Seabirds

This is the normal seagull many people think about when they hear the word, 'seagull.' For this picture, I used my telephoto lens again and tried to position myself as close as possible. I don't know what is the red thing on the seagulls' beak. All of the seagulls that I took pictures of had this red mark. I also tried to position myself so that the background was blue from the ocean.

Low Flying

This bird was another one of the many that were on the shore. I believe that it is a type of crane or a bird similar to a crane. I was taking pictures of the waves (like the one I posted yesterday) when this bird flew in front of me. It was hard to take pictures of because it was flying so fast, but I was able to capture this before it flew away.

Crashing Waves

The waves in Santa Barbara were not the biggest waves, but to me, they were big enough. Each was about 5-7 feet tall and crashed close enough to the shore that I could take a good picture of it. For the majority of my wave pictures, I used the 300mm focal length on my telephoto lens to get the closest to the wave that I could. I also used a fast shutter speed to capture the water droplets as the wave crashed.

Speckled Feathers

My next series of pictures comes from northern California is the towns of Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. I took thousands of pictures, but what I mostly focussed on was the beaches. I was fascinated with the birds, water, and how things look with the water in the picture. I liked this bird because it has different colors than normal seagulls. Most seagulls are white but this bird was grey with hints of white and black. It probably is a different species of bird but it still looks interesting.

Floods

On the ranch, the floods were not as bad, but there still was some flooding evident. For instance, this tiny stream turned into a little lake and a creek. After looking back at this picture, I wish that I took less of the sky and positioned the camera lower to ground. I feel there is too much sky and not enough river and nature.

Fresh Air

To me, this picture is the one that reminds me of the fresh air only found in pine tree forests. There are pine trees, water, green grass, and bright blue skies. This picture is slightly different than the one I took earlier because of the clarity of the water. This water was less clear, causing the mirror to not be perfect. There is an outline of the trees and shore, but there is not defined objects on the water.

Mountain View

Near the front porch of the cabin was a dead tree with a background of the mountain. I focussed on the tree because I like the design the tree makes. In addition, I decreased the aperature (I set it to 1/5) to allow for the mountain and tree to be in the picture. I also like the difference in color between the brown sticks, green trees, blue sky, and white snow. They all combine to make a picture that I find very interesting.

Eagles

On the morning of the fourth day, we took a 1.5-hour drive of the property. On the drive, I saw at least six different animals including bison, elk, deer, prairie dog, coyote, and this eagle. I took this picture with my wide-angle lens but zoomed in. I wasn't able to take the picture very close to the eagle because I didn't have time to switch to the telephoto lens, but I worked with what I could.

Sunrise over Chama

On the last day, I woke up early and captured the sunrise for the last time. There was a slight haze in the air, causing the sun to create stripes over and into the mountains. I don't know why there is a haze, and after asking our fishing guide, he too didn't know why. He said he thought there were no fires, but maybe there was.

Sunrise Stop

The hummingbirds were a little different than the elk, in the sense that they came more often and not only during the sunrise and sunset. The majority still came during the sunrise and sunset, but some didn't, making them easier to photograph. Like my other hummingbird picture, I was standing on a chair to get a better angle. This time, I positioned the camera, so the background was a tree with the yellow-orange sunset in the background.

Morning Walk

I found these elk before breakfast on the third day. Elk and most wild animals are mostly seen during sunrise and sunset. The animals sleep during the night and hide from the heat during the day under trees and bushes. The elk is very sensitive to sounds and movements from objects that are non-elk. I stepped outside the door, and immediately all of the elk stared at me. I tried to creep closer to them, but the noise scared them away, leaving me with only a few, far-away pictures. 

Feathers

For this picture, I took my 300mm lens and stood up on a chair for a better angle. The feeder was about 8 feet above the porch, but I wanted to be level with it. To compensate, I stood on a chair and had to balance myself since it was a rocking chair. I increased my ISO slightly to allow for a faster shutter speed so I could stop the motion of the wings (shutter speed 1/3200). After combining all these different factors, I was able to capture this picture.

