When I want to get my swan fix, yes I think they are beautiful and graceful, I go to Mather Lake Regional Park. It’s only about a half hour from my home. This lake is also a popular fishing place. Here are some pictures from a recent visit.
Now for the cuties. One month ago a female giraffe was born at the Sacramento Zoo. Right now they are taking votes to name her. Your vote will cost you a minimum of $5. (I think). On my last visit, I got there when the zoo opened and our un-named baby was out. She stayed by her mom except for a few runs around the enclosure. I was amazed at how the other adult females watched out for her. Here she is!
I have more images of other animals that I’ll show you next time. Baby giraffe will probably have a name by then. Isn’t she cute!
Oh, no doubt about it, it is a wild life in more ways than one! But this week Egidio has us concentrating on nature which constantly surprises me. Egidio encourages us to show our wild side, asking us to post no more than eight images. Paring down was the real challenge, so here goes.
Effie Yeaw. This unspoiled nature center is about 15 minutes from my home and along the American River. The deer, birds, coyotes, rabbits, etc. are left to fend for themselves. We typically see deer and small animals here.
Each year, Laura and I go to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge which is a couple of hours away. It’s a great place to photograph birds. Armed with my 300 mm max lens and a great deal of hope, I usually come home with a few good pictures. Thank goodness for cropping images!
An occasional trip to Point Reyes National Seashore, again with my friend Laura (who is a great nature/wildlife photographer) usually provides a day of fun and photography. There is an elk preserve there.
And elephant seals sleep on the shore.
My go to place for swans is Mather Lake, maybe 30 minutes from my home.
And, this is my eighth and last image. Each year birds nest in trees in Lincoln. It’s not exactly in the wild, but these wild egrets and herons have found a safe nesting place.
This may be my photographic wild side, but right now the wind is gusting, reminding me of nature’s other wild side. This one, I don’t like so much!
Thanks Egidio for encouraging us to walk on the wild side. Please be sure to link your response to his post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Last week was another difficult challenge when Tina asked us to pick our favorites. What an array of photos we shared. It was so much fun. Next week Ann-Christine challenges us, so look for her post. Until then, stay safe and live in gratitude.
I’ve been busy? I’ve been preoccupied? Time got away from me? Whatever the reason, I’m looking at my unposted photos from May. One of those outings was to Mather Lake and I was still trying to get used to the new Tamron 18 -300mm lens. You’ll be happy to know that it and I have become good friends. It’s just so different from the Fuji lenses.
I like Mather Lake because it’s close and has swans. I love swans. They are so graceful. But very often they are on the other side of the lake. Too far for a 300mm lens. That day in May I got lucky.
In her challenge this week, Amy wants us to think about our earth. It impacts our daily lives: the water we drink, the oceans that provide us enjoyment, the soil that brings us food, the trees the help us breathe. We rely so much on our earth.
I was raised mostly in the Bronx, New York, in a mostly concrete jungle. Yes, there were trees and parks, but I was never taught to appreciate nature. It wasn’t until I had kids that I began that appreciation. Our vacations were camping get-a-ways. We took the boys to every National Park and many State Parks–from the ocean to the mountains and even the desert. Unfortunately the pictures I took then were with a point and shoot camera, and mostly of the boys. I do have them in albums for my own joy.
Photography gave me the opportunity to not only enjoy our earth, but also record it. Let’s begin with my local Sacramento County area. We are lucky to have many creeks around the valley like our neighborhood Dry Creek.
Mather Lake is a nearby treasure for photographers and fishermen (and women). I go there to photograph swans, but on this day I found a pelican and cormorants.
We are a couple of hours away from the coast, giving us a wonderful day trip. Heading west, the Marin Headlands is a great spot for water sports, fun and photography.
North of us is Table Mountain which was formed from ancient lava (basalt) flows. It is very rocky and in Spring, it is loaded with wildflowers. It’s called Table (mountain) because of it’s mostly flat surface.
We go east every Fall to find the beautiful orange and gold color of Autumn.
I’ll end this post with nature’s way of painting her earth with golden light–a sunset. This one, taken in nearby Yolo County, is setting on a field of earth giving sunflowers.
Thank you Amy for having us remember to cherish our earth and take care of it. Would we survive without it? Please remember to link to Amy’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag.
We totally enjoyed your all your curvy responses to Patti’s challenge. Next week, get ready to celebrate because John will host LAPC #194. For his challenge, be thinking about what is special to you regarding birthdays or anniversaries.
Things happen and sometimes get us off track. I realized that I haven’t been keeping up with my personal posts that I do on Wednesdays. So….I’ll make up for lost time.
Mather Lake is a small lake, and part of the Sacramento Regional Parks System, at the southern end of Sacramento. It’s a great place to photograph swans and other small wildlife like beavers, etc. So I said I’d go and crossed my fingers, hoping there would be swans more in the middle of the lake so I could capture them with my 300 mm lens.
Again, I will thank my friend Ray who made me a short monopod for my heavy lens. Wow, what a difference! We walked around the lake and I was happy. There were many Mute Swans, and some were by the shore! Here’s some of what I captured.
We didn’t see any other critters, but I was happy with these swans. I think they are so graceful in the water. On our way back to our cars, I spotted a juvenile swan. I looked it up and it was a juvenile. It was by itself so maybe it was mature enough to be on its own.
