Pictures Changed Me

My siblings came for a visit with my mother and it was a lovely autumn day.  We were walking near the water.  I had brought along my camera.  Still new to the idea that I was shooting digital and using an auto-focus lens.  The camera was set to monochrome.  I had last been out to shoot the day I encountered the downy woodpecker.  We walked along and laughed and caught up and it was good.  The air was just perfect; a real gem of an afternoon.  I sighted a gull.  I lifted the camera and panned along with it for a few moments until it was near me before starting to shoot.  The camera was set to the CH - continuous high.  With the battery pack that's shooting at 8-9 fps - frames per second.  This is where the difference between manual and digital becomes most pronounced for me.  If I imagine the fastest I could ever frame, shoot, wind, and then again with a 1975 Nikkormat FT2, I laugh and stop considering because it's just absurd.  

My 1975 Nikkormat FT2  

When I consider what the digital camera and lens are doing under my direction, it astounds me.  I barely decide and commit to action and it is complete.  The shot below, like so many so far, changed things for me.  There was a moment when I first threw this on a larger monitor and began to really look at the details of the gull's wings -- the inherent geometry of feathers  -- wow, I thought, look at that.  A gull in flight.  The bird I was once told is "nothing more than a rat with wings."  Cold.  By 'stopping' that moment near the harbor, the left wing fully extended, the black tips with the spot of white, the angle at the elbow....  The right wing sets up the right eye perfectly for aligning with the beak.  The webbed feet splayed out against the tail feathers.  The way the right wing cups the air, while the left wing strikes downward, perhaps banking into a turn.... The shadow cast along the underside.  There is a quite whisper of air.  I enjoy shooting gulls.  They sore so gracefully.  The way they stand and stare in any weather.  Steadfast.  Hearty.  Resilient.   

Random gull in monochrome shot with the D700 and 35-105 F3.5-4.5

Another bird that got my attention is the Egret.  Tall.  Long.  Stealthy.  Master Hunter.  I enjoyed getting the shot below as it proved thrilling to see the water displaced by the bird thrusting its head below the surface at lightening speed, something I never saw as it was happening.  Too fast.  This is another aspect of shooting that I thoroughly enjoy - seeing what is otherwise too fast to see.  It allows me to see the world of birds through their eyes - kind of.  More from their perspective, or at least closer to their perspective than my own.  

Egret shot with D700 at 600mm F4.5 (2xTC)

Something was happening the more I shot digital.  I started getting comfortable with the tools.  Yes.  A camera/lens is a tool.  Just like my favorite chef's knife.  One has to be comfortable with his tools to make good use of them.  I was getting familiar with technology that preceded me by 20 years.  It was good.  I liked what I was seeing.  I was improving and learning and enjoying.  And the camera made the learning curve fast.  For the love of a hobby.  I was catching up.  It was fun.  

The Killdeer captured by the D700 with the 35-105 F3.5-4.5

This shot of the Killdeer hit me particularly hard when I threw it on a larger monitor.  I was really struck realizing that I had entered a world that stood as tall as a blade of grass!  I felt oddly like Gulliver.   It still is wonderful to look at the orange-red ring around the eye and the distinctive black banding.  Being there is the thrill.  Not only that I saw it and captured it, now I can study it and appreciate the intricacies and nuances of color and element and shape.  Wunderbar!  

Egrets shoreline frolicking shot with D700 and 300mm F4.5

The Egrets.  These two were a real treat to shoot.  They 'played' along the shore for a while.  I was across the inlet from them and so had full side-to-side panning as they ran and hopped and seemed to have a blast together.  Looking closely at them there seems to be a lightness about the pair.  Are they happy?  Is there such a state for a bird?  Reviewing all the shots of that afternoon, I have to say I think they experience something like joy or laughter or fun.  Yes, they're hunting and there is proof of that.  What do you do when you're full from hunting?  What if there is a break in the action?  Sure, let's say they had a good time.  I did.  

It's clear to me that shooting digital is exciting and rewarding, even my manual equipment gets a new lease on life because now it's fun to compare and contrast the different types of photography.  I owe someone a very big thank you for starting me out some thirty years ago.  That deserves its own post.  

I suddenly remember me as a child - Fisher Price camera in hand - in some plaid outfit out on the sidewalk.  Peering through the view finder, framing shots and clicking away.  Maybe it was there all along.  If you ever enjoyed something and it's been a while, go back to it and fall for it all over again.  

Everything old is new again. 

We'll talk soon.  

Be well. 

1967 Fisher-Price Picture Story Camera

Sometimes You Forget and It's Okay

Doing well.  Post #003.  

It was the very early digital days.  I had gotten the D700 in October, so the first six months or so were cold and grey.  Sometimes you just go for a walk with a camera.  And, what happens is good and healthy and maybe even involves birds.  Fresh air.  Movement.  Wait, what's that.  Oh, upside down in the tree up ahead.  People will think you're strange for standing in the middle of the road pointing a camera up at the bare tree limbs.  However, what is to be found there is wonderful...in monochrome.

