The Nicest Little Girl

has become the nicest young lady. 

Her family was my 'upstairs' neighbor for about six years. I was pretty fortunate to get along with her mom and I enjoyed helping her out with her children once in a while if she needed it. 

They eventually sold the house and moved away and I've remained friends with mom and the kids.

Ambrosia is 18 now and is looking at journalism as a possible career and something to pursue in college. Currently she does assignments for a small local paper. Sometimes it is doing fact gathering and research and at other times she has to go to an event and take pictures along with her write up.

I gave her my old Nikon DSLR. She has been using it on auto and has really treated the camera well. She said it has come in very handy on assignments but she wanted to learn more because she was certain that she would be sent to cover sports events soon and wanted to have some guidance.

Our fun adventure today was to go find some ice formations and just walk and chat like we did when she was little. The conversation turned towards journalism, colleges, and careers.

We went to the look out first and I helped her do a run through on the Nikon. She took some photos from the look out and commented that her battery was really low. 

I had her remove the battery and stick it in her pants pocket next to her warm skin. She'd forgotten to bring her spare battery.

Outlook:

Every time I take this trail, I photograph this exact scene. It is amazing to go back through the past years and see how this view changes. The river was frozen over which is unusual this time of the year. Going out on the frozen river is not advised at all.

So Ambrosia learned a lesson in how to keep her battery warm in the cold weather.

We made it to the first ice falls and made our slippery way down the steep hillside.

When she could see the ice formation, I heard "Oh my. That is..."

I smiled. Yep. That. Is.

So we did a little photo lesson. We both had zoom lenses which would go from about 14mm to 200mm. We first shot the little ice formation at 14mm.

Then the 200mm zoom.

Ambrosia's comment was. "Look at the details!"

We moved further down the dry run near the Kickapoo River.

Again we did the same thing.

Zoomed in.

I pointed to the next section where there were two more ice formations and while we were looking at how to get to it, the wind picked up and started dropping snow on us.

I lifted the camera and said, "Shoot, shoot!"

We both marveled at the snow falling and blowing from the tree tops above.

Next up was an ice shelter and ice falls just to the south of the previous one.

I suggested she pick a composition and told her I was shooting for a black and white photo that showed off the zig zags and cascading ice falls.

We walked on and headed towards one more spot where the ice was forming.

Some fungi on a tree caught her eye and I told her to go for it.

I walked around behind her and took this:

Her battery was just about all done in, and we had to get back to her mom's house at a certain time.

She told me more about her journalism job and the schools she'd applied to and somehow we ended up talking about how to start a fire if we were lost with birch bark, birch wood, and chaga.

Her eyes brightened and she thought that would make a great story for her little local paper. "A story about winter camping!"

She paused, "And I could photograph the steps of doing it!"

"We have to do this more often," she said. She is a Senior now and going into her last semester. She said her class load will be a bit lighter and maybe...she ... we can get together more.

I hope so, she is one busy young lady, but still just as gentle and kind as ever. She juggles a lot of things, a part time job, school, and family obligations.

It was so much fun to see her discover things through the lens and then think up ideas of how she could use the camera. Spending time with her is always so enjoyable.

I'll go by the little bell on the blue yarn and ring it more often!

After the Rains and a Micro Lens

I have a Nikkor 40mm Micro/Macro lens. I had put it aside for a while and decided to just shoot with the nifty 50 and the 85mm prime lenses. Now I don't have the pro lenses, but these nice primes are my go to lenses.
I tried shooting again with the 18-55mm lens but I just wasn't happy with the clarity compared to the primes.

With these fixed lenses, you can't just zoom in or out to 'get that shot'. You have to move your feet. I've found that I enjoy the challenge and now have a hard time going back to any other type of lens. I do however lust after a nice zoom.  I bought the Tamron 18-200mm last year thinking I had the bomb. Nope cheap lens, ... it does the trick in bright light but should only be used in mid range. And it is heavy. --- Edit on 10 17 17...eeks gads I took it out today and was able to make the Tamron work very well! ... Samples later!]

All right, with all of that garbeldy gook out of the way. What did I do? I put the 40mm on my Nikon and packed up my little old backpack and decided to go enjoy the fall colors. I planned on just hiking the 'bowl' up to the pine trees. This means a bit of brush busting through some deer trails.

Now as the name of the lens implies, it is great for close up work. And yes, you have to get 'close' up. Not so great when or if you are trying to shoot a bee for example.
However, it is great for the following.

Water droplets, leaves, and fungi. All such tiny things. I did have to kneel on the ground for the maidenhair fern. I had to get down close to the maple leaf and I got close and personal for the coral fungi. [That was a pure bonus!]