This is not my “Swan Song.” There will be more catching up posts, in addition to my regular LAPC weekly post, soon.
I find swans relaxing. They swim so gracefully. And I like it when their wings are up. Even though it was foggy, drab, cloudy and cold, I found warmth in the swans presence.
And I was lucky. I’m somewhat stymied by having a short telephoto lens, for my Nikon 7100, that’s a 300 prime. This means that wildlife has to be close enough for me to capture them. Fortunately, some of the swans were lakeside and others were swimming in the middle. Even typing this, I feel serene. This is what I’ve edited so far.
This swan was close enough for me to photograph it and its shadow.
Next I have a series of a swan fishing (I think!). It looks under the water with its head fully submerged. Next it’s still skimming the water before looking up. Last, with head up water drips from its beak.
They are also graceful in flight. It’s always a surprise when they take to the air. They didn’t fly too far off the water. I do wish they would yell, “Hey photographer, I’m going to fly now!”
I almost thought I’d have to leave without an image of a swan swimming with its wings up. As I was walking back to the car, there it was! Happy! Happy!
These swans cheered me up on a very drab day, bringing me serenity and joy. Thanks Patti!
Living in the Sacramento area offers two nearby places for photographers to capture nature: Effie Yeaw Nature Center and Mather Lake. Both are less than 1/2 hour from my home. One March morning Ray and I went to both places.
First, we met at Effie Yeaw along the American River. The deer are very accustomed to humans and let us get close enough for me to use my 55 – 200 mm lens easily. This morning, unfortunately, we didn’t see any bucks, but there were a lot of does grazing.
We also saw turkeys and a tree branch that looked like an animal with a long neck. Do you see it too? Maybe a dragon?
After walking the trails in the nature center, Ray and I met Richard at Mather Lake. I wanted to practice carrying and shooting with my Nikon d7100, the prime 300 mm lens and new short monopod Ray made for me. This is a small lake and popular fishing spot. I had to walk to the back of the lake before I found swans close enough for me to photograph. At least I was able to carry the equipment easily.
It was a lovely morning of camaraderie, practice and exercise.
Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you expected like our May outing to Mather Lake in Sacramento County. We expected the typical wildlife that we’re used to finding there, but we only found swans and fishermen! But, we’ve learned to make the best with what we get.
I was there with my Tuesday group, and we walked as far as we could around the lake. I was carrying my Nikon D7100 and my F/4, 300 mm lens. I do need to go back to using two cameras. I also need to get to the gym so I can do it! This left me sort of handicapped for landscape or wide focus shots. I made my Fitbit happy by taking some extra steps backing up to get a good compostion. While I like the results from my 300 prime lens, it is limiting,
Sometimes, when you’re not busy shooting, you experience the most outstanding interaction between birds. A swan was protecting his mate and his cygnets from a goose. The interchange was hilarous. Too bad I couldn’t catch it. My lens was too long and my reflexes too slow!
Take a look at what I saw that morning!
A fisherman who holds his rod.
This fisherman had two rods with bells on them just in case he fell asleep!
Do you like leftovers? I do, but not when they tell that I haven’t been posting in this blog for a while. Or, maybe it’s that I’ve been out shooting and haven’t had the time to post. I think it’s a bit of the two.
At Mather I did bring my 55 – 300 lens so I could capture the wildlife. During my last trip I brought my 18 – 140 lens thinking I’d be doing more landscape, but I found beautiful wildlife that I struggled with capturing. This time the sky turned dark and I still struggled but not as much. Next time, should I bring my F4/300 on a monopod?
The outing to Sly Park was to be a kayaking outing. While others kayaked, Karen B and I were going to walk the trails around the lake. We would then get together for a lunch of homemade clam chowder (Cup Of Noodles for me.) The unexpected was that the only person to bring a kayak was the organizer. So there were three of us. In the end, Karen and I shot around the dock and didn’t walk the trails. By lunch time, more people had joined us.
Will 2018 see us taking photo trips without the unexpected happening? I don’t think so. We should always be ready to be flexible on our photo outings. Sometimes the unexpected is fun and great photo opportunities. On to 2018. I’ve got some leftovers already!
I always prefer to look forward rather than back. If you don’t, the “what if” will get you. What if I did this differently, what if I went there, what if I carried a monopod and heavy long lens! That was today’s dilemma. We went back to Mather Lake and I took two lenses, one fixed and heavy and the other a zoom that needs sunlight to perform well.
We started out in sunshine and quickly ended up with cloud cover. It was, again, a difficult shoot. But, no what if’s. I made a choice and did my best with it. Of course, you’ll have to wait to see the images since I haven’t edited them.
Today you’ll see images of the Barn and the River Walk in West Sacramento. Again, what if I had known that the landscaping wasn’t finished and they would be working there the day we went out. The Barn, an event venue, has been open for a year and has had events there. But, we had a great time shooting this unusual building. It’s an outdoor venue–again, how could they have events there without landscaping?? There will be a place to buy food and beverages during spring and summer months.
After taking pictures of the Barn, we walked over to the River Walk, along the Sacramento River which was quiet in the waning days of Autumn. What if I had called to find out if the building was totally ready for a camera group to come and explore? What if! (The first eight photos are of the Barn and the rest are of the River Walk. No captions.)
Slow Shutter Speed 