Spring Birds 2024

 I've been having a great time visiting some local ponds, and the local herring run photographing some birds this Spring. I always enjoy seeing and photographing the new babies this time of year.

Swans and cygnets:

Canada Gesse and goslings:

Goslings:

Eastern Kingbird:

Nesting Osprey at dusk:

Osprey in flight:

Northern Flicker pair:

Great Blue Heron with a Herring

Black Crowned Night Heron

Cormorant (Love the eyebrows :-)

Great Blue Heron:

Lots of rainy days so far this Spring with a few nice days in between. This week is looking to be warm and sunny. Enjoy!

Words For Wednesday Full Moon

"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator." —Mahatma Gandhi

Vermont Solar Eclipse in Totality

 Last weekend we went up to VT with Ms J and her husband and 3 kids. We had a great time, but the ultimate activity we did, was watching the solar eclipse on Monday. It was a beautiful day in Northern VT. We went up to my friend's farm in Barton, situated high up on a hilltop to watch the eclipse. From there, we had 360 degree views.

This was two hours before the eclipse started: Please ENLARGE the videos for a much better viewing.

Eclipse Watching:

Four minutes before totality. Notice how deep the shadows are:

Totality! I had to split this video into two separate videos to fit on the blog. Best view ENLARGED

It was such an incredible experience, and I was really happy to share it with some of our grandchildren. I was really surprised with how the horizon in 360 degrees looked like a sunrise or sunset during the 3 minutes of totality. I also loved that we could see the planet Venus located under the sun to the right.

In this next image, if you can zoom in, you can see the planet Saturn in the very upper left of the image.

These next photos were taken with my camera and a special solar filter attached to the lens. I was struggling a bit to get a proper exposure when the sun went into totality, so I just set the camera aside and just enjoyed the three minutes without worrying about getting a photo. It was the best decision I made!

Spring Flowers at Rockland Garden Center in Rockland MA

 It sure hasn't been feeling like Spring here in SE MA with the weather we have been having lately. Last week I went to a local garden center to take some photos of the Spring flowers. They had a great assortment and it felt good to be photographing flowers again. Most of these were shot using my macro lens.

I have plans to shoot something different this weekend that I'm excited about. Stay tuned and enjoy your weekend.

Cordage Park Museum Plymouth MA

 Saturday was a rainy day which was a perfect day to photograph indoors. I went to Cordage Park in Plymouth with camera club members to photograph the Cordage Park Museum and historical mill building.

A sepia version 

The Plymouth Cordage Company, a rope making company , was founded in 1824. It was operational for over 140 years. It became the largest manufacturer of rope and twine in the world in the late 19th century.

A few friends made for some great models:

Most of these images were taken with the "nifty fifty" (Nikon 50 mm lens) and a few were taken with the Nikon 18-300 lens.

Happy Spring

Happy Spring! Even though we have had a fairly mild Winter with very little snow here in SE MA, it's still nice to know that Spring has arrived. I Saw this beautiful Great Blue Heron when I was out and about the other day. Within the next 4-6 weeks I should be starting to post some newborn wildlife photos here on the blog. Looking forward to it.

I am failing miserably with my new year's resolution to get out with my camera at least once a week. I got hit really hard with the flu this Winter and  it kicked off a pretty bad asthma exacerbation. It was nice to finally get back out again and looking forward to more photography outings. I hope all is well in your world.

I was fairly far away and was shooting with a long lens so I don't believe I scared him away, but he eventually took off and I caught him in flight.

 

Photographing On Overcast Day Great Blue Heron Photos

 Happy February! I went out with my camera the other day. It was another overcast day, but I think the cloudy conditions helped these photos. On cloudy days, the light is diffused by the clouds and the light is soft and even. We don't have to worry about shadows. 

I was using my Tokina 150-600 mm lens on this day, because my primary goal was to photograph wildlife. While walking along the beach, a Great Blue Heron flew past me and was heading to land in a marshy area with tall grasses.

                                                                   Delicate

The Hunt

Soft Landing

Don't let overcast days prevent you from getting out there with your camera!