New 2017 Calendars

My new calendars for 2017 are out.

Click Here to purchase  and to view larger images. Thank you for your support. 😊

It's Spring In the Valley. Time for Nesting!

It's Spring time in the Shenandoah Valley and all the birds large and small are breeding and nesting. Spring is off to a chilly start with some night time lows in the 30's and the chance of snow this weekend but the little bursts of color from the flowering trees and the breeding wild turkeys confirm that "yes it really is Spring" even if the weather says otherwise. Happy Spring everyone! :-)



I'm a hobby photographer with professional dreams and my photography is self sustaining at this point but if you wish to contribute to funding my dreams, prints and greeting cards are available below, just click on the images below.  Any little bit is much appreciated! :-)  :

Birds Birds Birds!

I decided to spend a day with the birds a couple of days ago. The top photo is a pine warbler, the middle a white breasted nuthatch who actually picked up that chunk of suet that was the same size as him and promptly dropped it Lol! He bit off more than he could chew but I retrieved it for him so he could finish his meal. The bottom photo is a male downy woodpecker. These were shot using my Nikon 2.8 70-200 VR lens on a tripod (VR mode turned off since it was on the tripod which can actually cause blurry photos if left on while on a tripod). I hope to one day be a full time professional nature and landscape photographer but at this point in time my  photo sales are just enough to sustain my photography as a hobby and pay for my website and a savings plan towards better gear. If you would like to contribute to my journey to professional photographer, my photos can be purchased as greeting cards, prints , canvases, iphone & Galaxy cases and throw pillows.  Thanks for stopping by. Photo Links below if you wish to purchase anything :

Return To Massanutten Spring With The Big Camera

About a week ago I found a little mountain spring  that was a 2 mile day hike from our home. I only had my cell phone with at the time so I snapped a photo with my litle Galaxy. I knew I wanted to return with my "Big Camera". So I set out to return yesterday with my Nikon D300 and a 2.8 17-35 mm lens, a circular polarizer and a two neutral density filters (a 4 and a 10) and a tripod and cable release. For some reason the hike seemed sooo much harder than the first time! When I returned with an aching back and sore knee I realized once I got home and weighed my photo gear that I was toting 11 lbs! Oh well I got a good work out in and a photo I'm pretty happy with. Here is the resulting photo from my hike. I hope you enjoy it too and feel a sense of peace from it like I did when I was there.

Prints and greeting cards can be purchased HERE if you would like to support my photography endeavors. Thanks for stopping by my blog and feel free to share my blog. :-)

Beauty In Our Own Backyard

Sometimes you don't have to go as far as you think in search of photo inspiration. I was recently lucky enough to make a new friend  who told my hiking buddy & I about a trail that we didn't even know existed that ends at this beautiful little spring. I was super excited when I first found out about it and and wanted to check it out to see if it was worth bringing my SLR camera and a tripod and it turns out it is! I shot this with my my phone but I'm definitely going to return with my big camera and tripod soon. It's a good work out too. It takes a total of about 2 hours round trip from the woods behind our house with a good deal of it going up the mountain and then down the other side so I'll be getting back in shape in my quest for beautiful photos too which is a win win! :-)

It's Not Just Luck Hummingbird Photography Tips

This photo is the result of trial and error that basically took me all day to get. I achieved part of my goal (freezing the hummingbird wings) but the other part of my goal I did not. My next goal is to figure out how to light that beautiful red gorget for maximum color. This photo was created  partly from hummingbird photo tips from one of my favorite hummingbird photographers Gregory Scott and partly from lots of patience. Check out Gregory Scotts amazing work HERE. Not only are his photos amazing but he's a great human being as well, willing to share tips with other photographers to help them rather than keeping all of his photo secrets to himself. I wanted to pay it forward so here are some tips that will hopefully help another photographer who loves these little flying gems as much as I do. 

