Uploads from joeldinda

Chipper

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sat, 25 May 2013 04:43:42 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

The light was great last May 25; the 366 Snaps pix not so much. Most were overexposed. Many were of birds at the birdbath.

This Chipping Sparrow photo was the best-exposed pic of the session.

The Robin whose photo I posted a year ago is the same bird I told you about a week ago. (He still thinks he owns the place, by the way. He's a bossy bird.)

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 73
Title of "roll:" Birds
Other photos taken on 5/25/2012: 'Twas a busy day on the camera front around here. In mid-morning, a few minutes before the "Birds" set, I'd tried making some arty pix of a female Cardinal, taking advantage of the high contrast light. That didn't work out, but the idea was interesting.

The Daily Flower Census (using the Nikon 1) occurred around the same time as the bird shots, and caught this photo of a new-planted Foxglove; in late afternoon I was deliberately experimenting with exposure on the same Nikon 1 and took this photo of the same plant. I learned a lot from this session; it changed the way I use the camera.

In the evening I dug out the Olympus C-50 I was planning to use as my June camera. While I was remembering how to use it one of the neighbor boys had a run-in with the family car--which filled the village with emergency vehicles (again) and ultimately led to the youngster being choppered to a Lansing hospital. Too much excitement. The kid wasn't seriously injured, thank goodness.

The Nuthatch

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:56:49 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

While I shot many photographs of birds last May 24--I called the folder "The Swallow, the Blackbird, the Nuthatch"--I chose to post one of the best pix I ever took of our cat, Taffy. Which undermines my argument about the camera's limitations, I suppose.

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Before they built the neighborhood around us we always had blackbirds, but now they're relatively rare at our feeders. But every day, now, we get nuthatches, which we rarely saw fifteen years ago. Y' win some, y' lose some.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 71
Title of "roll:" The Swallow, the Blackbird, the Nuthatch
Other photos taken on 5/24/2012: The Daily Flower Census found our poppies had opened; we also found our first lily.

Maple Leaves

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:46:01 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Well, what else can you do with this fancy camera?

You don't have to photograph birds, or baseball games, with the 300 mm lens. Whatever fits into the frame comes into sharp focus....

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 23
Title of "roll:" Miscellany, including some birds
Other photos taken on 5/23/2012: Later in the day I dug out the big camera to shoot pix of a particularly bright cardinal, wandering in the lawn. The Daily Flower Census was quite variable, though small; it included some Painted Daisies, the year's first Rose, and the Spirea at its best. And our pedestal feeder broke.

How About an Iris as an Orb?

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:10:22 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Our garden's entering its blue period.

Thanks again to windsordi...

Phlox

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:52:12 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Let's Sing!

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:17:51 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

There are always swallows in the neighborhood, and one summer we had a pair nesting in our yard. One thing I remember about that year is what unfriendly neighbors they were.

A year ago today our yard was briefly infested with a swallow colony. They were all over the place. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy it if the swallows were always around, but watching them for a short time is always fun. They swoop and they dance and twirl. Aerial acrobatics are the order of the day.

This guy was singing merrily away on Joan's weather station when I shot this photo. A couple seconds after I took this pic he was gone, and I captured his replacement doing a touch-and-go landing (it became the 366 Snaps photo; see below). Immediately the perch went to a third bird, who promptly left (I got that takeoff, too, but not well). A few minutes later another bird was perched here, but facing the other way.

Meantime, members of the troop were checking out our red-and-white birdhouse. (No one moved in, though, unless you count the hornets.) But mostly they were showing off.

And mostly I was watching, and enjoying. Within a few minutes they'd come and gone.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 70
Title of "roll:" Birds
Other photos taken on 5/22/2012: More birds! I shot about a hundred frames of Mr. Blackbird's Breakfast Party, and posted seven. We were still working in the yard; in late afternoon, when I took the Daily Flower Census, you could begin to see real progress.

Last May 22 was the day I started to give you a tour of our flower garden.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:09:21 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

In an orb....

The Show's Back On!

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:21:44 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Learned last week that the 41st Charlotte Bluegrass Festival will be held, on June 20 to 22 at the Charlotte, Michigan, fairgrounds.

Featured bands will include the Grascals (pictured above from last year's fest), IIIrd Tyme Out, Marty Raybon, and Audie Blaylock & Redline. Also appearing are Shannon & Heather Slaughter's band County Clare, and the Darrell Webb Band. The other bands appear to be mostly midwestern regional groups, and the show's got sort of a makeshift look to it. But that's OK, since it appears that they started working on this in February, after many bands had committed to be elsewhere.

There's more info on the festival's Facebook page than their website.

