Landscapes

While out west of the airport the other day, I took a couple of scenes that I like - one has a flock of white-faced ibis in it and the other is a panorama that includes Stansbury and Antelope Islands.

Clicking on the image - especially the panorama - will let you see it in a better view.

White-faced ibis in grasses

Panorama - Stansbury Island left and Antelope Island right.

West Desert scenes

Diana, Murphy and I drove out to Fish Springs Wildlife Refuge today - it's over 100 miles from SLC on the old Pony Express route.  A lot of driving, too much, in fact.  But that's another story for another time.
I had rented a 300mm f/2.8 lens and a 2X teleconverter anticipating a lot of birds and wildlife at the refuge. Very disappointing, as there were essentially no birds there and many of the ponds were empty.  Teach me to do my homework before driving!  The redeeming factor was that I was able to handhold the 300mm and get some very sharp photos at f/2.8!

The only large wildlife we saw was blue herons (very spookable) and the interesting entourage assembled on the little island below - pelican, cormorants and great blue heron. I did see the butterfly and lots of the red dragonflies.  Lots of young hawks out, no eagles sighted.

Black-necked stilt

A red-tailed hawk, per the experts at Hawkwatch

Looking west half-way to Fish Springs.

What an interesting mix of birds to see in the desert!

She posed until I got a sharp shot!

Just Beautiful - love what the lens does for the background.

Ravens were enjoying the water.

Redtail I believe.

Messing around

I did a few wireless flash photos with day lilys and got some great results; showing one below. Also captured a hummer and a flower petal - when I am down, I just have to look around and there is so much beauty!

Storms

More storm clouds in the afternoon, wonderful drama in the sky!

Storm clouds approaching from the Oquirrh Mountains, on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.

Monsoons

Here in SLC we seem to be in what the forecasters call a "monsoon" season. We get thunderstorms in the afternoon and rain; hardly a monsoon, but someone needed a label.  This type of weather was all very normal the first years that I lived here - afternoon thunderstorms were a way of life and no one needed to call them something else. Oh well.
I handheld the camera in an attempt to see if I could capture a bolt of lightning - hard to do since my reflexes are not very quick and the sky was a light gray so the lightning was often hard to see.  In spite of all that, I succeeded! Plain dumb luck - not what I would call an impressive photo but it was fun!

Moonflowers or space monsters?

We love these flowers, they have an incredible blue leaf!  So I played with the photo a lot, and wound up with something I liked.

Garden spots

Here's some views of various spots around our "Secret Garden", so called because from the front of the house you do not have any idea that this is here! Lines, shapes, colors, forms - so much beauty everywhere.

Note the crescent moon just above the trees - a welcome surprise.

different views

Fuzzy has a view of the world that includes a lot of hunting - birds, mice, rats, bigger birds and just about anything that moves around him.  He loves to hide and then run, jump and bounce off us or Murphy.  He has hit my chest with his front paws doing this.  He often then runs, jumps up the narrow willow tree and swings around it - just like a kid on a pole!  Here he is "putting the eye" on something!

Sometimes I take a photo and just like it, tho' I cannot explain why.  This is one.

Celebrating beauty

We have a lot of day lilies in our garden, and they make wonderful subjects.  Here's one that just 'reeks' beauty.

Pond view

I had a chance to stop by a fishing pond - there are several here in the valley - and caught a couple of photos of ducklings and one of a feather.  Fathers out with their kids - wonderful to see.  Perhaps there is hope in this video-game world.

Final hours in Torrey

We went over to the Rimrock Pizza cafe last night - get to sit out on the back patio and Murphy can hang out with us also! A thunderstorm was brewing over Boulder Mountain and, as it turned out, we got very lucky with the rain, clouds and setting sunlight.  Here's some shots from a walk and then from the evening with the sky on fire.

Looking down the valley with storm clouds in the eastern sky and sunlight on the peaks. Looks like another world.

The house of the owners of Pine Shadows Cabins - outlined by the setting sun.

Coming around the back of the cafe, I first saw these pink/orange cloud tips.

Then I saw this sky!

This was on our way back to the cabin in Teasdale, we pulled over to take this shot looking due west.

Monday morning photo from our former land looking north over Thousand Lakes Mountain.

Storm clouds over Johnson Reservoir, just down from Fish Lake!  

Morning Walk

I took a walk after taking a few photos of the sunrise - and was accompanied by Brodie and Murphy as usual.  The clouds were present and 'made' the sky, along with the setting moon.  Truly a gift to be able to be present to all the beauty.

Moon in sky and water!

Murphy and Brodie discussing how best to approach the rabbit!

Torrey - late night early morning

I worked on capturing the moonrise last night and got a couple of wonderful shots.  I've got a lot to learn about this venue - as soon as I started I realized that, with an ISO of 200 my exposure length would preclude sharpness as the moon would be moving during the elapsed time.  Nevertheless, a great learning experience and I find I am being drawn more to the suggestive than the explicit.
Then I got up and worked on the sunrise/moonset. A whole different set of conditions, of course, and another set of lessons.
Here's the shots I liked from last night and this morning. The first two are the same shot, just cropped differently - 30 sec exposure.

The earth does not wait for you to finish your photo!  Love the blurriness that adds a bit of dreaminess.

Moonrise over the Manti-La Sal mountains - +2 EV to get the detail in the foreground and clouds.

Clouds and stars - the blueness is what the camera saw at this time of the morning.

Sunrise beginning, the Manti-La Sal mountains are the far peaks.