Category Archives: Photography

October 2, 2023 · 23:11

Fearless Lizard

This dude’s new and it’s unusual to see one this small this late in the year. Maybe six inches long, it sure was a pretty one. And utterly fearless!

Normally when they’re smaller-ish they’re skittish and will bail into the bushes at the slightest movement. It was outside the doors from the kitchen and I figured it would bail the second I turned back inside to grab the camera. Nope, it’s still there when I came back out and it never twitched, even when I got within maybe three feet of it and walked all the way around to get a good view of all sides.

I’m no expert, but my observation has been that we get a ton of the teeny tiny hatchlings in the spring, some that survive and get to this size in the summer, and by fall only the bigger survivors are still around. But I’e got some hatchlings in the front yard in the last couple of weeks, so it seems that cycle has been messed up.

The markings on its back are great. This is almost certainly a “blue belly,” but it was keeping that part of its anatomy hidden.

Another sign that it’s younger is the fact that it has all of its pieces. No missing toes or tail that I can see.

I thought it was being fearless in never moving, but it could have just been terrified and hoping that I didn’t see it. Not the best strategy. He’s brownish, on a brownish sidewalk, but he’s not that stealthy.

The other option was that he was toasty warm (it’s been cool and cloudy) and decided if he was going to die, he was going to do it warm. I can really respect that, not that I was going to harm him in any way to begin with.

Go! Reproduce! Stay warm! Eat ants! Get bigger!

You have nothing to fear from me! Now, those crows, ravens, hawks, mockingbirds, and scrub jays – they’re not taking pictures, they want to invite you to lunch!

Leave a comment

Filed under Critters, Photography

October 1, 2023 · 23:04

The Moon & Jupiter

The Moon is a day or three past full, and tonight it’s fairly close to Jupiter, which is quite bright. As bright as Jupiter is, it’s thousands of times dimmer than the 89% illuminated Moon. Which makes it challenging to get a picture of them together. Getting a picture of the Moon along with Jupiter and the Galilean moons is even tougher.

The Moon is easy enough to capture. In fact, with my Canon xTi and a Tamron 75-300 mm zoom lens, the biggest problem is that it’s almost TOO bright. That camera’s fastest exposure speed is 1/4000 second. This photo is at 1/2500 second, just two steps down.

Jupiter and its four Galilean moons are also easy enough to capture. From lower left to upper right, you can see Europa, Io, Ganymed, and Callisto. (If you ever look at Jupiter and want to know which one is which at that moment, go look at the “Jupiter’s Moons” page on the Sky & Telescope website.)

Trying to capture them both together, I took a full set of “bracketed” exposures, from 1/4000 second (where the Moon is fine, Jupiter is barely visible, and none of the Galilean moons can be seen at all) to 1 second (where the Moon is COMPLETELY overexposed but you can see Jupiter and the Galilean moons clearly). The best compromise is at about 1/1250 seconds, with the Moon overexposed and blurry but recognizeable and Jupiter just visible without any of its moons.

You might have to click on it to make it full-screen sized in order to see Jupiter on the far right.

What’s interesting is that as the Moon gets totally overexposed, the internal reflections of that super bright object start to show up like ghosts and they’re close enough to still being in focus to be recognized.

The real Moon is in the upper left, Jupiter and its moons on the right, and the internal reflection (the ghost Moon) is in the lower right. Not necessarily useful, but still cool and appropriate for October!

Leave a comment

Filed under Astronomy, Photography

September 30, 2023 · 23:22

Skyscapes – September 30th

So long, September. You could have been worse, I guess.

We were hoping for some rain overnight, and while there were some scattered showers all around the Southern California area, they all missed us. We didn’t get a drop.

Remember, for those who haven’t lived here, the “Southern California area” is roughly the size of  New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, along with big chunks of western Pennsylvania and northern Virginia. Think of the New York City to Washington, D.C. corridor, with Philadelphia and Baltimre thrown in and you’re getting in the ballpark.

Tomorrow begins October. Having nuns in my head means that I’m eternally optimistic. Not being an idiot means that I know what the odds are against anything getting better real quickly.

Being raised with that whole Boomer, Midwestern, Puritan work ethic mindset means that I recognize that dichotomy and know that “the best way out is always through.” (Frost,  “A Servant To Servants”) There’s also that whole “the Lord helps those who help themselves” thing, although it’s uncommon (at best) for me to be quoting the Bible.

So today I enjoyed looking at the clouds, feeling the breezes, watching the red-shouldered hawks fighting with the red-tailed hawks, and laughing at the squirrels and mourning doves hiding from both.

Tomorrow I’ll get up, flip off September’s memory, look sternly at October and warn it to not get cute, get groceries, do laundry, change the sheets, watch some football (CHIEEEEFS!), and get back to work.

What was that definition of “insanity” again?

