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52/50: Signs of Spring

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We’ve had several days of warmer weather, and it looks like spring has arrived. These photos were taken on Monday when I walked to the park to see what was in bloom. Tracy and I walked through the park again today, but I had my wide-angle lens on so none of today’s photos will work for this project. It’s amazing, though, how much more has blossomed in just a few days.

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Our street dead-ends at the Colgate Divinity School property, and I often walk across their lawn on my way to the park. Not many signs of spring here, but I love the way the beautiful building stands out against the clear blue sky.

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Not many of the magnolias were in bloom on Monday, but almost half of them were today.

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The current challenge at Image City is to take a photo with the camera no more than four feet from the ground. I’m finding it a very difficult task. These daisies are very tiny IRL.

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Here’s this week’s pick. Highland Park is known for it’s extensive collection of lilacs. They are just beginning to bud, and should be right at peak the second week in May when the Lilac Festival begins. I’m linking this up at P52.

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Happy Birthday & 52/50: Week 15

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Yesterday was Adam’s birthday, and although I did get a phone call in to him, I didn’t get a blog post up because I ended up driving to Syracuse to spend a few hours with my brother. (More about that later this week.) Here’s the card I left with our gift for him when we were in Ashland.

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I’m a big fan of Papertrey’s Stylish Sentiments: Birthdays, and thought the bicycle image from Studio Calico was a perfect match for it. The arrow is a Papertrey die, and I hand cut the banner. I think I cased the design for this card from one by Joy Taylor, but I can’t for the life of me find it on her site or in my Vi.sualize.us account.

We’ve had a very busy week and dreary, dreary weather—enough rain that we ended up with some water in the basement. It made for slim pickings for the 52/50 project this week. I had hoped a visit by Betsy and Skylar Friday night would add some good images, but Skylar was feeling under the weather, so I’ll save those for a weekend recap post later this week.

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My favorite image from the conservatory last Saturday, taken with the 50 mm.

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A rather winter-worn deer showed up in the yard one morning.

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I was happy with the clear focus on the raindrops since it was taken through the kitchen window. It was much too wet to take the good camera outside.

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There was a break in the rain the day I after I found the helleborus blooming in the backyard. This is the pick for Kent Weakley’s P52 project.

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Opportunities

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Rochester offers photographers a wide range of opportunities. First, there’s the George Eastman House. Saturday night Tracy and I attended a showing of the Ivory/Merchant film “Jefferson in Paris.” It was introduced by James Ivory, and an interview with Mr. Ivory followed the film. Their collection of photographs and films is one of the best and most prestigious in the world. A few years ago, my brother-in-law gave me a membership there for Christmas. We’ve renewed it every year, and enjoy the parties for members whenever a new exhibit opens up. I get to three or four lectures there every year as well, and we enjoy the concerts in the gardens during the summer.

There’s a long standing camera club, Camera Rochester, that hosts monthly competitions the first Monday of the month, and a lecture/demonstration the third Monday each month. Image City, a local photography gallery hosts new photography shows every six weeks or so, and hosts a free photo critique session the first Wednesday of every month. The partners there frequently offer both short and long-term classes. Then there are several meet-up groups. In addition to Camera Rochester and the photo critique group, I belong to the Rochester Photo Editing Group (RPEG). We meet once a month to see demonstrations of photo editing techniques (Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, HDR programs, etc) and occasionally they host a photo shoot for edit. 

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On Saturday RPEG members met at the Lamberton Conservatory. It’s one of my favorite places to take photos. The deal with RPEG is to go to the shoot with some new skill to practice and then to upload your photos to share at the following meeting. I don’t use my tripod or my macro lens very often, so I went off with macro on my mind. I wasn’t thrilled with what I got (I had definite ideas about what I wanted), but I learned a bit. One of the benefits of groups like these is the help you get from other members. One of them walked by me on Saturday and asked why I wasn’t using the Live View feature on my new camera. Truth is, I didn’t know anything about it. In a matter of minutes, Brad had me “up and running” with Live View.

