Photography

Another Ruby Throated Hummingbird - the finches and chickadees weren't cooperating!

This is an older photo from a vacation to Holden Beach, North Carolina in the summer of 2007.  Portia and Celeste decided to try out their mad skillz at wave riding in the blow up canoe.  I got this shot right before they were both dumped into the ocean.  

I'm using this photo for my entry for the "I Heart Faces - Beach Fun" contest.  Check out the I Heart Faces site for other great entries!

When we first moved into the new house we noticed a little hummingbird occasionally coming by to sample the flowers in the front flower bed.  Jason promptly made his tasty vanilla flavored hummingbird food and now we're up to six hummingbirds all fighting for the feeder, all day, every day.  Earlier this week I was out on the front porch and decided to see if I could get some decent photos of them.  Being hand held they didn't turn out too bad, though next time I want to tripod the camera and use off camera flash, rather than the speedlight in the hotshoe.

These photos were taken with a Nikon D80; 18 - 200mm VR Nikon lens; SB600 speedlight on the camera hotshoe.

I noticed this turkey vulture sitting on the fence the other day while I was eating my lunch.  He, apparently, was looking for lunch, too.  We have a fly trap in one of the trees near where he was sitting that stinks to high heaven of rotting flesh ( to attract the flies ) and we're betting he smelled that thinking he hit the jackpot on a yummy meal.

Over the weekend I decided to start up a new photography project.  Project 365 is a little much for me, so I decided to do a themed Project 52 focusing on only animals, since they are my favorite subject anyway.  Two years ago I did a general Project 52 with no theme and successfully finished it, so hopefully I'll be successful with this one as well.

I'm kicking off the project with a photo of Big Worm I snagged the other day while he was cat napping on the porch.

Finally - we're starting to settle into the new house.  We finished up work on the old house this week and the renters move in on Monday.  I'll be so glad not to see that place for a while.  The dog fence posts are being installed today and will continue on Monday and possibly Tuesday. Hopefully by end of day Tuesday we will have a completed fence for these dogs.  They need their running room and ability to free roam!  They are getting a little more than an acre all to themselves with plenty of trees and open areas.  They are going to love it!

We managed to capture Big Worm about a week after we actually moved.  He's elusive and we had to go to the house at 10:30 one night in order to get him. By that time he was pretty hungry so I was able to coax him into eating some canned food inside his carrier.  He was pretty leery but hunger won out and I was able to shove him in the cat carrier and close the door before he was able to remove one of my appendages.  He was not happy at all.  Once we got him to the new house, after much ruckus and mewling in the truck, we let him out of the carrier and he took off.  We didn't see him for three days.  Finally I found his hiding spot under the back porch.  Jason fed him some tuna laced with dewormer and we Frontlined him for fleas and since then he's been hanging with us on the porch in the evenings.  As you can see, he was not a happy camper at first, but he's coming around.

We're loving all the wildlife that we've been seeing.  We have a resident pair of humming birds that we see on a daily basis.  Lots of rabbits, frogs and dragonflies.  Unfortunately also a lot of houseflies that are driving us nuts.  We've seen a few deer and woke up one morning to 3 wild turkey strutting around the yard.  Now that things have settled down I'll be trying to get some photos of some of the creatures we see.  Here is a Waved Sphinx Moth that spent an entire night and day on our screen door.

Hopefully I'll get back to my regular postings again and I plan to start Project 52 up soon as well.  Happy Friday!  

After a month long hiatus from taking any photos I'm back in the saddle again!  The monthly scavenger hunt I try to participate in is having a challenge right up my alley and I figured what better time to jump back in.  The challenge is to find various shapes in nature...and with it being spring with all the fresh blooms and critters out and about, it's a really fun challenge! 

Some of the photos are below...but first, a house update!  I think we finally managed to get it after all that we've been through!  We were able to come to an agreement with the sellers that I believe is pretty fair for both parties.  So if all goes well from here out we'll have a closing date tomorrow and will be looking to physically move in 6 weeks.  Photos of the new digs can be seen here.

And here are some photos I've taken this weekend.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly

Cabbage White

Matrix Lily Innards

Finch Buffet

This weekend we finally made it to Lake Cumberland for our birthday celebration that was supposed to have been in January, but the snow had other plans for us at the time.  Though it actually worked out great.  The weather this weekend was gorgeous!  We had a wonderful, relaxing, fun weekend that was long over due.  We sat around all weekend playing pool, air hockey and the Wii.  There was also a hot tub that was nice (when it was working) and lots of good conversation along with a few adult beverages.  As with all fun weekends, it went by way too fast!  And a special thanks to Jenn and John for taking care of our pups at the last minute - you guys rock!

Since our Internet connection was very spotty I didn't get a chance to upload my Project 365 photos, so I'm lumping all three into this post.  They are all from Lake Cumberland, so it's fitting!

This is the front of the cabin we stayed in. It looks quite tiny from the front, but it was very spacious and slept 10 people. Since we were up on a mountain the back drops out into two stories and upper and lower decks.

Saturday night the Cats were playing so I managed to get most of the group in one shot while they were watching the game.

And today before we headed home we walked down to the boat ramp just down from the cabin to check out the water. The water level is low, but the water was beautiful!

And Project 365 begins!  Today we took Portia & Celeste out to lunch and bowling before they both head back home tomorrow.  Still recovering from last night's New Year's Eve party, but bowling helped to get me moving.  It's been a while since I've bowled for real (as opposed to Wii bowling).  I won both games - score!

Happy New Year! I hope 2010 is awesome for everyone!

In addition to the "All New Scavenger Hunt" I participate in, this month I also joined the "Monthly Scavenger Hunt" group on Flickr as well.  It's a bit different as it is 20 items every month, no challenges, you can use photos from your archives and the hunt items are vague.  This allows  more creativity to go into each hunt item.  For example, the photo of Blue with the Santa hat on was for the hunt item "Grinch, Humbug or Scrooge".  Plus with my time constraints it's more feasible for me to complete (though I do still participate in the ANSH as well).  You can see the full size photos here.

Yay me!  Friday starts Project 365 - wish me luck, I'll need it!