David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Views of art from around the world
Although it was cold this morning when I woke up, I noticed some colorful clouds developing just before sunrise. I went out with a Fuji X-T2 camera and a 8-16 mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens. I took a number of shots to create this dawn panorama.
Fireworks from downtown St. Petersburg. I think the fireworks are shot off from a barge in Vinoy basin. We had to back off to a park near the pool along Tampa bay. Even then I was hit by the paper residue from one of the firework mortars. I set up two cameras to get pictures during the show. First a Nikon D850 camera with a 20 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 64, 20 mm, f/11, 8 sec). The second a Fuji X-T3 camera and 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 10 mm, f/8, 8 sec).
Individual images from the slide shows can be viewed here.
Wood Stork Wading Along Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 640, 600 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). Image converted to B&W with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Lupines flowers in bloom at a flower garden at Christ Church Cathedral in Stanley. The sculpture in the background is made from whale bones. Composite of 3 mages taken with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/11). Raw image processed with Lightroom 2015 HDR, Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.
[Update from the post last year. While visiting a neighbor across the street I noticed a wind-chime that used the same type of spoons. I wonder if a crow took one and dropped it off in my backyard???]
I was out in the backyard using a rototiller to prepare a new section for the expanding wildflower meadow. The land had been a farm years ago, but this section had become overgrown with brush. The brush was cleared last year, and this summer the section was covered with a black tarp to solarize the soil (kill the weeds, especially the invasive “mile-a-minute” vine). The rototiller found lots of rocks, and roots from the brush. At one point, I noticed something silver being thrown back by rototiller. It turned out to be a spoon. The rototiller blades did a bit of damage to the spoon. I brought it inside, and washed it off. The only identification of the spoon was an imprint on the back of the handle “Oneida Silversmiths”. After doing some research online, I think I identified the design of the spool as Oneida silverplate “Clairhill-Fairhill (1978). One site had it on sale for less than eight dollars. So, not an antique 🙁 . The house was built around that time, but how the spoon got 200 feet behind the house is a mystery.