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I had hoped to convert several of the photos to black and white, but this was the only one that seemed to work. Seeing in black and white while shooting in color is another skill I need to learn.

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This one I liked; I call it “Eyes to You, ” though someone said it remined them of an owl.

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And this one I took simply for the amusement factor. Ah, sweet Victory! (It’s some kind of bud.)

Lastly, a photo taken with my 50mm at the end of the shoot of the cute quails that run about in the tropical room at the conservatory.

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It’s been several months since I participated in any of these groups, but it’s good to be back. I’m so grateful that there are so many free opportunities to practice and learn. I picked up some great tips for editing in Lightroom last night at the meeting, one of which I was able to use today while editing photos from our trip.

52/50: Week 14

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It’s been a whirlwind of activity since we arrived home (on time!) Wednesday night. It’s amazing how much mail accumulates in nearly three weeks and then there’s the empty refrigerator to fill, suitcases to unpack, and multiple appointments and errands. So here we are again on Saturday with another week gone by. 

Sarah, Tracy, Caleb, and I hiked the Orson-Todd Trail on Tuesday. There’s an entrance to it just down the street from Sarah’s house. All the photos were taken on our hike. Caleb alternated between the backpack and walking on his own. I’m guessing he did close to half the walk on his own power (that’s about a mile.)

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The view from the top of the trail was simply gorgeous, and it’s the pick for this week’s 52/20 project which I’m posting on Kent Weakley’s P52.

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The light on the mountains/hills is almost always dramatic and beautiful. It’s a really wonderful place to live. I’m hoping to get time to visit all of you in the next day or two. I imagine there are a lot of posts to catch up with!

 

Blog Update & 52/50 Week 13

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First off, Happy Easter! I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday. After days of sunshine and warm weather, we awoke to much cooler temperatures and a steady rain. It cancelled the Easter egg hunt in the church yard, but one was held in the Celebration Center. Caleb gathered about eight eggs before he lost interest. 

If you’re reading this in a reader, hop over to see the new blog design. Random Reflections has been in need of an update for quite some time, but I’m always reluctant to mess around with it for fear I’ll do permanent damage. So I signed up for Jessica Sprague’s “Bloom Your Blog” course. Like every class I’ve taken with her, it was wonderful. Lots of great information, clearly presented on both videos and pdfs. 

One of the first things I decided I wanted was a two-column blog instead of a three column one. It turns out that to have the dimensions I wanted I would need to upgrade to the next level at Typepad which I’m not yet willing to do. Typepad offers a variety of premade themes, and I found one that I liked a lot except for the overlay on the banner. Once again, in order to eliminate it, I’d have to upgrade. Thanks to Adam, I was able to get a new banner designed that works with it, and I think I’ll be able to use other photos as well. Along with quite a bit of frustration, I’ve learned a lot and have more confidence about how to make changes on the blog. It doesn’t pay to let it go for so long.

I deleted a few items from the sidebar that were outdated, and updated my Photo-a-Day blog. That’s another frustration as it clips the photos, so if you want to see the whole photo, you need to click on the sidebar photo within that album. But it’s a great place to keep my Project 365. If I get time, I’ll get January and February up as well. 

Next on the agenda is to get some social media buttons up and add a signature for the blog posts. I thought they might be done by now, but we were on a road trip yesterday to Crater Lake (more about that later), and we’re having a guest for Easter dinner tonight. Hopefully, I’ll get it done tomorrow. For now I need to get my link up for my 52/50 Project. Here are the contenders—Caleb again—but, sadly, this will be the last week as we’ll be headed home on Wednesday.

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I loved this reflection of Caleb in the sliding glass door, watching his dad work on the patio.

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Concentrating.

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At North Mountain Park wearing Dad’s sunglasses.

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At the top of the slide.

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And this week’s pick for 52/50 posted on Kent Weakley’s Project 52 post.