Overflowed

On the third day, we drove about an hour west to the San Juan River. There was a concern that the river would be too fast to fish. Just by looking at this picture, you can tell the river is flooding. I haven't seen it at a normal state, but supposedly this stage was 5-10 feet above the average height. Rivers are measured in CFS (cubic feet per second). The normal river speed is 500 CFS when we fished it was at 5000 CFS. This is the highest the river is to be fished at.

Bison

As we ventured into the back roads on the ranch, we stumbled by this bison. We had just taken a right turn, and I stepped out to take pictures of a lake with the sun reflecting and scenery. I looked to the far left, (slightly blinded by the sun) and I saw this huge animal. I didn't know what it was at the time, but after researching a little, I learned this is a bison. The ranch has around 30 bison on the property, but mostly in huge pens. I could only get about 300 yards away, but with the 300mm lens, the bison looks relatively close.

Road to Nature

The place we stayed at had miles of dirt roads in the back that you could take to visit the property. I thought that it would be interesting to show one of the roads going to the mountains and disappearing. This road was one of the three main roads on the property. The conditions of the roads were not the best but even after driving for an hour and a half at around 20 mph we barely made it halfway around the ranch.

Conejos River Valley

In the afternoon of the first fishing day, we traveled to the Conejos River in southern Colorado. To get to the river we had to go over a mountain pass. I took this picture from the top of the pass in an opening of trees. I have never seen a picture like this that I like so much. There are the streaks of sunlight going between the mountains, different shades of green colored trees, and a river snaking through the middle. If I could change one thing, it would be the lens flare in the top left, but everything else is perfect about this picture.

Mirror on the Water

Down a dirt road was this mirror-like lake. Overnight there was very little wind and none until noon. It is not often that I am able to take pictures of lakes that reflect their surroundings. There are many reasons why I like this picture including the mirror-like lake, green surroundings, and blue sky. It is like a perfect combination of those three creating a perfect picture.

Sunrise Silhouette

My last picture for the June 7th sunrise was this silhouette of the mountains. I took the picture minutes before the sun would be above the mountains. I like how there is a clear focus on the mountains. There is so much focus that you can see the towers on the mountains from a very far distance. In the middle left of the sun, you can see the towers just barely.

Stretching Wings

The sunrise also brought hummingbirds to the three feeders on the front deck. Many of the hummingbirds stretched their wings between drinks on the feeder, which is what is happening for this picture. I positioned myself on a chair to arrange a better vantage point. I wanted to capture the hummingbird, sunrise, and mountains in the same picture. I believe I was successful except that the mountains aren't too in focus.

Mountain Sunrise

I woke up on the second day with my body still on central time. I rose before the sunrise and stayed awake to capture the entire sunrise. The last time I was taking sunrise pictures in the mountains there really was no sunrise because the mountains blocked the sun from the clouds. These mountains weren't as tall but the views were still amazing. There were a few clouds and even less were highlighted by the sun. I also wanted to include the building because the windows were reflecting the sun.

Super Bloom

The snowpack during the 2018-2019 winter in New Mexico and Colorado was around 650% above average. On June 7th, I went to the top of an 11,000 feet pass where there were feet of snow in some spots. All of the snow is melting and causing the rivers to be full of water. Some of the rivers are overflowing their banks making the surrounding areas very wet and creating a super bloom.

Searching

Welcome to Chama, New Mexico. For four days, I visited northern New Mexico and southern Colorado where I took over 4,000 pictures and caught 4 rainbow trout. The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside was the clean, fresh air. The air smelled like pine trees and didn't have any of the city smog. The next thing I noticed was this bird on a dead tree with interesting clouds behind it. I like how the bird is on the tree because it shows that life can be found on anything living or dead.

Raleigh

Lastly, on the North Carolina trip, I went to the capital Raleigh. I found this statue at the capitol building. I set it so that the statue was in front of the main road and in front of the dark gray clouds. The next pictures are going to be from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado where I went fly fishing. In addition to catching four fish, I also captured thousands of pictures of animals and the nature around the area.