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Weather

September 28, 2023 · 23:39

SWA3514 SAN To SFO

Sunset tonight, off the coast of Ventura, approaching Santa Barbara, heading northwest at 38,000 feet.

Southwest Airlines 737-7H4, registration N221WN, at 435 knots from San Diego to San Francisco. (ID from FlightRadar 24 app)

I might not be travelling enough. By an order of magnitude or more.

“A rut is just a grave with the ends knocked out.” I have no idea who said that, but I remember it from when I was about 12 or 13.

Leave a comment

Filed under Flying, Photography, Sunsets

September 27, 2023 · 23:50

Fine Feathered Friends – Red-Shouldered Hawk

Earlier this week there was a pair of red-shouldered hawks flying overhead, screaming, upsetting our local pair of red-tailed hawks, who promptly drove them off.

They’re back! I went out to the kitchen to get a soda and heard them screaming. I assumed that they were flying around again so I grabbed the camera. One was circling, but the other was roosting in the pine tree in the neighbor’s yard.

It camoflauges very well, doesn’t it? But you can see that pattern of black and white stripes on its wings, as well as the legendary red shoulder.

It was obliging enough to hop around so I could see it from the front.

Given that look, I’m glad that I’m not a squirrel or a mourning dove, a.k.a., “lunch.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography

September 26, 2023 · 22:13

Sunset Through The Leaves

Always looking for a different point of view!

Sunsets are often a great subject for a picture. Tonight’s was okay, not great. No clouds, so nothing to turn all purple and orange, but a nice gradient.

However, I was out walking in the back yard and glanced up while I was under all of the overgrown branches on the big tree. The dark green, almost black silhouettes of the leaves contrasted nicely with the bright but fading sunset sky beyond.

The results weren’t quite as spectacular as being there, but they don’t suck. That’s a win! I’ll take it!

Meanwhile, 180º behind me, the Moon was well up, also partially hidden, but this time by the large pine trees going down the hill.

Interesting views everywhere you look!

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Sunsets

September 25, 2023 · 23:52

No Context For You – September 25th

Somewhere in my addled, pain dulled, too little sleep, getting old sucks brain are some half formed thoughts about this picture. Something about things in transition, in this case trapped halfway between being dusty and dirty and being clean, halfway between being wet and dry, etc. But like the globules of red goo floating around in a lava lamp, those thoughts are just not coming together today.

On a completely different note, November is now five weeks away. November means NaNoWriMo. I had a lot of fun doing it for three years (search for it, some of it didn’t suck for a first draft) and I’m wondering if I’m guanopsychotic enough to try it again with everything else going on.

Of course, we know the answer to that.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paul, Photography

September 24, 2023 · 23:33

You Can’t Take A Bad Picture Here – September 24th

In a mood for reasons unknown and that mental rabbit hole led me to be looking back on some travel adventures.

I’m not sure what Prague has to do with the meloncholy favorite Kenny Chesney song that popped up on my music feed and seems to have triggered the mood. I never saw a lot of sand or surf in Prague, although there was some country & western music – but that’s a story for a different day I think.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Leave a comment

Filed under Music, Photography, Travel

September 23, 2023 · 23:36

Fine Feathered Friends – Diverse Hawks

The raucous calls from above were LOUD, so I knew that the red-shouldered hawks were close.

There was one circling straight up over the neighbor’s yard, another calling from the trees about three houses down. It soon came up to joing this one.

The call is very distinct, as is the black & white pattern on top of the wings. Another thing that’s very noticable is how this hawk will be flapping its wings almost constantly, coasting and gliding on the thermals only a quarter to third of the time.

With these two about, it wasn’t more than a couple minutes before the red-tailed hawk pair showed up to reassert their domination and drive the red-shouldered hawk pair out of their territory.

Note the namesake red tail. This particular bird is also recognizeable as one of the locals due to the missing “V” of feathers near the tip of its right wing.

The red-tailed hawks will glide and soar for hours and have a black “bar” on the leading edge of the wing with a light colored lateral strip across the wings behind that. They’re also about a third or more larger than the red-shouldered hawks. Their call is the “traditional” hawk sound from every movie since the talkies started where the director wanted to establish the desert/Western scene with an audio cue. They’re also about a third bigger than their red-shouldered cousins.

It didn’t take the pair of red-tailed hawks very long to convince the red-shouldered pair that it was in their best interest to move on and find a territory elsewhere. Order was restored and we were back to listening to western towhees, house finches, mourning doves, and hummingbirds.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Birds, Photography

September 22, 2023 · 23:28

Final Summer Sunset

Tomorrow is the fall equinox, the end of summer and beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.

I was eating dinner and caught the colorful sunset a bit past its prime. Beggars can’t be choosers. Plus, it was a very nice dinner!

So long, summer. I’ve seen worse, but god knows I’ve seen better.

Autumn? Would it kill you to not suck? I sent you the wish list. Let’s knock a few things off of it!

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather