Beautiful day in the Hocking Hills

This weekend Dave and I drove up to the Hocking Hills to take advantage of a sunny early spring day. Many other folks were doing the same, as Cedar Falls, our chosen destination, was quite crowded. However, I was able to take some nice photographs. Water was the main theme of my photos for the trip....

Sandy areas draw my eye



The patterns in underwater sand are so beautiful



But the falls are the main attraction of this location



Here's the same shot, only at "normal", fast speed



Here you get a full view of the falls, with this young lady in the foreground giving you some perspective on the size of this majestic falls.



As long as I had my tripod with me, why not take a "group photo"?

I leave you with two of my more "scenic" shots. Enjoy!

Water in motion

In my quest to gain more experience photographing nature, I decided to work on capturing images of moving water within the past few days. We are lucky enough to have a small waterfall and creek that runs along one edge of our property, and conditions have been wet enough lately to afford me the opportunity to play with my camera. We've actually had a lot of rain in the last 24 hours, which increased the volume and speed of the water, in turn making for better pictures (I'll explain why in a minute). (As a side note to those who would be concerned, the water did not cause any flooding during our commute today, so we were able to make to work and back home safely.)

You may have seen photographs of waterfalls and running streams and rivers where the water is very ethereal-looking. I think those waterfall shots are sometimes referred to as "bridal veil" falls, since they look like, well, a bride's veil. Anyway, after doing some reading, and some experimenting, adjusting an F-stop here and a shutter speed there, I came away with some decent shots of moving water that I would like to share with you. (I only wish I would have had this knowledge, or this camera for that matter, when we visited Fallingwater several years ago!)

I took the top photo on Sunday (2 days ago), and the bottom photo today after all the rain. Can you tell the difference between the slower, less voluminous water flow of Sunday compared to that from today?

This is another photo from today, pulling back a little so that more of the water's course can be seen.

Here's another comparison between 2 days ago and today...

Both of these photos were taken today, but I took the top one to look more "normal" and the bottom one to look more "ethereal".

To sign off, here are a few more odd-ball shots. First the witch's brew...

And some cool patterns of the sun reflecting through the water onto the rocks when the water was more calm 2 days ago...

Mind your manners!

Counting birds for Project Feederwatch gives me a good excuse to bring out the camera. Sometimes, if I'm lucky enough to catch the birds at just the right time, I can get some interesting action shots. Like these photos of an Eastern Tree Sparrow who was very rude to some of the other birds visiting the platform feeder. At least that's the anthropomorphic description that I'm designating to its actions...

Sometimes there was no quarreling or squabbling - everyone's just minding their own business...

Let's see, I'll start by picking on someone my own size... go away!

Hmmm... no effect on the little guy. How about someone bigger than me? (I think the Cardinal looks confused by the scolding.)

That's right, you are not welcome here!

Listen lady, I said SCRAM!

I think maybe I've met my match here. I'm thinkin' I won't yell at this here big bird.

This is the very last picture I took for the day. To me it seems he's looking to the sky to ask for forgiveness for his unfriendly actions.

Staircase completed!

Hooray! The staircase from the house down to the "front yard" has been completed. We must give credit to our builders Brian Cornwell and his son, Eric, for doing such a fantastic job. Good work, guys!

Here's a brief look at the finished project.

This view is taken from the very top of the stairs, looking down toward the road.

Trying to show as much of the staircase as I can.

I took lots of pictures, too many to post here. To see the rest of the photos, come over to my Picasa Web Album. You can look at the pictures individually, or watch a slide show (which I recommend). All the pictures are captioned so you'll know what you're looking at.

New Kids on the Block

First and foremost, since this is my first post of the year, I wish a Happy New Year 2008 to my adoring fans (the whole handful of you)!

There's nothing like the appearance of a bird new to our feeders to motivate me to take some photos. This winter has brought the Purple Finch. The first one showed up the first weekend of December, but it only passed by briefly. Same thing happened the following weekend. Then no more Purple Finches. Until this weekend. Finally, 2 of them showed up and stayed around for a while (i.e. long enough for me to get photos). Actually, I saw them most of the day yesterday, but not at all today. At any rate, I was excited to have some new visitors to the feeders, and hope they'll return and bring their friends.

Finch Fantastic (Purple Finches and Goldfinches)

Feeding Frenzy

Purple Finch

Oh, and I'm not the only one who likes to watch the birds. Now if she could just learn to count...

Midtown on bird patrol

You're building stairs where, now?

So we’ve told family and friends about the steps we’re having built from the deck down toward the road. But it’s hard to visualize, so here are some photos to help you see what the heck we’re talking about.

Looking down from the deck (as you turn left when you exit the patio doors)

Same view, only moved over to the left

Looking back up at the house

Next phase: heading down toward the road (if you look carefully at the upper left-hand corner of this photo, you can actually see the road); of course, we're not literally taking the stairs all the way down to the road - just in that general direction

A profile shot (heat pump in the foreground)

Taken from the deck, this tries to show as much of the project as possible

Hope this helps orient you. I’ll try to update photos as construction progresses. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather so building can continue!