52/50: Week 12 – Caleb, Of Course

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This week has flown by even though we haven’t done much besides just hang out with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. I almost missed the fact that today is the last day to post this week’s 52/50 project. I actually have taken a few (very few) photos of some flowers and the park, but most of them have been of Caleb, of course. So here are a few from this week and the pick for the 52/50 Project on Kent Weakley’s P52.

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We took Caleb to a new park, and he was thrilled to find a slide short enough for him to come down by himself. He did it over and over.

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It’s about simple pleasures. Caleb has a little stool, and he loves to use it to climb up and sit on his toy chest. Sometimes he takes a toy or a book with him.

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For a fifteen month old, Caleb has a wonderful attention span, and Legos seem to hold his attention the longest of all.

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I have many more photos of Sarah with Caleb since she’s home with him all day (and she spent three weeks with us in the fall.) I was so happy to get this one of Caleb with his dad!

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I’m not sure why, but this turned out to be my favorite of the week. I think it has to do with the photo/heart connection that Rinda posts each month for Kat’s monthly project. Those big brown eyes just melt my heart. I’ll be posting this one on the P52 post.

Hope you’ve had a great week! The weather here was simply beautiful today–sunny and warm. Tracy and I ran an errand after church and walked the length of main street in Ashland. We didn’t even need our coats. It’s still hovering around freezing in Rochester, and there’s still snow on the ground. I’m hoping Spring will show up there before we get home!

52/50: Week 10 – Day Trip to Canada

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After another gray, dreary week in western New York, we were thrilled to have a sunny day for our trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was still cool, but not nearly as cold as it’s been. 

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We’ve been going to Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Shaw Festival with our friends, Mike and Karen, for over 15 years now. A few years ago, we started going twice-once in March to buy the tickets and again in October for a weekend away at a bed and breakfast. This year we bought tickets for Guys and Dolls, and Tracy and I bought another set for a July performance of Enchanted April when we’ll be going up just for the day with another couple.

I took my DSLR and the 50mm lens in hopes of getting some fresh photos for the 52/20 project.

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Love the flags at the Jackson Trigg Winery

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The lines and color at Southbrook attracted me.

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The pun on this jam was too cute; I love the tag, too!

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I’d love to have these clocks to display on my mantle.

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This was a first, and it made all of us laugh! Too bad Tracy and I qualify!

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Shadows always interest me . . .

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 . . . as do reflections. My favorite kind of self-portrait.

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Here’s the photo for 52/50 this week. At Southbrook they had a huge jar filled with stones. I like this perspective, and like the black and white conversion as well.

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You’ll find lots of  photo inspiration at Kent’s P52.

52/50: Week 9-Miss Skylar

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The weeks are flying by, and once again it’s time to get my photo for my 52/50 project posted on Kent’s P52.

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Matt’s home to visit and we had a great time this morning opening gifts and watching Skylar entertain us all! I didn’t have any photos I just loved from this week, but now I have more than enough. It was hard to delete any of them, but I tried to be a bit critical. Nonetheless, I ended up with over 30 photos that I decided to keep in Lightroom at least. Here are five favorites. 

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This was the first time Skylar’s been able to get on and off the rocking horse without any help. She always seems to like it.

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I’m always happy to have a photo of Matt and Skylar together. I got several good ones today.

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She was determined to get Matt’s birthday card open by herself.

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Betsy says Skylar’s new love is stickers. She put her Dora stickers all over herself and the rest of us too. There’s a scrapbook layout coming!

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But this is my favorite because it just captures perfectly her fun-loving attitude for just about everything! I’ll be posting this one at P52.

52/50: Week 8–Lamberton Conservatory

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We live just a short walk away from a fabulous park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It’s beautiful during every season, but one of my favorite spots during the winter is the Lamberton Conservatory. When I just can’t take any more snow and cold weather, a walk throught the conservatory cures the winter blues. Here are some photos from this week’s visit. I neglected to write down the names of all the flowers so a couple are unknown to me.

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This looks like a variation of a shamrock plant, but I can’t be sure of it.

