Category: photography

Wilson Canyon

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Wilson Canyon 1

On my way home from Texas last week, I elected to drive through Yerington, Mason Valley, Smith Valley and Wilson Canyon. The colors along the Walker River in Yerington were gorgeous. I could not find a good spot to make the capture, though. I was really bummed by that.

However, when I drove through Wilson Canyon, there were a couple of places where I could pull off and get a decent composition. The leaves won’t last much longer and are really past their prime color. But, it was still worth stopping for a few minutes on a Friday afternoon.

Moody

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Moody

I almost always carry a camera with me. Even if it’s the puny camera in my iPhone, I have something on my person that will permit a capture of an image, should something present itself. There was something about the interplay of the evening light (before sunset colors appeared) on the clouds and the neighbor’s trees. I had the D300 with me and the Nikkor 24/2.8 lens. So, I made the capture.

It didn’t work in color, so I elected to desaturate the image and play with the contrast and exposure curves a bit. I so much prefer working on the digital darkroom than the wet darkroom! I like what I got. I think it conveys the mood of the scene.

The Girl, of course, didn’t care about sun, dark, light, or shadow. She was “hunting wabbits” and doing doggie things. We’re a good pair, me with my nose in the clouds and she with her nose on the ground. I never tire of watching her energy.

Fall, Clouds, and Sunsets

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Carson Valley SunsetFall arrived a couple of weeks ago. The warm/hot afternoons abated, suddenly. They were replaced with cool, brisk mornings and pleasant afternoons. As evening comes, it’s cool outside again and if the wind is blowing, it’s cold. A cover is required.

Last night I walked the Girl about 1800 or a bit after. Sunset isn’t really until about 1830 these days, but with the Carson Range, we lose the Sun about 1800. If there are any clouds, there is a chance we’ll see some color about formal sunset. Although I love the big blue skies of Nevada, I’m ready for a few clouds and the sunsets (and sunrises) they bring with them. I also love the promise of winter. I love cold mornings and the feel of the Sun on my body when I’m outside.

There is something wonderful about that sensation of cold/warm. Perhaps it’s the hint of danger of cold weather coupled with the feeling of warmth and safety, a juxtaposition of two extremes. I sometimes wonder if there is a deep gestalt wired into our lizard brains about such primal things as hot and cold, ice and fire. Civilized life comes with our central HVAC. These mighty machines are all powered from somewhere and by some means that is unknown to most of us. We scarcely give it a thought, unless the power is out. Then we revert to the primal, seeking warmth against the cold.

For me, fall hints at the coming winter with those cold, sunny days that I love so much. I put up with, perhaps celebrate the snow and the promise of spring runoff that drives agriculture in my region. The snow never lasts very long and it’s beautiful, particularly on the Carson Range and on the Pine Nut Mountains.

I love the yellow of the aspens against the darker greens of the pines. I can see the aspen groves in the valleys along the eastern slope from my house. One fall morning, I first noticed them. I wondered what the color was that I was seeing from my driveway here in suburbia. I called Wife and we got out my binoculars for a look. The eight magnifications of my Nikons brought the aspen groves into view.

Wife and I marveled at that for a bit, remembering our first experiences with aspens in Colorado nearly 30-years ago.

The aspen groves are visible now. I can see them on my travels to and from work. I planned to get the Girl out this morning and drive up to Hope Valley. I don’t know if the aspens are in fall colors or not, but I think the drive might be good. But, I hear rain as I write this. That probably means snow in the mountains. I might get her out and drive up there anyway.

One evening last week the Girl and I went out for evening walkies. I carried my D300 along with me, with the 18-70mm kit lens attached. The kit lens isn’t the best of Nikons optics, but it’s adequate. Of all the frames I shot that evening, there was only one keeper. The remainder were technically adequate, but artistically deficient. The colors just were not that good.

But that’s OK. It is the nature of nature photography… sometimes you get a shot; sometimes not. Mother Nature is not always cooperative.

Done

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Paint Fight GirlI met my friend Jimmy at Comma Coffee this afternoon for a short visit. While there, these three girls came in for a drink/meal. We asked them what happened and they told us about their paint fight. They were cute, photogenic, and willing.

This morning I finished up the last of Wife’s boxes. There were three cartons left over. One of them contained photographs. The other two were papers that were dealt with in about an hour. The photographs are set aside so I can work through them over the winter.

I put four more 13-gallon bags of grindings into my dumpster and hauled the remaining three down to the office to put in the company dumpster.

That stuff is all gone now and a part of my history, where it belongs.

There are a few more cartons of miscellaneous stuff here in the house. I have 11 cartons of paper/books/reports from my Texas Tech office. However, the latter I know and I can dispense with them pretty quickly. I feel another book purge coming on. I’m going to get rid of a substantial portion of the remaining library. Those books in the office cartons will be dealt with as well. I’m going to determine what I really want to keep and the remainder will go.

I found a couple of cartons from my home office in Lubbock. I think I know what’s in those cartons. The board wargames will be sold. I’m betting there are some photographs and negatives in those cartons as well. They will be archived.

