Much of the day today was spent looking at, photographing and learning about Elephant Seals. this one won on sheer cuteness factor.
Day 59 – Racoon
On a bird walk this morning this mammal made a surprise visit.
Day 58 – Brown Pelican
I was out to see Sea Otters at Morro Bay but this Brown Pelican flew in and stole the show. It’s been a long day and that’s all I have to say about that.
Day 57 – Rosario
This is Rosario, a mission cat I found at San Antonio Padua Mission. He was very happy to pose for me and even gave me a short tour.
Day 56 – Soledad Mission Bell
I managed to hit two California missions today in spite of 6 hours of driving. This is the original mission bell at Soledad Mission. Which, in fact is about all that is left of the original mission which went to rack and ruin in the mid 19th century and was only restored, or should I say reproduced? in 1955.
Day 55 – Snowy Egret
OK, hang onto your hats, things are about to get interesting. This is the first day of a two week winter escape to California. First stop Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. this Snowy Egret was happy to go about his business while I clicked happily away. Hard to choose from the many nice images and the detail in the feathers captured by the 7D Mark II is still blowing me away!
Day 54 – Ashland Creek
Every time I take a walk in Lithia Park I am playing around with water flowing over rocks. I like this one so much I am thinking of printing it large to hang on my living room wall. Or maybe I will go back and try again for something that the rock doesn’t crowd the frame quite so much. And is taken on a tripod so the rock is sharper. Oh, well, I’m on the right track.
Day 53 – Golden Crowned Sparrow
Yesterday, for the first time in, Ah, hem, 52 days, it wasn’t rainy or windy. So, I hurried on down to North Mountain Park to see if I could find any birds to photograph. They were few and far between and jumping around alot. But I did find a few sparrows and Juncos gathered around the bird feeders. Looks like this one was sampling a rock though.
Day 52 – Mallard
As I mentioned yesterday, I realized I was a day off in my counting, having skipped Christmas there should have been 30 days in December and 21 in January for 51, but I was only on day 50. Scrolling back I saw that I did two day 33’s and moved on so, while I could go back and change all the posts I see little point in that, just suffice to say I am now really on day 52 and do it right from now on.
Anyway, I came across this Mallard taking a nap in Lithia park yesterday. This was shot hand held with the new Canon EOS M3 and wow, am I impressed. The detail in the feathers is amazing (though you may not be able to see it at this size and resolution) and no question of sharpness. Shot at 1/60th of second, 400 ISO, f8 and be there. Guessing the image stabilization did its job here ’cause I don’t think I’m that steady handed.
Day 50 – Ashland Barn
It’s sad to see so many of the old barns around Ashland disappearing. If you walk around this one you will see that the roof on the shed to the left (chicken coop?) is collapsing. I tried several different treatments on this one but liked the simplicity of black and white (OK, brown and white) with a light vignette. The frame just ties it all together. I’m loving the freedom of processing the day before so I’m not rushing around trying to come up with something to post. I also just realized I posted day 33 twice so this is really day 51 but I wanted to celebrate being half way through the 100 days. So, I’ll skip day 51 and post day 52 tomorrow.