 One of  the tips I learned from Gregory Scott was to use a macro lens to get great detail. Most people including myself believed that you needed a really long telephoto to get hummingbird shots but this is not always the case. For this photo I used a 105 mm 2.8 macro lens on a tripod. The reason for the macro lens is detail. You can set his to a really large f-stop number like 18- 22 and this helps a lot with your depth of field for focusing so if you prefocus the focus is a little more forgiving. The camera was set 3-4 feet away from the feeder.  I prefocused in the area where I wanted the hummingbird to hover and sat in a chair with my cable release in hand and waited and shot and waited and shot until I got the right combination of the little flying gem hovering where I wanted and the light to freeze the wings. 

The settings for this photo were F-stop 18, shutter speed 320, ISO 200 and 3 flahes set to manual 1/32 power including the on camera pop up flash that triggered the other two Nikon S-B800 flases. I also used a piece of foam core board that you could purchase at any craft store for the back ground. The back ground was placed about 4 or 5 feet away from the feeder where I was trying to get the hummingbirds to hover. 

Most people think that hummingbird flight is frozen with a fast shutter speed but that is not the case. It's flash duration that freezes the wings. And believe it or not this is done but setting the flash to a lower power rather than higher power. Bigger isn't always better. These settings are not written in stone as far as the camera settings so put your camera on manual and just take some test shots to get the light to where you want it by adjusting the shutter speed and f stop combos until you get what you want. I also used the lowest ISO I could because these keeps the noise down. 

In order to get the flahses to do what you want, you need to have control over the light which you can't do in sunlight. I shot this in the shade on a cloudy day and I had the best results around 4 pm when the sun behind the clouds went behind the house. These were all shot on our deck using the shade from eves of our house but you could do this in your yard if you have deeply shady spot. I used a sprig of flowers inserted into a hummingbird feeder port and I taped off the other 3 ports to get the hummingbird to hover where I wanted. 

I photograph on a budget so I have two tripods and two off camera flashes. I used one tripod for the camera and another for one of the flashes but since I only have two tripods for my 3rd tripod I used the arm of a chair and some electrical tape to hold the flash in place. The other part of my studio was the piece of white foam core board that I used for the back ground.

 I hope these tips are helpful to others learning their way in photography and on a budget like myself. I'd like to be able to afford more flashes but in the mean time I'll make due with what I have and continue to try to get the most of what I have. 

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog and for following my progress as a nature photographer. If you'd like to see more of my work, click on the photo below. 

How To Get Nikon Optional Picture Controls Onto Your D300

Sometimes it's the little things that either drive you crazy or make you happy depending on the outcome.

I just spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to load the Nikon Picture control landscape setting onto my Nikon D300. I love nature, I love photographing nature but I am no programmer. All the computer jargon took my poor brain for a ride. What's a "root folder" anyways? Through trial and error I finally succeeded in getting this onto my Nikon D300 and I can now shoot using the landscape mode if I so choose. Here's one of the first photos using this mode:

Ahh greens look ...well green! And I have nice saturated color but not too saturated. I'm not exactly sure why the camera didn't come with this and also the portrait mode but it didn't. I tried following the instructions on the Nikon website but they were as clear as mud. I'm pretty sure the newer Nikon D800 and 810 comes with these already in the camera but I'm still saving for one of those. If you want to contribute to my new camera fund you can buy something Here or Here  :-)

So for anyone else who has pulled their hair out trying to figure out how to add the Nikon optional picture control settings onto their camera, here is my non-programmer minded explanation for the rest of us.

First you go to their website Here

Next I went onto my main drive on my computer and created a folder called PICTURECONTROL. I don't think it matters what you name the file but I put it in all caps because I read another tutorial somewhere that had it in all caps so I did this just in case it did matter. I don't think it matters what you name it either. Then I went back to the website and selected the one I wanted (landscape in my case) and then I found my camera model and operating system which was Nikon D300 and Windows and I clicked on the button to accept the download. Then I navagated to the folder that I created and clicked inside it and made sure it downloaded there. I have Windows 7 so it may be a little different on windows 8. Your computer may default to another place for downloads but you can change it to get it into the new folder you created by navagating there.  Once it downloaded, I then had a file in my new folder. Next I double clicked on this and it created a Nikon folder with the picture control inside.

