Five-Years Ago (30-July-2013) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland 2013 Photography Safari with Mike Hagen. Day 1: Golden Circle Tour.

The Bubble Has Burst. One of our stops for the day was to see Strokkur, a geyser in the Haukadalur geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in southwest Iceland. The geyser erupts every 6-10 minutes, and you can get much closer than Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. It should be noted that there were several tour buses stopped at the site, and lots of folks queued up to view the geyser. I found a spot a bit back on the other side and sent up a tripod to take a series of images with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 100, 80 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec) that were then combined to create a GIF motion video of the bubble bursting.

Five-Years Ago (29-July-2013) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland 2013 Photography Safari with Mike Hagen. Day 0: Reykjavik.

Silhouette of Sun Voyager (Sólfar) at Sunset. From wikipedia “Sun Voyager is a dreamboat, an ode to the sun. Intrinsically, it contains within itself the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.” Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec).

I had no control over the folks crawling over the statue, the bikes parked, or the folks fishing – but still like the image.

Silhouette of Sun Voyager (Sólfar) at Sunset. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). Nikonians Photo Adventure with Mike Hagen. (David J Mathre)
Silhouette of Sun Voyager (Sólfar) at Sunset. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Saturday (28-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

With all of the rain we have been having, the Trolls are happy because mushrooms are starting to pop-up.



Individual images from theses slide shows can be viewed here.

Friday (27-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I am glad that I protected one section of my wildflowers from the deer. The main flowers in bloom right now are a variety of different colored Zinnia and Cosmos. These, especially the Zinnia are attracting Monarch Butterflies, Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, and Clearwing Hummingbird Moths. Plus there are several other smaller butterflies, bumble bees, honey bees, and wasps that are also being attracted to the flowers.




Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.

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.