Tag: nature photography

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Pumpkin Patch

Remember the neighbor’s house with the towering sunflower? Their luscious garden spills onto the sidewalk. Looks at the pumpkins! I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image on  July 13, 2021. Vitals, aperture manually […]

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Bunny Beware

I invested considerably longer time than typical editing and recomposing the Featured Image. The foreground lawn was flush with sunlight, while the bunny sat stilly in the shadows. The crop puts the rabbit lower in the frame than my preference but better presents ambient lighting—that is within my arguably limited Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic skills.

The portrait comes from Leica Q2, today, along Mississippi Street between Adams and Madison in San Diego’s University Heights district. During our previous 13 years living here, cottontail sightings were rare occurrences. But something is different in 2021—my wife or I see the little hoppers fairly frequently and not at expected early or late day. Surprising timestamp for the photo: 9:24 a.m. PDT. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/200 sec, 28mm.

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Cactus Blooms

I don’t recall where in University Heights—along Campus, perhaps—is this prickly bouquet. The Featured Image, and only shot taken, comes from Leica Q2 on June 28, 2021. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/1000 […]

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Grapes, Anyone?

Walking about my San Diego neighborhood, I see food growing everywhere—on personal property and in public places. Take your pick: Apples, avocados, grapefruits, lemons, lettuce, oranges, pomegranates, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and watermelons—to name a few. Yesterday’s grape sighting adds to the list, but with surprise. I frequently walk by the location, several times a week for at least 10 years. How could I possibly have missed seeing clusters during past growing seasons?

I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image—and companions that are presented to provide some locational context. Vitals for the first, aperture manually set for all: f/4, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, 28mm; 1:04 p.m. PDT, yesterday. You really want to click the link and zoom in.

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Neko in the Blades

We let outside one of our two cats for romps in the apartment building courtyard. Neko is older, slower, and too big to fit under the front gate. Cali is younger, quicker, and skinny enough to squeeze through in pursuit of birds or squirrels. He asks to go outdoors, she doesn’t (thankfully). Today, Neko played hide-and-seek, so to speak, among the center area greenery. I happened to be carrying Leica Q2, because we (Annie and me) had prepped for a neighborhood walk before letting the fluffball walkabout; supervised, as usual.

The Featured Image is nearly a 100-percent crop. Yep, the camera captures loads of detail—and I can trust the autofocus, even shooting through foliage. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 1:43 p.m. PDT.

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Well, Stone the Crows

And I am so glad this bird isn’t a raven (gulp, unless I misidentified, which easily could be). I’ve been humming Stevie Wonder song “Superstition” since the sighting earlier today and only while writing made the subconscious mental connection: Ravens as forebears of bad luck, or worse. But I’m not really superstitious—or wouldn’t be if not for the odd encounter.

While walking along Madison, approaching the alley between North and Campus in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, the flyer landed on a fence beside me. He seemed to want something, and I wondered if perhaps people feed him. Of course, the encounter could have been, uh-hum, an omen. The bird perched long enough for me to step back, pull out Leica Q2, and compose two shots (changing aperture between) before flying off.

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Forever Autumn

It is juxtaposition time—autumn leaves to contrast yesterday’s Spring sunflower. I used Canon EOS 20D to capture the Featured Image on Nov. 5, 2005. Vitals: f/3.5, ISO 800, 1/125 sec, 110mm; 4:14 p.m. EST. Image is presented as straight RAW-to-JPEG conversion, which means no alteration; composed as shot.

Reviewing this site’s posts, I prolifically blogged during November 2005—despite my demanding, full-time job as a trade analyst. Some of my most personally iconic musings were written during that month. Here’s a shortlist, in order of publication:

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The Swarm

This afternoon, while walking and talking to my sister who lives in Florida, I came across bees buzzing around a front yard along Mississippi between Mission and Monroe here in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. I excused myself briefly and shot a short video using iPhone XS.

Strange thing, when finished I observed the insects swarming about the next property. That kind of deflated my working presumption of a disturbed nearby hive. So I snagged another short video, followed by the Featured Image taken using Leica Q2.