This is where it got tricky. At frist I just put the file on a formated Nikon CF card using a card reader but my camera wouldn't recognize it. *Note I think it's important to start out with a formatted card (card that has been formatted in your Nikon camera).  It said "no file on card" or something to that effect.  I finally figured out that I needed to copy that whole Nikon file that contained the picture utility file. Once I copied the Nikon file with the picture control utility inside, I pasted it onto the Nikon CF card (not in the DCIM file but just on the card.

Next I put the card into the camera and in the menus found the little icon that looked like a camera. Under that I went to manage picture control and then load/save and then copy to camera and OK. Wala! Now I have more options to choose from on my camera.

I hope this is helpful to anyone else who was pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to add these onto their Nikon D300 or other Nikon DLSR Cameras.

My First Public Exhibition

I'm super excited! My baloon photo was chosen among the photos of Vincent Warrick & Neal Lewis to be hung in a display in the Page Memorial Hospital. The hospital recently moved into a brand new building and this display is seen as you walk in the front entrance of the hospital. The hospital wanted to showcase local photographers myself included.  More photos from Vincent Warrick can be seen here . And more phototos from Neal Lewis can be seen here. What an honor to be shown with two amazing photographers! 

Our Feathered Friends

Sometimes when you lend a helping hand the unexpected rewards are great. Yesterday was one of those moments. We have been feeding the birds all winter long and recently we’ve had some record breaking cold snaps combined with snow storms here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Every morning when we get up we have a morning ritual…feed our cats, feed the wild birds and lastly tend to our own needs with a cup of coffee or tea. Sometimes the cats have to wait for the birds to be fed since they are snug and warm in the house but the wild birds are all lined up in the tree waiting for us with anticipation looking in the window wondering when those magic bundles of food will be placed on the deck for their breakfast buffet.

Yesterday the snow was falling (9” total when it finished), it was cold and the birds were hungry! After the feeders had been hung for a while there was an enormous amount of birds at the feeders, more birds than we could ever recall seeing at once. Since we were snowed in again and cabin fever was beginning to set in an idea occurred to me to pass the time… why not try to hand feed the friendly little pine siskins. I had noticed that I could get just inches from these little birds and they showed virtually no fear of me when I would walk by the feeder. So I filled my two outstretched hands with sunflower seeds and patiently waited near the feeder. My hands were resting on the two bottom rungs our finch feeder. My husband was watching from inside the house but I didn’t know it at the time because I couldn’t turn around. To my surprise a siskin landed on my right hand and began to feed! Then another tried to land on the same hand and they had a little mini power struggle over my hand! The next thing I knew there was one on each of my hands and then there were two on one and one on the other! I remember thinking “I hope my husband is seeing this”.  Well he must have been picking up on my ESP because he not only saw but he shot photos and a video as well (See below).

Today I decided to try it out again to see if maybe they were just desperate yesterday because of the snow or if they really did trust me. So under a clear blue sky with no snow falling today I was treated to the same joy of bonding with a little bird…actually two birds! I tried something new too. I gently put my hand under the feeder rung where a bird was already perched and it happily hopped onto it. At one point one was hovering trying to land on my hand from a nearby branch so I held my hand closer to the branch and then that one landed on my other hand. It’s always nice to make friends but it feels extra special when you make a friend who is of the feathered kind.

My husband got to witness some special bird behavior this morning too when he hung our feeders. A tufted titmouse watched from high above in a tree as he hung the feeders. Once he had hung them the titmouse called out to all the other roosting birds and they all flew out of the trees and came to the feeders. The little titmouse announcing that the breakfast buffet was open didn’t fly to the feeders right away…it was almost like he or she was the bird flock leader and was making sure its flock was OK before tending to its own needs. 