Purple and White

Along with the other flowers, this flower is something that I have never seen in Texas before. The colors are very bright and pop out against the green background. The flowers are solid white with a few small spots of yellow, but the middle stems are purple.

Duke Chapel 

The next spot we went to was the Duke campus and Duke Chapel. It was built in 1935 and is 210 feet tall. Inside is a stained glass wall that reflects very colorful light. I did like the chapel by itself, but I thought it would be more interesting if I put the statue in front. I'm not sure who the statue is of, but it is interesting.

Peeking Out

I found this bird underneath a bush. I was walking around taking pictures of birds when I found this one. I was trying to take pictures of it, but it kept running behind the bush and hiding from me. There were only a few pictures that I thought were good because it kept running around the bush. I do like this one because the bird is looking directly at me and the camera.

Breakfast

On a walk in the morning, I found this squirrel eating its breakfast. I believe that this picture is different than some of the other animal pictures I have taken because it is closer to the subject. It also has a much higher resolution than my older pictures.

Red Bird

The red bird is one of my favorite birds to take pictures of. They are semi-friendly and always stare in your direction. The red birds also have very interesting colors. While there are only two colors the bright red contrasts perfectly against the black.

Camouflage

This bird had much more color than the last one. It's white, brown, and black help it stand out against the green leaves. I had the aperture on a high number to keep the focus sharp in the front and very blurry in the back. To achieve this, I set the aperture to the lowest possible on the lens. The smaller the number the more light that is being allowed into the camera and the shallower the focus.

Looking Back

Since getting my macro lens I have not been taking many pictures of birds and animals. For the first time in a while, I took out my telephoto lens and started taking pictures of birds. I didn't mean to take this in a silhouette but I was trying to make sure the sun wasn't in the picture. I placed the sun behind the building and bird causing the silhouette.

Oranges

Similar to the last picture, these flowers are crisp, clean, and have great color. The oranges are super bright and picturesque. The colors vary from red to orange to yellow depending on how far back you look. The further back you look, the darker the color. I am beginning to like flowers in North Carolina. The bright colors, crisp edges, and easy ability to take pictures of the flowers makes them very interesting to me.

Ring of Color

While the bright color flower was interesting to me this flower grabbed my attention even more. The bright rings also were very interesting. The eight flowers that make up the outer ring are bright and in very sharp focus. Moving toward the center the flowers start to look like pillows or butterflies with the crisp four corners and soft appearance.

Ants

I found this ant on one of the non-bloomed sunset flowers. I used my macro lens to show the smallness and limbs on the ant. If I could change something about this picture, I would change the focus on the ant. I wish the ant was entirely in focus but at least the closer half is in focus.

Pinkish Yellow

I have seen a flower like this in California from when I went to Los Angeles. While I have seen the flower before I am still amazed at the color. The bright white, yellow, and pink colors are something that I don't see in many other flowers. I also like the wrinkled look on the petals, it makes the flower look old and deprived of water.

Baby Blue

I titled this Baby Blue for two reasons, the first is because the color is like a baby blue and the second is because the flower is baby sized. The color is a mixture between a light blue and purple. There is not a definitive color nonetheless it is an interesting color. The flower is also very small. Maybe I just found small bees and flowers but it's interesting how both of these pictures are of baby-sized objects.

Mini Bee

While taking pictures of flowers, I noticed this miniature bee. It was like other bees in the sense of color and shape but the size of the bee was confusing. I'm not sure if it there is a completely different type of bee in North Carolina or this is just a baby bee, but I am finding this picture very interesting and confusing.

Colored Tips

This plant is not a flower, but it still has the bright colors a flower has. I like the red tips on the ends of the yellow leaves. There are the different leaves sticking out everywhere which draws your eye around and around the picture. The ends of the leaves come to a point, turn red, then stop. It is like a good ending to an even better plant.

Symmetry

Of all the flowers I have taken pictures of in Texas and just these few that I took in North Carolina, I like the flowers from North Carolina better. They are more colorful, have more to see at a macro level, and are different. This flower, for example, is bright pink and white with a yellow center. These colors are bright and stand out against the dark green background.

