Fishing and photos....

 We had a perfect day ... to go fishing. 

With Steve's help, we made it to Lee Lake in Cazenovia once more. And...the fish actually were biting. It was only the little fish, but at least the guys had fun deciding which one was going to be the BIG one.

It was a great day to take my Infrared Camera and more than one light spectrum filter. Below are the two guys deep in conversation...or they are just sitting quietly enjoying each others company. These two do chat but have long silences in between.

Some conversations start with ... Do you remember when....???  I listen intently to those stories because it is a history of things that occurred before I met Rich.

To think these guys are in their late 70's ... and have known each other since they were in their late 20's. 

Their friendship never ended but their lives took different directions with the two of them connecting up every once in a while.

Below...Steve tied a table umbrella to the dock so Rich can stay cooler in the shade. He thinks of everything!

Infrared Photo...

Bassy the stuffy fish did come along! Rich said she couldn't stay on the dock with them. He was afraid that she'd blow off as we actually had a breeze.

Cell shot....

The cool thing about Infrared is that you can get so 
many different looks with one filter. This
bench was filmed in the spectrum of

550nm.

This first shot is what it looks like

in camera. Startling blue foliage

and an orange hued sky.
Red becomes pink.

This is the black and white version. Basically I just desaturated the shot

and upped the contrast a bit.

The shot below is achieved by

what is called Channel swapping.
IR only picks up a few colors.

This is very hard to explain and it

is pretty technical.

I know that I enjoy the results.

The world looks foreign.

Here are a couple more views of the man made lake in Infrared using different light spectrums.

I really had fun with the Infrared camera. Hot sunny days are the best for using this camera.

Below are shots I did with my upgraded but not very fancy Google Pixel 9a. My 6a was on its last legs. What did surprise me [aside from the price] was the new ability of the camera to take 'long' exposures. So I went and tried it out by the Caz Dam.

I've been fighting off using my cell phone as a camera for a long time. But I can see its uses while hiking a long distance and not lugging along heavy camera equipment.

I did some other experimenting with a clearfield center diopter filter I found at a second hand store for $1. It was the filter I used in the very first shot which allowed the center to be in focus and the edges become blurred.

I can see where it will be very very handy in some toy photography.

This is the Lady of Pain from the Dungeons and Dragons collection. I thought she'd go perfect with a poison dart frog.

We had more adventures after leaving the lake. 

Eventually we did make it home safe and sound and tired out. But Rich and I are looking forward to our adventure next week.

Busy day

The other morning, before my appointment, I went to feed the girls and they were in a place they weren't exactly supposed to be in. All I had to do to get them back was rattle the feed bin and bring out their hay. 

[BW shot with my Infrared Camera out the door]

I just shut them in this large paddock until I could get out to check fences.

The culprits of fence wrecking showed up the next morning.

We did end up counting over 30 deer congregated by the place where our fence and two other neighbor fences intersect.

Well after breakfast, I went out and fixed about 500 feet of hot wire. The barbed wire fence that belongs to the guy west of me is bent over and mostly broken. He knows it is a mess, but he sold his cattle and so he basically doesn't care. 

That said, I don't mind either because I use a hot wire on the inside of his barbed wire. Hot wire was the only way we could keep our jumping mules in our pasture as they were taught to jump fences. That is a competition with a history of hunting behind it. 

The mules I have left don't jump fences. But keeping them out of tangled barbed wire is my goal.

Winter Pasture

The winter pasture looks flat, but it isn't, there are a lot of trees, nooks, and crannies to go around.

Below, my fencing supplies.

It wasn't that hard to repair the fence since I use a fence product that is easy to put back together. By the time I finished in my chore boots, my feet were chilled.

But I had a couple of more spots to take care of before quitting. You know, once you start a job, you finish it before having to put all the supplies away again.

I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the deer. 

After lunch, I decided to get outside as it was so warm! 22 F or -5 C. I'd been bummed about the 'order' not to 'go' hiking so Charlie and I decided to go for a 'walk'. Semantics, it works for me. 

I dusted off my Infrared Camera and thought it would be interesting to see how things looked in a different light. 

Finally an hour to myself to relax! No phone calls to answer, no appointments to work out, no deliveries of meds that need to be signed for. Just me and my little dog.

We went down the good part of the trail to the creek.  It looks quite different with the snow on it. I like to try and get out to 'shoot' this trail before the critters mark it up with footprints. 

That little black dot is Charlie watching 8 deer running up the hill from the valley below.

I turned around and hot straight up the trail. Yep, one isn't supposed to do that with a camera, it causes a lot of sun flares especially when you are using an Infrared Camera. I didn't care, I liked the footprints.

I checked my watch, time to get back and make sure someone had their meds on time and prepare for the 100 questions about "What is for lunch?"

I wanted to take an IR shot of this oak leaf stuck in the snow. Yes, the leaf looks blue as the light spectrum I chose to shoot in reflects anything that has chlorophyll in it a shade of blue in camera. It just looked pretty.

As we walked back home, I kept looking for interesting shapes and shadows in the snow. I like a solo branch sticking up out of the snow with a cool shadow. But our snow is not deep so I was stuck with little weeds. 

Back under the large oak, I found a small spot that did not have animal tracks in the snow and had interesting shadows from the tree above.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house since I hadn't really done so since I'd been sick over a week ago.