Category: out and about

How about this? A day NOT devoted to photography- what a concept!  I had a very busy day- and one of the highlights was a two hour personal projects session at one of my favorite places in the world- the Apple Store!

I was working on learning Pages, Apple’s word processing and page layout program, and I, of course,  brought my camera along.  When I started taking photos, I was told STOP- not allowed!- but my nice trainer told me I could sneak a few!

In case you don’t hang out at the Apple Store, you should know that the employees all wear blue T-shirts and almost outnumber the customers. They are very knowledgeable, helpful, smart and mostly very young (from my geezer point of view…). They make geekiness look very cool!

So here is a geek’s eye view of the Apple Store.

 

I’ve always noticed and admired the little statues that are placed near the entrance to our church- they remind me of the Willow Tree figures so many people collect.  It has been my intention for awhile to photograph them, but until today I never had a camera with me when conditions were right (too sunny- or pouring rain).  Today’s cloudy weather gave me the opportunity to take a few photos without glare or raindrops.

f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 250, 82mm

I went with aperture priority again AND. . .

my white balance was set to cloudy (yay me!).

I got out well before the fog lifted this morning, so that I could get some shots that weren’t in direct sunlight.  It was cold and windy, and I only got a few photos because I was freezing without a jacket. However, I did remember to set my white balance to cloudy (which turned out to be insignificant, because I processed the image as a black and white).

The old city cemetery sits on a hill overlooking the Carquinez Strait, and there you will find the gravesites of the city’s early settlers.  I visited the cemetery for the first time about fifteen years ago while doing genealogy research and was interested to see that the graves bore names familiar to me from streets and buildings around town named after these pioneers. This gravestone belongs to the wife of Captain Von Pfister, who opened his store a few years before the Gold Rush.

f/11, 1/200, ISO 1600, 60mm

No ideas of what to photograph today- aaarrgghh! Trying not to keep shooting flowers, no grandchildren around, not going on an outing- what to do, what to do?  My creative consultant, Lonnie, suggested the downtown gazebo. OK- why not?

My photos came out fine, but not too inspired- a little postcard-y looking.  I decided to play with them a little and give them a more vintage look with a little sepia processing- and retouching magic to get rid of an electrical box. I ended up uploading the photos to picnik.com and making a triptych (love that word) of sorts.

Today I watched a friend take a giant leap out of her comfort zone- and I peeked a little out of mine.

I like birds. I appreciate birds. I love to photograph birds. I think the world would be a much less beautiful place without birds. Yes, I like birds. . . . but really only from a distance.A short distance, but a distance nonetheless.  In other words, I don’t want to handle birds- bird-watching, bird photographing, bird appreciating?  YES!  Bird handling? Ewww- not quite ready for that. I’m a little squeamish.  Don’t even ask me about fish.

Today I had two up close and personal bird encounters! But- my record is still clean- I didn’t actually touch a bird.

My friend and fellow photoblogger (infocusdaily.com and Bobo’s Blog), Carol, owns an Amazon parrot (of Bobo’s Blog fame), and today I was going to meet her (Bobo) for the first time.  When I arrived, Carol announced that there would be a change of plans- we would be going on a HAWK RESCUE!  Carol had recently signed up to be a volunteer hawk rescuer, and today she received her first call. And I would be going along!

Just the two of us.

We sped to the vet’s to get a crate- and then drove a half hour to where the hawk had been found behind a tire store.  We were escorted behind the store, where we met the quiet and very injured red-tailed hawk.  I had my camera- but was so affected by the circumstances that I didn’t take time to adjust settings- I just snapped a few blurry shots.

Carol, however, took charge.  She covered the hawk with a blanket and quickly and gently lifted it into the carrier.  I was so impressed with her calmness and willingness to step out of her comfort zone to help an injured animal.  Bravo, Carol!

Once in the carrier, the hawk, which had been standing and walking around previously- lay still.  We were afraid it was dying- or dead.  Carol bravely opened the cage door and reached in to adjust the covering to make certain it could breathe.  We drove it to the vet, and later in the afternoon, Carol received word that the hawk had a severe head injury and an uncertain prognosis.  What an afternoon!

And then I got to meet Bobo- the most charming and beautiful parrot you could ever imagine!  I had planned that her photo would be my photo of the day, so I had fun clicking away as her curiosity caused her to come out of her cage and come ever closer to me.  As I snapped this photo, I noticed Carol photographing ME- which would be her photo of the day!

f/2.2, 1/80, ISO 640, 35mm

If you look back over the last week or so of my blog, you will see that all my recent photos have been taken at home. Time to step out of the box! Today I had an appointment in Walnut Creek and took the opportunity to take a walk afterward at Heather Farm, right down the street from my doctor’s office. I wandered around for over an hour, mostly using my 85mm macro.

Well, 192 photos later, it is hard to decide which photo will be my photo of the day.  I have been wanting to capture a bee (not a fly) on a flower  and I’ve also been looking for California poppies to photograph.  Today, I took pictures of bees ON California poppies! Check, check!

But I decided to go for the “Awww….” factor in choosing my photo of the day- it’s a gosling!!!

f/8, 1/32, ISO 250

I used my 300mm zoom instead of the 85mm lens, because of previous experiences with chasing, biting geese (they usually go after my husband, but that’s another story!).

IKEA!  For my national park residing daughter, IKEA is like Disneyland. She and Baby Henry and her dad and I spent a couple hours browsing the aisles shopping for items that she can normally only buy online.  We ended up with toddler dishware, some toy storage items, a duvet cover, picture frames and more.    I hadn’t visited IKEA in a few years and am already planning my next trip.  Before we left, I snapped this quick picture of a display of colorful storage containers.