Wednesday (25-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

After the morning rain, a Monarch Butterfly and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth showed up in my wildflower bed next to the house. There also were a lot of Bumble Bees working the flowers. Up on the patio, the Caterpillar was still eating my Dill herb. The Tomato Hornworm covered with the predatory wasp cocoons was still hanging on. A Stink Bug was feasting on a green tomato — I knew they were vegetarian, but don’t want them eating my vegetables. Finally,  a weird-looking spider (Darth Vader, or out of Aliens) was guarding its web.






Bumble Bee on a Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee on a Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Caterpiller Eating My Dill. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Caterpiller Eating My Dill. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tomato Hornworm covered by Parasitic Wasp Cocoons. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tomato Hornworm covered by Parasitic Wasp Cocoons. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Stink Bug eating My Tomatoes. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Stink Bug eating My Tomatoes. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Individual images from the slide shows can be viewed here.

Thursday (28-June-2018) — New Jersey

Montgomery Township New Jersey Independence Day Fireworks.

My local township typically has an Independence Day fireworks celebration several days before the 4th of July. This year it was almost a week earlier. We had heavy rain in the morning, but by the afternoon things pretty much cleared up. I have a great location near my house that has a view that is above the high school where the fireworks are launched. In all I had five cameras set up to record the event. Individual images can be viewed here. While waiting for the fireworks to start, we watched the “Strawberry” full moon rise through some low clouds. Unfortunately, it was too late to find a different location where the full moon would be in the images with the fireworks.

Strawberry Full Moon Rising Through the Clouds over Montgomery Township. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 6 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro. (David J Mathre)
Strawberry Full Moon Rising Through the Clouds over Montgomery Township. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 6 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro. (David J Mathre)
Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/11, 8 sec) (David J Mathre)
Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/11, 8 sec) (David J Mathre)





Six-Years Ago (28-June-2012) — New Jersey

Montgomery Township New Jersey Independence Day Fireworks.

Montgomery Township in New Jersey typically has an Independence Day fireworks celebration several days before the 4th of July. Like this year it was almost a week earlier. I have a great location near my house that has a view that is above the high school where the fireworks are launched. This was the first time I was able to use the new high-resolution Nikon D800 to photograph a fireworks display. In all I had five cameras set up to record the event. Individual images can be viewed here.

Montgomery Township Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 8 sec). (David J Mathre)
Montgomery Township Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 8 sec). (David J Mathre)




Wednesday (27-June-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Afternoon walkabout with my new Nikon D850 camera and a 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens. I was interested to see how the high resolution camera would do hand-held taking pictures of flowers on a cloudy day with some wind. I was impressed. I now need to try out the focus stacking capability of the camera for taking macro images of stationary flowers — indoors and with the camera on a tripod. Individual images can be viewed here.





Four-Years Ago (27-June-2014) — Spain

Gone to See Europe 2014. Day 27: Semester at Sea, Summer 2014 Semester Voyage. Bilabao, Spain.

Maman the Spider at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Selfie in the upper left corner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens.

Maman Spider outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 8 mm Fisheye (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/?, 1/320 sec) (David J Mathre)
Maman Spider outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 8 mm Fisheye (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/?, 1/320 sec) (David J Mathre)