In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
No luck for this little guy.
No problem for Mr. Squirrel. He takes up residence in the feeder for so long Ray opens the door and chases him out.
Around 5:30pm the birds come in mass. The feeding frenzy gets going and makes for fun photos.
This is what my lighting set up looks like.
This is the second evening I tried my hand at using some off camera flash with two Pocket Wizards, one on my camera and one on a light stand, to shoot the birds feeding. I set up the PW on the light stand to the right and about 4 feet from the birds. Flash settings: Manual, 35mm – 50mm zoom, 1/16th power. The Canon 5d Mark II fitted with a Canon 70 – 200mm 2.8 lens was positioned about 45 degrees to the left of the flash. Manual camera settings for the most part were either: ISO 125: 1/200 sec at f/6.3 or 1/160 sec at f/7.1. Camera was on a tripod with a cable shutter release attached.
The birds got used to the flash going off after a while. I had to shoot the birds from inside the cabin, at a distance of 12 feet, or the birds wouldn’t visit the feeder.
The birds weren’t very active tonight……meaning there wasn’t a lot of bickering which makes for good shots. Here are 5 shots out of 200 plus taken.
We are creatures of habit, at home and on vacation.
Ray and I have been coming to Wood’s Lodge for probably 13-15 years. Every year we stay at Wood’s Lodge for 3 weeks. Up until 3 years ago, when we finally got into the system (the loop of seniority) and now have the same cabin for all three weeks each year, we would have to stay in a different cabin each week, clean the 1st week cabin and move to the 2nd week cabin, clean it and move to our 3rd cabin for the last week…….and, of course, clean it.
Every year since we started coming to Wood’s Lodge, once we arrive we both claim “our” spots to nest in the cabin and that’s where we sit/work/read/compute etc. during our stay. It’s a good thing we’ve never wanted the same “spot”.
Here are photos of our “spots” in Cabin #18. We love this cabin, and REALLY love that we, now that we are in the loop, stay all 3 weeks of our stay here every year.
Only 4 more full days until we check out on Saturday.
My office at the cabin.
Ray's office.
Paddles from the Lake Mary Marina.
Waiting for some after sunset color that never came.
Searching for something to shoot while waiting at Lake Mary.
Basically there wasn't another cloud in the sky. A fizzle night.
John and Cindy called to let us know they were coming up for the weekend and asked if I’d like to go hiking. This morning we went on a short hike close by the cabin, passing Barrett Lake and TJ Lake.
T.J. Lake with Mammoth Crest beyond.
John and Cindy along Coldwater Creek while we were on a short hike today.
Cindy and John in front of TJ Lake not far from our cabin.
Georgous wildflowers along every water source.
The mosquito bites were worth it.
View looking northwest over Lake Maime. Photo taken 40 minutes after sunset.
Canon EOS 7D, EF-S17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens, ISO 640, 1/30th sec at f/8, 7:58pm
(Last night.) The camera is set up in the living area and I’m ready for Mr. Bear’s nightly visit. When Mr. Bear arrives. All I have to do is press the button so the on-camera flash will open. The focal length is set on manual for the typical distance I am from Mr. Bear, my aperture is wide open for good flash coverage, shutter speed is set and I’m ready to go.
It’s 9:45pm. Ray and I are in bed reading. I’m reading and learning lots from The Complete Guide To Night & Low-Light Photography by Lee Frost. I hear a noise outside while I’m reading about Reciprocity Law Failure….p. 88 “Reciprocity is the relationship between shutter speeds and apertures, which allows you to control the amount of light reaching the film (its an old book) in your camera to ensure correct exposure.”
I jump out of bed, as quietly as possible unlock and slide the living area glass door open, hoping the noise doesn’t scare off the bear. I pick up the camera, switch on the flash, reach my camera through the 3 inch opening in the door and fire off a shot. I’m holding the camera way out in front of me so I can keep an eye out for whether the bear makes a move toward me.
Anxious to see the great capture, review mode reveals an all black frame. What, no bear photo? I shoot off another shot. The same thing. It’s dark in the living area, I can’t see the controls as I wander off to the bathroom and some light to see what I’m doing wrong, quite vocal about how unhappy and frustrated I am. From the bedroom Ray is asking questions about what is wrong. His questions are irritating and frustrating me more. I can’t figure it out.
Where's the bear?
The bear is now gone. Back in the bedroom, totally dejected, I pick up the camera guidebook, WANTING answers. With camera in hand, turning it this way and that way, looking for answers, I see the problem.
Unfortunately there was no chapter in the book titled Lens Cap Removal.
Ray laughs uncontrollably for the next 5 minutes.
Ha, ha, ha.
As I’m writing this blog entry, Ray is relating and still laughing uncontrollably about me standing in the bathroom last night (after I tried and failed to capture the bear), with the light on, clicking away, impatiently trying to trouble shoot why the dumb flash wasn’t working, all the while frustratedly saying, “Damn, this flash isn’t working!”
Expensive as this lens is it can’t penetrate the lens cap.
5:30pm Shoot. Didn’t know where, just knew I didn’t want to miss the first white puffy cloud filled sky since we’ve been here. Came home with lots of good photos. Here are a few.
First stop – Lake Maime. I love the late afternoon tree reflections. I was not disappointed this evening.
Shot many reflections which I'll be posting in my Portfolio once I catch up with all the photos I've been daily shooting. I want to take advantage of this time. It's heaven having the luxory to just pick up my camera and start shooting.
Next – A short walk over to Lake Mary for some orange color.
Lake Mary is the place to go for evening color and reflections. The clouds were a plus.
This guy never said a word as I shot probably 100 photos of him and over him. He just kept fishing. He didn't move much which helped when I shot bracketed exposures that I later merge.