What?

The previous post was a bit strange ... the formatting would not behave and all type after the 2nd photo was on the right side of this space and nothing i was able to do would create the type at the left margin. Which doesn't mean it could not be put there ... just that i didn't know how. There are a lot of pagination markings at the top of this posting most of which i don't know what they mean.

So - i shall do some experimenting in the next few days and learn what they are and how to use them.

Back to the photo work space in the previous posting; i have longed dreamed of such a spacious work area and now that i have one, i want to turn my attention to making better or fuller use of it. And how do i do that ... you and i will both find out in the coming weeks and months.

Oh, it would be helpful to me if you viewers -maybe all two or three of you- would comment on these postings. Both so i know the posting is working and also to let me know if i am actually communicating to someone.

And thank you.

Photo Lab

Thought i'd take a moment and post a couple of photos of my work space.

Closed up for the night ... the way i like to leave my work space.

Now open for work.

Chimney Rock

Two days ago, we went to Chimney Rock, a State Park in central NC which has an amazing rock formation which juts over the valley below.

It was a warm day verging on hot and just right for visiting such a site. The elevator was not working so we walked up the 480some steps (we had been forewarned) which was a challenge and it seemed that half the people climbing the steps took a breather a couple of times on the way up. 

Looking up from the bottom of the steps you can see about a quarter of the way up. Yes, that is flag rock on top of that phallic looking rock structure. It is good thinking on the part of the Park Service to put so many nooks to stand in on the way up ... they were well used.

We were fortunate in that this is still the off season and while there were a goodly amount of people there, it was not crowded and relatively few children and pets. (No, they are not in the same category!)

From the top, the chimney looked like this:

We had discussed going from Chimney Rock to Dupont State Park which is filled with water falls and trails but the climb was quite sufficient exercise for one day, so we returned home.

Swallows, feeding

I want to continue posting photos as this is, mostly, a photographic blog. These days i'm not doing so much shooting — still, i have a large collection of photographs that need working on and a few i have worked on. These two images i took about four or five years ago when i rented a Canon 100-400mm lens to see how i liked it.

I was walking in a field in the middle of which there was a fenced in area for reasons there were unclear as there was nothing other then more of the same on the inside as there was on the outside. However, i noticed there were a lot of swallows sitting on the fence and other birds buzzing close to them. And there were a lot! As i walked closer i saw that there were young swallows on the fence and adults were feeding them. Wow! how fortunate to have a long lens on my camera. Getting as close as i dare without chasing the birds away -they really were not paying me any attention- i was able to shoot a series of photos of the adults feeding the young and above are two of the better ones.

Clicking on the image will create a nice large photograph to view.

Raining

Today has been a rainy day which lead me to shoot photos from inside the house and as the sky was dark and overcast, the photos looked best in B&W:

It was a fruitful morning!

Orchids

Finally, it appears that i have connected with my current blog while in my photo machine; hence, i should be able to post photos much easier as i won't have to use Drop Box or something that makes it a two-step process.

Yesterday, we went to the NC Arboretum which was opening their annual orchid show and we attended a day early on members only day - which was good as it was quite crowded then and i'm guessing it'll be very crowded today and tomorrow when it is open to the public.

The amount of orchids was amazing and i wasn't able to take it all in and became jaded or overwhelmed rather quickly. The photo taking was interesting as there were so many people there and on most orchids were spot-lights. I had brought a flash defuser with me (Graslong Spark) so i could use flash but not have it too harsh.

Here are some of those efforts —

Three different orchids

I don't know anything about orchids other then liking what i see. They don't seem to have a strong aroma but the colors and designs are amazing. We went into the room where they were selling the plants but the ones we liked were in the seventy dollar range and we let them stay there.

Honey drops

Am a bit obsessed with photographing the honey drops. The top photo didn't convert (to jpeg) very well and i don't know how to fix that. 

Three images, but the color seems really off

The image below was shot using the sun as a light source: 10 sec @ f16, single image

And the set-up i'm using looks like this:

The honey drops are on that place setting and slowly losing their round shapes as they sink or are absorbed into the material.

I am learning that it'd be best if i make a schematic of the connections and how they work. Each time i set this up, it is a bit of a task getting it all synced and working. So far, i've been able to always figure it out but its never easy nor straight forward. Still, it is an exceptionally good macro set-up and i'm very fortunate to have it.

I have a couple of insects i want to photograph but the spider is so yucky, i'm not sure i want such a close shot of her. It is a dead Black Widow that was accidentally killed some weeks ago and i have kept her as i wanted to do some close-up work but now i wonder.

And this man, David,  writes this wonderful photographic blog: https://shoottokyo.com which i highly recommend if you like reading what professional photographers spend their time doing.