Helping Our Feathered Friends

This weekend took on a sense of urgency for our feathered friends. The temperatures in the valley were ranging from 5 degrees to the teens but with the wind gusts of up to 45 miles an hour the wind chills got as low as 25 below zero! Some people don't think that we humans should interefere with nature and wildlife...but the way I look at it is that since we already have altered the balance of nature by our presence here on planet earth, it's up to us to help take care of our fellow creatures. We had a steady stream of birds at the feeder all day long today. We kept them fed with home made peanut butter suet, rose hips, black oil sunflower seeds and safflower seeds. We were even surprised by a visit from a rather large female pileated woopecker. We also saw cardinals, red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, juncos, purple finches, gold finches, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches and one of my personal favorites, wrens.

The Colors of Winter

Winter is often devoid of color here in the Shenandoah Valley when all of the deciduous trees shed their leaves and the farmer's fields turn brown... but sometimes we are blessed with vivid colors in the middle of winter like this double rainbow that graced the valley yesterday.


 

 After the clouds parted we were blessed with this colorful sky. The sky appeared to be on fire with warm and welcome tangerine and orange hues. I'm so thankful for the colorful days of winter that give me hope that Spring really is just around the corner!










If you would like to support my photographic endeavors, please click below to purchase greeting cards or prints. I create my photography on a shoe string budget and do not pay for any advertising, so please feel free to help spread the word about my photography and share my blog or photos! Thanks for any help in allowing me to follow my passion, it's much appreciated! :-)


 

Beauty In The Ordinary

So I went down to the Hawksbill Greenway with my big lens hoping to see a kingfisher or a great blue heron...but there were none to be seen anywhere along the Hawksbill creek. BUT there were ducks everywhere! I didn't find the flashy king fisher or the regal great blue heron but the beautfiul glint of green in the sunlight caught my eye on this ordinary mallard duck.I guess beauty is where you find it.  :-)








 

Looking Forward 2015

I’m trying to keep my chin up and think positive but 2014 was a bit disappointing as far as sales go. When I started my website in 2011 I was very encouraged after I started making sales in just one month. Each year I sold a little bit more than the year before until 2014…when my sales went down from the previous year. Negative thoughts have been entering my mind: Are my photos just not good enough? Should I throw in the towel and stop wasting time and money on what’s really just a hobby? Can I really make this more than just a hobby? Am I just fooling myself calling myself a photographer? Can I really compete with the photographers that are selling? Have I lost my creative vision?

 OK so maybe it’s time to re-boot. What can I do to get moving in the right direction? Firstly I need to get my thoughts back on track and replace the negative thoughts with positive ones instead of hearing that voice from the movie scene in Wayne’s World “I’m not worthy”. Next I need to formulate some goals.

 Here are my 2015 photography goals, I’m not going to call them resolutions though since everyone knows that those only last about a month before falling back into the same old habits.:

1. Find new and better ways to market. Research online for other venues besides Face book for marketing/ networking. Since Face book went public in the Wall Street world , the site no longer seems to be very effective for sales for someone like me on a budget i.e. not spending money for advertising.

2. Write in my photo blog regularly to keep my creative juices flowing

3. Improve my photography skills by viewing/reading educational articles and videos and learning  techniques from photographer friends

4. Find my audience who wants to see and buy my photos

5. Create photos that inspire and instill an awe in the beauty of nature

6. Increase sales to be double or more of what they were in 2014

OK so that’s my plan for the New Year. One foot in front of the other…moving forward in to 2015. Wish me luck. :-)

Why Am I A Photographer?

   

Why am I a photographer?

I’ve always been fascinated by photography.  At 6 or 7 years old I begged my Dad to let me take a picture with his camera and although he probably knew that it might be a waste of a little film (yes I started with film I’m that old) he let me take a photo anyways. I even got to see it in our family slide show. It wasn’t exactly a masterpiece. In fact it was just a photo of a street sign! But the fact that he let me take even just one photo created a seed in me that would someday turn into my love of photography today.My mom also fostered that seed unknowingly. At the time, I didn’t realize how special it was to have a mom who had lived overseas and had seen the world. I guess I assumed everyone’s mom did that.  We didn’t have a huge color TV growing up but we did have a slide projector and a big white wall. On that wall I would see magical places that my mother had traveled to. I saw slides of places like Mt. Fuji, I saw slides of a Japanese ice festival where a magical temporary city was created entirely of ice! And I even saw slides of Germany where our family came from. And of course we always got to see the family vacations recorded on slide film so we could relive our adventures like traveling northward to the California redwoods or the giant spruce forests of Oregon on our annual summer camping trips.