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There are lots of orchids, but these were the most beautiful.

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This little turtle was poking his head out as the koi swam about in one of the pools.

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The hibiscus are always a favorite of mine.

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But this one is my pick for 52/50 this week. I’ve taken other photos much like the ones above, but this back of the hibiscus is a different perspective.

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You can find more photographic inspiration here.

Winter Storm and Project 52/50

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It’s sunny, but cold here today. There is nothing but a remenant left of the storm we had a week ago. Unlike the east coast, we got lots of snow, but NO wind. The result was exceptionally beautiful as the snow clung to the branches for nearly three days.

It started like this:

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And developed into this:

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Here are a few more photos of the first two days:

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But it was Sunday when the snow came out that it became simply stunning. 

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Lots of these were taken with my iPhone and a few with my wide-angle lens. This one was taken with the 50mm and it’s my pick for the 52/50 project I’m doing this year. I’m linking it to Kent Weakley’s P52.

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You can find more photographic inspiration here.

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LOAD 2013: Days 10-12

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Keeping up with LOAD has been a bit more time consuming that I would like, but I know I’ll be happy at the end of the month to have finally scrapped some of the photos that have been hanging around in my photo files for awhile. For these three days, I scrapped one very old photo (but a long-time favorite), some photos from our road trip this summer, and a layout about the winter storm last weekend. 

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I’ve always loved this photo of Sarah on Valentine’s Day and this was the perfect week to get it scrapped. She’s wearing the only dress I ever hand-smocked for her and holding a sheep I made her as a gift that year for Valentine’s Day. Those were the days when I sewed and had no idea what papercrafting was about!

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My journaling is not usually so detailed, but I knew exactly what I wanted to say when I found these photos.

I’m not quite sure how we discovered Canoe in Atlanta. The first night we were there was a warm August evening, and it had rained most of the day. As it cooled down, fog rose from the Chattahoochee River and a heavy mist settled over everything. We opted to sit on the covered porch, and it was an inspired decision. The beautiful landscaping and paths between the restaurant and the river are lit, and it just became more and more beautiful as dusk turned to night.

Then we ordered dinner. Exquisite is the only word for both the food and the service at Canoe. It’s leisurely, but efficient, and definitely expensive. All of us agreed, however, it was worth every penny.

Tracy, Sarah, and Adam returned to Canoe the night of her graduation from Columbia Theological Seminary. I was in New York with Matt for his graduation, and missed it. I got another chance this past August when we drove to Decatur to babysit while Sarah and Adam worked at a conference. Tracy and I ended up with an evening on our own. The minute I heard about it, I checked to see if Canoe was open. It was, and it was a perfect repeat of the first occasion—a bit hazy, a table on the porch, fabulous food and service. On our way home, Tracy and I decided Canoe is the only 5-Star restaurant we know. We’ve had great food elsewhere, been in some lovely settings, but no other place can match the perfect combination that Canoe presents.

Last night in the Photoshop class I’m taking at the Community Darkroom, I learned a technique to improve the color in the panorama on this layout. I may try to redo it and then replace it on the layout. We got about 15″ of snow on Friday and Friday night. Because we had no wind, there wasn’t much damage (one neighbor lost a huge limb from a tree), and the snow stayed on the branches until Sunday when the sun finally came out. It really was a stellar sight. I took all these photos with my iPhone.

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I’ll be back with my 52/50 photos and you’ll see some more of the winter wonderland then.

52/50: Weeks 5 & 6

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Last week I had only one photo to post for my 52/50 project. Although almost all my photos are taken with the 50mm lens right now, most of them have been of crafting projects or for reminders of our daily lives here. This week (Week 6) I took a short break and went to Powder Mills Park. We finally had a bright, sunny afternoon, but it was still so cold I couldn’t stay out for very long. I debated a while between the third and fourth photos, but am linking the last one to Kent’s P52, probably because it focuses on the blue sky we see so little of in the winter.

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This is the pond next to the Fish Hatchery.