I kept walking down the trail wondering if I was going to regret this self challenge.

The woods were so incredibly beautiful. The colors were popping in the subtle light. The skies were overcast and letting in just enough diffused light to make the yellow leaves appear to glow.

I decided to explore this stump on the trail. Wow, I am glad I did.

I got a few of these droplets. All shots were hand held. I did get damp from kneeling and scrunching down in the leaves or leaning against the stump itself.

The light kept changing as there were breaks in the clouds once in a while.
I kept walking.

I cursed myself for not having a 'landscape' lens and then thought. Well, here is the challenge.
Go for it.

And I did.

Did I do okay? I think so. Did I satisfy my challenge? Yes I believe so.

It was a beautiful day to challenge myself. No tripod, nothing extra. Just a backpack with extra water and a pair of gloves.

I ended the hike at the soybean field at the top of the 'bowl'. I thought I'd try a hand held panoramic shot of the trees below me. The lone red tree was blazing away.

Yes, this worked! I can say with confidence that I can get landscape and micro/macro out of the same lens with nothing fancy.
Color me happy.
Color me satisfied.

Oh. And for the rest of the week the sun will shine brightly so I look forward to some fall adventures with Morris on some well groomed trails as well as a visit to the winter ice cave.
Fall is glorious.

Hopefully you can go out and enjoy it.

Drawn by Fog and mist...

I love misty mornings.

I love the droplets of water that collect on spider webs.
It is nearing August.
Wait? What?
Who?
No way! August? For real?

Yes.
Anyway this time of the year sometimes can present itself in wonderful ways if we have warm days and cool nights in the form of fog that rises out of the valleys and creeps across the ridge as the sun rises.

This morning it crept along from the north east with a very slight breath of air.
On the 21st it came in like a bulldozer from the east and within a few minutes the ridge was cloaked in mystical fog.

I had to be careful as the camera lense quickly got moisture on it. Normally that is not much of an issue, but from what I understand my little Nikon D5200 is a primma donna when it comes to moisture. Well, at least that is what I read.

I went to a different location this morning. The view is not as breathtaking as my normal place, but I wanted to see and try something different. How could I challenge myself?

I lucked out in being able to actually get wisps of fog unfurling across the soybean field. Imagine my luck again that the cropland had been rotated to soybeans. Had it been corn the effort may not have paid off this well.

The road/driveway in and out of this place has some incredible dips and curves and this morning the road looked as if it were from another world.

At dawn the fog was rising from the woods. The above shot was taken looking west towards my driveway that is hidden in the forest.

After the sun burst over the horizon in a golden glow, I was headed home and looked down this same road, but from the opposite direction.

The trees were literally glowing with orange colored light.

Eek gads.
I just checked the weather.

Fog is predicted for the next two mornings.
I am pinching myself.

Then I will go set the alarm clock and see if I can get up and see what the mists have in store for me tomorrow morning.

I can't wait!

Night Moves

The alarm beeped and I reached over to turn it off. Dang thing.

What did it go off for? Who set that alarm for 1:30 am? Oh. I did.
I was going to get up and see where the Milky Way was and I'd set up my camera to try a shot of the night sky.

I had pre-focused my Nikon D5200 just before sunset and had it locked on infinity in hopes that using the 35mm prime lens would give me enough sky to capture some stars.

I shot this at a 20 second exposure with an f stop on the lens of 1.8 and an ISO of 100.
What I saw on my screen afterwards was nearly totally black.

I took another shot on the other side of the house looking north.

I could see a bit more of the stars on my screen. But I wasn't happy with it.
So I changed up the settings and did some light painting.

I used a LED flashlight for about one second on this shot, just clicked on and off quickly.
I could see this on the monitor.

So I tried another experiment. I wanted to take a shot of the porch.
Note to self. Once I took the camera off from the infinity setting and used the Auto focus to take a shot of the skull, the camera would not focus for me. I even tried manual focus.

Frustrated, I set the exposure to 10 seconds and then flipped the little flashlight I had across the porch...

Early this morning the alarm went off at 1:30 again. I sighed and shut it off. I shut my eyes and soon I was wide awake. I glanced up through the window and the stars were bright. The weather folks were wrong!

I grabbed the camera. I thought I'd set it up properly.
However...

I hadn't. The focus was off and I didn't know that until I opened the photos later this morning.
However, I do know where the Milky Way is around 2am now.
And have an idea of where to get shots of it from the yard.

So I will set things up again for another try tonight.