I’ve been photographing for years now and if someone were to ask me why I am a photographer, this is what I'd tell them. 

I see beauty in a sky or a flower or a bird or butterfly or even in the smallest insect and when I see something that is amazing to me I want to share that with others and I want them to be amazed too.  I also get great joy from bringing other people happiness so it’s only natural I guess that when I see something that inspires me,  I want to photograph it and share it with others in the hopes that it brings joy and inspiration to them as well.

Photography is also an historic record. My mother in law used to photograph the whole family at our family gatherings. We would all try to hide from the camera and complain that we didn’t want our photo taken but you know what? We all couldn't wait to see the great shots she got  when the photos would come back from the lab!  I started bringing a camera to the family gatherings as well and then there were two family “paparazzis” to hide from.  And now we have all gotten in on the fun of taking photos.  Just the other day my husband I found a suitcase full of old family photos.  This suitcase is really a family history book. Did you ever notice when there is a tragedy like a flood or hurricane and homes are destroyed that it’s those precious family photo albums and framed photos that are the cherished item and not a table or a couch?  So I guess the second part of my “why am I a photographer?” question would be to capture moments in time to share with family and friends at a later date, or more simply put to be a history keeper.

Do I shoot photos to make money? The answer to this one would be yes and no. There was a time when I thought “wouldn’t it be great to quit my day job and do photography for a living?”.  I tried shooting weddings and even did some portrait work in addition to trying to get published and selling my nature photographs. I even tried stock photography for a while too. I started to realize when I put too much emphasis on the making money aspect of it that it became stressful and I lost some of that creative spark. It wasn’t as much fun anymore.  Sure it’s great to make money but it can also become a pressure which actually in the long run, hurts the ability to make money when your creativity suffers. Since then I’ve come to the realization that it’s best just to keep it at a level that is fun. Since changing perspective from “how will I make money with my photos” to “what can I shoot to share and inspire?” I’ve actually began to make a little money. I haven’t abandoned the money aspect and I still try to market my photos to sell them but I have a day job that I love and photography is just a fun thing I do when I'm not at my day job.

The Cicadas Are Here!

After 17 years of slumber the 17 year cicadas have emerged here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They emerged from the ground and left their little shells hanging on plants and trees everywhere. Some people think they are creepy and gross but they are fascinating to this nature lover. I was delighted to have such a willing subject to try my macro lens out on. They are docile little creatures. I even held one on my finger and had one perch on my wrist. They don't bite and despite the rumors they are not a plague that will destroy all trees and crops in it's path like locusts would. In fact they are not locusts at all. A grasshopper is more closely related to a locust than a cicada is. 

The high pitched "singing" that sounds like an alien spaceship about to land is made by the males and is their mating song. Here is a sample of the high pitched cicada mating song I recorded this morning.

After they mate the females will make little slits in tree bark where they will deposit their eggs. In 6 weeks or so little ant like white nymphs will hatch out and make their way to the ground where they will begin their journey into the ground. The burrow anywhere from two to 24 inches down. While living underground they feed on plant roots sucking out the juice with their little sucker mouth parts. When the conditions are just right 17 years later they will emerge again.  

Every 17 years not only will their arrival be an event for us humans living in the Eastern United State to see and hear (they are not found anywhere else in the world but in the United states)  but they are a dining event for fish and birds and animals as well. Moles are said to dine on the fully grown larva right before they emerge. Some brave humans even eat them! They are said to taste like shrimp or asparagus and they are low in fat and high in protein. I won't be one of those brave culinary pioneers though! This nature lover prefers to just observe them.