Year 5 Day 22 - Change and Perspective

(I struggle with voice and I vs. you should, but that's another post...)

Lately I've had reason to be going through all sorts of old images. I like to think I am open to seeing. I respond to hunches, you know, in your head you see something for a second and think 'hey that looks cool'. But only sometimes do you stop, maybe backup and look again, and shoot the image of the thing that caught your eye........ I know too many times I have that glimpse, that fleeting thought, and I let it pass.

Read on for more.


Tonight's adventure was looking through some images I took on a trip while in Maine during 2007. I went whale watching. We had a so so trip and saw a total of 3 whales.

(posted already)






I was moderately happy with those images, we DID see whales which was the goal. But I wanted more, and still do.

Anyway, here are a couple of images that now catch my eye from that day. I took them so at the time I thought maybe this will work, but I never posted them.



WHALE SPOTTED!



Maybe not amazingly new perspectives, IDK. How about this one:




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I used to work with a woman that had a thing. She would mix things up just for fun. I didn't know this until one day she came out of our work building and was wandering and wondering where her car was. I asked what was up, and she told me to keep things interesting she parks in different spots, and 'mixes things up' like that. It seemed a little strange at the time, but, I think there's something to be learned and gained from that.

I went shopping at a different store today, was out getting new eye glasses and went to a new spot. It was good. Normally I'd never go there, why would I? It's farther from home, but it was worth it, that little decision to mix things up.

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I want to experience new things, photograph new things, and see in a new way every day that I can. I want to see and learn every day. It sounds simple but it can be hard. I know I find patterns and things I like and try to stick to things that worked well in the past, but life's too short and... I want more.

Year 5 Day 21 - A Couple New Gadgets

I have vowed to not get another dSLR this Fall. And I won't.

While my D200 is nearly worn out at 160,000+ shutter actuations / images, my D300 is no where near that and my Fuji S5 is under 20,000 I think. Both are great cameras and work very well. The only issue I've had lately is with the D300 and focus and I might have the fix thanks to Barry and the tip to turn off the focus lock!

But I did pick up a couple new gadgets.

Read on for details.

The first thing is something I've had my eye on and decided to get a couple weeks ago... It's the Vari ND neutral density filter.



The Vari ND is THE uber neutral density filter. It can stop up to around 8 stops of light which is great for blurred water, or removing moving people from a street scene by making the exposure time VERY long.

The other thing I got were replacement feet for my tripod. These have spikes and make the tripod a LOT more stable. I was surprised how much they helped.



-J

Year 5 Day 21 - Summer's Almost Over

Summer's almost over and I'm cool with that.

(The last couple months have been stressful, and I think I figured it out (mostly anyway). I've had a lot of overdue dental work done this summer and that has been a pain in the neck, and has lead to a lot of stress. Today I got a bite adjustment, I know too much info for my nature blog, but, I'm fairly sure that it has already in just a couple hours made me feel better. That's part of what caused me to shoot less, be less on flickr and to be more looking inward. I thought it was something else, something bigger, in fact it was (I think, almost am sure now) a pretty basic thing that I didn't recognize and it grew over time. I went to the dentist around 10 times this summer, maybe more.)

Here's two images that stand out from this summer:


Read on for more...


With some relief now in sight, I am ready to dig in to a good Fall for photography.

I plan to hit the Eastern Shore again, the river for the bald eagles a bunch and even Vermont. And hopefully Shenandoah National Park again a couple times too.



The eagles really should be awesome this year on the Susquehanna river. I've been twice in September and it was so so action-wise, but migration season hasn't really started.

Yesterday I checked on my 'secret osprey spot' in Maryland and they all appear to be gone now, which is totally expected. Someone said a single one was spotted a week earlier.



With Fall comes much later sunrises so getting to the eastern shore of Maryland by then will easier again. The downside is that getting to Great Falls for sunset after work will be harder. But that too is ok.

Pony @ Assateague Island from last Fall

-J

Year 5 Day 19 - A Good Little Local Spot

I've been taking it easy, and went by my little local pond today.

It's good to have a small spot like this one, where you can visit regularly and get lucky.




Over maybe a dozen visits in a month half the times I've found the Great Blue Heron. Today when I got there nothing was happening. I settled in and waited a little while and he showed up. I walked over got close and got some shots. We were doing great but then someone on a loud skateboard type thing (motorized and huge) came by and he fly away...


GBH - from today


Walking


Hunter


Reflected


If I were to only have visited this spot once or twice, or always at the wrong time of day it could be overlooked as a good spot. But I've been a bunch and some times it works and some times it doesn't. If you have a small body of water nearby, check it regularly and you might be surprised what you can see.

-J