Greetings!

This week I have taken a look back at the past year and picked out some pictures that did not feature in a weekly essay (well, alright, one did), and do not fit a single theme, but which say something about my journey.  Thanks to my wonderful doctors and nurses and modern medical technology, my cancer is in remission at the moment, and I am still out and about with my camera.  But the ongoing experience is giving me the opportunity to see each day in a new light, and to value more deeply all that is around us.

The first picture in this set is a tranquil scene at a nearby pond in the early spring.  Google Earth’s historic imagery suggests that this pond is basically natural rather than man-made, but either way, road building and land development are continually nibbling away at the surroundings.  If you look very carefully you can find a street light and a stop sign in this picture, so who know how many more springs will look like this?  Already the other side of the wooded area in the background has gone, taking with it the red-headed woodpeckers that I can remember seeing there.  (Hypocrisy alert – no doubt a few years ago the clearance to make way for the building we now live in was also viewed as sacrelige!)

But, that building does afford us spectacular views of natural phenomena such as the frontal system moving through early one July afternoon shown in the second picture!

I cannot imagine ever growing tired of photographing birds, but I am now trying to make the pictures tell a bit more of a story than a simple portrait.  The examples shown here included a Pileated Woodpecker sharing a fallen log with a Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker; a Western Grebe leaving an almost abstract pattern in its wake; a Great Blue Heron frozen in time just before it plunges into the water; a Grey Catbird having a bath; and an American Goldfinch with flowers.

In the past I have not paid very much attention to plants, and I hope to rectify this, just by being alert to what is there, whether it be the interesting seeds and seed-cases of the Strawberry Bush, or pink Bluebells (should they really therefore be Pinkbells?)

The Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) is a wildflower that is a Virginia native, but deer love the leaves and young shoots, so it is not over-abundant.  (The plant is considered to be toxic to humans – the seeds can cause severe diarrhea!)

My anxiety about taking pictures of people is being slowly eroded by the opportunities that come with our three grandbabies, Richard, Jessica, and Matthew!

I still love aircraft, and I am always on the lookout (from our window) for something different, such as this B.747

belonging to Kalitta Air.  Kalitta Air is owned by Conrad “Connie” Kalitta, who made his name in drag racing in which he participated from the 1950s thru the 1990s.  His start in the air cargo business began in 1967, when he flew a small twin-engined Cessna to carry car parts.  As of July this year (2017), his (all-cargo) airline operates 15 747s and 2 767s, with three more 767s on order!

Other “things with wings” still exert an almost hypnotic influence on me.  I will continue to work on getting a passable in-flight shot – in the wild – of a bat, hopefully improving on the one shown below (AR014)!  The photographers among you will have heard comments from experts about “making” pictures rather than just “taking” them.  The implication is that the photographer should have a definite goal in mind when he/she squeezes the shutter release.  This can be a challenge with unrestrained butterflies (and other things), but one can look for a good background and the right lighting conditions to make a picture such as this one of a Painted Lady (AR015).  The third image in this group (AR016) is of a Monarch butterfly chrysalis I found under some leaf litter.  A few days later (in late September), the empty chrysalis case was still there, proving that the butterfly had hatched.  I include it here to make an appeal against over-eager clearance of dead leaves, which are an essential part of a healthy ecosystem!

The next two images show four-legged animals.  The chipmunk stealing seed from a bird feeder may not be too unusual, but I was very excited to spot a fox bedded-down in some bushes, and to find a viewpoint from which I could get a catch-light in its eye.

Something totally new to me this year was to take direct pictures of the sun.  In advance of the solar eclipse that happened in August, a friend (thank you, Dick!) gave me some special solar filter material from which I was able to make a cover to put on my BIG lens!  My very first test shot yielded an image that included a sun spot.

You can see it just left of center and about three-quarters of the way “down” the disc.

I end with two pictures that include the moon, both of which involved some effort in finding the right spot to “make” the image work.

The first one started out as a simple shot of the weathervane on the top of the Avalon (California) Yacht Club building, but while I was zooming in and out trying to decide how much of the cupola to include, I became aware of the half-moon, and after walking around to find the best spot, I was able to include it.  The second picture of this pair, also taken at Avalon, came about when I discovered that I could find a position in which the alignment of the moon and the crane hook gave the result I was striving for!

 

Have a great week!