Winter Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.
I went for a walkabout at the local Sourland Mountain Preserve on a snowy day and took a few pictures. The high-pressure gas-line right of way trail looked open, but I didn’t go very far. There were cattails in the marshy area, and some Mallard ducks swimming in the pond. The ducks usually leave as soon as the more boisterous Canada geese arrive, but on this snowy day the geese stayed away.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 5. Kelly Place.
The Elderhostel/Road Scholar photography workshop that I attended with my father and brother ended the previous evening. Before leaving the Kelly Place B&B to drive back to Boulder, Colorado I took one last image of the “Sleeping Ute Mountain” from the patio at dawn.
Sleeping Ute Mountain at dawn from the back patio at Kelly’s Place, near Cortez. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 35 mm, f/11, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)
All week I had been intrigued by this wooden flying goddess that was hanging from the ceiling of the meeting room. [Maybe Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, pre-Hindu Dewi Sri, or Shridevi. Or An Apsara (Apsarasa) Hindu or Buddhist flying spirit???] I spent a little bit of time trying to get an image that I liked. The lighting wasn’t good so did some experimenting with a flash.
Flying goddess and shadow. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec) and flash. (David J Mathre)Flying goddess. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec) and flash. (David J Mathre)
I was about to go to bed and saw this Stink Bug crawling up a wall. It was patient enough to allow me to take its picture. I then told it that spring was coming, and it really needed to go outside…
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – Indoor Winter Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/22, 1/25 sec) and LED ring light (+3EV) (David J Mathre)Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – Indoor Winter Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/16, 1/40 sec) and LED ring light (+3EV) (David J Mathre)
Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey — Early Flowers and Bees.
An Early sign, spring is coming!! The crocus and daffodil flowers across the street had their first blooms today. A few days ago I saw my neighbor raking the leaves off the section facing the south side of his stone wall. There were a few daffodil plants pushing out of the ground. Today, the first ones started to bloom, along with the purple crocus flowers. The honey bees noticed that there was some saffron to harvest. My daffodil’s are just coming out of the ground — however I noticed that the deer are nibbling on the early sprouts. I thought deer didn’t like daffodil’s — but I guess they are hungry…
Later in the afternoon, the NOAA weather alert on my Garmin radio/GPS went off and announced that a severe thunderstorm was imminent. I set up a camera to record the storm coming through and got one image of some lightning. Soon after the storm, the temperature dropped over 20 degrees.
First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flower with a honey bee across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 235 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flowers across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 148 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flowers across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flower with a honey bee across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flower with a honey bee across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flower with a honey bee across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — First daffodil flower across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flowers across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 153 mm, f/5.6, 1/210 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — First daffodil flower across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 148 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Early crocus flower with a honey bee across the street. Winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (David J Mathre)First Hint of Spring — Thunderstorm. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/18, 4 sec). (David J Mathre)
Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 1. Kelly Place & Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.
The first full day of an Elderhostel/Road Scholar photography workshop at Kelly Place — a Bed & Breakfast near Cortez, Colorado. I was attending the workshop with my Father and Brother. I went out on my own in the morning to take some pictures of Sleeping Ute mountain. After lunch walked around the site to look at some of the historical buildings and then went for a short hike into Canyon of the Ancients National Monument which is right next to Kelly’s Place. After it got dark, I set up a camera to take some star trail images.
Sleeping Ute Mountain and moon panorama on an early winter morning at Kelley’s Place near Cortez, Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 20 mm, f/16, 1/1.7 sec). (David J Mathre)
Larger size images from the slide show can be viewed and purchased here.
Larger size images from the slideshow can be viewed and purchased here.
