To me, the whorl of these shell interiors looked like the tip of a Neolithic whaling harpoon or the spike of a magical railroad. What does it remind you of?
Archive for the ‘nature’ Tag
Shell Skeleton 3 comments
Neighborhood charms Leave a comment
Summer blossoms in our neighborhood.
iPhone, edited in Snapseed
Long exposure sunset 4 comments
Played around with a 10-stop neutral density filter at sunset and came up with this:
Canon 5D Mark II, EF 16-35mm
ISO 400
f/9
25 sec
Squabs Leaving the Nest Leave a comment
Here are later pictures of the two squabs that were raised this Spring in our backyard, on top of our outdoor speaker. Based on the hair on their heads, I called them Scruffy and Baldy.
This is Scruffy after having left the nest, finding its bearings in our backyard:
Baldy had already claimed the top of the fence as his perch:
While mom was supervising their progress from the top of a nearby shed:
Canon 5d Mark II, 100mm EFL macro lens
Shell Still Life Leave a comment
Beach finds, cleaned up and given the glamor shot treatment:
Craters on Mars! Leave a comment
Actually, they are barnacles on a shell, but if you squint a little it could pass for an astounding astronomical photograph…
Stormy Skies Leave a comment
3 views of stormy weather while driving through the countryside.
3 Views of a Pond Waterfall 4 comments
Captured while driving through the Connecticut countryside:
Canon Powershot G12
Forest Reflections 2 comments
Caught this scene on a recent hike through the Connecticut woods:
Canon Powershot G12
Hawk under the moon Leave a comment
Saw this hawk looking for prey at sunrise behind our house. Here are two different takes on that scene, both shot with my iPhone, but one with the Hipstamatic app.
Big Sky Sunset Leave a comment
Caught this on the one sunny day that we were here, viewed from our living room window. What a gorgeous part of the country!
Canon 7D, EF24-70mm
ISO 200
f/8
1/400 sec
HDR, black&white conversion in Lightroom
Frosty leaves Leave a comment
Captured these on a cold morning while walking our dog. I love how the frost gives everything a bit of additional texture, which stands out especially strong when the light is low during sunrise.
Thorny close-ups 4 comments
I played around with macro photography to get some close-ups of this wintry remnant of a thistle in our backyard. Click on any picture to see them in slideshow format.
Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm macro lens
Lonely tree at sunrise Leave a comment
This tree feels so lost and lonesome to me every time I walk past it while I’m taking the dog out. Captured in the marsh near Clinton Harbor.
iPhone, adjustments in Adobe Lightroom
Hawk hunting at dawn 3 comments
Captured this Red-tailed Hawk as he was surveying the field behind our house for his breakfast during sunrise. The other images were shot after I followed him to a tree that allowed me to get closer.
And this is the one when he finally had enough:
Mario and Stella Leave a comment
Mario, our black lab, enjoying a fall afternoon with a new friend.
Canon 5D Mark II, EF 85mm/1.8USM
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/320 sec
Fall Sunrise 4 comments
One last shot of fall foliage before it all turns grey…
Canon Powershot G12
ISO 400
f/5.0
1/250 sec
Roots of Vermont 4 comments
I discovered lots of interesting gnarled trees and their roots hugging the boulders strewn around Smuggler’s Notch near Stowe. Click on any picture to see them in slideshow format.
Canon 5d Mark II, EFL 16-24mm
B&W conversion in Adobe Lightroom
A walk in the Vermont woods Leave a comment
More scenes from our brief visit to Vermont:
Take-off at sunset 1 comment
Captured this seagull as it took off from its perch on a pier, while kayaking in Clinton Harbor and looking straight at the sunset:
Canon 7D, 200mm lens
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/5000 sec
Mario reigns on the beach 1 comment
Captured our dog Mario on the beach using the iPhone Hipstamatic app:
iphone, Hipstamatic
Blue Heron, Walking 8 comments
Came across this poem by Julie Bruck in a recent edition of the New Yorker, which matched the photos I took just the day before:
Not one of Mr. Balanchine’s soloists had feet this articulate,
the long bones explicitly spread, then retracted,
even more finely detailed than Leonardo’s plans for his flying machines.
And all this for a stroll, a secondary function,
not the greatdramatic spread and shadow of those pterodactyl wings.
This walking seems determined less by bird volition or
calculations of the small yellow eye
than by an accident of breeze, pushing the bird on a diagonal,
the great feet executing their tendus and lifts in the slowest of increments,
hesitation made exquisitely dimensional,
as if the feet thought themselves through each minute contribution to propulsion,
these outsized apprehenders of grasses and stone, snatchers of mouse and vole,
these mindless magnificents that any time now
will trail their risen bird like useless bits of leather.
Don’t show me your soul, Balanchine used to say, I want to see your foot.
I spy a few herons 1 comment
Spotted a few herons that, uncharacteristically, sat in a tree (do you see them in the first picture?) rather than stalking their prey in the muddy marsh below.
