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.