Memphis Park Gate

Memphis Dog Park

Been in TX a week emptying out my parents house and helping my brother to move his stuff next door, the house which he's in the process of purchasing.

So, i've not done much photography since arriving here - well, none come to think of it. Oh, this morning i liked the sun beams shinning on the clay masks at the house we are staying in ... but i've not processed them and don't know when i shall.

In the meantime, on the way to TX, we meet my sister and a cousin in Memphis and visited a dog park which i think was maybe 20-30 acres with three ponds. Was a Blue Huron land at one of the ponds and tracked it down and shot the photo below. The interesting thing is i didn't know about the creatures in the final shot until i was processing them and cropping for a better look at the GBH ... and then i say them:

Waaay over there—

And then i was them:

Yup, sitting in the sun, having a sunny time.

Remember the film BlowUp? Always remember to take a closer look at the items in your image after you process, might be surprised at what you find.

Ahh, mushrooms

A few more mushrooms from a few years ago.

 These mushrooms grew from the ground cover the park crew put on the ground where they had redwood trees planted and other new items. For two years hundreds of different mushrooms grow up in that ground cover. The orange mushrooms at the top start out as round grey balls that you can see on the left which then break open and the orange ribs grow. The two images above are equally amazing. They start out as umbrella style mushrooms which degenerate into the slimy stalks you see in the last image.

The stench was almost overpowering and the park crew sprayed herbicides on the ground cover so the muchrooms would not grow the third year. Despite the stench, i loved seeing them grow in their many different forms.

Mushroom Forest

After the heavy rains earlier in the week i was putting out the garbage bins and down the hillside 'tween the house and hill was a village of mushrooms.

Its not a very good photo as the light was in extreme of bright sunlight and deep shade. Now, three days later, they are dried and falling over. Still, i was able to get some nice shots of small groups:

There is something i like about mushrooms although i'm not so sure what that is. They never last very long and when fresh, new they seem so alive in a rather static manner. And no two are ever alike. And they live underground as spores and then ever so often pop up for a breath of fresh air and then they are gone and a few days later there is no sign they were ever there.

I've been shooting mushrooms for years but only at a low lever of capture; i have met photographers who bring with them to shoot, light, light boxes, reflectors, etc. I sorta like keeping it simple and each has its own distinct outcome. Here are few earlier shots:

 'Nuff mushrooms for now.

Tamron 150-600mm lens - an update

Today i return the Tamaron lens i have had for the past week. Wasn't able to do as much with it as i'd hope, still, it was enough that i decided to purchase the lens. Heavy and cumbersome, it is still the lightest lens on the market for what it does and also the least expensive. Went out this morning searching for the birds we could hear -they were surrounding us - but mostly not really viewable. A few more photos from that lens:

Towhee

House Finch

Everyday birds; a Towhee and House Finch - both males singing to attract mates.

They came out pretty well considering the light was very blah and i'm not a fan of shooting upwards but that is where most of the birds are. I look forward to visiting a bird preserve where birds are plentiful.

O.K., now to pack up the lens and get it to Fed Ex.

UPDATE: I bought the lens as a result of the photos above; see Pt. Aransas Nature Preserve for its first use.

CLOUDS

Love 'em

Borrowed/rented Lens

Mon 24th

An hour or so ago, trying to find birds to photograph with the long lens, i was that the squirrel across the street was building its nest and snapped this series of photographs:

In the fourth frame the squirrel is looking at me as i think he could hear the camera clicking. I thought he might drop the leaves and run away but he didn't. I was curious about how he was going to get thru the fence as he was having trouble fitting the leaves under the bottom which is how he got thru as you can see further down. The  last image is of the nest and you can see his (maybe its a her?) grey body to the right of the nest. There was a second squirrel working on the nest by taking leaves from the tree branches but she/he never was visible enough to photograph.

There were shot at 300 and 500 mm and seems quite sharp despite my hand holding the lens ... the image stablizer works really well.

I no longer have any doubts that this lens will provide me with the sharpness i want in a birding lens. However, it is quite heavy and creates a fatigue in my forearm muscles that, as i type, feels like carpel-tunnel syndrome ... that, i don't know what to do about. I do have a good mono-pod that would work as a leaning post but ... well, you know what mono and tripods do for cameras steadiness and, they also hinder the versatility of a sports/birding lens. 

Oh well, i'll just have to figure that out.