail. I must have snapped about a dozen photos of him before he took off.
Why is this one of my best? Quite honestly, a little bit of everything; the details of the hawk (his feet, his eyes, his coloring); the Bokeh and lighting; the overall composition of the photo. The end result was a little bit of “in the camera” and a little bit of “photoshop.”
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.”
~Ansel Adams
A Fall Walk in the Park
Why is this my favorite? It’s just a peaceful image and it could have been taken anywhere. I feel like I nailed the essence of early Fall in Atlanta.
Why is this one of my best? There’s a lot going on in this photo, but the elements draw you to water and its path from the front of the image backwards through the middle. The added bonus (to me) is that it almost looks like an oil painting.
It’s probably a good thing that Sarah gave us a limit with the number of photos and requiring us to also choose a different genre for each. I can think of about (at a minimum) 20 – 30 other images to include.
Many thanks to Sarah for this fun challenge! Up next week is my long-time photographer/blogger friend, Anne. Her theme is “What’s Your Groove?” Knowing Anne, this will be quite the challenge!
Until next time,
~donna
P.S. If you would like to participate in our weekly Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us on Saturdays at noon EST: Lens-Artist Challenge
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Donna Robinson Photography 