Settings for these shots were 20 seconds, f 1.8 [35mm lens], 640 ISO and 800 ISO.

Tonight I will set up the 35mm lens again and set up the 18-55mm lens to see if I can't get a wider angle.

My husband thinks I am certifiably crazy.

I say, I need to keep experimenting and challenging myself.

Paradise.... Springs and other thoughts about photography.

At the end of our K-town visit, Morris and I stopped at Paradise Springs for a short walk.
The sun was out and it was still early morning.
It was a Monday and not a soul was around. I let Morris off the leash and we explored the old dam and the spring house.

Here is part of the old dam.

I don't know enough history about this place but I know that I will stop here on my next trip across the state. It is in a round about way...sort of on my way.

It wasn't just the neat little places where one could photograph moving water, but the stone structure was fascinating and quite beautiful.

The inside of the spring house had a wide shallow pool in it. I loved the reflections from outside of the building to inside the building.

 Looking down into the shallow pool I realized I could see the building walls above me along with trees and the leaves under the water below.

 The field stone of the building added a nice texture too.

Here is a link with photos to Paradise Springs. WI DNR Paradise Springs.

Mr. Morris and I explored and were able to take our time setting up photos as we had the place to ourselves.
However, while we were taking a break enjoying the pond view we did see one person walk quickly up the trail and take a snapshot with their cell phone.
I waved, she waved, and then she quickly turned and left.

My weekend trip was incredible. I visited quite a few parks along the shores of Lake Michigan. I seem drawn to water quite a bit.

I also am learning some other things regarding photography. I am discovering that I enjoy having a photo that tells a story more often than just a beautiful photo.

I keep wondering where I will go with this 'hobby'.
I was sure I would hate Still Life, but love it. I am learning about off camera flashes when I knew I would never use a flash..ever!
I am getting a keen interest in portraits. Oh and I knew I would never ever in a million years want to photograph humans!

The nice thing about this hobby is that it can keep growing.

Flutter by ... Butterfly

I went to pick the peppers and tomatoes for processing Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.
The forecasters in our area have called for heavy rain, flash flooding, a brief tornado, and generally some really crappy weather for later this week.

In fact they are predicting several rounds of thunderstorms which will produce flooding again.
Oh.

So I decided I best save what I can from the garden and get it put on the porch out of the weather.

However I didn't plan on seeing all of this beautiful insect activity.

So I ran back to the house and grabbed a camera.

The macro camera was a poor choice as I soon found that the Monarch's would startle if I got close to them. I pulled out my old zoom lens.

Everywhere I turned there was activity going on.

And then the flight of Monarch Butterflies, dozens of them everywhere! Swirling and dancing.

Not a great shot, but I was trying to follow it. This lens is a kit zoom and it doesn't focus as quickly as the pro lenses.

But, I did get some nice shots never the less.

After about 45 minutes the sky darkened and it threatened to rain. I watched as all the insects except the squash bugs seemed to disappear.

I was so delighted to have seen dozens of Monarchs.
I think it made my whole day.

Color me happy with flutter...byes..

Lighting and Still Life.

I explored some side lighting this week for week four of my Still Life studies. The above shot was a test shot with my Olympus OMD M5 to see if I could make it work in a still life situation.

The answer is yes.

I shot these on a plastic tub with a white sheet thrown on top of it.  The tub is full of things that we are temporarily storing due to the upcoming remodel of our house.  I layered a photo of cracked paint over it and the lettering.

Here is a shot with my Nikon D5200.

Original

I like the harsh shadows created in this shot and the coffee cup handle.  I'm pretty sure that I won't do a white sheet again as this one has nice wrinkles in it but the lines show up in a disturbing way.
So I decided to try some layering.

Icky!  This layer just makes the sheet look dirty and cast a yellowish shadow over everything.

So onward.  

Better but the sheet still takes away from this shot.

One more edit to take the eyes away from that?

Better, but I should have changed things up for this shot.  I say "DO over!"

While studying light and side lighting, we were to try diffused lighting also. So I set my little .10 cent birdy up on the dresser near the window and dropped a gauzy shower curtain over the window.

I went for the black backround and bottom.  I used a black poster board and curved it so the subject sat with total black around it.

I took a few shots [Nikon D5200].  And I really like this.  It doesn't follow the rule of thirds nor is there a limited depth of focus, but I wanted everything to be in focus this week.  

Bucking the lesson, so to speak.

Yes!  I like this!

I saw no reason to change a thing.  I like the diffused light, I like the white on black, I like the subtle shades of pink, the reflection in the glass dish, and the starkness of the image.

For me? Perfect!