Shapes

This flower is one that has not yet bloomed. I thought it was interesting because of the shapes on the flower. There are the octagonal black and green shapes on the bottom, then the cylindrical-looking shapes at the top. The part that makes the picture the best is the black and green octagonal petals. They provide an interesting contrast because it is not often the color black is seen in flowers. Most flowers are bright colors like red, yellow, or orange but this was a darker color black.

Ribbons

Unlike the white tiny flowers, these also tiny flowers were very tightly bunched together. There was a flower, after flower, after flower. I chose to title it Ribbon because the inside of the flower looks like ribbons. The yellow rectangle-like shapes almost look man-made. In addition, the yellow adds contrast in color to all of the red petals. There is an abundance of red then you see the yellow centers'.

Yellow

I didn't notice this when I was taking the picture, but there is some white object in the center of the flower. I actually like it because it gives the yellow flower another color. It almost looks like snow except that I know it is not snow. I also like the background of this picture because you are able to see the outline of the flower.  You know what it is, you just don't see the actual background because it's not in focus.

Rolling Clouds

Up above the woods were some very interesting clouds. I found these clouds interesting because they are not the same color. Some are more white and others are grayer. I wanted to have the tree in focus so that there were also elements of the woods in the picture. The picture would have been better if the trees had more color in them instead of being all green, but it still is a very nice picture.

Tiny Whites

I found these flowers in a different area of moss. I did use my macro lens but I didn't want to be directly on the flowers. I took a step back and captured the entire group of flowers. I like how they are sprinkled around the moss and all in one spot. They all mimic each other with the four leaves and tiny green stem. It is like they are all different but also all the same.

Trees

I took this picture deep in the forest. All around me were hundreds of feet tall trees. I wasn't trying to take a picture like this but I really like it. The center tree is in focus and everything else is blurred. It is almost like the blur is leading your eye toward the center tree. I also like all of the trees surrounding the main tree. I don't take too many pictures of woods full of trees so I thought it was something new and interesting.

Moss

These woods were very, very dense. This means that moisture became trapped very easily in the woods. All the moisture and additional rainfall created this moss. It isn't much but I thought it was interesting to see all of the obstructions on the moss, there are leaves and bark from trees.

Into the Woods

Near the place where I was staying was this trail into the woods. There are woods in Texas but these were a completely different type of woods. I walked in then after 2 minutes of walking there was no more trail. I used my phone's GPS to try to walk further toward a lake. I ended up in a US Wildlife Protective area so I had to head back. Not only was there no path, but I also found 2 tombstones from the 1850s. I could only read one of them, and that person was William Barbee born in 1777 and died 1857 (yes it's a real thing, search it up!)

Football

On the trip, I took many pictures that even with my wide-angle lens were too wide. To solve the problem I took multiple pictures then using photoshop I merged them together. This picture is of the University of North Carolina's football stadium It was hard to create this panoramic picture because the pictures didn't line up correctly. I had to stretch the last two but it came out relatively good.

Pine Trees

I took this picture as we walked from the bell tower to the football stadium (picture coming tomorrow). It's nothing too special but I like the way the trees look. The trees are different than the ones in Texas. These trees are pine trees, rather the oak trees in Texas. It's hard to tell the difference with the trees on the left, but you can clearly see they are pine trees from

Bell Tower

This is the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower on the University of North Carolina campus. It is 172 feet tall, has 14 bells, and rings every 15 minutes. It was difficult to take a picture of it because of the sun. I wasn't facing the sun, but since there were little clouds I could not place the tower in front of a grey background. I had to use a fast shutter speed to compensate which made the tower darker.

Red

Near the tiny white flowers was this bunch of flowers. I took pictures of it because of the number of flowers. There usually are a few flowers near each other on a bush but this bush was full of flowers. In addition to the number of flowers, I also like the brightness on the picture. The sunlight is coming from the center of the bunch and as you look outwards either left or right, the picture becomes darker.