Dixie Bozung and Doris Peiffer have put up some fun photos from early Charlotte festivals on FB, by the way. Dixie's parents' band, Homegrown Grass, played the festival circuit for several years. I see from those photos that Lester Flatt played at the Charlotte Festival in the 1970s. Can't say I'm surprised, but that was before I moved to the area.

I have, of course, purchased my ticket....

Breakfast!

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:40:37 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Last May 21 was my day to photograph sparrows. These guys were at the pedestal feeder, while the birds in the 366 Snaps photo were setting up housekeeping in one of the bird houses. (Or something. I'm not sure they ever moved in.)

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 63
Title of "roll:" Birds
Other photos taken on 5/21/2012: The Daily Flower Census--42 photos--was pretty uninteresting. I think the yard work was interfering with the photography. As it will be today.

The Mackinac Straits Bridge

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:03:01 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Perhaps a li'l distorted....

Painted Daisies

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:39:26 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Things have changed here on Flickr; it might take some getting used to.

On the other hand, looks like I can stop complaining about Flickr being "relentlessly white."

Tall Grasses

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:09:15 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Nothing much to say today. A year ago we were trying to get our flower and veggie gardens into shape; that's the day's plan today, too.

These grasses were growing in our daylilies, and I immediately pulled them up. I'll be pulling up their successors today, I'm guessing.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 78
Title of "roll:" Birds, and a bug
Other photos taken on 5/20/2012: Merely 28 pix in the Daily Flower Census, and some of those were of to-be-planted flower flats. The Spirea were at their peak.

Now She's Got Me Doing It!

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:45:21 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

A rose in an orb.

Notion courtesy of windsordi, who picked it up from DeForestRanger, who learned it from ParkerRiverKid, who refers us to Liz Mackney. Instructions on Liz Mackney's page, if you're interested. The examples linked to here were created variously in Photoshop, in Paint Shop Pro, and in Photoshop Elements.

I'll likely inflict more of these on you.

House Sparrow on the Feeder

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:41:39 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Just a reminder that although I had the D300 set to take monochrome photographs all of last year, my software ignores the "mono" flag in the NEF file (NEF is Nikon's Camera RAW format). As I've said before, B&W is partially an attitude.

Through the viewfinder this photograph was almost entirely shades of green (Facebook link). And quite glorious.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 19 [see? 15's enough, despite recent practice]
Title of "roll:" Birds
Other photos taken on 5/19/2012: We were working in our yard a year ago--I've photos of Joan hard at work in the veggie garden, of my little tractor pulling its little trailer, of new-purchased plants. The Daily Flower Census found Cranesbill and Painted Daisies and Dames Rocket and Snow on the Mountain and Irises. Lots of Irises. And (wait for it) Spirea.

Columbine

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:10:22 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

(Still) Got My Eye on You

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:38:00 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Weary, at least for the day, of photographing Sparrows and Finches and Grackles and Doves through the windows, I took my camera outside into the brilliant mid-morning light and--mostly captured images of Robins.

Here's the same bird whose picture I posted to 366 Snaps, on the roof of the house behind our house. He was following me around the yard, just watching.

I also sneaked in a photo of our neighbor's glorious poppy crop.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 210
Title of "roll:" Birds
Other photos taken on 5/18/2012: The Daily Flower Census found Spirea (yet again), Irises, Pinks, and Columbine. Lots of Columbine.

The Robin on the Lawn

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:37:59 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

This guy's opinion is that he owns the front yard, and I'm an intruder. Little does he know that I planted his tree.

Doubt he cares, either.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

366 Snaps project discussion for May 18.

Breakfast

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:37:59 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

This House Sparrow, eating on the pedestal feeder, was photographed through a gap in the pickets that surround our porch. Have I mentioned that I love my 300 mm lens?

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

366 Snaps project discussion for May 18.

Apple Blossoms

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:58:18 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Now we'll move on to other flowers. I promise.

Goldfinch, leaving

nobody@flickr.com (joeldinda) — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:09:13 -0700

joeldinda posted a photo:

Gonna bury you in birds this morning!

The light was gorgeous a year ago, and I gave my cameras a workout. For 300 Snaps I tried to get a bird-in-flight photo--which means I kept snapping until the bird moved, over and over.

This pic worked out nicely. So did the 366 Snaps photo.

And, just incidentally, I got a bunch of good songbird portraits. Including another of this bird.

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This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 197
Title of "roll:" Birds, mostly [wasn't that yesterday's title?]
Other photos taken on 5/17/2012: The "daily flower census" mostly consisted of bird photos (here's one), but showed a garden coming into its glory with Spirea (of course), Iris, Painted Daisies, Snow on the Mountain's spindly flowers, and the Columbine.

Joan and I went out for supper. We returned to a neighborhood littered with emergency vehicles.