Fortunately they stayed there until I got close enough to take these shots:
Canon 7D, 200mm w/2x converter
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/500 sec
A clap made visible 1 comment
Before…
And after…
iPhone, minor edits in Snapseed
A visit to the Bois de Boulogne 4 comments
This lovely park contains wonderful distractions: lakes with row boats, a childrens’ amusement park, endless trails through sun-dappled woods, the new Louis Vuitton Foundation building, and much much more.
Summer at Mohonk Lake 3 comments
Captured these while at Mohonk Mountain House for a business meeting. Click on any picture to see them in slideshow view.
Playing with pinhole photography 2 comments
Shot these with the Hipstamatic pinhole lens – works great on small objects!
iphone, Hipstamatic app
Forest Fire or Sunset? 1 comment
That’s what I asked myself as I was driving through Vermont on a recent evening. (It was a sunset).
Canon 5D Mark II, EF 16-35mm
ISO 800
f/8
1/250 sec
Church Mouse 3 comments
Actually I found this one in a barn in an abandoned mining town in Montana.
Canon 7D, 15-85mm
ISO 2500
f/5.6
1/10 sec
Big Sky Vistas 3 comments
Driving through Montana I am always fascinated by the wide open spaces, probably because there aren’t many in Connecticut. The bottom one is of the battlefield of the Little Bighorn, site of Custer’s Last Stand.
Storm Brewing 1 comment
I loved this ominous sky. It never did rain:
Winter Loneliness 8 comments
This lonely tree is in the marshland behind our house.
Unknown Star Wars Location? 5 comments
No, this is not some strange world out of the Star Wars saga. I captured this picture of Meteor Crater while flying over Arizona.
Cacti Heaven 1 comment
A visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix provides some great opportunities for black&white shots. Click on any pic to view them in full-screen slide show format.
iphone, Hipstamatic
ISO: 32
1/580 sec
f/2.2
lens: John S
Film: BlackKeys B+W
Bark 2 comments
Walking through the Vermont woods, I was struck by the beautiful birch tree bark everywhere. Click on any picture to see them as full screen slideshow.
Canon 5D Mark II, EFL 24-70mm f/2.8
Full Moon Rising 2 comments
Caught in Vermont, after the leaves were gone.
Canon 5D Mark II, EFL 70-200mm f/2.8
ISO 2000
f/5.6
1/640 sec
Frozen Foliage 1 comment
Found these leaves frozen in a pond in the Vermont woods:
Canon 5D MarkII, EFL 24-70mm f/2.8
ISO 400
f/5.0
1/160 sec
Bridge to Nowhere 1 comment
Found this abandoned dock in the marshlands of Clinton, CT:
Canon 5d Mark II, 24-70mm lens
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/2000 sec
adjusted in Analog Color Efex 2
Still Life of Milk Weed and Bug Leave a comment
No need for further description:
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70mm lens
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/2000 sec
Heron Stalking at Sunset 4 comments
This heron was stalking his prey during a beautiful sunset in our local marina:
Canon 7D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
ISO 100
f/7.1
1/400 sec
Fall Moonrise Leave a comment
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70mm lens
ISO 100
f/5.0
1/125 sec
Let the raking begin 1 comment
This is when beautiful fall turns into a lot of work:
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70mm lens
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/800 sec
Yellowstone Wildlife 2 comments
On a recent trip to Yellowstone, my son and I saw just about every major animal except moose: Bison, elk, coyote, bear (with bear cub), wolves. Here are a few shots I liked:
Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8
ISO 640
f/10
1/100 sec
Fall Foliage 2 comments
Shot these two near Bristol, CT:
Forest Fire Aftermath Leave a comment
Hundreds of acres of forest in Yellowstone Park were destroyed in massive fires in 1988, requiring over 9,000 firefighters and affecting almost 800,000 acres of forest (bigger than Rhode Island). The remnants of that destruction can still be seen:
Canon 7D, 10-24mm
ISO 400
f/20
1/160 sec
Yellowstone Ranger 1 comment
This friendly ranger greeted us as we entered Yellowstone National Park on a recent visit to Montana.
Canon 7D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/60 sec
adjusted in Silver Efex Pro 2
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone 2 comments
Big Buck 1 comment
This 13-point elk buck was watching over a herd of elk in Yellowstone National Park. I was fortunate enough to sneak up for 2 close-ups without being noticed (well, the second picture he’s looking right at me, so who am I kidding?).
Canon 7D, EF70-200mm f/2.8 with 2x converter
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/400 sec
Geometry of Nature 1 comment
Mushroom Dreams 6 comments
Found a couple of mushrooms in our front yard that lent themselves for some experimentation with black&white processing. Click on any to see them in slideshow mode.
Canon Mark II, 90mm macro lens
ISO 500
f/4.5
1/80 sec
Snapshots For Sore Eyes 