Downy Woodpecker shot hand-held with 'H' 300mm F4.5 on D700

I forgot that the camera was set to monochrome.  Classic error.  Fortunately, the Downy Woodpecker in this photo happens to look fantastic in monochrome.  How its body is sandwiched between the branch and the right wing. Once I realized the setting I thought, 'hey, I kind of like that right now.'   

- a quick aside here: what it was like for me to go from shooting manual and waiting for results - which is fine, film is unbeatable - to looking down at the screen to see what I had gotten was a 'quantum' leap.  I was truly speechless when I first started using digital.  The change was beyond words. 

So there we are; in the middle of the road shooting almost directly overhead with five pounds of hand-held camera and lens. What I enjoy here is simply getting a shot.  Any shot.  Now, just a fun shot of upside down bird searching for food inside a dark branch.  Look closely at the talons and the tail feathers. See how they work together to balance the bird and give it sure footing as it leans back then stretches forward and pokes its head in?  Notice how the wings are gathered and focused like a right-to-left tear drop against the tail feathers allowing it to 'press in' and grip to stay in the gravity-defying position?  We'll see this same approach later when we look at the Pileated Woodpecker with it's very impressive size and tail feathers.  You know the perspective is correct because the branches in the background and foreground are growing bottom-to-top.  This photo is not turned on its side.  

Same as above - different branch

Same bird in this photo on a different branch.  The entire body braces against the tree with the tail feathers slightly fanning out in a bit of a 'shoe horn' shape to maximize support for the rapid head movement.  Many feathers together pressed against the tree creates a real firmness to counter the pounding when the woodpecker gets going.  Along the left side of the photo, I enjoy the way the talon is clear against the bark, and the way the beak is sharp against the sky.  It's easy to see the eye.

If I am in an art class, then my eye enters the frame lower-right and climbs the tree to the bird and straight up its tail and back to a hair-pin turn following the black along the back of the skull to the eye and then down to where we are practically shot like a projectile from the sharp beak and into the tree feeling the swift sensation of being the bird knocking against the limb.  My gaze exits the frame along the branch to the top left. 

Viewing 101.  We ask why we like certain photos.  It's because of how the subject is framed.  If the framing isn't pleasing to the eye, the response is repulsion not acceptance.  Why this now?  Because a photo is more than a click that grabs an image.  A photo is a chance to stop time and look closely at a piece of life, of what is going on with the world from a certain perspective.  In my case, birds.  Why the photo?  Beauty. Intrigue. Behavior.  All of the above. 

House Sparrows in bare forsythia just because

This photo is the same day.  Around the corner from the woodpecker.  Just walking and these two stole my heart.  Tell me they are not in conversation.  The 'listening' posture of the bird at top and the 'pleading' almost yearning of the lower bird with the light reflecting in its eye.  Perhaps a kiss in the sunlight?  I dare not be an interloper.  The frame.  By placing them to the right side of the rule of thirds, I allow the left side of the photo to open and breathe to counter the darkness of the birds and branches.  Also, the lower bird extends lower right to upper left and the frame should allow that line to elongate.  And so it does as the lower bird's beak takes us directly to the upper bird's beak, then across the bird's head, and then following both bird and branch, off the tree and out of the frame.  

Downy Woodpecker same as above

In this final shot, I enjoy the way half the bird is cast in shadow; particularly across the face and down along the chest.Also, the staring off into space.  Not at the ground.  I can relate.  The urge to fly?  Simple.  Delicate.  Romantic?  Just a moment in life.  

Something to forget.  It's okay.  

I'm forgetting more these days.  

Be well.  

We'll talk soon.  

It's Good To Be in Your Fifties /

Welcome back.  Post #002.

I took another photo early in the digital days just out in front of the house.  The mocking bird seen below was in the tree of the neighbor's front yard.  Mocking birds got my attention very early on in life when I realized one day that all the songs I was hearing were coming from a single bird.  To watch and listen to a mockingbird sing its way through its mature catalogue of songs is nothing short of astounding.  We've all heard it.  You should witness it.  It's most likely a warm October or early November day.  The trees are all bare. 

Northern Mockingbird in Winter King Green Hawthorn

This portrait (I imagine them posing at times) reveals the compact body and head while the tail extends behind the berries to almost double its length.  The mocking bird has great contrasting striping across the wings.  The small beak aligned perfectly with the eye.  It's grey coloring practically 'feels' soft.  We see the talons wrapping tightly around the smaller branch with the front and rear portions interlocking to ensure a solid grip.  The photo was taken with an authentic 1969 Nikkor H 300mm F4.5.  What a lens!  A gorgeous piece of Japanese-made glass.  A fine example of Japanese artistry and mastery of craft.  Dare I say a bit 'softer' in its focus than today's lenses (or is it aging eyes?). However, I love that. What it has provided are some of my all time favorite shots.  It's just rich, almost creamy, and delicate in its presentation.  

