17 Jan 19 Arriving in Rockport we did our normal eagle scouting for a grand total of two and as we were leaving Jan said "have we ever gone down this road" referring to Saulk River Road which we had once prior but as she couldn't remember when we took it again. It was a good call as we got to see some really pretty stuff much of which I tried to record, some successfully, some not so much. Today's submission is one of those that came out rather good although, I blew the best shot. As I was taking one very much like this a juvenile Bald Eagle flew through about 12 feet off the ground but I was looking in the direction it was flying so by the time I even noticed it the critter was effectively gone. Not sure how well the bird would have fit in the picture but it is fun to imagine. You of course can just imagine it in the frame as you wish. ;-) As we approached this setting I originally saw only the low lying fog but it was enough for me to want to try and capture it. Walking alongside the road on the opposite of the barrier I looked back and saw the filtered sunlight; of course I couldn't resist trying to capture it. The rays were only visible for a distance of perhaps 20 feet; on either side of that space they didn't exist. By the time I was ready to quit shooting they were all but gone. Lucky shot? Today is supposed to be a creative image but I'll just let Nature's creativity speak for itself. This is what the camera saw. Late Morning Fog Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.
18 Jan 19 A few yards from where I took the image with the fog and god rays and shared yesterday Jan found a few fallen branches with a lot of white stuff sticking out of them. She immediately recognized the white stuff as ice crystals but it didn't connect for me until today when I was working up a few images. I thought it would make for a good macro/close-up candidate so that's what I'm sharing today. You'll need to zoom in to at least 50%, preferably 100%, to really get an appreciation for this hair like ice. It made for a couple really nice creative images, one I might even print and frame, but you need to see the real thing as making anything creative "destroys" the filamentous structure of the frozen water. This is straight from the camera save for some small amount of cropping for presentation. Explosion Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/320 @ f / 9
24 Jan 19 For today's Theatrical Thursday there was a choice of something from the European cruise, Yellowstone, or local. Jan said local, so here we have a shot taken from roughly the same spot as last year. This time it's a landscape vice portrait look and unlike last year's sans snow. This year's trip to the Skagit swapped snow for wind and some brilliant sunshine with totally blue skies for clouds. Given a choice, I'd prefer last year's weather but you work with what you're presented. There is a location on the Skagit at roughly the 90 mile marker - or mile post as some prefer to call it - where there are a large number of cement things in the river which for lack of a better name I'll call a log jam that serve some purpose. They are to my knowledge a relatively recent addition to the river which I'm guessing were put there for some kind of flood control. I've never found any info as to why they are located where they are but they do make for an interesting curiosity. You can see some of them at the bottom of this image. This location is not far from the town of Concrete so I thought just for fun I'd "paint" it onto concrete. The Diablo range of the Cascade mountains forms the background with the Skagit river twisting through the middle of the frame. Other than the conversion to the concrete look, I've also given the bare trees a little attention. Painted Over Concrete Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.