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Loved the shadow of the tree next to the pond across the road from the Fish Hatchery.

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I’m always a sucker for reflections.

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The blue sky and the composition made this photo win out for the week.

And here’s last week’s photo:

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We don’t have any pets, but our neighbor’s frequently cross out patio.

52/50:Week 3 and Florida Birding

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Here’s this week’s photo for 52/50. It’s been closely cropped, I was amazed how clear the details were when I zoomed in on the photo so our birding friends could identify it. The birds along the stretch of beach where we walked every morning are totally nonplussed by the human beings walking along the shore. They stand still and let you get incredibly close for a photo. I used my zoom lens at the Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, but took photos for two mornings on the beach in Ft. Myers Beach with my 50mm lens, and was amazed at the photos I managed to get. I’m linking this first photo to Kent Weakley’s P52.

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A Double-crested Cormorant (50mm)

I thought I’d share some of the many bird photos I took at both the wildlife refuge and along the beach. Our friends are responsible for the fact that I know which bird is which!

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An Anhinga drying his wings. (zoom)

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This Great Blue Heron walked out into our path as we walked to the beach. (zoom)

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A group of Royal Terns (50mm)

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A Roseate Spoonbill and heron. I was so excited to actually see a Roseate Spoonbill. They were all a long distance off, so using the zoom was essential.

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White Ibis (taken with my Canon S95, a point and shoot)

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This, according to fishermen on the beach, is Walter. I got a great photo of him one morning and inadvertently deleted it. I was so bummed, but the next morning as soon as we walked onto the beach, there he was. He stood perfectly still for multiple portraits. Walter is a Great Blue Heron. (50mm) 

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American Oystercatcher (zoom)

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A flock of White Pelicans at the Wildlife Refuge (zoom)

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Cormorants on posts. Just as I got ready to take the first photo, one of the cormorants flew away, but when we walked back up the beach all the posts were filled. (50mm)

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A Yellow-crowned Night Heron (zoom)

In all we saw 29 different species of birds while we were on the trip including two American Bald Eagles (too far away for my zoom) and a number of Sandhill Cranes in fields as we drove across Florida from the east to west coasts. I’m quite sure there’s a scrapbook page(s) about birding in my future.

 

52/50: Week 2

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I’m down to the wire to post to Kent’s P52 site, but not because I was taking photos at the last minute. In fact, all the photos here were taken in Annapolis, MD on Monday. Since then, however, we’ve been without internet service so there’s been no opportunity to post (or comment on blogs.) We arrived in Ft. Myer’s Beach yesterday afternoon to stay with Tracy’s mom and her friends for four days. The weather is fabulous, and Dick and Carolyn (Ellie’s good friends) are experienced birders so our walk along the beach this morning was not only beautiful, but educational. I’ll have photos of that later.

Here are some photos from Annapolis, all taken with my 50mm lens.

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I loved this old wooden Native American outside a honest-to-goodness cigar store.

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Loved the textures of the ropes hanging at the end of the pier.

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The sea gull isn’t the attraction for me here as much as the reflection in the upper right of the photo.

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A view of the Capitol Building.

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But this is my favorite. I love the colors, the lines, and the reflections of this building along the main street. I’ll be linking this one up with P52.

52/50: Week 1

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It’s highly unusual that I would post twice in one day, but I found a new photography project for the year this weekend and wanted to link it up to Kent Weakley’s P52Sweet Shot Tuesday. The link closes tonight, so I need to be speedy. I found this project through a Photo Jojo post which took me to this site. The premise is to take one photo every week for a year, shooting only with your 50mm lens. I love my 50mm and need some inspiration to continue on with Capture Your 365, so once a week I’ll be using my 50mm and linking up with Kent’s blog.

Since I was down to the wire, I limited myself to our yard this morning. This is what I found.

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I’m linking the last of these to Kent’s blog though I debated about the other hydrangea thinking the composition was better. Ended up thinking the focus on the snow was best here. Which would you have chosen?