The 1969 Nikkor H 300mm F4.5 mounted to the D700

According to Edward Dozier - https://www.photoartfromscience.co:  

It has a rotating, locking, non-removable lens collar that is excellent for balancing on a tripod. It has a wonderful permanent telescoping lens shade, which I sorely miss on today’s lenses. This lens looks, feels, and acts like its brand-new; I expect it to last well beyond my own lifetime.

I can’t sufficiently describe how excellent this lens is for manual focusing. It has precisely the right dampening, rotation range, and smoothness. The ‘feel’ of the focusing hasn’t changed any whatsoever over the life of the lens. Nikon built this metal lens to the highest possible mechanical standards.

I could not have written it any better.  I fully agree.  The lens is really something one has to feel in his hands to immediately appreciate the craftsmanship.  Thank you, Tadashi Takahashi at Nikon.  I inherited the lens 30 years ago.  More on that at a later date.  

Northern Cardinal shot with the Nikkor H 300mm F4.5 on the D700

The shot above was taken from the deck in the backyard looking out into the river birch trees.  There is an afternoon winter sun and he is perched perfectly to capture those photons streaming in and warm up a bit.  The majestic Cardinal - always a spectacular example of nature doing what it does.  The contrasting black of the eye against the 'matte' feathers to the right and the 'high-gloss' beak to the left is just so dramatic.  The bit of flaring from the uppermost feathers.  The transition from the fire engine red of the head and shoulders to the more ruddy burgundy along the back and outer wing feathers.  The long and elegant 'gown-like' tail feathers.  See what I mean about birds?  There's so much to know and capture and share.  Whew!  

Is it indulgent to celebrate this lens with one more from its illustrious past?  Ah, it's a classic. Onward to the birds!  

The Great Blue Heron shot with the 1969 Nikkor H 300mm F4.5 on the D700

This shot of a Great Blue Heron was taken tripod-mounted while sitting on the ground pond-side.  It is early June and the world is a blaze of glorious, verdant, lusciousness!  The countryside drips in green..., and there is this suddenly walking through my lens out in the water.  Look at the color gradations from the orange beak, to the yellow eye and blue head feathers, along the white cheek to the long and winding tan neck and there the iconic blue feathers of the Great Blue Heron. The chartreuse leg against the ripple in the water.  See what I mean about birds?   I am grateful for those moments.  

Okay.  Enough.  Thank you for having fun with me.  Until next time, be safe and enjoy our feathered friends.  - Daniel

The Beginning of Something

Why keep a blog?  Well, to share what one is passionate about.  There are countless ways we share and this, I've decided, might be fun or interesting or something worth doing. Hello and welcome.  My name is Daniel and I'm all about getting pictures of birds that show how they live.  Well, here we go. On to the birds!  

House Sparrow in Forsythia

I took this shot soon after I got my Nikon D700 (2008 camera) in 2022.  Just down the block from the house, Oliver and I were walking when I saw this simple house sparrow in the forsythia.  You can tell this is early spring by the color.  So what, a simple bird. Who cares?  I do, clearly, care about taking a photograph of it as it lives.  I enjoy seeing birds do what they do, how they do it, when and where, and maybe even why they do what they do. Photos of birds can be fascinating in that they capture what is often just a fleeting second or two before the bird is gone. I learned early on that to shoot birds, I must capture the eye in focus. That is a tough thing to do. Always a challenge.  

Oliver after our walk

AF-S lenses with Extra Low Dispersion glass and Vibration Reduction are a miracle when it comes to crisply capturing details. The picture above was shot with a rather simple Nikkor AF 35-105 f 3.5-4.5 macro-zoom. Great lens for close work. Responsive and reliable. Not a super fast auto focus, but that's not what I use it for.  It has it's purpose.  More from that lens later.  

Nikkor lens mounted to the D700

I think it will be fun to kind of walk through the photos I have taken since moving to digital from fully manual/electronic which all my work is prior to 2022 when I got the D700 (less than 25K clicks) for a great price. Thanks, B&H. What I discovered about going digital was that the learning curve is much faster because I immediately see what I have shot. Instant feedback.  

Self-portrait holding D700 with battery grip

So, the picture of the sparrow above the was the beginning of something new and very exciting even though the tech is outdated and only a camera geek would be interested in any of it. I'm sharing because it's fun and birds are really cool. I enjoy the bokeh in each photo (soft distorted background). I love the cocoa at the rear of the head and the attentive black eye set back behind the perfectly proportioned beak all framed in black.  The wispy chest feathers. The posture. The way the sparrow 'pops' out from the rest of the photo, despite so much yellow. See what I see? This blog is a brand new venture for me. Here I am world. I intend to add a post once a week. See you all in the next one. Until then, let's enjoy our feathered friends. :)  Thanks. Be well, Daniel.