Two-Years Ago (04-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

American Crows in a tree, and Turkey Vultures soaring and in a tree.


Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Friday (14-February-2020) — New Jersey

Valentine’s Day Special

German Chocolate, Strawberries, and Hot Peppers. The Strawberries were grown in my indoor AeroGarden hydroponic farm. Also the flowers (Dianthus, Snapdragon, Coreopsis, Zinnia) are growing in the hydroponic farm. The Red Poppy flower didn’t quite open in time.

Valentine Special -- Chocolate, Strawberries, and Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1250, 35 mm, f/16, 1/320 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Valentine’s Day Special — Chocolate, Strawberries, and Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1250, 35 mm, f/16, 1/320 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter Gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Images from Valentine’s Day Past

Turkey Vulture. Image taken with a Nikon D5 Camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Turkey Vulture. Image taken with a Nikon D5 Camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Photographer looking into the sun for birds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec) (David J Mathre)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Photographer looking into the sun for birds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec) (David J Mathre)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Silhouette sunrise portrait. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/10, 1/4000 sec) (David J Mathre)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Silhouette sunrise portrait. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/10, 1/4000 sec) (David J Mathre)
Reflections of the Sunrise Breakfast Club. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/16, 1/15 sec) (David J Mathre)
Reflections of the Sunrise Breakfast Club. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/16, 1/15 sec) (David J Mathre)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Silhouette sunrise portrait. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/10, 1/4000 sec) (David J Mathre)
Sunrise Breakfast Club. Silhouette sunrise portrait. MV World Odyssey At Sea. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/10, 1/4000 sec) (David J Mathre)
Lonely Trees on Balsfjorden Near Tromsø. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). In camera B&W. (David J. Mathre)
Lonely Trees on Balsfjorden Near Tromsø. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). In camera B&W. (David J. Mathre)
Northern Lights in Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 3200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 2 sec).. (David J Mathre)
Northern Lights in Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 3200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 2 sec).. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (77.4 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (45.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun, but much colder outside. A deficit of 31.9 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions


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One-Year Ago (31-January-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

American Crow, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, and Turkey Vulture.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
American Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 640, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Dark-eyed Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Tufted Titmouse. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 640, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens with 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 160, 280 mm, f/3.6, 1/1000 sec).

Thursday (30-January-2020) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey.

The night sky was clear and I haven’t done star trails for some time (Part 2). I set up a Nikon D810a camera with a 19 mm PC-E lens (ISO 800, 19 mm, f/8, 120 sec) on my patio looking south to collect a series of night sky images. The images were processed with Capture One Pro and the composite star trails created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). The images were converted to B&W with Capture One Pro.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (85.6 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny with some clouds developing during the day. A deficit of 46.8 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions


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Four-Years Ago (30-January-2016) — At Sea

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 25: At Sea, Traveling from Kobe, Japan to Shanghai, China.

There were a lot of fishing boats out in the East China Sea as we proceeded to Shanghai. Along with the fishing boats many Seagulls followed our ship. I think that I was able to identify Black-tailed Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake. I previously miss identified some Black-Tailed Gulls as Slaty-backed Gull. I admit gulls are difficult to identify since they go through several morphs over four years before getting to their adult state. I look at images in several books and internet sources.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-tailed Gull viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 149 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-tailed Gull viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/4.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-legged Kittiwake viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/4.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-legged Kittiwake viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/4.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-legged Kittiwake viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/4.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-tailed Gull viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-legged Kittiwake viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Black-legged Kittiwake viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Group of Black-tailed Gull viewed from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 55-200 mm lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)