I’m going to tackle some of those things in a couple of weeks. I think I can deal with my things in a weekend or two. I’ll be done with this phase soon and then it will be time to regroup. The initial assault will be complete and it will be time to mop up.

This is a good thing and I feel like a weight is lifted. I’m thankful.

Red Sunset

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Red Sunset

The Girl and I stopped at one of our usual spots on evening walkies. I was home late, having gone to the grocery store after the mail run. So the sun was just below the Carson Range as we left the house.

God once again treated us to a beautiful fall sunset. I had a Nikkor 28-105/3.5-4.5 AF zoom on the D300 for walkies and dialed in at 105mm and f8. I should probably have turned up the ISO slightly, but I didn’t want the extra noise, so I braced myself on the fence and made the capture.

Chamisa

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Green

The Girl and I went on evening walkies Thursday just about the peak of the magic hour. The wind was a bit stiff and it was a bit cool (about 50F), so the sun felt really (really) good. I carried the Nikon D300 with the Nikkor 135/3.5 mounted. I framed and captured a number of images, but I’m still learning the camera and most of my high-contrast captures had blown-out highlights. That means I haven’t grokked the metering system of the camera yet.

This little ravine in the Indian Hills is a favorite. There is a geocache down in that mess, if you can believe it. The Girl and I retrieved that cache in the summer. (That was a mistake — hot and skeeters!) When fall comes, though, the rabbitbrush (chamisa) blooms and there is a bit of it in this little ravine.

Thursday evening found the sun brilliantly backlighting the chamisa and hint of tree color. While the Girl sniffed around, “hunting wabbits” I framed and made three captures. I like the composition of this one best.

This inexpensive little Nikkor 135/3.5 is a great lens. I’m quite impressed with it. I think I’ll have to do a shoot-out of the Nikkor 135/3.5 against the Hexanon 135/3.5 and 135/3.2 lenses. Those are probably my best lenses in the 135mm focal length.

Abstract

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Abstract

I’ve been walking about with the Nikon D300 and some lens affixed to it. I bought a Nikkor 135mm f3.5 from KEH early this week and it arrived a couple of days ago. Ken Rockwell recommends it as an underrated lens. For what I paid for it, it was an experiment.

I’ve been carrying it on the D300 for the last couple of days. My shoulder bag usually has a couple more Nikkors in it, but I enjoyed shooting this lens so much that I did not change out.

It is razor sharp, even wide open. It’s small and light and at f3.5 is only a half-stop slower than the much more expensive f2.8 versions. The bokeh is good as well.

A lot of folks don’t care for Ken Rockwell. But he was certainly right about this lens.

The Girl

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The Girl

Yesterday evening the Girl wanted to walk. So did I. So I grabbed her things and my things and we headed out. We walked around the subdivision for about a half hour and found ourselves at the public land near the cul-de-sac south from the house.

She really wanted to range out. But it was getting late and so I wouldn’t let her. I got the look a few times. I also managed a couple of captures with a Nikkor 135mm f3.5 short telephoto lens. I bought this lens on recommendation as an inexpensive but very sharp performer. It is certainly sharp, shot wide open.

Seimar-Donnex 200/3.5 Telephoto

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Chew ToyMy friend Jimmy loaned me a Seimar-Donnex 200mm f3.5 telephoto lens in Konica AR mount last Saturday. It’s a beautiful build and in wonderful condition.

I decided to put it on my Sony NEX-5N and give it a whirl. Late Monday morning, the Girl started asking for some attention. One of her toys was sitting in the floor outside my workroom. So I grabbed the NEX and shot the frame. I immediately noticed some magenta fringing in the high-contrast area of the image. That’s not unusual for telephoto lenses, particularly if the optical formula doesn’t specifically correct that aberration.

FlagA bit later we went for a short walk to check the mail. The neighbor’s flag is a favorite subject. I like to shoot it through the front-yard vegetation to get a bit of framing.

The light was pretty flat so there wasn’t a lot of contrast. The lens is plenty sharp, even wide open. I was impressed.

FlagMy final image for the day was a small flag one of my other neighbors has in his front yard. There was a little more contrast for this shot. I noticed just a hint of magenta fringing in the edges of the flag. It’s not a lot and could easily be corrected in post-processing. However, the lens has really nice bokeh when wide open. The background is smooth with just enough texture to provide some interest.

For me, this lens is not a keeper. It’s an interesting lens alright, but I have several in this focal length that provide equally interesting image quality. So I think I’ll let this one go. The build quality is excellent and the bokeh is quite nice. If I didn’t have some better lenses, this one would be worth the investment.

Besides that, I love odd lenses. It’s from a maker I’d never heard of.

Bee

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Bee

During afternoon walkies a few days ago, the Girl and I heard a bit of buzzing. She was distracted looking for lizards but I saw the bees working the rabbitbrush. I made the capture with the Nikon D300 and the Nikkor 55-200 AFS VR. It’s not really a macro lens, but will focus to about 1 meter.